4bsolute Posted July 18, 2014 (edited) Cycles, living in cycles, consciously, is very new to me. While it holds great benefits at the same time I feel fear. Nontheless I want to go into it and understand it. What is the most efficient way to understand more about all our our cycles? Qigong and Tai Chi are a good way, I assume. I practice Primordial Qigong, that is a good start I know intuitively. It alone has awoken my interest in cycles, therefor I am certain. Is understanding the Bagua a good way of grasping our Nature? Edited July 18, 2014 by 4bsolute Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted July 18, 2014 Bagua's a great MA. You're sure to enjoy it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4bsolute Posted July 18, 2014 Bagua's a great MA. You're sure to enjoy it. The Octahedron, Bagua. Is this Feng Shui? 5 elements, i ching and beyond? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted July 18, 2014 Is understanding the Bagua a good way of grasping our Nature? yes, of course. That's precisely what the Bagua is - Nature. Study the Wuxing, think about the relationships between and progressions through the phases (don't think of them as 'elements'). Consider the psychological side. I started a thread a little while ago that went into it a bit. Basically -- you make your plans and head out on a journey, you arrive at the destination, you store the experiences, you sort the experiences, the experiences that you keep affect your decision when you make your next plan and head out on your next journey. A journey can be as miniscule as a single quick thought; or as small going to the kitchen for a glass of water; or as complex as being born and living a long life. Micro and macro cycles are all intertwined and bound to the same progression, the Wuxing. There's no real start or end point and you can't possibly reach one of these stages without going through the preceding stages. You can't make plans if you don't have an objective but you can't travel forever; when your journey is over, you're going to have memories of it, but you can't have memories of a journey you didn't make; you can't store everything that you collect along the way, so you have to sort through the things that benefit you and the things that damage you, but you can't sort if you haven't collected anything; the things you save and keep are only useful when they're applied to the next cycle ... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted July 18, 2014 (edited) Some Bagua heads hang out on the MA Forum. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/54-chinese-internal-arts-taijiquan-tai-chi-qigong/115031-tom-bisio-bagua-concepts-dvd-s.html The Tom Bisio 'Bagua Concepts' DVDs in that particular post are outstanding but if you put Bagua into the search box you'll find lots more. If you can find a Bagua dojo to train in then that beats any DVD but Tom Bisio is the best IMO 'for' Bagua DVDs. Edited July 18, 2014 by GrandmasterP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4bsolute Posted July 18, 2014 (edited) Alright, thank you both of you. Living a happy and fulfilling life, no one will come around consciously understanding and making use of cycles. Took me only 28years, but better now then never All the best to you! Edited July 18, 2014 by 4bsolute Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daeluin Posted July 19, 2014 The I Ching is great for studying cycles. As is getting to know the cycles of the sun and moon, and observing your tendency to respond or react to their 4 main transitions. There are some posts in the I Ching forum about this. If you're able to find a class that does circle walking as a group, that might be very beneficial. Or just get some friends to do it with you... it's simple. Hold the same postures as you walk, change them, make inside and outside changes together, go slow together, gradually speed up whenever you make changes in direction, then slow down again. Learn to harmonize with each other. Keep the head level as you walk, work on lowering your basin. If you have enough people, explore having a smaller center circle. Explore having women on the inside and men on the outside. Tom Bisio has a great book on circle walking. I hear there is a saying "one walks the circle to find the tao". In my own experience... after a good session of circle walking I feel a bit different in the head. I might be going about my day and surprise myself by responding to a situation completely differently than I normally would. It seems to help my mind develop a circular thought pattern, which then manifests through a smooth and natural ease of adapting to my environment. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) @GMP - there's Bagugazhang and then there's the Bagua :-) Tom Bisio's book 'Decoding the Dao' does a commendable job with the latter. Edited July 19, 2014 by soaring crane 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) Yep. MA was my bag back in the day. There's something for everyone in Bagua. Good book tip. Edited July 19, 2014 by GrandmasterP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
