Baji/pigua very basic
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:17 am
Here are a few of the very basic baji pigua jiben gong drill executed well by Liang Yi. The post training is distinctly different in flavor and execution than bagua post training.
The pigua exercises are but a small sample of where we start (as Tony Yang teaches it) long before we were ever taught a form. In fact these basic exercises were started within the first 6 months of classes with Tony Yang [in 1988]. The many of the baji post training drills can be done as two person drills and were also taught. Often we alternated individuals so you might be paired up with someone 5'7'', two hundred pounds and then someone 6'2" 180 lbs.
Some of the exercises are standing, some are moving---some require slapping the ground, others require pai da or body striking, some can employ the use of a dog skin [coyote]turned inside out wrapped around a log craddled in stand [X--X, log put in the middle and two skins wrapped around it].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KK189UZX_U
These exercises are similar in methodology to the basic baji exercises employed long before the xiao baji form is taught. The xiao baji jia form is distinctly different from the jin gang ba shi form although my teacher knows 12 xiao baji jia forms [why one would know that many versions of a basic form is beyond what I understand. LOL] But the form below, I know it has been posted before but is now employed for illustrative purposes, is where everything begins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxysn35hMF4&feature=user
What you don't see in the video is the holding of each posture as you go through the form while holding each posture for a slow breath count of 3, 4 and eventually 8 breaths simulataneously thinking to 8 points, the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, tailbone, hips, knees and feet. Usually the last execution of the form is done with fajing expression as shown in the film.
When one finally gets up to the point of being able to do the form in this manner, you do two sets of holding postures and one set of fajing expression, 3 times a day for 3 years along with da qiang training. During that time one might have a period of exclusive pigua training, say 6 months, then back to xiao baji basics. Ideally this is what is exclusively trained and I personally would think of this as a necessary but not sufficient condition to be truly a baji shen fa martial artist type. This phase, in my opinion, is only a conditioning and training phase with little regard for application and fighting.
None of this has even touched on the potential us of shuai jiao in the baji/pigua system and since striking is the heart of baji, combining with even minimal shuai jiao training would prove to be one of the most highly effective systems.
The question is whether to throw the baby out with the bathwater, i.e., is the baji/pigua system and all/or nothing proposition and the answer is NO! and one can clearly understand what SPJ was getting at in the other post.
What is described is the ideal path and what to me would be THE true baji practitioner.
Further elaboration of this type of training is found [da qiang and breath work is also found in the sources below]:
http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/bajipigua.htm
http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/fajing.html
Even getting a representative sample of this training, if done consistently and correctly structured, provides more than a great meal. LOL
The pigua exercises are but a small sample of where we start (as Tony Yang teaches it) long before we were ever taught a form. In fact these basic exercises were started within the first 6 months of classes with Tony Yang [in 1988]. The many of the baji post training drills can be done as two person drills and were also taught. Often we alternated individuals so you might be paired up with someone 5'7'', two hundred pounds and then someone 6'2" 180 lbs.
Some of the exercises are standing, some are moving---some require slapping the ground, others require pai da or body striking, some can employ the use of a dog skin [coyote]turned inside out wrapped around a log craddled in stand [X--X, log put in the middle and two skins wrapped around it].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KK189UZX_U
These exercises are similar in methodology to the basic baji exercises employed long before the xiao baji form is taught. The xiao baji jia form is distinctly different from the jin gang ba shi form although my teacher knows 12 xiao baji jia forms [why one would know that many versions of a basic form is beyond what I understand. LOL] But the form below, I know it has been posted before but is now employed for illustrative purposes, is where everything begins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxysn35hMF4&feature=user
What you don't see in the video is the holding of each posture as you go through the form while holding each posture for a slow breath count of 3, 4 and eventually 8 breaths simulataneously thinking to 8 points, the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, tailbone, hips, knees and feet. Usually the last execution of the form is done with fajing expression as shown in the film.
When one finally gets up to the point of being able to do the form in this manner, you do two sets of holding postures and one set of fajing expression, 3 times a day for 3 years along with da qiang training. During that time one might have a period of exclusive pigua training, say 6 months, then back to xiao baji basics. Ideally this is what is exclusively trained and I personally would think of this as a necessary but not sufficient condition to be truly a baji shen fa martial artist type. This phase, in my opinion, is only a conditioning and training phase with little regard for application and fighting.
None of this has even touched on the potential us of shuai jiao in the baji/pigua system and since striking is the heart of baji, combining with even minimal shuai jiao training would prove to be one of the most highly effective systems.
The question is whether to throw the baby out with the bathwater, i.e., is the baji/pigua system and all/or nothing proposition and the answer is NO! and one can clearly understand what SPJ was getting at in the other post.
What is described is the ideal path and what to me would be THE true baji practitioner.
Further elaboration of this type of training is found [da qiang and breath work is also found in the sources below]:
http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/bajipigua.htm
http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/fajing.html
Even getting a representative sample of this training, if done consistently and correctly structured, provides more than a great meal. LOL