Xingyiquan is an internal power boxing, with simple movements, both physical and practical, and without many auxiliary exercises. The skills of Xingyiquan are mainly achieved through “unity” training, and through the step-by-step method of six-in-one to reach the state of integration, coordination and unity of the whole body. The training of six-in-one runs through the beginning and end of Xingyiquan.
Six-in-one is divided into internal three-in-one and external three-in-one. The internal three-in-one is: the unity of heart and mind, the unity of mind and qi, and the unity of qi and strength; the external three-in-one is: the unity of shoulder and hip, elbow and knee, and hand and foot. The initial stage of six-in-one training is Wuji standing and three-body style, and then the unity is achieved in five elements boxing and twelve forms boxing.
- Origin of Xingyiquan
Xingyiquan originated from Xinyi Liuhequan, and both use “six-in-one” as the method.
The meaning of the name of Xinyi Liuhequan is: to integrate the boxing of six-in-one with brain thinking.
The meaning of the name of Xingyiquan is: a martial art that unifies body and mind. Xingyiquan inherits the core technology of Xinyi Liuhequan. All the body movements of Xingyiquan must follow the law of Liuhe, so it is also called “Liuheyiquan” in Shanxi.
According to relevant experts, the theory and method of Liuhe first appeared in the Xingyiquan system, and then was absorbed and adopted by many types of boxing, which shows that the theory of Liuhe is feasible, which is also a great contribution of Xingyiquan to Chinese martial arts.
In order to achieve Liuhe, Xingyiquan explores the advanced function of mind, which is unique to human beings, and uses mind to understand nature, learn from nature, and take all things in nature as teachers. First, follow the principles of the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, take the characteristics of each element and the interaction between them, so that the strength of Xingyiquan gradually matches the characteristics of the five elements. The so-called “unity of man and nature” is like the chopping fist belonging to gold, which is hard and indestructible; the wood is curved and straight, and can be hard or soft; the water is invisible and can bend and stretch; the fire is violent and will explode as soon as it touches; the earth is thick and can change with life. After the training of the Five Elements Fist, Xingyiquan aims to transform these five natural characteristics into strength.
The twelve forms of Xingyiquan are based on the special skills and spirituality of animals, returning people’s original movement and fighting instincts. Therefore, the twelve forms are a method of developing the instinctive movement of the human body to the extreme. Such as the circling and diving of the dragon, the divine pounce of the tiger, the dexterity of the monkey, the galloping of the horse, the independence of the chicken, the flying of the swallow, the entanglement of the snake, the majesty of the bear, the claw power of the eagle, etc. These abilities are beyond the reach of human ability. Xingyiquan takes the special skills of these animals as the learning goals and training content, which shows that the difficulty of its movement is great and requires a lifetime of energy to pursue. In the pursuit, realize the harmony between man and nature, and realize the great way of neutralization.
Through the training of the Five Elements and Twelve Forms, one of the purposes is to enlighten people’s hearts, not just to stick to the practice of the Five Elements and Twelve Forms. Xingyiquan has the realm of “no fist, no intention, no fist and no intention is the true intention”. Through the training of the Five Elements and Twelve Forms, we can feel the characteristics of nature, and all things in nature can be connected. Seeing the scenery will bring about emotions, and thinking about the scenery will bring about emotions. For example, when you see a cloud, you can learn from the cloud immediately, learning the chaos and formlessness of the cloud. When you see water, you can learn from the water immediately, learning the spontaneity and agility of the water. When you see any small animal, you can learn from it, learning its characteristics and special skills, taking the meaning from the image, and combining the form and the meaning.
- Xingyiquan Stance
Xingyiquan Stance includes Wuji Style and Santi Style. Wuji Style is a guide from stillness to movement, “extreme stillness brings life”.
The method of Wuji standing has its origins in ancient times. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine says: “In ancient times, there were real people who lifted up the heaven and earth, grasped the yin and yang, breathed in the essence, kept their spirits independent, and their muscles were like one”, “When one is calm and empty, the true qi follows, the spirit is kept inside, and there is no disease.” Laozi said: “The Tao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things; all things carry the yin and embrace the yang, and the rushing qi makes them harmonious.” He also said “reach the extreme of emptiness, and keep quiet.”
