Yin Bagua stepping:

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:26 am

八卦掌簡編
A CONCISE BOOK OF BAGUA PALMING
尹玉章
by Yin Yuzhang
王芹塘
edited by Wang Qintang
[published Jan, 1932]
[translation by Paul Brennan, April, 2017]

練法
Practice method:
走掌姿式作成後 即開始行走 上身不動 先邁右腿 右掌與左足根上下斜對 放足要平 不准拔根跈鑽 走須圓形 取八卦圓形之意 換句話說 就是走圈 掌向圈中心 掌永不動 人圍掌轉 如換左掌 即先邁左腳 左右掌互換 邁步亦如上類推
Once you have made the walking posture, then begin to actually walk. With your upper body not moving, step first with your right leg, your right palm and left heel aligned with each other diagonally above and below. When placing the foot, it should be flat, the heel neither lifted nor digging into the ground. The stepping has to be circular, in order to live up to the intention of the circle of eight trigrams, or more simply put, walk in a circle. [When your right hand is extended, you walk clockwise.] The [extended] palm points toward the center of the circle, never moving from its position, your body surrounding your palm as your palm orbits the center. If you switch to your left palm, you would first step out with your left foot, and likewise when switching to your right palm, you would first step out with your right foot.

要點
Important points:
開步者 須氣沉丹田 兩膀輕鬆 取䞶水之勢 故曰 行如䞶水走如風
When stepping out, it is necessary to sink energy to your elixir field, relax your arms, and seek to have a sense of walking on water. It is said: “Step as though you are walking on water, moving like the wind.”
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:10 am

I like the saying: “Step as though you are walking [quickly] on water, moving like the wind”. It is a unique saying in Martial Arts which sounded much better than mud walking step:

http://pakuachangjournal.com/circleWalk.php?page=5

According to his grand student Wang Zhuangfei (王壮飞) Yin Fu was known as a top ranked imperial guard who was trained in Shaolin Laohanmen (Arhat School罗汉门) before learning Baguaquan, he taught Bagua through palm, Bagua tame the tiger Arhat Fist, black tiger fist, dark dragon fist, and different kinds of Bagua weapons. Maybe this sort of explained the unique development of Yin Baguazhang.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:17 am

Both “胯kua4” and “襠dang1”are translated as “crotch” by Google Translate, and these are common Chinese terms used in clothing. Kua is the inseams of a pair of trousers or underneath your legs (crotch). Dang is where the two legs of trousers are connected from the front to the back (front rise and back rise). The movements of the hip joints will have impact on the crotch and the groin area when walking in a lower position. Maybe this is why in Baguaquan there is the saying of walking with the dang buckled to protect what is in between one’s legs. This is sort of differentiated from the rotation of the crotch from an open position to a close position and vice versa.

Normally, the hip joint can rotate 45 degrees inwardly and 45 degrees outwardly that is one can pivot on the hip joint up to 90 degrees. This is important in Bagua walking one can easily to do a 45 degree turn in every step of a regular octagon with a fixed centre. Walking around the tree in eight steps is not something everyone has access, but it is easier to maintain the eye level of the practitioner to minimize motion sickness.

The Yin Bagua stepping does emphasize the maintenance of a stable upper body and make use of the hip joints to achieve its fighting strategy of whirl around the opponent and attack when there is a gap.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:46 pm

“It is necessary to sink energy to your elixir field” (須氣沈丹田 xu1 qi4 cheb2 dan1 tian2) or literally means “must breath down pellet field”. In Chinese Medicine, Dantian was mentioned in Huangdi Neijing, Suwen, chapter 25 (Warring States - Western Han, 475 BC – 9 AD) and that is very different to the elixir version from the writing of Ko Hung (283-343 AD). After almost 2000 years of confusions between the elixir makers who employed all kinds of theories and practices for longer living, it is very difficult in trying to verify any of their teachings. From a martial art’s point of view the practical solution is to compare the Dantian with the centre of gravity which is somewhere in the lower abdomen in a upright position. In Yin Bagua walking posture, the forward palm and elbow aligned with the rear palm and the solar plexus. To maintain such posture, one has to practice diaphragmatic breathing. While pivot on the hip joints, one has to relax the muscles around the pelvis regions. Thus, practitioners are more sensitive to the movement of their lower abdomens. The impact of the diaphragm expands downward will expand the lower abdomen as well as if air is sinking downward to the lower abdomens. This is very different to the practice of reverse as suggested by other systems of martial arts, which is not very convenient to walk quickly in any case.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:55 pm

The Bagua octagon is a combination of 8 isosceles triangles with 45 degree angle in the tip and the two base angles are 67.5 degree each. The change of direction involves the transition of a front-on stance to a frontal stance and then to a front-on stance to the other side-front-on stance is a stance that both shoulders are visible to the opponent in the centre of the octagon. When walking quickly without stopping one has to pivot on the hip joints efficiently. The following is a good illustration of Bagua walking and turning:
Image
The problem with this illustration in turning is not possible without shifting the rear leg with both feet pointing towards the centre.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Bao on Sat Jul 25, 2020 3:38 pm

As mud stepping was brought up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkEatkBf50g

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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:48 am

This video introduces the Bagua Mud-Wading Stepping of Cheng style by applying the Imagery Concept.

