spring wrote:Hello D Glenn
Yes I agree all your points, its mainly in the Posture by Posture Circling Form we hold the hand lower, fingers do incline upwards to make energetic connection with upper hand. In the eight attacking hands speed is critical, as is timing. In many of these drills, and many of the basics, the hand by abdomen is replaced by hands continuously weaving, mainly from elbow piercing through as you stated. My curiosity was more about why our branch circles with lower hand, Master He Shen Ting did it this way but maybe he changed it for a reason. It does to me feel very open and easy for the Qi to spread.
Tao Gong (Daogong) is the advanced practices connected with the creative stage of circling, I guess all the older martial arts include some kind of mental/spiritual works such as this although now it may be less common. Some of the practices I learn and do are first, Wash the Frame and Marrow, second breath work to absorb and project through five gates, third, work of dantiens, forth is Spiritual taoist/Buddhist exercise such as singing for the coiling dragon in the sky to come down , dream exercises, and various vows and recapitulations. In Beijing the inheritors of Sun's Bagua still keep this work but more or less won't to share it with anyone but disciples.
Spring
Thanks, I understand. Here's an idea: On the hand posture I believe in Sun style and the songs you have/use the 8 attack methods: tui,tuo, dai, ling, ban, kou, pi, and jin. Each attack has a posture and turning can/is done with the different postures. Ban/moving is a commonly seen posture- can't think of the chinese name but it is with both the wrists touching and palms open. The hardest jin to get and manifest is IMO the Pi/chopping, the posture looks like the guard posture only the hand is lower, the jin needs to get to the heel of the palm and emphasis is more intent to get the flow of qi to the heel of that inside palm. Pi/chop goes from fingers pointing forward to wrist dropping, fingers pulling back, chop through the heel of palm. Just an idea since it is the hardest jin to get and is understandable that it's good practice to 'turn' and spend more time in it's posture.
On the daogong you should compare your practice to Yin Fu's qigong methods. Off the top of my head we have the lohan patting which is the precursor to iron body and the bone marrow practices, 8 healing sounds, opening the energy gates- then dantians, sitting standing lying down exercises, etc.
***
Isn't 'getting it in the bones' already a metaphor. Do we need another metaphor to explain that metaphor.
I've heard it as something like getting the 'bagua body'. It takes roughly 3 years of any style to get it ingrained in the body. It is funny when people forget that they have the first martial art they practiced 'ingrained' in their body and it is not nor should it be difficult for them to 'pick up' techniques from other styles, discard the techniques that don't suit there own body, and become quite proficient at those borrowed techniques. There is a difference though between style X's body doing bagua techniques and bagua body doing bagua techniques.
.