New to PaKua

[wildfire]

I used to be a student of Isshinryu Karate-do, but my Sensei's dojo closed. I have been off and on again trying to find a new school and became very interested in the chinese arts. It's a change to be certain, but I'm excited about getting into something completely new to me.

My area really doesn't offer much in the form of martial arts training. Oh there are some training halls, but most of them are franchise places that say 'Karate' on them even though they teach a modified dubbed down americanized competetion version of Tae-Kwon-do. Which naturally I stray away from.

But I located one school not to far from me that offers Pa-kua and they seem to be a very good school. Very rooted in tradition, application, and demand good hard work. (after all, what is "Kung-Fu" without hard work??) I'm excited, just hope I can afford it. I'm contacting the school today about classes and tuition.

I was just wondering if there was some things anyone here could tell me about the style? I know a little, but every perspective is different. If there is anything you would suggest reading, any special physical conditioning that might better prepare me, what to look for to ensure this is a good school in this style (though they look pretty good from where I'm standing) and a little baout your own experince in this style. They also supliment in teaching Qi-Gong so information on that is helpful to.

I've been to Karate forums before, but this is also exciting as I never got to contribute and meet the artist in the Chinese Arts section before. I look forward to meeting all of you.

[Kajukenbopr]

ok, first of all, i suggest you look for the books " the way of energy" and "the way of power" by Master Lam Kam Chuen. this will give u the chikung training you need to progress faster, though, your intructor should teach it to u eventually.

second, be sure to read up about "baguazhang" , "long fist" and "neijia", you can probably look it up at wikipedia.org

third- as a long fist, norther style of China, it doesnt contain high kicks, most forms look very relaxed(like tai chi) but more spontaneous and firm. the style revolves around circle walking, almost always walking forward, almost never do they step backwards without looking. emphasis is put on palm techniques, though some punches from "xing Yi" are also used.

forms are complex and though the circle walking and the forms seem to be enough to become a good fighter, the real prowess comes from the chikung training, both the "stake exercises" and the "circle walking".

[wildfire]

Thank you.

What is circle walking exactly? I saw that on the website for the school I plan to attend but I don't understand what it is. Is it like taisabaki in Karate? Moving around an attack to evade?

[Kajukenbopr]

watch out for the guy walking around the tree-that is walking the circle.

you walk the circumference of a circle putting emphasis on keeping your guard up towards the center of the circle(where your opponent should be at) first this is done slowly and gradually you progress to add more fluidity and finally speed. also,you begin walking upright, then lowering ur knees to medium height, then lowering yourself to a seated-like position.

walking in a circle usually is done by keeping one foot inside the circle while the other is just outside the circle. the inside foot keeps walking in a straight line; the outside foot curves gently to the inside,making the body keep walking around the circle.

the body must be positioned to twist to the inside of the circle, keeping one hand at waist level and the other at shoulder height. Both hands are open and the finger position varies on style.

the point of this type of walking is not so u constantly walk around the opponent, but to use like taisabaki, right after your opponent begins an attack- your opponent cant change directions easily while performing a single attack, and will need to stop or slow down and change directions in order for follow ups to keep up with the target(you).

the circle walking helps position yourself to the sides or back of the opponent and attack where someone cannot defend well or at all.

[Kajukenbopr]

i found another video for you to look at:

it has a form and applications. Its very different from karate.

Hope you like it.

[wildfire]

Wow...I think I might be in love with this style.

I already liked the forms because in Karate I loved Taisabaki but I wished it was focused on alot more and the Paqua equivelent to that seems to be one of the main focuses.

Then I saw the application, and again...wow..... It's so applicable, yet so pretty to watch!!!

See these videos showed paqua about the same way as described on the website of the school I'm going to attend. But some of the other ones on Youttube that claimed to be Baqua had a whole bunch of high kicks and acrobaticts and I couldn't beleive my eyes...Katanas....huh? Apparently there are a few fake schools out there.

[Kajukenbopr]

yeah, definitely fake, their school comes from a "teacher" of name MAgliacano, or something like that.

he chose to use a variant of aikido with hapkido and named it bagua just because they do a warped version of the circle walking(which i might add is useless).

but, yeah, i practice kajukenbo self defense ( more like kempo karate) and i've been learning baguazhang by myself for about year and a half now and i love learning about it.

[wildfire]

Well I went to the school today to check it out and meet the Shifu. I am so impressed! The schools great, the teacher is great! Every policy they have is exactly what I thought a martial arts school should be, but I have never found one before now that did it. I think I may very well have found where I belong. The Shifu is just amazing. I feel like I learned a great deal just by talking to him for a few minutes.

I'm really excited to begin training, which should be in a week or so. Thank you for your help.

[Kajukenbopr]

no problem.

if i can help with anything more, either leave a message here or privame message me.

[cross]

Then I saw the application, and again...wow..... It's so applicable, yet so pretty to watch!!!

The applications look good if the idea is "how to do the form with a training partner", but if thats their idea of self defense training, im not so sure.