Baguazhang

[Kajukenbopr]

I've started to study the art of Baguazhang, the 8 trigram palm style of the Internal Arts.

Baguazhang is the sister art of Tai Chi and Xing Yi. Its distinc footwork, movements are done walking around circles, and strikes that are applied open handed in contrast with fists, make this internal art quite different from the Spear-like movements of Xing-yi and the shaolin movements of Tai chi. This art has been taught to bodyguards throughout China as the art produces formidable fighters which can fight more that one opponent.

Since there are no teachers of the art where I live, I can only buy Dvds to begin to learn about this art. I've begun to learn forms and circle walking from the Liang Zhen Pu school, second generation to the founder Dong Haichuan.

Anyone here practice this art? or does anyone here have any experience?

I'd appreciate any experience anyone could share with me about learning this very complex art.

[bushido_man96]

This is the first that I have heard of this style. It sounds very interesting. Does it contain the slow movements of Tai Chi as well?

Good luck in studying this art. Let us know how it goes. Hopefully, you can find an instructor someday.

[James Bullock]

Baguazhang or 8 trigram boxing is an amazing art. I personally have never trained in it but have seen demonstrations. I don't believe there are too many in the us that teach it. But I could be wrong..

Here are a couple of youtube vids of this style..

[Kajukenbopr]

yeah, u can find a lot of videos at youtube, the forms im learning are taught by Li Ziming. you can search for him there. there is also Jiang Bagua, Gao bagua, and Yin bagua at youtube

[Existence_is _suffering]

I haven't even met anyone that has trained in it but I would love to train in it myself!

[Kajukenbopr]

I'm slowly but surely getting into this style...

Its coming along great

[Existence_is _suffering]

Congratulations! Do you know what lineage your studying?

[NightOwl]

I've heard that it is usually found in contemporary wushu and a bit difficult to find on its own. Many styles (especially many longfist and other northern styles) have had this happen and are hard to find in their original forms/ taught exclusively. Let us know if you can find a place! I'm interested in hearing what it is like

[Kajukenbopr]

Congratulations! Do you know what lineage your studying?

Liang style bagua- from Liang Zhenpu.

He learned a combination between Cheng style(uses mainly hitting from the back of the opponent and grappling) and Yin Style(striking and attacking from the sides at an angle)-being the third most prominent student of the founder Dong Haichuan.

Liang Style has "piercing palms" as its main characteristic(meaning they use their fingers locked straight together to attack the opponent, protecting the thumbs to the inside of the hand) along with the common dragon claw palm(the common bagua hand posture)

Liang Zhenpu has a variation of the "64 palms"(straight line form used to develop self defense skill) and a routine to promote the most effective moves he learned from both Yin and Cheng style.

[Kajukenbopr]

I've heard that it is usually found in contemporary wushu and a bit difficult to find on its own. Many styles (especially many longfist and other northern styles) have had this happen and are hard to find in their original forms/ taught exclusively. Let us know if you can find a place! I'm interested in hearing what it is like

Actually, there is no "pure" bagua as the founder never gave a student bagua training for itself.

Dong Haichuan taught students with previous martial arts training: the most known where Yin Fu who knew a shaolin based martial art("lohan fist"

if im not mistaken) and Cheng Tinghua(who practiced Chinese Wrestling "shuai Jiao").

He would see which abilities the student had and work from that, so that instead of making the student learn a completely different art, he would "improve" his martial arts ability.

Although most teachers would like to keep things "pure", baguazhang masters have taught in their own way, making distinct yet similar styles under the same system. The original style has been lost in time, though some argue that they have the original style or a style from which baguazhang evolved from.

You can find various schools throughout the United States and London, HOWEVER, in order to decide if the style being taught is the one you would prefer, i recommend reading information from the internet on various types of baguazhang and their training, at least 10 different sources.

For example; if you read about Erl Montague, he will tell u bagua is a dim mak art(pressure point)- keep in mind what kind of training chinese pressure points. Cheng Stylists dont really need to train their fingers to be very strongs as they will wrestle their opponents, not finger jab them all the time. 9 dragon baguazhang has very very fast footwork and iron palm training- mostly striking from the sides or back. Yin Style looks more like karate with less circular movements. Jiang ron qiao style is out there too, though i dont know its main features other than being from the cheng family. Gao style is the most elusive in the US and UK, since its training material is not easy to find in English- it is supposed to have a different variation where it divides, 2 halves: pre heaven bagua(bagua forms and normal training) and post-heaven bagua( which features a more complex fighting-geared sequences to develop the "ideal" form of bagua skill).

Hope this helps