Ma Gui Bagua

[Waterway]

Anyone familiar with this style of Bagua? They are doing a seminar close by later in the year. We have no Bagua in this neck of the woods (and I mean within about 150 miles!) so I was curious about it.

I found their website and they list their lineage:

http://www.maguibagua.net/history/lineage.html

Anyone know much about them?

[Dr.Rob]

Sifu Andrea Falk is a class act. Very pro. Search her on youtube. There is some footage of her on the beach. Moves very well. The style I am not sure. Never came across it to veiw it in detail.

Peace or by Peices.

[Waterway]

Thanks Doc. Just looked at a few there, they are pretty interesting.

[Dr.Rob]

She use to teach in Montreal and Ottawa ..I think. I have friends who have worked with her and I know a few who took lessons. Never once have I heard a bad thing...

[Plante]

I've been training for 2-3 years. It's a nice style if you're into training the basics and foundations. Andrea's seminar are always good. Whatever you are learning at the moment, you should give it a try at least.

Philippe

[Harvey]

I'm with Philippe on this one, Andrea has been visiting our school for about 2 years and everytime she comes over we get something new and fun to play with. I would recommend you go as the circle walking alone has improved everyone in our schools general kung fu who has taken a seminar with her. I personally can't get enough the circle walkin, no palm changes just the walking.

[I'lls cappuccino]

with ma gui bagua and the dantain developement , how does andrea keep her dantain from becoming so large ?

[Plante]

Lots and lots of biking. Now, You might want to introduce yourself before asking such questions...

[I'lls cappuccino]

No ill will here at all. dantain developement is a great source of power ,if you look at some of the chen taiji,daixinyi the older skinner guys are thicker not fat,in the dantain. ma gui guys also seem to have this development . now if your a skinny,id love to develope this type of power with out having huge dantain as a small frame person . no desrespect ,if you think this is an jerky comment i will remove it. thanks

[amfalk]

hello.
First to 'Dr.Rob', thank you for the nice comment.

Next, to 'cappucino', I am actually rather flattered by the question about my lack of huge dantian, didn't realise that people would notice my girlish form . I would say that lots of cycling is more the reason why I have controlled the development rather than the manner in which I have controlled it. When I started training the MaGui bagua I did let myself get pretty huge, to find out how far I could go with the whole body power. You can imagine that body type in cycling lycra
Now I have brought my weight down. The method is simple: balance of food and exercise. (eat real food, not too much, mostly plants. and do regular submaximal exercise in addition to the martial arts training).

As for the body shape and power, women have an advantage here. Our body is naturally more centered around the dantian, so we do not need to be huge My teacher did not expect me to develop as fully as him, as I did not need to. I do actually have a fair bit of dantian development, it is just disguised in the overall thickness of the body. If you look at the big powerful guys, the back is as developed as the front, and the upper body is quite developed as well, though not in the Western 'big chest and shoulders' way. The big guys are like bricks more than they are like pot bellied stoves. If you just have a big belly, with an arched back, you just have a gut. If you are big front and back, then you are strong. The rather intense circle-walking that we do in the MaGui system (and other slow walking bagua systems, and probably in other ways of training, just so people don't start a sideline of complaining how system-centric I am) develops the body in whatever way it needs to develop. Firstly by repairing ligament and tendon damage, then by reshaping the body in whatever way it needs until it becomes square and "like a child". I, for example, am larger in the upper body and smaller through the hips than I was before, larger in the lower leg and smaller in the upper leg than I was before. Others become larger in the dantian and smaller in the chest.
As you can tell, this change fascinates me, it is a work in progress, and at an age when I was starting to think my best days were behind me. We are still finding out how intense and prolonged training in this system will change a woman's body. So far my teacher's predictions have been annoyingly correct.

Now, why I was here in the first place, to 'Waterway', if you wish to come along to a seminar and find out about it you are certainly welcome.

[Dr.Rob]

Sifu Falk...I have always knew you as classy.

I am Lorne Bernard's brother ( kungfu) in Toronto. I studied White Crane with him in Malayasia and he studies with Chiu Kwok Chung when he is here. Lorne has always spoke highly of you and your talents.

[shawnsegler]

The rather intense circle-walking that we do in the MaGui system (and other slow walking bagua systems, and probably in other ways of training, just so people don't start a sideline of complaining how system-centric I am) develops the body in whatever way it needs to develop. Firstly by repairing ligament and tendon damage, then by reshaping the body in whatever way it needs until it becomes square and "like a child". I, for example, am larger in the upper body and smaller through the hips than I was before, larger in the lower leg and smaller in the upper leg than I was before. Others become larger in the dantian and smaller in the chest.

That's why they call it alchemy.

[I'lls cappuccino]

thanks amfalk for the detailed answer.I too, am fascinated by the gong fu body . ma gui bagua seems like a greet system and your shape looks great !