BaGua Kung Fu
History and background
Ba Gua palm focuses on walking in a circle. Its creator is Dong Hai Chuan who was born in the third year of the Jia Qing emperor in the Qing Dynasty, and died in the eighth year of Guang Xu (1797-1882). He had been interested in Ba Gua palm since he was very young. He visited many famous practitioners of martial arts and absorbed the essence of their styles, with inspiration from “Zhou Yi?theory, he created a set of completed Kung Fu movements, which became what is known as Bagua Palm now.
The trigrams and their corresponding animals in martial arts are:
Practice of Ba Gua focuses on the palm. Firstly walk in a circular motion, then turn your body following the palm, and the steps move following the body. The route of Ba Gua palm is a circle which is made by eight specific zones. In order to practice the spirits and guide Qi flow. the practitioner walks along the circle. The main step is “Tang Ni Bu?(literally: Walk in Mud). It is a stable and powerful step. The center of gravity is kept low, like sitting on a chair. The step is done as follows: “one leg on the inside circle moves straight, and the other leg on the outside circle is buckled, so the step is also called ?Li Zhi Wai Kou (lit. inside straight while outside turns)? Another step is the Crane Step which looks like a red-crowned crane turning around; it is like a chicken when raising the leg; it is like a crane when stretching the leg; it is like a camel when landing. Breathe in when raising leg, and breathe out when stretching leg. The whole body needs to be relaxed, stable, slow, and even. It is effective for improving health to practice in this manner. You cannot practice the palm until you have mastered the step because you cannot coordinate your whole body when practicing palm if the Kung Fu of the lower part of your body is not practiced well.
There are many key points during the practice of Ba Gua, for example, look forward; the neck is straight; the tongue is against the roof of the mouth; the back is straight; relax the shoulders; the knees are inward and buckled to protect the crotch; ten toes buckle into the ground.
The essence is in: the “three empties,?the chest is empty, the centre of the hand is empty and the centre of the sole is empty; the “three against? the head is against the neck, the tongue is against the roof of the mouth and the hand is against the outside; the “three rounds? the point of the hand is round, the crotch is round and the back is round. Body, step and palm techniques are coordinated with each other. The most important principle is to twist the waist and harmonize the arms.
The power is used through the feet. You need to remain calm but agile. Qi drops to the Dantian, The main eight styles include: eight firm palm (Ba Da Mu Zhang) and 64-hand, You Shen Lian Huan palm. The weapons are Ba Gua broadsword, Ba Gua straightsword and other Ba Gua special weapons including Ba Gua Kylin mandarin ducks.
Bagua forms we teach here:
| Form name in Pinyin | English translation |
| bagua tangni bu | Bagua Dripping Mud Step |
| jichu ba bu | The Basic Bagua Palm |
| ba da zhang | Eight Big Palm |
| bagua youshen lianhuan zhang | Bagua Swimming Continuous Palm |
| bagua liushisi shou | Bagua Sixty Four Hand |
| bagua huan gunshou dao | Bagua Rolling Hand Broadsword |
| bagua ziwu yue | Ba Gua Zi Wu Ancient Battle-axe |