Xingyi practice is organized around five element theory as a way to focus the mind on developing speed, power, and an understanding of internal and external forces. Each of the five fists organizes the body so that it has easy access to the attributes of its corresponding element, but the movement and its elemental embodiment remain independent from each other and can be developed separately.

Because the five elements are universal, and in many ways fundamental, they provide a common language for understanding and communicating human experiences. The specifics of how you embody each element is related to your personal understanding of their attributes and all of the impressionistic associations you have developed with that element through knowledge and experiences specific to your life. Once you are comfortable with your elemental embodiments, any movement can be imbued with any element.

• Metal: Dense and sharp like a blade. Highly conductive of energy and forces. Rigid. When a force is applied to one end, the other end expresses it immediately.
• Water: Massive but formless like the ocean. Relentless. Placid on the surface but containing immense power underneath. Always fills all available space starting from the bottom and building upward.
• Wood: Alive and springy like a young tree limb but rooted at the center (remember, half of every tree is underground, it’s dantian resting on the horizon). Favors tensile strength over compressional strength. Able to bend, whip and focus power into a point like a switch made from a sapling.
• Fire: Massless. Spiraling upward and around that which it consumes. Unpredictable in position.
• Earth: Inevitable. Tectonic. The context in which we move. Unmovable in itself, yet able to manipulate the direction of gravity.