Baguazhang?

[Shajikfer]

I was curious if anyone has any experience with this art? I am also kind of wondering why it isn't mentioned in the internal arts section. Am I, ah, in the wrong martial arts section for it?

I do love me some circle walking meditation time.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I have had some experience with Baguazhang, but there were (and I think are) others here that had much more experience with Bagua than I.

Many years ago I trained a little Yin style (8 palm), I the other style I do not really know but it was the swimming dragon form. More recently, last year, I was training a little Cheng style (8 palm and qigong). But I never learned any of these styles completely.

 

[Flatfish]

I'm trying…..that's about all I can say….

 

[Shajikfer]

Just found a neat guide online for how to step in baguazhang. Thought you guys might like it.

The Pa Kua Chang Journal - The Circle Walk Practice of Ba Gua Zhang

 

[Xue Sheng]

Pa Kua Journal was a great and you can buy all of them on CD

 

[Shajikfer]

I'd never heard of them! I'm exploring their site now. I kind of dislike learning from video or online guides, but I do like researching arts I practice, so its kind of like double checking to make sure I'm not doing it wrong. Plus they can offer tips that may be insightful...

I just realized I'm a hypocrite lol.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Another good place to research is Plum Publications, but you would have to buy the books. They have some great Baguazhang translations

 

[K-man]

• Erle Montaigue was a great exponent of Bagua. Unfortunately he passed on a few years back but if you can find his material it is very good.

 

[blindsage]

I've been studying Bagua for the last 7 years, a combination of Cheng styles (and a little bit of Fu thrown in). Pa Kua Chang Journal is a phenomenal resource.

 

[OzPaul]

Tom Bisio at Ba Gua Zhang Xing Yi Quan and Nei Gong Authentic Chinese Internal Arts has some great information on his site and is also a nice guy. You can sign up to his newsletter

 

[Blaze Dragon]

I am also kind of wondering why it isn't mentioned in the internal arts section. Am I, ah, in the wrong martial arts section for it?

Your in the right section, the big three when it comes to neidan arts are Taijiquan (tai chi quan), Pakuaquan (Baguaquan), Hsingiquan (Xingyiquan). I studied all three with my sifu and the way I remember it being presented is building our internal energy through qigong which helped with all 3. What we call "Classical Pakua" which I think is called 8 trigrams, or 8 palms in other systems can be practice both fast or slow, we would practice these slowly in a meditative state as well as fast paced.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Hey BlazeLee, nice to see you posting again

 

[Blaze Dragon]

good to see you posting as well Xue Sheng

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I was curious if anyone has any experience with this art?

The only concern about this CMA system is the "crossing legs" from the grappling art point of view. No other CMA systems use this kind of body posture and there is a good reason for it.

It will give your opponent a chance to sweep your leg.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Nice use of still photos to make a case that does not exist. No other system is as big into circling either and for crying out loud it is not cross legged, the stance is not all that different than xingyiquan if you go with just the leg position... and there are cross legged "postures" in xingyi taiji, Changquan, and several other CMA styles... and i will stop now before this becomes a PC discussion

 

[blindsage]

I find it amusing when people speak with authority about things they are completely wrong about.

 

[oaktree]

We do not cross our legs in our style of baguazhang in our circle walking, as for any Baguazhang styles crossing their legs at any given point maybe I do not know but I can not think of any at this moment.
If you looked deeper in some of the styles of Baguazhang you will see a lot of them did come from a grappling background.
Cheng style is very well known for this. Cheng Tinghua - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[greytowhite]

I'm learning it now through Kenny Gong's line. If past lives are real then I think I must have learned bagua in a past life, it's like remembering more than learning for me sometimes. Like taijiquan there is a lot of conflicting information out there dependent on who you talk with and what lineage they are from. I really like putting our xingyi on a circle, it's a great mind training exercise.

 

[K-man]

I'm learning it now through Kenny Gong's line. If past lives are real then I think I must have learned bagua in a past life, it's like remembering more than learning for me sometimes. Like taijiquan there is a lot of conflicting information out there dependent on who you talk with and what lineage they are from. I really like putting our xingyi on a circle, it's a great mind training exercise.

So what have you got against Erle Montaigue?

 

[greytowhite]

I think Erle's arts are to put it kindly, heavily modified.