Went along to Bagua training on Saturday something I've missed for too long due to the trains not running properly.
It was very interesting, some of the group had just returned from Beijing having trained with He Jinbao. What has been the focus in recent years has been training in the Lion System of Yin Style Bagua, which would lead to the most development and is (supposedly) the easiest to pick up. However this focus seems to be shifting now hopefully culminating with us being taught some of the Unicorn System (the most Yin of the animals).
What we were learning on Saturday was a 4 move sequence with a backstep. Starting with a rising sweeping strike, slapping down a block and then followining with an inward sweeping strike. This is also blocked which then leads to two different transformations (very Yinish) which flow with the back step to follow up with another inward sweeping strike, finishing with a capturing chopping strike at neck height.
The two different approaches to the block really show the different animals character one just moving around, the other flowing and wrapping (from the snake system). Anyway this June promises to be interesting!
Hello there,
ReplyDeleteJust to correct you if you don't mind. The Lion is possibly one of the hardest to learn as it's requirements are so exacting, another reason for it being taught first.
Cheers.
Well I don't know much about the other animals I'll freely admit. But from the little I know I'd still stick with the Lion being the easiest to learn. All the animals have exacting requirements, but the more Yinish animals have far more going on internally (supposedly) which is why He Jinbao was reluctant to train them.
ReplyDeleteAlso having tried some of the other animal postures I can say I find the lion posture by far the easiest to adopt (particularly bear thats hard!)
Yeah, maybe it's that the requirements for Lion are more obvious and therefore easier in that sense to understand what one is trying to do.
ReplyDeleteThose drills from Beijing this year are lovely, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure what is harder, Lion or the others. I've heard that Dragon is the most straightforward to learn and apply, and I know personally that the Phoenix is freaking weird (at least when you start with it). Lion, though, is quite difficult to get right, what with learning to properly use the waist to drive the movement.
Then again, I understand Jinbao was rather unhappy with the outcome of the Unicorn drills in Beijing and decided it might be too hard to make second in line. I could be wrong in that, though.
I tended to prefer snake myself I must admit I love the kind of coiling element it had. Lol Phoenix is just plain weird across the board. I think they're all incredibly difficult to get right but I think Lion has the best potential for development both with tendon and waist strength.
ReplyDelete