A little Windy…

June 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The last few weeks we’ve been working on the basic changes and stepping patterns used in Jiulong Baguazhang in preperation of the up comming workshop. This has been more of a fine tuning with some new discoveries into creating an integrated movement creating full body power. We also would spend a littl time some time doing free practice with our Jian(Straight sword) for this event, see description below.

Dr. Painter’s Gathering of the Baguazhang Circle:  Exploring “Wind Palm” (Begins 9 AM Monday June 10)

** Gathering of The Circle 2013: One of the Largest & Longest Baguazhang Gatherings in the WORLD!  **

 

In Jiulong Baguazhang we have 8 “palms” of energy for health and martial art. Each year we explore one of these palms at our annual “Gathering of the Circle” in Albany, New York, following the Tai Chi Gala.

 

Wind Palm Martial Bagua:

 

In the morning and afternoon we will explore “Pi Zhang” (Wind Palm) internal and external energy.  As a martial art method, “wind” is one of the most unpredictable of the bagua palms.  The Wind Palm appears to be a simple chopping action, yet, much deception is hidden within.  Wind energy uproots, splits and divides an opponent’s balance and control in a way unlike any other Nine Dragon Baguazhang posture.  It is highly effective for breaking limbs and for creating instant knock out strikes.  There is no other posture like the Pi-Zhang Wind Palm energy as a method of moving rapidly through multiple opponents.  During this weekday-long immersion, we will explore martial quiet sitting, specialized standing training, linear walking, circle walking and applications of the Wind Palm principles.

 

 

Wind Palm Qigong:

 

Each morning, before breakfast, we will train in the qigong of “Sun Gua Zhang” (Wind Trigram Palm). This qi-magnifying health exercise involves enjoyable sitting, standing and circle walking methods.  As related to this practice from classical ba gua zhang, you can discover how wind training, especially in circle walking, encourages the “Small Heavenly Cycle” (microcosmic orbit) of qi flow through the central governing and receptive meridians (akin to kundalini energy flow),  This cycle of energy is thought to be especially valuable in slowing the aging process and warding off disease.  The energy of this qigong is also said to be beneficial to clearing qi flow of the gall bladder and liver meridians – excellent for clearing anger, frustration, depression, headaches, liver and gallbladder imbalances, as well as for releasing depression and increasing motivation and creativity.

 

 

FREE BONUS Program for all those registered for the Gathering of the Bagua Circle (evenings after dinner):

 

Extended practice and experience in the “Chan (Zen) of Drawing the Sword” ceremony. See Tai Chi Gala workshop description for the basics.  In addition to that, you will also go much deeper into the Zen principles and learn the bagua sword techniques of cutting with Wind Palm energy principles.  Learn the “hand technique” in the daytime, and then learn the equivalent sword technique, here, in the evening.  This is very very rare information you will most likely never see anywhere else in such an accessible way.  It will be taught so that even if you have no prior experience with sword, you can do it here.
As a result we won’t be having a training session Thursday June 13 2013

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Peeling back..

February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This past Thursdays class was more review of the basics, but at a different layer. By taking a basic level concept for example being “song” and bring it into shifting, walking etc it brings a new level, a new experience to ones training. So we started with shifting from side to side, attempting to remain as “song” as possible while doing this our partner would firmly grab our arm and provide a little resistance. At this point examined what occurs both physically and psychologically when we tense up and try to muscel it and remain song and just flow with it. This examination was very interesting with some surprising results. We then moved this examination to a point where it was repeated be walking linearly and have our parter once again grab our arm. Once again we were surprised with the outcome of this.

We will continue on with this exploration and other simialiar explorations over the up coming months. I will also work with other material for example palm (Yi and Xin) energy, weapons, YiXinGong etc. As well as other skills that I’ve learned in my time in the art.

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Back to the Begining.

January 21, 2013 by 1 Comment

Last week we had a new person come for her first class, which is great. This allows us to go back to the beginning and go back through every thing we’ve learnd This is a good thing, I have done this a number of times either on my own, with newer students and through workshops. Why do this… well there is much to learn and improve.

I’ve found that by going back and reviewing the “Basics”, I’ve found to be more structurly sound, more song(void of unnecessary tension) in my standing.  My ability to create the sensations in YiXinGong quicker and stronger. These improvements then flow into my shifting, walking and applying these skills which then also improve two fold. 1 by having a better connection internal and 2 improving my individual skills ie shifting. This is just within the Drogon Rolling the Pearl program. By going back to these “Basics” it will then it will have a similiar effect when working on the individual palms.

So as we start a new year I’ve started going back to the beginning.

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2 Dragons at play

November 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago we were spending some time playing with applying the art against various types of attacks. This is always informative, it gives you a chance to understand what’s actually happening within the punch, kick, joint lock etc while keeping it safe.

