Rooted Step

[sifu-kisu]

The 80th generation of the Maoshan Sect of the Shangqing School, Li Zhitai, the inheritor of the martial arts of the Shangqing School.

[rootedstep]

This is a style I would love to learn.

[fuforthought]

Those of you familiar with legendary director, Lau Kar Leung, may now that kung fu cinema fans refer to him as “Pops.” Basically, because he was the father of all this shit. Well, Pops had a go-to woman for him films. A woman who, while not largely known among non-kung fu fans, was given the name “Auntie” by the true aficionados. Kara Hui is iconic as they come. A woman who truly had to hold her own in the male-heavy business of Shaw Brothers kung fu movies. She even ended up with a film focusing mainly on her, The Lady is the Boss. But while people talk about Cynthia Rothrock, Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima and the rest of them, Kara Hui was the SHAW BROTHERS woman martial artist. Lily Li popped up in a few but she got nowhere near the exposure Kara got. Oh and she wasn’t anything to sneer at. Just watch this fight from Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. She had moves that easily matched those of her male counterparts. Shapes…weapons…she could do it all. For those that think, “I swear I’ve seen her face,” you might be more familiar with her as one of the villain’s from Donnie Yen’s Wuxia aka Dragon. Those two have a fresh as fuck showdown in that film. Her filmography is a lengthy one and she just never really gets the credit she’s deserved. She’s fought the best on screen. She’s dipped into more dramatic roles as she’s gotten older but there’s no doubt in her being one of the best to ever do it.

[sifu-kisu]

[sifu-kisu]

[rootedstep]

Jiandong Chinese great sword

[rootedstep]

My teacher's teacher doing both Hsing yi five fist linking forms.

[sarahseeandersen]

[skinynoodle]

Some Tips I Guess

One of the things that I can’t stress enough is to lower your sugar and carbohydrate intake. Under no circumstances should you ever eat bread, pasta or rice in the evening. Scratch that don’t have a full meal in the evening. Take something light like fruit or vegetables. Our metabolism slows down at around 6 which means that you will be burning even less calories.

If you can stick to vegetables, fruit and a bit of cheese and protein you should lose a bit of weight without exercise.

Stuff to avoid completely: chocolate (but dark chocolate is good), yoghurt, so called “healthy” fruit bars, shellfish. I would also avoid all cereals if possible. Most if not all of them have added sugar and syrup. Try taking green tea or fruit for breakfast.

One of the most important and effective pieces of advice ever is to not drink your calories! DO NOT under any circumstances buy soda or juices. Just have water!

If you are really determined you should be willing to plan your meals. If you’re spending time at school or work prepare a healthy meal so you won’t be tempted to buy junk food.

Timing can also make a difference. Take your few carbohydrates before going to work or school because that’s when you spend the most energy.

If you want to lose weight quickly you have to exercise. You don’t need a gym membership but it can certainly help. Join a sports group, basketball, volleyball or football. There are lots of exercises you can do at home such as squats, sit ups, push ups, wall sits.

Now the difficulties I’ve had with exercise are a lot. When I first started to do them I would get muscle pain that would last for days. It was so painful I could barely walk. But it got better, I simply gave my body time to heal and increased my workout. I’ve come really far in just 3 months. Currently I’m facing a new challenge and that is heat. I hate being hot, I hate the sun and I hate Summer.

I’ve been following these tips for 4 months and I’ve already noticed that my thighs are smaller and my family has what you could call “fat genes”. We gain weight very easily and we don’t lose it easily.

So yeah that’s all for now. I’ll be posting a few more tips in the future.

[rootedstep]

The state of modern Shaolin

[gymaaholic]

[rootedstep]

Perfect form.

[shaped-by-karate]

Dear Shaped by Karate, i am trying to learn bagua. I have two books and tons of online videos but sadly I do not live anywhere near a bagua instructor. How can I take my training to the next level without moving to a new town?

While it’s not a bad thing to learn from videos or books, as long as you’re dedicated and put in the enormous effort required, a teacher is quintessential for corrections, proper development of technique, stances, guards, and of course, so that you don’t cheat during training.

That said, maybe find a friend willing to help. Imitate the videos as best as possible and keep a critical eye on each other, always looking for mistakes when it looks different than in the videos. If alone, find a big mirror and scrutinize yourself at every moment. Learning styles like these, alone, is complex, and takes a lot of time, effort, patience and a lot of discipline. The smallest shortcuts or cheats means ten steps in the wrong direction. But, it is not impossible to learn and get good at least up to a basic to intermediate level.

My suggestion, though, is to try learning the closest thing that you can find to it, another style of Kung Fu similar to Bagua in movements if possible, and if any, and then complimenting it with Bagua on your own. At least then, you get a teacher that can watch you and correct you when needed.   

