BaGua Help

[BaguaKicksAss]

excellent summation (is that a word?) of the dragon body foundation IMO.

The seperation twist should slowly be built and the waist must do before the feet eventually linking the whole body. An instructor for alignment and dilligent play and ones conscience will lead the way.

 

Yes slowly, that is what my chiropractor advised after I had to go in due to not being able to move due to a pinched nerve after twisting too far with one of the exercises... oops LOL.

[BaguaKicksAss]

There are several types of stepping in Bagua and they all serve their purpose, but ultimately the most important points of practice are the following (in terms of internal development, health and harmony with the Tao/enlightenment):

 

1. Mindfulness. Single most important point. Are you focused while you practice or are you letting worldly affairs and worries interfere with your practice? Is your mind empty or is the monkey mind in full control?

2. Morality. Continuous work on this aspect will improve your practice

3. Focus on internal work (jing-qi-shen) and walk the circle soft like a baby would crawl on the floor, relaxed allowing for that feeling to occur. The Chinese term for this is "xian tian." Don't get caught up with "form" and "learning too many forms" because it will only lead to wushu.

4. Circle walk.

5. Body twisting.

6. Eight Mother Palms and Single Palm Change.

7. Feeling of the core. Always emphasise and pay more attention to waist movement and core power (point no. 3). Walk the circle slowly (huan in Chinese), softly/smoothly/relaxed and well-rooted (refer to points no 1 & 4).

8. Don't overdo your practice. Train at 70% of your capacity. Confucian law of balance and harmony.

9. Good diet, rest and schedule. If you eat junk or convenient food, food that promotes dampness, drink alcohol and practice too much sex, it will have a detrimental effect in your practice. Training inconsistenly will slow down your practice. Training too much will also slow it down and ultimately make you very sick.

 

Note: points 1 & 2 are in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path.

 

10. Sink.

11. Sink some more

 

.

[Trunk]

What style of Bagua are you into?

 

Well, I'm *very* new to bagua, not yet aware of the different styles, and am a slow learner. I'm practicing from Sifu Matsuo's dvds; I don't know what style it is other than that. Maybe zerostao or spiraltao could say more about what style it is?

[BaguaKicksAss]

I highly recommend some in person training if you can find anyone. Vids are awesome, but can only take you so far IMO.

[spiraltao]

wu family

Kunlun

Wudang Snake

Unorthodox Cheng is 13 elbow form

Unorothodox Fu Tornado Palm form.

The wudang stuff is labled on youtube.

Lao Xie waters down nothing. Beyond intricate. Hands on traing can tweak so many things it will speed up progress. The gung fu of the player must be there in both cases. No need to rush. More is less and less is more.

 

BTW I by no means represent DGS but I can testify of the energetic and health benefits from what little I have had transmitted bless those who share. I still owe a debt.

Edited July 10, 2013 by spiraltao

[BaguaKicksAss]

Yeah actually being a slow learner is to your benefit beleive it or not. I didn't beleive it at first, but do now . I have two students... the "slower learner" is now progressing much better than than the really fast learner due to reasons of having to focus and practice more. This is after about a year of training.

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Gerard

[spiraltao]

I need the ding shr as I already have the other two. Great price

 

 

 

[zerostao]

the sun zhijun video

thanks for sharing gerard

and

http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/bagua/liujingru.html

[doc benway]

Good stuff gerard and zero, thanks!

[spiraltao]

wow great info! Thanks zerostao.

I wonderwhy only three changes? I think because every other change is an innovation peculire to each master?

[doc benway]

wow great info! Thanks zerostao. I wonderwhy only three changes? I think because every other change is an innovation peculire to each master?

That's what my teacher told me - the original bagua is limited to circle walking and the first 3 palms.

The remaining palms and more complicated patterns were added later and are give each stye it's unique flavor.

I suspect taiji and xingyi are similar in that way.

[Gerard]

.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Gerard

[doc benway]

Yeah, I don't get hung up on history too much.

Actually, I think my teacher may have said that originally, the practice was 2 palms and the linking form to be more precise.

Whatever... it's good stuff, and there's no doubt in my mind that the training has always involved infinite variations on the basic theme. I'm solely focusing on the oral transmission from my teacher in terms of what I practice. Frankly, I think the origins and knowledge have always been obscure - even in China, then and now. I'm blessed to have my teacher, I feel like I have a direct connection to the source. Then again, each generation adds and subtracts something to the art. That's part of the beauty as well.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Bruce Frantzis has a good video there about the three palms:

 

[Gerard]

.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Gerard

[baiqi]

That's what my teacher told me - the original bagua is limited to circle walking and the first 3 palms.

