Featured Baguazhang Article 5-2009

Amazing Chinese Swordmaking article
Taiwanese Swordmaker Rekindles a Legacy

Drawing inspiration from martial arts novels and mysticism

Featured Baguazhang Article 4-2008

Excerpt:

The art of bagua circle walking dates back hundreds of years when Daoists would walk in circles to calm their mind as a form of meditation. The early Daoists repeated a mantra while walking the circle slowly with relaxed, comfortable and natural body movements.

What is a Bagua Circle?

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Featured Baguazhang Article 11-17-2008

Changing in a Spinning World.

From U-Baguazang blog

Excerpt:

At Real Taiji we gaze at one hand during circular Bagua forms. There are exceptions, but generally the hand is our focus. This seems like a fitting place for our gaze and intent, seeing as how Baguazhang translates to Eight Trigram Palms. Our palms are our weapons as well as an extension of our center.

Focusing our intent and gaze on our hands we direct our Qi to our palms. Our intent is realized through the palms....

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Featured Baguazhang Article 10-16-2008

Deer Horn Knives

by Tong Yang

Excerpt:

The most well recognized name in English would be Deerhorn Knives but they are also known by a whole host of other names as well. In Chinese they are Zi Wu Yuan Yang Yue or Ba Gua Yuan Yang Yue, as is written in Chinese characters at the top of this page. This is hard to translate correctly, that is to convey the meaning while trying to translate the characters into English words.

Featured Baguzhang Article 9-5-2008

OK, its not really Baguazhang but great article for internal artists, take the time, read it, stand around.

Zhan Zhuang - foundation of Internal Martial Arts

by Karel Koskuba

Excerpt:

Most Internal Martial Arts use some form of standing practice as foundation training (and Taijiquan is no exception in this regard). These standing exercises are usually called Zhan Zhuang (pole standing); sometimes they are called 'standing Qigong'. I think it's fair to say that most students are baffled by them. They are supposed to be good for you but most students find them difficult to understand, boring and painful. Yet they are supposed to relax you and help you to 'accumulate Qi'.

In this article I shall try to outline my theory that should explain, from western perspective, why these exercises are so important both for Internal Martial Arts and Qigong, how this western view correlates with the traditional Qi view and give training advice on how to practice them. In writing this article I have drawn upon my experience from Taijiquan, Yiquan and information from medical postural rehabilitation research and sports science.

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Featured Baguazhang Article 7-3-2008

Art of the Chinese sword

by Philip Tom

The medieval Chinese dynasties saw great advances in metallurgy. Some, like the ability to produce cast iron, were far ahead of such technology in the Europe. Others, like the mastery of efficient, large-scale steel production, enabled the Tang and Song dynasties to become major military powers in east Asia.

Featured Baguazhang Article 6-17-2008

The Martial Arts Master Who Has Lived in Three Centuries

The Epoch Times

Sep 09, 2007

An elderly Chinese Tai Chi exponent shows off his moves. (Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images)

He is a legendary man whose life has crossed three centuries. Born in the 19th year of Emperor Guangxu's Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1893), he is 114 years old. His name is Lu Zijian and he lives in Chongqing City, Sichuan Province, China. Despite his age, he is healthy and lithe. Once considered one of the top three gong fu masters, Lu is adept at martial arts and can still move a young man of around 150 pounds 15 feet away with just one push.