Hello All, I am currently on holiday, and have met up with a couple of old friends, whom I have convinced to give IMA's a shot. They both have previous MA experience, and I think that they would be most suited to Xing Yi. Hence, I am looking for good Xing Yi schools in London, England and Perth, Australia, to recommend to them. I figured the collective consciousness of MAP would be a good source of info. Thanks.
Thanks Guo, maybe I should just find them Tai Chi schools. Xing Yi seems to be very rare. Any personal expirience or thoughts on Yi Quan?
Hi there ITS Heres a link for Alex Kozma http://www.geocities.com/alex_bagua/Baguaquan.html He teaches bagua and Xinyi in seperate classes in North London If they are interested in Yang style (old/new) with strong emphasis on the martial I can reccomend my own teacher. PM me if you'de like details. Regards geo
Thanks Geo, Will check it out when I finish holiday'ing. But, I spoke to Alex Kozma a few months ago regarding some VCD's, he was teaching in Hong Kong at the time, but hopefully he's back now. The VCD's I got from him were on Xing Yi, he definatelly looks like he knows his stuff.
Being good friends with one of Kozma's main students I can tell you that you'll not get a friendly answer right now since he aint about. Further - he'll also advise you that he'll prioritise bagua over xing yi - and so expect to have to learn it also. In terms of yi quan, there is a club in London (and I think THE club in the UK). Since its based on xing yi, I cant really argue about the techniques,though I do have doubts about how it is taught. Still - its something to start off with and then as you progress give you a better awareness and greater understanding when you do meet a xing yi teacher. Good luck!
Hi Guo, I had a word with Chris Davies, one of Alex's students, he recomended that I check out Paul Whitrod for Xing Yi, so I had a word with him too and he's got some classes in east London, though on his website the class is advertised as Ba Gua and Xing Yi, any idea why these are taught together? This stuff is not really for me, I do Tai Chi primarily, though I may give Xing Yi a go, I am quite interested to see how they generate power in a linear way, as opposed to the circular winding up method that we use in Tai Chi. From what I've gathered so far the power comes less from the twisting of the spine and more from moving the spine in a forward wave motion, have not quite got what the legs and hips do but I guess its similar to what happens in Tai Chi, does that sound right? I'm just guessing really cant get too much info from observing video clips.
Chris is my pal. There is a strong lineage between bagua and xing yi due to a historic fight between figureheads of the arts some 100 ish years ago - hence why they're taught together. Unfortunately I dont really have the time, nor the text space to really go into the comparative dynamics between power generation of arts - however I will say that you will find the power different and obvious. The training methods will also differ greatly allowing you to practice with moderate to full power and speed immediately, unlike taichi which generally starts slow/no power and increases over time. Go along and enjoy yourself. Not much to loose except perhaps your lunch as you have the 10th punch land in your stomach
Thanks again Guo, though I would be interested to read/hear an explanation of Xing Yi linear power generation, maybe you can put it on your future to do list for me. Maybe a good idea for a thread 'Power Generation in Various IMA's' or something like that, but I'm on vacation at the mo, so maybe another time.
you can check out my website as it'll talk about all sorts of stuff: www.xingyiquan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