The Wuji standing of Xingyiquan requires from the aspect of thinking and consciousness: empty and quiet, without thoughts, intentions, and desires. From the aspect of external movements, it requires: standing in a relaxed and quiet manner, without form or image. The predecessor of Xingyiquan, Dong Xiusheng, described Wuji as: following the nature of heaven and earth, as vast as a small boat floating on the vast ocean, and as quiet as a wooden chicken standing in the courtyard.
There are two ways to stand in Wuji standing:
The first one: standing in a relaxed and inaction manner with legs close to upright, mainly to calm the brain, relax the whole body, and make the internal functions of the body in an orderly state. This standing method can make the true qi move in an orderly manner.
The second type: standing in a relaxed and quiet manner with legs slightly bent. This standing method can trigger the muscles to produce yin-yang swelling and falling movements.
The standing method with legs slightly bent can not only relax the body and quiet the mind, but more importantly, it can put the body in a higher level of “ordered” state. Its characteristics are: after standing for a certain period of time, the leg muscles begin to tremble in turn in an orderly manner, the EEG shows more alpha waves, the amplitude of meridian waves is significantly increased, the leg muscles show a unique Tai Chi swelling and falling movement, and the heart rate increases. We believe that this is a highly harmonious and unified state of the heart-brain-meridians-muscles, and this Wuji stance is what Xingyiquan needs.
Xingyiquan requires practicing Wuji Jinggong first, then Taiji style, and then Santi style. This forms the following training procedure: first stand in the first Wuji style to relax the body, calm the brain, calm the heart, and harmonize the qi, then bend the legs slightly and enter the second Wuji style. Due to the increased load on the leg muscles, after a certain period of time, the swelling and falling micro-trembling movement of the working muscles is triggered, which further stimulates the movement of the meridians. This kind of movement can only occur in the Wuji style. At this time, it is a harmonious and orderly internal swelling and falling movement. The human body’s physiology produces unique changes, and the function is in a highly ordered state of excitement. In this state, the physiological function of the human body can play a self-regulating function, which may be the mechanism of Wuji style to circulate qi and blood, strengthen the body and eliminate diseases.
Wuji style is a balanced and orderly practice. Generally, it requires the head to be straight, the center of gravity to be between the two feet, the hands to be loose, and the left and right forces to be balanced, so the movement of qi and blood tends to be harmonious and balanced.
The three-body posture is different. Whether it is the three-seven steps, four-six steps, or five-five steps, the front, back, left, and right will not be balanced because the curvature of the two legs is different and the postures of the two arms are also different. Therefore, the three-body posture is a non-balanced training. The non-balanced training of the three-body posture plays an extremely important role in the health preservation and combat of Xingyiquan. Due to the imbalance of muscle movement during the three-body posture, the strength and level difference of the blood and qi movement in the left and right sides of the body are caused. The potential energy of the blood movement is generated by the level difference, and the blood and qi move from high potential energy to low potential energy. Therefore, from the perspective of internal blood and qi movement, the three-body posture is a power generation and charging training, which can make the bones firm and the muscles strong.
In practice, we often see that people who have been trained in the three-body posture for a period of time have a particularly stable and full body.
The three-seven steps of the three-body posture have the largest amount of movement, followed by the four-six steps, and the five-five steps. The effects of single weight and double weight are different.
Santi Shi is the basic way to achieve the internal and external integration. All the movements of Xingyi Quan are inseparable from this basic posture, so there is a saying that “all laws come from Santi Shi”.
Santi Shi is a posture that learns from nature.