Now, you say there are no Bagua teachers, but are there any Kung Fu schools? Some teachers might not teach Bagua specifically at their schools, but may have some training in it or other styles of Kung Fu, so definitely ask around, don’t focus on the school itself.

And hey, maybe some of the Bagua practitioners on The List would be willing to help you out somehow. Maybe even get you in contact with an actual teacher?

alex-a23, heroofomegle, taoraven << I may be missing some, guys, there are so many of you.

[mafubrah]

shaped-by-karate is on the right track with looking for other Kung Fu schools. Bagua is an art that is often taught with other arts, such as Xingyi and Taichi. It is also taught at many Wudang Kung Fu schools. So if you can find any of those, you have a pretty good chance of finding an instructor that either knows Bagua or knows of a place that they would recommend. 

Now, the suggestion to get a large mirror is good for making sure you have the details correct in specific postures or short sequences. But I wouldn’t recommend using it while practicing long forms or other fluid sets of techniques. Looking in the mirror constantly is an easy way to distract yourself from the proper body mechanics and fluidity necessary to execute the techniques. Basically, you won’t be focused on what you’re doing. My recommendation is to set up a camera of some sort and record yourself practicing, so that you can look at it and review once you’re done. Then you can drill the parts that need corrections, and ultimately do the entire set over again.

Also keep in mind that there are multiple different styles of Bagua. Any two styles can vary quite a bit in their techniques and footwork, so make sure which version you’re watching when using videos for reference. When you have an instructor to learn from, it isn’t so difficult to look up other styles and see how they do things, but I imagine that it might get confusing if you’re starting from scratch with videos and books.

[mc04550]

thanks guys

[shaped-by-karate]

👊🏼😁👍🏼

[thesongoflucius]

There are places that teach online. Bagua is almost impossible to learn only through videos because of the number of fine details that are either not shown, meaning secret, or are just difficult to catch on camera. There are online schools now for a few different arts. Here’s a few, but I wouldn;t be surprised if there are others.

http://www.internalartsinternational.com/

http://www.wingchunonline.com/

http://www.taichi-tuition.com/taichi/

[sifu-kisu]

If you approach it with sincerity and as little ego as possible you could gain great strides. My recent rededication to Bagua has created a major change in my physical and spiritual worlds.

A word of caution:

Baguazhang has been described as the “graduate’s” martial art, in that most of the practitioners that originally learned the art from Dong Haichuan were already accomplished martial artist in their own right before training with him. Some times it takes a bit to appreciate an art for all its subtleties. This one requires deep introspection as well as dedicated, connected and consistent practice.

https://vimeo.com/136272570

The video linked above is an excellent reference to build a connection to this martial cultivation.

[sifu-kisu]

Sorry that you feel that way...

It seems that I hurt someone’s feeling the other day when someone asked me what I thought about a particular style of martial art and I gave them my honest opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to bash other systems of martial arts. I know the ways that I was taught, I know the ways of other martial arts  and some of their skilled practitioners. When I don’t see certain connections through the body then it’s not legit gung fu….

[rootedstep]

It's all about alignment. That's the name of the game.

[sifu-kisu]

One of the Best Jiang Style Bagauzang performance I’ve seen outside of my teacher’s.

[redroseofcairo-deactivated20200]

The mind exists in a state of “not enough” and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied. If you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless, you bring awareness to the feeling and there is suddenly some space and stillness around it. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not. You discover that a “bored person” is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not “yours”, not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you. “I am bored.” Who knows this? “I am angry, sad, afraid.” Who knows this? You are the knowing, not the condition that is known. ~ Eckhart Tolle

(via redroseofcairo)

Eckhart Tolle <3

(via theawakenedstate)

[steelandcotton]

“In the Sword, don’t use hand business. You put the sword near the targets then issue short energy to stab or cut. This is the fundamental theory or principle. At the last moment, go. Only Cheng Man-Ch’ing told us this so many times. You look at his sword form, so soft. We said, “What is this kind of sword? There is no energy used, nothing.” He said it is not necessary to use energy. That means you get close, then use energy. Not from way back to stab forward. Don’t use energy all the way, just the last moment. The last moment is enough, that kind of energy must be developed. Use your whole body, not just the hand. Gradually, intrinsic energy will be developed. You see my hand, the sword is nearly dropped, but it cannot fall out. it looks loose, but you cannot knock it out of my hand. That is the principle, gradually you’ll do according to this way. It looks easy, but it takes ten years to reach that level.”

- TT Liang quoted from: 

T’ai-Chi Ch’uan Lessons with Master T.T. Liang

[sifu-kisu]

Some Of the best advice will ever get about fighting  with the sword

[boulderinternalkungfu]

Wang Shu Jin - Xingyi Quan & Bagua Zhang Master