Posts tagged: Ba Gua Zhang
The connection between traditional Chinese ideas about the Sinew channels and tendon strength and power and recent discoveries about fascia and its relation to health and fitness are fascinating. This series of four articles explores some of these connections. Read More…
Ba Gua Rolling Hands Exercises (Rou Shou) are the Ba Gua Zhang equivalent of Tai Ji Quan’s Pushing Hands. The second of the Liang Style Ba Gua Eight Rolling Hands Exercises: Double Joining Palm.
Excerpted from Compendium of Ba Gua Zhang Art by Guo Gu Min, Edited by Zang Xue Fan. Jilin Science and Technology Publishers.
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An excerpt of video footage on the Basic Strategy of the Ba Gua Staff as presented by Tom Bisio at the IAI 2017 Summer retreat.
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This is an excerpt from the book Ba Gua Three Harmony Sword – Ba Gua San He Jian (八卦三 合 剑), by Zhang Quan Liang.
Master Zhang is a 3rd generation inheritor of Liang Style Ba Gua Zhang. He studied under the famous Li Zi Ming.
Other Ji Ben Gong Movements
Lao Ba Zhang, the Eight Palm Changes of Ba Gua Zhang, is the key that unlocks all of Ba Gua’s many movements, applications, forms and weapon skills.
The 2018 Lao Ba Zhang seminar series is perfect for anyone who has completed – or is the process of completing – Foundational Ba Gua Training, as well as students in the Intermediate and Advanced levels. Even if you have already learned Lao Ba Zhang, these 4 all-day seminars will take your understanding and training to another level. Learning Lao Ba Zhang is infinite in it’s many levels and details. We welcome practitioners from other styles of Ba Gua interested to learn Lao Ba Zhang as taught by Master Wang Shi Tong.
Lao Ba Zhang (literally “Old Eight Palms”) is one of the classic forms of the internal martial art, Ba Gua Zhang. Lao Ba Zhang combines Ba Gua’s signature circular walking with constant changes of posture and position while striking, throwing and locking.
Each of the Eight Palms in Lao Ba Zhang introduces a different energetic signature, a different footwork pattern and a different set of tactics. In practicing all Eight Changes, one learns to rotate and change to the Eight Directions.
2018 Dates:
Feb 3 – Ba Gua Zhang 1
April 7 – Ba Gua Zhang 2
June 9 – Ba Gua Zhang 3
Sept 29 – Ba Gua Zhang 4
Time: 10am-5pm
Instructors: Thad Wong and Valerie Ghent
Location: Chinatown, NYC
Cost: $650 for 4 class series
TO REGISTER: email Thad Wong at moc.liamgnull@niloahskroywen
Valerie Ghent has trained in Xing Yi Quan, Ba Gua Zhang and Qi Gong since 1995. She has traveled to China numerous times to train with select masters of the internal arts and is a direct disciple of Song Zhi Song (Xing Yi Quan). Valerie is a senior instructor of Ba Gua, Xing Yi and Qi Gong with New York Internal Arts, and currently teaches in New York and France with her husband, Tom Bisio.
Thad Wong began his Chinese martial arts training in 1993 studying Jeet Kune Do, then Southern Shaolin Kung Fu, an art he taught in NYC for six years. He holds the rank of 5th degree black belt Associate Master in Shaolin Kung Fu. Thad is a a senior instructor in Ba Gua Zhang and Qi Gong with New York Internal Arts and is currently completing instructor training in Xing Yi Quan. Thad has traveled and studied extensively in China, and has a passion for teaching both in NYC and abroad.
This is an excerpt from the book Ba Gua Three Harmony Sword – Ba Gua San He Jian (八卦三 合 剑) by Zhang Quan Liang. Master Zhang is a 3rd generation inheritor of Liang Style Ba Gua Zhang. He studied under the famous Li Zi Ming.
Basic Training of the Ba Gua Jian: Read More…
On July 25th forty Ba Gua Instructors and students gathered in Salem, Virginia for five and half days of intensive Ba Gua Zhang training conducted on the grounds of beautiful Roanoke College. Participants came from Europe, Canada and all over the United States.
The training was hard, beginning with 2 hours of Ba Gua Nei Gong each morning at 6 am. Then training continued throughout the day and into the evening with breaks for meals. In addition to Nei Gong, participants learned and practiced the Old Eight Palms (Lao Ba Zhang), the 64 Linear forms, Qin Na seizing and locking techniques, Ba Gua Broadsword (Dao), the Ba Gua Yin Yang Staff, the 13 Elbows, Daoist meditation, Internal Nei Gong practices like Ba Gua’s Four Energies and Five Finger Secret, Basic Tui Na (Chinese Medical Massage) and more.
It was an exciting and uplifting experience and everyone trained hard, pushing themselves past their limits. Some even elected to do extra practice and review lasting up to 11 pm. Beyond the training, one of the wonderful things about the retreat, was meeting fellow Ba Gua practitioners from different parts of the world, sharing experiences and welcoming newer practitioners into our gro
wing Ba Gua community.
Checkout the video (on the home page) of participants talking about the retreat and about training in Ba Gua Zhang.
The retreat was led by Tom Bisio, and we were blessed to have Senior Instructors Valerie Ghent, Wes Tasker, Nelson Tai, Reggie Hailey, Thad Wong and Adam Wasserman assisting and leading different training segments. Our thanks to instructors Wolfgang Schwalenberg (Germany), Mark Greenfield (NYC), Jonathan Breshin (NYC), Bryan Isacks (Ithaca, NY), Pascal Jauffret (France), Kelly MacDonald (NYC), Svilen Pronev (Toronto), Stephane Turbide (Montreal), Joe Cool (Portland, OR), Steve Cosimano (Albany, NY), Greg Johnston (Salem, VA), Andy Kriger (NYC), Keith Norris (Providence, RI), and John Paul Magenis (Louisville, KY), for being there and helping out.
Much Thanks to Valerie Ghent for the Great Photos!
This ‘Basic Training of the Ba Gua Straight Sword’ is an excerpt from the book Ba Gua Three Harmony Sword – Ba Gua San He Jian (八卦三 合 剑) by Zhang Quan Liang. Master Zhang is a 3rd generation inheritor of Liang Style Ba Gua Zhang. He studied under the famous Li Zi Ming. Read More…
The Thirty Two Words of the Ba Gua Jian (Chinese straight sword) traditionally refer to each weapon, describing a method of using and training that weapon. The “words” are the basic techniques and methods of usage. In Li Zi Ming’s Ba Gua Zhang there are 32 methods using the Jian.
Ba Ga Zhang’s signature posture is the Millstone Pushing Palm. Pushing the Millstone references the action of walking in a circle while pushing the traditional Chinese Millstone used by farmers in the countryside to grind grain. Understanding this action and its internal implications can be very useful in studying Ba Gua Zhang as it is the key to many of the power dynamics inherent in the art’s unique stepping and body rotating actions.
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