By Matthis Isaksen, Member until 2017

On Friday 18 May, the first part of TLUS Hsingi 1 was held in the Barfodssalen in Ballerup. I myself, among other brown and black belts, had turned up to receive instruction in this Chinese style.

It was already announced in advance that this course would be hard, thus requiring high concentration, focus and willingness to learn. Which is also the reason why it is targeted at the TG4 group, i.e. practitioners around 1st dan. Personally, this meant I was expecting a physically demanding course (which is probably very telling of how I feel about such things!). An expectation that did not quite manage to hit reality. We will return to this.

At the start of the course, Kimu Sensei announced that in this course we would not start with a theoretical review containing history etc.. This was reserved for kyu courses, and it was instead our own task to sniff out the subject before the next time we meet, where there would then be a comprehensive theoretical presentation.

So it was straight to the point! However, we were briefly told that some of Hsingi had its origins in street fighting. Here it had been observed that what made the difference was which of the fighters was best at exercising optimal speed, precision and power! In other words, Hsingi puts a lot of emphasis on power discharges, which is what we were going to learn. If you are in doubt about what this means, you can try to think of the 'one-inch punches' that Bruce Lee in particular was known to perform with. A discharge of force; short, to the point and precise.

So let's get back to it with the expectation and what I had misunderstood. Words like speed, power, precision and hard course easily lead one to think that it is something physically marked. But the fact is that Hsingi is what is characterized in China as an 'internal system'. This means that there is a great focus on the person's inner clarity, will and attitude, as opposed to physical aspects such as strength, flexibility etc.. A suitable (not direct) translation of Hsingi is also "The creation of correct attitude/will". You can say, both about good Karate and Hsingi, that although it looks hard on the outside, it is soft on the inside.

So what did this mean to me? The first thing that was done on the course was to consider some of the vulnerable points on the body. Points where you e.g. can break the opponent's balance, or directly knock-out him/her. This is where precision comes into play. We practiced using these points in partnership and felt their effect. After a few repetitions, the result was that sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes you came, e.g. to stand incorrectly in relation to the goal, or you did not have optimal control of the opponent. That's what can happen..

But wait! I slept in class! Kimu Sensei asked the audience how it was that when we had been told to hit a certain target, we did not make sure we were able to do it. After all, it was our task to hit these points, and when you are given a task, you have to solve it. It's as simple as that. Instead of solving the task, I had just run on the routine, or 'inside the box and comfort zone', instead of focusing on the goal and the learning. This is clearly not the correct setting! Both when trying to learn, and for that matter dealing with an opponent.

But okay, get on the horse, you had to say, and then continue! The next thing we trained was that we faced each other in groups in Heiko-dachi, after which there was an attack, a parade and a counter. One man in the middle, and 4 around, who take turns attacking. Followed by a short evaluation. Kimu Sensei explained that Yakami Shinsei-ryu is "one attack, one counter", "One-strike, One kill". Simple as that. So what a fitting thing to train.

After a while, however, Kimu Sensei had to tell us that we were doing some pretty bad attacks. Just as the man in the middle had to focus to defend himself, it was also important that the forwards did their best to deliver a proper attack. That was the task! And the person in the middle is deeply dependent on the quality of the attacks to be able to be pressed and develop.

We were gathered for a demonstration where a random group demonstrated and the rest watched. It was asked, "How many different attacks were there?" The silence was deafening. “Uh, two?”..

Kimu Sensei observed that we merely looked but did not see. Now it was time to get together. It is far from an impossible task to observe 4 attacks. After finding out repeatedly that you weren't focused, it was gradually seeping in. From now on should be full focus! There were no bad excuses. If there was a problem, you had to put yourself in a situation where you could deal with that problem.

The atmosphere in the hall had completely changed. Everyone tried hard to execute the best defenses and attacks they could think of. If this was all there was to it, however, one would probably have been surprised. Kimu Sensei demonstrated and pointed out several other factors that contributed to why we could not execute the optimal defense or attack. Egos were challenged, and both praise and rice were distributed.

A mistake I made myself was that before the attack, I expected an attack from a certain side. Just as I started out expecting something specific to happen on the course, I expected how the attack would turn out. This meant that when I was suddenly met with something other than expected, I was unable to handle the problem that came my way! However, I also experienced that I freed myself from the expectation, and thus had the same opportunity to parry attacks from the right or left. If I had done the same before starting the course, what might the result have been?

Finally, Kimu Sensei told us that this was the prerequisite to being able to learn Hsingi. That you have the correct attitude, both for learning and in the fight. This was the difference between dan and kyu. As Dan, you find a way to handle the tasks that are set for you. At kyu level you are 'carried' most of the way. So for aspiring "Dans" like myself, there is something to work with. But you eventually get used to that 🙂

The first part of Hsingi 1 was actually a 'hard' course. A mentally tough course. A course that required full concentration and presence. But that's only good! Because that is what is needed for me to develop. So if there's anything I should take away from this training, it's probably this. That I should not be afraid of the challenges I face. I will welcome them with open arms.