Bagua Zhang

[mograph]

There's something for everyone. Just as there are auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners, so there are Taijiquan, Xingyiquan and Baguazhang people.

.. at least.

The more involved martial history discussions often come off as quasi-religious. Just as some (most?) religious people want to believe that their religion is the best one in the world, some (most?) martial people feel the same way about their art ...

... because they don't want to believe they've backed the wrong horse.

Yes. "Internal, External, doesn’t matter. Train hard, train right and be healthy." But what is "right"? I'd offer "relax, breathe, use whole-body connection, pay deep attention". One Tai Chi author wrote "relax, breathe, feel the ground, do nothing extra."

Anything else, basics-wise?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Which leads me to what my Sifu told me his Sifu said when a student was getting way to much into the whole breathing thing and asked about breathing and Taiji; My Shigung's answer was "yes you should".

What is right, good question, I guess in the context I posted it would be follow your Shifu and learn the style you have chosen to train and I really do not want to sound like a movie, a religious person or a fortune cookie but "empty your cup" applies.

I did not start training taiji correctly until I stopped trying to apply my previous styles (Jujutsu and TKD), stopped worrying about internal/external, and accepted the fact that my shifu knows better than I do as to what I am ready to learn. Oh and accept that he knows more about the style than I do as well. That, I guess is what I mean by right.