Bagua

Have been working with my students on Bagua.  It was a martial art created by legendary Dong Hai Chuan.......who actually never really revealed where he learned the art from.  Bagua is unique in that it is based on a taoist walking meditation excercise and utlizes the I-Ching to explain it's techniques....each kua of the octagon represents a foot technique,hand technique and throwing technique and defines what angle an attack or defense must take.  It is also unlike Taiji in that while relaxed it is done at full speed. According to legend Dong's que would stand out straight as he walked the circle.  However, what many people forget is that walking the circle is merely for training ....when you attack you must do it in a straight line.  For this reason, the 64 Palms is so important...it helps the student to develop both defense and attack.  You are always one technique and step ahead of your opponent.  Many modern wushu students think Bagua is purely a circular art.........that's all you ever see at a tournament, but to use the art you must be able to use it in a straight line........straight lines can bisect a circle or can be a tangent off of a circle......they define the route of the attack. Each palm has 8 techniques....each technique has 8 variations....leads to a staggering amount of techniques that cover all possibilities.  Each technique sets up the opponent for the next one,until there is no escape. I am always impressed with the depth of knowledge that went into creating the different styles of wushu.....to think you know everything is to close your mind to the infinite possibilities of wushu!!  The result of studying the 64 palms has been that some of my female students have taken a real interest in how to apply techniques..........many of them have also taken up aikido now......most appropriate since the creator of aikido........studied Bagua also in order to create his style.   Chinese go from form to application, the Japanese from application to form....just a different approach, both paths lead to the same thing.  It is said by the Taoist: there are many roads to the Tao.....each person's journey is different but the path all lead to the Tao.  One thing I should add about the study of Bagua, it was never meant to be an art for beginners.....all of Dong's students were masters already....all he did was take their knowledge and apply the art of Bagua to it.........so his number one student Yin Fu was a shaolin stylist......so he learned shaolin bagua, Cheng Ting Hua was a wrestler...he learned shuai Chao Bagua, Fu Zhen Soong combined his knowledge of Chen taiji.and Xing-i with his Bagua................so an interesting and very complex art.  In March my students will have a chance to show my classmate from Beijing, Yang Shi Ming their 64 Palms.  This will be his first trip to the USA...he has worked with myself and my students when we have travelled to China to train.  He is a student of Grandmaster Zhao Da Yan, whom many consider the number one Bagua teacher in Beijing......unfortunately because of poor health Grandmaster Zhao is no longer teaching, though he is busy writing books on Bagua. oh well gotta go now do some prep work for tomorrow's class. Later,all!!