I don't know, but that's how I practice now. (Appart from mother palms, and some jiben gong).

 

 

The martial aspect is composed of eight animal systems. They are: Lion, Snake, Bear, Dragon, Phoenix, Rooster, Unicorn (Qilin in Chinese, Kirin in Japanese), Monkey. Each animal system is its own complete system based on the personality of the Trigram it represents."

I still am wondering about this "eight animal" system. Where does it come from? Some systems have it (not just the Yin Fu style), others don't.

Actually it is strange for me to say: "this palm is related to this animal/trigram." Cause each system seems to have its own interpretation. (This is different from Xingyi quan, for example, where pi chuan=metal, beng quan= wood etc. and all schools seem to agree)

[spiraltao]

Ours is the Jiang Rong Qiao and we have postures nearly identical animals except rooster. Our eight are lion, bear, snake, monkey,unicorn, phoenix, roc or flying dragon is what my sifu calls it and the standard dragon posture. Each has specific way of attacking your adversary.

[JustBHappy]

The Gao lineage I study has 12 animals. There are also numerous animal movements within the rest of the system.

The 64 hou tian palms all relate to a specific hexagram, with each group of eight having a primary trigram. These are really the heart of the system and the most applicable to combat and to life in the external world of appearances. The 'manifested' world that we call reality.

I was also given a similar Bagua diagram from my Liang master which I would assume relates directly to the 64 straight line palms from that system but I haven't verified this with him, nor have I took the time to translate all of it.

The 12 animals have nothing to do with, or have no direct relationship with the trigrams/hexagrams as far as I know. But they do kick ass none the less.

[Walker]

I've never seen/heard of someone turning their spine 180 degrees. It's not something I currently understand nor aspire to. The above is just the bit that I've heard that is at least a little relevant.

 

Last I tried, I can nearly accomplish this, and I don't practice specifically towards it. The ability seems to come naturally when one emphasizes keeping the chest turned into the center of the circle.

 

There's a good chance I'll meet the fellow I mentioned again. I'd might even study with him, but last I saw him, when he observed that I'm a vegetarian, he declared, "no disciple of mine has ever been a vegetarian!" I retorted, "yeah, but I'm not your disciple." Luckily, everybody was in good spirits (both figuratively and literally--and as an aside my diminished interest in boozing also keeps me from doing too much "networking" in the martial arts world where lunchtime banquets will have you so drunk so early in the day that your hangover starts at 6pm instead of 6 the next morning) and China is far less traditional than it used to be, or I'd be persona non grata with the quickness for talking back to an elder. Anyway, when he and I cross paths again and if he permits, then I'll take a photo or video and post it here.

[tendou]

For circle walking as a health/ chi kung related practise, any dvd that is good for self learning?

 

I am not looking for martial application which is near impossible without a teacher but is circle walking as a chi kung practise possible?

[baiqi]

Yes it is.

[baiqi]

Ours is the Jiang Rong Qiao and we have postures nearly identical animals except rooster. Our eight are lion, bear, snake, monkey,unicorn, phoenix, roc or flying dragon is what my sifu calls it and the standard dragon posture. Each has specific way of attacking your adversary.

I know the Jiang Rongqiao form, and you have the names of the eight animals in it, but not in the same order as in Yin Fu or Sun styles.

 

Could you depict the postures more deeply please? And how do you link them to the form.

 

The Jiang Rongqiao form is very famous, but I feel most of those who practice it today lack the essence of bagua. Bagua is an art of principles, not choregraphy. There is too much emphasis on choregraphy with this style.*

There are parts of this form that seem a bit odd to me (especially in the third and fourth palm changes where you have some linear elements...)

 

So I'd like to hear your approach on this bagua zhang school.

 

* my purpose here is NOT JRQ's bagua bashing. I have no doubt some masters of this style are very competent. But I have noticed this tendency more than with other styles.

[doc benway]

For circle walking as a health/ chi kung related practise, any dvd that is good for self learning?

 

I am not looking for martial application which is near impossible without a teacher but is circle walking as a chi kung practise possible?

The more I practice the circle, the more I think this is a very old technique that has profound benefits outside of the martial arena.

[Trunk]

For circle walking as a health/ chi kung related practise, any dvd that is good for self learning?

 

I am not looking for martial application which is near impossible without a teacher but is circle walking as a chi kung practise possible?

 

 

What kind of martial arts do you teach?

 

The part

. Edited July 22, 2013 by Trunk