Shing-Yi is one of the three principal soft or internal systems (T'ai-chi ch'uan and Pa-Kua Chang are the other two) within the Chinese "boxing" arts which integrate mind and body—work--hence its name, which translates to "Body-mind Boxing" or "The Shape of Mind Boxing." It is practiced with a light, quick, sometimes penetrating mode—never ponderous, sluggish, tense or heavy.

The CenterPoint training program for Shing-Yi starts with recognition of the importance of meditation postures, incorporating Santi, the foundation stance, with chi flow.

The other four basic parts to the study include:

1. Five basic actions/Five Elements

1. Splitting (Pi Ch’uan), Metal
2. Crushing (Peng Ch’uan), Wood
3. Drilling (Tsuan Ch’uan), Water
4. Pounding (P’ao Ch’uan), Fire
5. Crossing (Heng Ch’uan), Earth

2. The Twelve Animal Styles: eagle, chicken, phoenix, tiger, crocodile, snake, horse, dragon, leopard, crane, monkey, swallow.
3. Forms

1. Wu Shing Lien Huan: Linking the Five Elements form. Taught after 5 Elements are introduced.
2. Lien Huan Si Ba Ch’uan: Snake form, taught after first six Animal Styles are introduced.
3. Za Shih Chui: Varieties of Grasping. Taught after all 12 animal Styles are introduced.

Shing-Yi styles are generally thought to be of several varieties: the Honan school, the Shansi school and the Hopei school. The style presented by CenterPoint is a product of what one Master brought from Beijing to Berkeley, CA, after a lifetime of studies of all the major Chinese internal arts. The teachings of Master Ying were a distillation of the sharing of many masters who gathered every morning for years. We may, therefore, say that the CenterPoint Shing-Yi Ch’uan is of the Integrated School.