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Smoky Mountain YSB Study Group Information |
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Introduction to the Phoenix System Dr. Xie Peiqi’s comments on the YSB Xun/Phoenix System Transcribed by Rand Cardwell Note: This article is provided to YSB students in an effort to promote a greater understanding of the YSB Xun/Phoenix System. This is a transcription of the YSB Xun/Phoenix System DVD series available through the Association of Traditional Studies. Any errors are my own.
The phoenix was chosen for this trigram, as it is the king of the bird kingdom. Its attacking methods are:
These are its eight styles of movement. This animal systems upper body is vigorous and powerful and its lower body is gentle and yielding. Its qi travels the Du meridian. When the Du meridian reaches the Hui Yin (CV-1) point, there is a break in its flow. Energetically, it is this break that is referred to as the Xun trigram, broken at the bottom. Thus, in our practices, we lift the anus and strengthen the Hui Yin point. In that way the true qi of the Dan Tien can remain in the Dan Tien. The Phoenix’s eight attacking methods include attacking, advancing, retreating and defending. Its strength is smooth and evasive, like the wind. It has the ability of whirling to the left and turning to the right. It has the method of the great bird spreads its wings and the skill of using its wings. It is for these reasons that the Phoenix is referred to as the windmill palm. What is the use of the windmill palm? It is so fast as to be without comparison. Its strength is whirling and turning. Its personality is within its softness there is strength. In my life, I have studied all of the animal systems, but the one that I am best at is the Phoenix system. What I trust to protect myself with is phoenix. In fighting and accepting challenges from famous martial artists from China and abroad, I’ve always used Phoenix as my main fighting technique. I have used phoenix to win against my countries best-known fighters among the people and officially recognized champions. These have included incredibly strong practitioners, one of them was famous for being able to carry a one hundred pound train truss and another that became a close disciple and was known for being able to lift 500 pounds. But, by using Phoenix, I used nimbleness to defeat awkwardness. They lost to me and because of this they became my students. There was also a famous Mongolian wrestler who was truly ferocious, but by using quickness and skill, whirling and turning without stopping, he was unable to find me. And in his attempts, he left his vital areas to my attacks. With a dodging strike, he dropped and went into shock. So, it is my hope the people will diligently study the phoenix system. In the past few years we’ve dedicated ourselves to completely teaching and documenting the Lion system. Now, the Lion system has spread in the US and England through interest and hard practice of students. As a result of this groundswell, associations have been established in Europe and North America. Because of the many request of these practioners of the US, England, Ireland, France and other countries, we are now focused on documenting the Xun trigram Phoenix system. It is also the system that was guarded closely within Yin Style Bagua, never shown to outsiders. Beginning today, we are teaching it openly so those that are interested may practice it. I will end this discussion here and next I will give a brief demonstration of the movement of its eight attacking methods. I am taking a moment to demonstrate here so that practitioners will have a clear understanding of Yin Style bagua and the foundation of the Phoenix system. As everyone knows, to build a tall building a strong and deep foundation must be established. Strengthening postures is developing deep roots for your practice. The phoenix, as I have mentioned, there is hard within soft, soft within hard. Thus, one must have strength, which is the basis of victory and skill to defeat powerful strength. Thus, there are power strikes, as well as transforming and removing an opponent’s attacks. The first four attacking methods are whirling and turning along with strength. The Dodging strikes are like this. Its strikes are circular. As I mentioned earlier, I once fought a Mongolian who was a true warrior among his people. His name was Cha Dun Be Aar (sp?). He would wrestle and flip ox and horses. It was a dodging strike that defeated him, putting him into immediate shock. This is because the power of this strike travels inward damaging the inside more than the outside. While it may not leave a mark on the outside of the body, its force injures the inside. There are many different types of dodging strikes and methods for using them. Those that are interested may watch this Dodging Strike video. The Opening strikes also make use of circular force. It is not a direct contact