After we stand in Santi Shi, we bend forward and rotate 90 degrees, which is like the posture of animals walking on all fours. Humans evolved from apes, and apes evolved from lower-level animals. The crawling of babies is very similar to the walking of kittens and puppies. The variation of Santi Shi – Pi Quan is very similar to the walking of tigers and leopards. The force of Pi Quan can be seen as the forward pounce of tigers and leopards. The 12 forms of Xingyi Quan absorb the special skills of animals walking on all fours such as tigers, monkeys, horses, and bears, and summarize the essence of Santi Shi in long-term practice. Its reasonable importance is reflected in the fact that this action posture is closest to the instinctive action of humans (animals). Xingyi Quan has a famous saying “Boxing is like walking”, which requires returning to the state of babies, which is very likely to be like crawling innocently like babies, but crawling while standing. Since all four limbs touch the ground when crawling, every step is real, so there is a requirement of “the fist does not go empty or return empty”. The Xingyi boxing manual “Liuhe boxing” says: “Understand the fighting method of babies, it is natural.”
When walking, four-limbed animals always touch the ground at three points. In order to maintain balance, the waist and tail twist naturally. After people walk upright, the center of gravity is higher. Although the hands are not on the ground, the arms still swing back and forth, such as the movement of the two forelimbs when reptiles walk.
When animals walk, they always use the hind foot on the same side to replace the front foot on the same side to support the weight, and then the front foot extends forward to support the balance of the center of gravity, and then the hind foot on the opposite side replaces the front foot on the same side, and the front foot extends forward. In this way, they walk alternately left and right.
When tigers and leopards run fast or pounce on food instantly, they always touch the ground with their hind feet at the same time, and then the front feet touch the ground at the same time. Generally, running and walking are done with four limbs touching the ground in sequence. In Xingyiquan, there is a saying that only when the hands and feet are in harmony can it be true. When the hands and feet are in harmony, it means walking, running, and accumulating strength. When the hands and feet are in harmony, it means running, pouncing, and exerting strength.
The basic prototypes of the three-body style are the forward step and the reverse step. The forward step is suitable for linear force, such as the collapse fist; the reverse step is suitable for arc force, such as the horizontal fist.
- The internal and external three-in-one of Xingyiquan
The core content of Xingyiquan training is the six-in-one whole strength, and finally reaches the state of yin and yang neutralization. The training process of the six-in-one whole strength is:
a. From standing to stillness, from stillness to relaxation, from relaxation to movement. (Relaxation and stillness)
b. From movement to smoothness, from smoothness to softness, from softness to harmony. (Softness and smoothness)
c. From harmony to wholeness, from wholeness to hardness, hardness and softness complement each other. (Neutralization)
The unity of mind and intention is stillness. Here, the mind is the brain. The ancient Chinese often used the heart to represent the brain. When we say “whatever you wish for comes true”, it actually means that the brain wishes for it. So the mind refers to the organ of the brain, and the intention is the thinking state of the mind. Then the unity of mind and intention in Xingyiquan means that the brain should be in the thinking state of Xingyiquan. We believe that it is in the thinking state of “stillness” and “harmony”. The stillness of a person is the state of harmonious resonance of the whole brain. Therefore, the unity of mind and intention is stillness, and stillness is the harmony of the brain. “Harmony” is the state of neutralization of yin and yang, which can be said to be a higher level of “stillness”, and can also be considered as orderly “movement”.
The unity of mind and qi is softness. Both mind and qi are invisible and intangible. Mind is the master and qi is the commander. The combination of the two is softness.
The unity of qi and strength is harmony. Qi is soft and strength is hard. The combination of hardness and softness leads to neutralization.
The external three-in-one movement is a unique and instinctive movement of limbed animals. The ancients found that when people walk and run, their shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, hands and feet move in a coordinated manner. The easiest to observe are the crawling of babies, the walking of cats, the pounce of tigers, and the running of horses. The crawling of a baby is the original three-body posture of a human being, which exercises the waist, spine and limbs in a comprehensive and balanced way; the walking of a cat is like the soft training of the three-body posture; the pounce of a tiger is like the three-body posture, which uses the power of the hands and feet in a coordinated manner; the galloping of a horse is like the leaping forward of the three-body posture. Since humans and animals have some common movement attributes, the external three-in-one combination may also be the movement rules that humans and animals abide by. Therefore, the external three-in-one movement of Xingyiquan is a return to the play movement of babies, imitating the instinctive development movement of animals’ natural special skills.