Complete Xing Yi

Kung Fu Foundations Course i-Bagua offers detailed and interactive courses through the Mighty Networks learning platform and over live zoom classes.

Luo Dexiu in Xing Yi’s San Ti Posture

Historically the Xing Yi Five Elements was the traditional beginners kung fu course of northern China. Luo Dexiu refers to Xing Yi Quan 5 elements training as a “hardware” style of kung fu. The 5 Elements are clear and efficient training tools that provide a solid grounding for the more abstract or “software” styles of kung fu such as tai chi or bagua. The xing yi five elements is however a deep practice in it’s own right and many kung fu masters of old did little else.

It also uses pretty cool imagery


Not only is it a great martial system, it also has significant health and meditative components. Xingyi practitioners are known for their longevity, often outliving Taiji and Bagua practitioners.

The core movements of Xingyi are relatively simple and extremely adaptable. The way they fit together to develop the body, to develop power and for martial use is the genius of the art.

However, the art also has levels of sophistication and subtlety beyond the accumulation and direction of power.

The core movements are also linked to key ideas of Chinese thought and provide a doorway to many aspects of internal cultivation.

Whatever your attraction to Xingyi, you will need to build a strong foundation. That is what this course is for.

  • Explanation of the theory of Xingyi 
  • Exercises to develop the body
  • How to train solo – key forms and variations
  • Different kinds of power – power development exercises
  • Martial use – concepts, techniques, drills
  • Xingyi in the deeper context of health and internal cultivation

More than just exercises and forms – process

Exercises and forms can become just an accumulation of more things to practice, more to fit into a busy life. 

As important as the actual exercises is an understanding of how to do them, how they fit together, how to create a meaningful program. That’s another thing that you’ll find in this course – clear process instructions.  

The process and training principles that you find this course will allow you to be more flexible in how you train, and will speed your progress. You will be better able to adapt the material to your needs and time schedule.

Equally valuable the process and training principles can also be applied to other domains of internal arts study.

As internal arts, Xingyi Tai Chi and Bagua have often been taught together. This is especially true of Xingyi and Bagua (there is an argument for Tai Chi and Xingyi to be paired as the two arts provide greater contrast to each other).

Any of the three arts can stand alone and be sufficient in itself. However, Xingyi is often used to complement the other arts as it is a safe, solid set of skills with which to build useful power and applicable skill that some people may feel they lack.

The arts are different, but they are also complementary. Each one sheds light on the others and does not contradict them.

Finally, there is the simple pleasure in the variety, the different flavours of the three arts. The powerful animal quality of Xingyi, the deep relaxation and subtlety of Tai Chi, the spiraling and spatial sophistication of Bagua.

This course is down to earth. Everything is testable and applicable (with practice) against resisting opponents. 

You won’t find excessive jargon. You won’t get thirty minutes of theory to explain how to lift your hand ‘correctly’. 

You won’t find any air of superiority because of the label internal. 

You won’t find a slavish need to look a particular way, to dress a special way (no silk pajamas) or pressure to buy any magic products. 

This course is not about cosplay or putting other cultures on pedestals. 

You won’t find lies about how deadly this course will make you.

The tuition does not depend on background music, long intro sequences or graphics. Videos go straight to the point and respect your time.

You won’t be looked down on because you like fighting. You won’t be looked down on because you just like the movements and don’t care about fighting

Your questions will be welcome whether you are an experienced martial artist or a total beginner

Many internal arts schools encourage students to do basics for years before engaging in partner practice or anything free. While there are arguments for that approach it’s not really how humans learn.

I encourage students to approach the development of martial arts differently. Movement quality, internal power and the like all need to be developed, and the best way is through clear, simple exercises done with focus and curiosity. But learning is faster if there is contextualization at the same time. 

How do these internal qualities help solve martial problems? The sooner you are exposed to martial problems, the sooner you can add depth to your movement understanding.

It’s like building a bridge? it goes faster if you start from both sides – though you need to take care to meet in the middle.

If you want to 

  • To build your whole body power
  • Develop realistic, applicable martial skills 
  • Have a health and internal cultivation practice
  • Understand the process of internal arts training
  • You just like learning martial arts!
  • Access exclusive content. We’ve designed Xingyiquan foundations to inspire, instruct, and engage.
  • Meet new people. Your fellow students are as motivated as you are to master what we’re exploring here in Xingyiquan Foundations.
  • Get results. As you dive into the course content and meet the community here in Xingyiquan Foundations, you’re on a path of mastery. While it’s not necessarily easy, the transformation we’ll get together matters.

We’re here to get results and we know you are too. Here’s the best way for each of us to get there:

Be supportive. Encourage and support your fellow students. No one here is looking for your criticism, cynicism, advice, or judgement. (We can get those things on the rest of the Internet).

Share generously. Your stories and experiences may be exactly what another student needs to hear today to solve a problem or seize an opportunity.

Be constructive. We’re here to push each other forward and lift each other up. Find ways to help each other think bigger, reframe challenges, and stay curious.

Don’t spam, promote, or troll.  Xingyiquan Foundations exists to help you learn. It’s not a place to spam, promote, or bully anyone else.

By joining Xingyiquan foundations, you’re also a member of Practices beyond style, our overarching community. 

You’ll be able to keep up with our Xingyiquan Foundations activity both here, but also in your main Practices beyond style Activity Feed (think about it as our own Facebook newsfeed with Course and other activity all in one place).

Whatever you do you will do better with a good foundation 

The subtle is built on the clear, depth is built through the refinement of basics, the hidden is discovered through observation of the everyday. 

All of these come to fruition through regular practice and repetition that evolves over different time scales. 

The best time to start is now.

I curate this place so it is not full of trolls, so the conversation is helpful and so it adds to real life and doesn’t swallow it. 

If that doesn’t suit you, click and move on. I wish you well.

If it does suit you, welcome.

Let’s get started – once you’ve read and agreed to the disclaimer.