Topics included in this video are:
1. Imagery in Martial Art Movements (1:08)
2. Cheng Tinghua and Tang Ni Bu (4:22)
3. Missing element in Tang Ni Bu (10:41)
4. Key Training Principles (14:24)
5. Demonstration (19:58)
6. Takeaways (21:37)
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby zrm on Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:20 pm

I'm no expert in Yin Bagua but my Cheng bagua teacher (Han Yan Wu) also knows a fair bit of Yin bagua. He spent a couple of days showing us the differences. The foundation stepping I was shown for Yin Bagua was quite different to what I've learnt in regards to foundation stepping of Cheng style (mud wading step). I'm not sure if you can compare the two. I'm pretty sure what I learnt came from He Zhong Qi / Zhu Bao Zhen line.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby zrm on Sun Jul 26, 2020 8:59 pm

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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby D_Glenn on Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:35 am

I can’t speak for all of Yin Fu style schools. Just my own. For every beginner, we’re taught to just use Natural Stepping (ziran bu), because there’s too many complex things going on in the rest of the body that you to first learn. And changing the way you step is very difficult and would require a lot of your Intent being solely focused on your feet. (Below the waist needs to be controlled by your Xindi, not Yi.)

So after a decent amount of time circling, say 400 hours, you would start learning to keep your foot flat, which requires a little flexibility to not dig the heel in, nor lift it first. And the toes point forward as your foot is gliding just an inch over the ground, but on a completely horizontal plane. Then planting the entire foot firmly on the ground, as if it was stuck in mud, or wet concrete. Then repeat. The pointing of the toes and full extension, or straightening the leg, will strengthen your patellar tendon and the bai and kou will strengthen the tendons on the sides of your knees.

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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:37 am

Pivoting on the hip joint and turning up to 45 degrees on the weighted leg is not too difficult except one has to stand passively in order to activate the gluteal muscles for stepping. Once this technique is mastered, it is relatively relaxed and able to maintain a constant eye level while moving. Basically the repetitive actions are as follow:

1. Begin with a rear passive stance with the inside leg as the forwarded leg then shift the weight of the body to the forwarded leg by rotation.
2. Drag the rear leg alongside the forwarded inside leg and step forward as the inside leg pivoted 45 degrees (it is a swing and then straight step forward).
3. Shift the body weight forward and release the tension of the inside leg and bring it alongside the outside leg the straight step forward then back to the beginning rear passive stance.

With bigger steps, additional measures should be added such as rotating the weighted leg and bigger stride on the forwarded leg, but it is difficult at first because the forward motion is difficult to control and contraction of the knee to stop should be avoided. It is basically doing a stride involves the turning of the hip joints of the weighted leg and the not weighted leg. So, this sort of concluded the continuous Bagua stepping clockwise and anticlockwise around a centre.

The conservation of energy in Yin Bagua walking is making use of the bigger muscles, eccentric muscle contraction and stored elastic energy. The cultivation of energy is the improvement of strength and oxygen uptake.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby dacheng on Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:34 am

I'm not much into bagua (although I'm playing just a little bit), especially not Yin style, but will use this opportunity to talk just a bit about some situation related to bagua stepping. So, it was in 2002 when I and one of my yiquan students visited Yin style bagua master Zhu Baozhen, when that student of mine asked if master Zhu could demonstrate the famous bagua stepping. He expected that master Zhu would start walking in circles, but instead master Zhu came closer to him, connected arms with him like in tui shou, and made some very fast and very short steps, mainly moving a bit sideway and entering with a hit, repeating this a few times, and then saying: ”这个就是八卦掌的步法“。
Last edited by dacheng on Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby Yeung on Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:04 am

歌诀六
穿时指掌贴肘行,Chuan Shi Zhi Zhang Tie Zhou Xing,
后肩改做前肩承。Hou Jian Gai Zuo Qian Jian Cheng.
莫要距离莫犹豫,Mo Yao Ju Li Mo You Yu,
步入裆兮是准绳。Bu Ru Dang Xi Shi Zhun Sheng.
Song 6
In piercing out, the palms should be straight, moving closely alongside the elbow,
Rear shoulder attacks and front shoulder succeeds.
Do not leave space and don’t hesitate,
Walk forward between the opponent’s legs.
(The Essentials of Ba Gua Zhang by Gao Ji Wu and Tom Bisio)
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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby D_Glenn on Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:04 am

dacheng wrote:I'm not much into bagua (although I'm playing just a little bit), especially not Yin style, but will use this opportunity to talk just a bit about some situation related to bagua stepping. So, it was in 2002 when I and one of my yiquan students visited Yin style bagua master Zhu Baozhen, when that student of mine asked if master Zhu could demonstrate the famous bagua stepping. He expected that master Zhu would start walking in circles, but instead master Zhu came closer to him, connected arms with him like in tui shou, and made some very fast and very short steps, mainly moving a bit sideway and entering with a hit, repeating this a few times, and then saying: ”这个就是八卦掌的步法“。

Sounds like “Step straight then diagonal; or step diagonal then straight (sideways).”

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Re: Yin Bagua stepping:

Postby johnwang on Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:52 pm

Yeung wrote:步入裆兮是准绳。Bu Ru Dang Xi Shi Zhun Sheng.

Walk forward between the opponent’s legs.

When your leg is between your opponent's legs, you can control both of his legs.

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