strike. It must hit with a whirling motion. Not just striking one place, but covering larger area to the strike. This is true regardless of the type of opening strike. Be it seriating forward or the whirling around. The movement that fuels the strike is the windmill force of the Phoenix, which means that the body’s motion circles and turns. Chopping is also like that, using arches to strike. Chopping is a very fast technique for breaking someone’s grab and allows the shoulder to come into the attack. The Shocking strike of the Phoenix is different than the Lion Shocking strike. This is because of the windmill force that must be used in the strike, regardless if it is a single hand or double hand shocking strike. That is the personality of the first four attacking methods. The first four attacking methods;
The second four attacking methods;
The Transforming strike, as the name implies, is transforming the opponent’s force so it is useless. This skill is primarily found in the five major joints, which are
Transforming looks quite smooth. The Removing strike is not so much implied discharging, as redirecting or relocating. It is the skill of removing the opponents force from his attack, which means that you avoid the heavy blows, so only a light force may penetrate. As I watch fighters in competitions today, it seems not one of them really understands removing a force. It is a competition of hard strength against hard strength. I was discussing this, and the importance of developing the joints so that one could remove an opponent’s force, with China’s coaches. The hip must be nimble, or you’ll be unsuccessful. A good example is understanding how stepping effects the joints. In bagua, you will often hear about pu and kou stepping. So, I will just talk about pu and kou stepping. With pu stepping, the hip joint loses mobility. In trying to go low, you could end up on your own rear. With kou stepping though, you can drop as low as you like and you still have strength. It is important to understand how movement affects transforming and removing, which relies on the five joints. But, where are the roots of this kind of movement? The root is found at the waist. There are actually eight joints that have major mobility in the body.
If one does not understand and cannot use these joints, then there is no need to talk about Transforming and Removing. The attacking methods of Curling In and Stabbing are attacking while transforming and removing. A good example is the wrist. If you are grabbed, by curling in the wrist, you can remove their strength and strike with the wrist, which is more powerful than a fist. Striking with the wrist can be in reverse or straight on. The moment you are grabbed, the wrist curls in and the attack is broken. The elbow can be curled in. The wrist, knee and hip can be curled in. Many people know about rolling the hips under, but they do not know curling in the hip. What does this mean? Many wrestling moves, including various types of throws, are ineffective if you know how to curl in the hip. If they catch you across the back of the thigh, then you will go over, but if by curling in they have the weight of your hip to contend with, either they will go down or retreat. That is using curling in to break an attack. The Phoenix has many impressive ways of breaking an opponent’s attack with Transforming, Removing, Curling In and Stabbing. This brings us to Stabbing .Stabbing is using a hard technique to stop the attack as opposed to a smoother one. You can stab anywhere, which means anywhere can be stabbed. Stabbing is also used to counter leg attacks. As the leg comes in, stab it. Done correctly, you can break the bones of an attacking leg. That is an explanation of the last four attacking methods. I hope that you will diligently watch this video series, as its content is very rich. We are first documenting all the animals to middle level. I hope to find time to document the upper and lower levels as well, as I know many are interested. |
Dr. Xie Peiqi: Today, working with the Association of Traditional Studies, in order to meet the many requests I’ve received from practitioners interested in Yin Style Bagua throughout the world, we’ve begun the task of fully documenting the Xun trigram Phoenix System of Yin Style Bagua. Here, I’d like to give a simple discussion on the Phoenix system itself. First, we must ask, what is the Xun trigram? The Xun trigram is two solid lines with a broken line at the bottom. The animal system chosen for it is the phoenix and the Xun trigrams position is the southeast. Its nature is the wind and when applied to a person refers to the vertebrae and travels the Du meridian (governing vessel) with the mixing of the Qian and Xun trigrams to create the other six. Xun is the first daughter. Thus, she is the oldest daughter. Its personality as daughter is yin, but as she is the oldest, she is the yang within the yin.
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