Xingyi and Bagua Workshop Summary, January, 2020
Hebei Xingyi Quan In the morning, beginners were taught the five element strikes - wuxing quan:
Pi Quan (Chop)
Zuan Quan (Drill)
Beng Quan (Drive)
Pao Quan (Cannon)
Heng Quan (Crosscut)
These five techniques teach the essence of Xingyi structure and alignment. In addition they teach Xingyi stepping and the generation of Full Body Power. The five techniques teach striking in five directions: down, up, though, outside and inside.
Returning students were taught Ba Shi Quan. This routine combines the Five Element Strikes and some of the Twelve Animals (Horse, Chicken and Sparrowhawk). It teaches agile stepping and refines Full Body Power generation and release. This routine is called Ba Shi because of the combination of techniques found in the sequence. A full discussion of this can be found in Andrea Falk's translation, Di Guoyong on XIngyi Quan, vol.2.
“The rhythm of the eight postures routine is focussed on the power launch of the eight key combinations. At each point of power launch, first store power and then launch it. Power must be full, stable, and complete.” Di Gouyong, “Di Guoyong on XIngyiquan, vol.2, pg 298
The Five Elements Linking Routine (Wuxing Lianhuan Quan) was also covered
This routine combines the five fundamental strikes and introduces variations in footwork and trains the ability to combine techniques in a smooth continuous manner.
Finally the opening movements of the partner routine, An Shen Pao was taught. A video of these moves for B’s side is posted on Vimeo. It is password protected but students can contact me to view it. This sequence trains coordination of stepping with offensive and defensive techniques.
Jiang and Magui style Bagua The morning covered Jiang style Bagua. The warm up sequence was taught in detail to beginner students.
Returning students reviewed Changes 1 to 6 and were taught Changes 7 and 8. A very rough run through of these changes is posted on YouTube in an unlisted video.
While training the Changes, keeping the hip joint relaxed and maintaining an unbroken coiling strength throughout the body was emphasized. Extend into the full range of each movement to find the coiling power through the body.
The afternoon was devoted to Magui style Bagua. Beginners were taught Bear posture Circle walking.
Magui Bagua uses a heavy low-basin walk to develop strength from the lower leg up. Key points for this training include:
Keeping the foot parallel to the ground, like rolling a cloth rag;
Full extension of the leg - straightening the knee;
When planting the foot, set into the feet like stepping in the head and tail of a snake; and
Walk from below the knees
A more detailed discussion can be found on Andrea Falk’s Magui Bagua training page.
Four technique drills were also taught:
Tan Zhang (Reaching Palm)
Gai Zhang (Covering Palm)
Chuan Zhang (Spearing Palm)
Zhuang Zhang (Ramming Palm)
Returning students reviewed the Eight Dragon Changes. A description of these can be found and the Magui Bagua training website.