We then spent a class playing Anzhangfa, this is a form of push hands. In this exercise/game it brings you a little closer to sparring. However this is still a sensitivity training excercise that is more complex. What makes it more complex, is that you’re walking and in the excitment of playing the game there is a tendency to move faster. When you notice this happening, you need to remember to slow it down. We did this as a warm up for the workshop we went to in Toronto a couple weeks ago.

http://bagua.ca/two-dragons-at-play-workshop-review-part-1/

http://bagua.ca/two-dragons-at-play-workshop-review-part-2/

We also followed up after the workshop with some more Anzhangfa aka two dragons at play.

Finally last week, we went back to working on the basics of linear walking, by attempting to refine our skill even further. A couple things that were focused on were dropping our root and making stepping smoother

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Finding the key.

October 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I know it’s been a bit since the last posting, there has been a lot going on. Most of the summer we reviewed the basics and  focused on refining our structure, both static postures as well in motion.

At the being of the class we worked on refining the circling the circle stepping pattern. I have found that this particular stepping helps in developing your ability to have nimble feet, as well keeping well balanced while moving and changing directions.

In a previous week I had been working on the Big Dragon Turns around stepping pattern and how it can be applied as a means of counterning a hammer lock. So on Thursday myself and Charles took some time to play with what I had been thinking. We then started playing with a few other locks and how to escape them by utilizing core Jiulong Baguazhang principles and specific attitudes. This was very interesting and we had a lot of fun playing with these and we look forward to playing with more of then. With any lock there is a key to unlock it, I’m just paraphrasing something Shifu John Painter has said.

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Back from The Gathering…

June 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last week I was at The Gathering of the Circle, a 5 day Jiulong Baguazhang intensive, so I had Troy work with anyone who showed up.  One of the newer students showed up and Troy worked with him being more sung when working with the wedge and they made a fair bit of progess with it.

For an update of the Gathering see my personal blog http://hamiltonbagua.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/back-from-the-gathering-of-the-circle-fire-palm/ .

Last Thursday, Troy and I spent some time discussing some of the concepts and worked with countering a grappling styled take downs from a static position  and head locks. This was very interesting, in that timing is paramount, especially if you’re stationary.

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Kicks 1,2,3…

May 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This past Thursday there was just a couple of us who have been training in the art for a while. So we took some time and discussed hand positioning with in rolling the pearl posture in relation to dealing with multiple opponents. This was a very interesting discussion as we touched on a number of principals in the art.

After our discussion we decided to look at how to deal with a variety of kicks while circling. This was a really informative learning lesson, as we found that similiar themes occurred among each of the different kicks. For the most part how we handled a front kick, side or back spin kick with very similiarly. By using basic footwork to get us slightly away from the kick, while moving closer “attacker”. While other variations of kicks we only needed to make minor adjustments to how we handled the other kicks.

The more I experiment with this art I find the less I need to learn in the way of techniques. I just need to get really good with the basic concepts and principles and make them natural and fluid.

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Wedge this….

May 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For the last couple of weeks, since Shifu Painter’s workshop on the Wedge. We’ve been playing with it against various types of punches and kicks. On top of practicing it’s basic training exercises.

The Thursday following the workshop it started with some discusion about the wedge and then moved into some basic exercises.These are exercises that help you get an idea of how the wedge should feel, getting the angles, footwork and structure correct.

After this, we then started to play with the wedge vs. a straight punch, and wedge vs. an upper cut to the body. We kept it simple, just keeping to a single step. The interesting thing that we found is that there is very little difference between the two. This makes it a veritile tool in self defense. Remembering and internalizing a single concept is easier than 5 or 6 different techniques.

Last Thursday, we started off with some discussion on the Ba Step and then spent some time working on it. There was also some time spent playing with a game to work our night swallow stepping. Before we did another exploration of the wedge. This time we took some time to look at it vs round house kicks to the upper and lower torso. This was also kept to a single step, but we also acknowledged what would happen next if we were to keep moving.

I look forward to more playing with the wedge in it’s different layers. Here are a couple links to blog posts with video clips from the workshop recently presented about the wedge, http://bagua.ca/secrets-of-the-secrets-of-the-wedge and http://bagua.ca/secrets-of-the-secrets-part-2 and http://bagua.ca/secrets-part-3-disciplined-freedom .

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More Secrets

May 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Here is part 2 of the “Secrets of the Secrets” article series. There’s a new video as well!

Click here :  Secrets of the Secrets Part 2

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The Secret Wedge Workshop Review

May 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Fascinating, challenging, simple, fun, frustrating, amazing…..these are some of the adjectives participants in the recent “Secrets of the Wedge” workshop would use when describing their experiences last weekend.

Here is the first of 3 articles reviewing the weekend, complete with some video!

Click here and enjoy.

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