I have read a couple of articles by New Zealand internal stylist Tu Ky Lam in Tai Chi Magazine where he argues that taijiquan students should consider taking up Xing Yi (Hsing I) standing practices to facilitate the "dissolving of blocks" and promote the circulation and accumulation of chi. He goes on to state that three years of hsing-i standing practice can save you years of practice time. All well and good, however there seems to be a dearth of information, in english, on xingyi standing practice. Does anyone have any leads on a good guide (in book, VHS or DVD formats) to Xing Yi Quan (Hsing Yi Quan) standing practice? Please advise. Thanks.
Can't say I do, but I don't see how it would save years of practise. When students progress slowly in the martial in Tai Chi, if at all, it is usually the teacher who doesn't or can't teach them. Drilling things like Grasping a Birds Tail high and low and Stroke the Lute would get many a student proficient at deflecting blows.
Fom what I have read on the subject, the standing practice of Xingyi is called San Ti. Or three treasures. Again on the basis of the reading I have done, I see no reason why this posture is any better than holding play guitar; lift hands; diagonal flying or single whip. As long as the principles are being attended to and you know why you are standing there. Not as an endurance exercise.
Err.....doesn't Tai Chi have its own standing practices? The Yangs have a series of 18 standing postures AFAIK.
You can hold almost any posture for extended periods in my opinion. In fact the repulse monkey posture is pretty similar to the san-ti posture as far as I know.
Thanks for replying: in Lam's article, he acknowledges using specific postures from the form, but he also goes on to state, than other than the universal physical requirements (head suspended, elbows dropped, lower back "tucked", general alighnment and whatnot) that one thing the xingyi stance practices have, that the 'normal' tai chi stance practices don't (other than silk reeling drills, I guess) are guided visualizations which I assume, from his description, facilitate, in some way the mind's guidance of 'the qi' or breath coordinated bio-mechanical energy (if I may). This is supposed to be potentially dangerous.... hence my curiosity about more in depth resources on the subject. Any other thoughts or suggestions?
good instruction on holding taiji postures should include what you should be feeling for. You should be feeling for the energy tavelling around the body. Personally I don't go too much for the esoteric meridian counting that some like to do, but the general feelings are still there. You can look for the connections of the diagonals, i.e. weighted leg to opposite hand. Or you could feel for the energy reaching the finger tips, or the crown of the head. Or you could feel for the dan tien or bubbling well. I don't think you should be trying to force anything to follow a particular path, we're just trying to open the gates to let it find its own way. It knows where to go, if we can only let it. It's not the thinking brain that we want to ise but the heartmind (xin). A more emotive feeling, than a logical exercise.
There are many methods to utilize in Post (standing) practice regardless of posture. I don't think San T'i is particularly superior,just that most HI instructors demand it of their students as part of their training,whereas many TC instructors may show it,but not insist upon it.(Or actually know much about it).Post training is a very valuable practice which should not be overlooked. I don't know why Lam says TC post methods don't have guided visualizations.TC has those methods.Overall.I think they are the least important ( at least for some years) aspect of Post training tho'.In the regard of energetic circulation,unless you're already versed in it,Vamp's advice is the way to go unless under the guidance of an instructor knowledgable in such things.Feeling is more important.Same holds true in silk reeling. Brido-even experienced people note improvements in their overall ability/skills/attributes after undertaking Post training.At least that's what they've told me.
It seems that everyone I speak to does standing post for a different reason. Ours is very different to the form postures with 13 'internal' points to consider that are different to the other postures and is more to do with opening perception than anything else. The sensitisation of our perception helps us to 'listen' with our entire body and mind and be able to 'read' subtle changes around us that we would otherwise miss. I found it quite profound.
Try Smiling Tiger martial arts, Joseph Crandall has some good free downloads and I believe one of them has standing and moving Hsing Yi. Cheers Bob
Not too long ago I went to a Vincent Chu seminar on standing postures. He showed us something like 8 or 9 standing postures. One thing that stuck in my mind was, he said, Ip Tai Tak did a lot of standing postures througout his entire life and had a few knee surgeries also. After all his years of standing and practicing TCC, he decided that there was only one posture that in his opinion was the most beneficial. He said something about Yang Sau Chung having immense power and he could bounce you straight up off your feet (something like that). I'm not sure if I remember the name correctly, but I believe he called it "dragon posture," which basically is standing normal with your arms at your side but turned over so that the palms of your hands were facing away from your body. This is the only posture that I do now. I figure if someone like Ip came to that conclusion I best go with it.
I think at the mo my favored standing posture from tai chi is cloud hands. That sound interesting tcc, will give it a go. I don't see though how correct standing should damage the knee. The knee is a joint for transference, not for putting weight on..
According to my information Ip did his standing in very low riding horse stance a'la Shaolin. If you carry that on past your teens and twenties it can kill the knees. The other point was he always reconned the damage had been done by the time he took up Tai-Chi. Hieght is the arbetter of work not hand / arm position, hand position is a *flavouring* of the resultant Qi flow.
You're probably right, and I guess that would also explain why he favored standing straight up in his latter life (at least that's what I thought I heard VC say); less tension on the knees. BTW, did you (or anyone else) ever witness IP practicing form and DPH's? I'd be interested in hearing your observations. Also, has anyone read the Ip Tai Tak book Revelations: principles and concepts?? Is this an advanced understanding TCC book or a general theory book?
I met him and trained with him on his only trip to the UK in 1999. It is not his book, it is written by John Ding. Ip basically disowned it and Yang Ma Li went up the wall about it.
I visited Ip Tai Tak at his home when I was in Hong Kong training with Ma Lee Yang along with Jim Uglow. He struck me as a very pleasant and friendly guy, he showed us his notes and explained some of the ideas in them and also some application to the form and did some pushing and chi kung. He was without a doubt a powerful guy. I have a copy of the book and there's probably enough information in it to warrant it's purchase by any tai chi practitioner. The Hong Kong Yang family, friends, students and disciples are a closer group than many people realise, most of the 'politics' are actually down to outsiders who don't understand the relationships and either listen to, create or spread gossip and misinformation.
Wow, you guys are very lucky to have met and seen Ip do his thing. Not too many of these "quality" guys are left. I have also heard he was a very powerful guy. Off the GSC website it says Ip said, "Power training is very boring. It is like saving a penny every day". We do not look for the immediate result, we are looking long term." - (gives me something to look forward to anyway). I've heard Ip was very low key just like Yang Sau Chung was. The Boston guys are also the same way - very very low key for the most part. Must be a Hong Kong thing.... On another note, I didn't realize JD wrote that book. I would have loved to read Ip's own words though. One last thing on the subject, I here there is a video tape of Yang Sau Chung practicing the form (and maybe more), has anyone seen this tape?? Also, I do know that Fong Ha has a tape and he occasionally shows it at his seminars. I'm chomping at the bit to get a look at this tape......
What!! you mean these dotted lines weren't created by Yang Ma Lee because of that book. I think you should speak to James about it. Or is it just the pleasure of dissing me that motivates http://www.ritaichi.com/yangtree.asp Before that I was even involved in some of the correspondence because of an article I wrote. There is more politics than Blackpool in October!
