Here is the link for today's Bagua Zhang class. We are going to go over warm ups, basic drills, linear walking, basic circle walking and the flowing set. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83403811045?pwd=T5sxmF4qzYZgYvtyIp5aUAVKSadJ8M.1

I stumbled across this video and thought I'd share it here. While not long, it was interesting to see some different practices shown in archival footage.

Here is the link for today's Bagua Zhang session. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88296730667?pwd=Y5Jy0qYyKgdZIwkbAFs2aQPbVAy0wQ.1

What style of Bagua is that? This is a question I get asked a lot so I thought I would put some basic information out there. My opinion is that lineage is something that is built in the training hall with your teacher and classmates first and foremost and style is there for reference. This has been how pretty much how all my teachers have operated. That being said, the individuals that make up your lineage and their experience are very applicable to your training when you look to "seek what they sought". I train and represent two different family styles of Bagua, Cheng style and Liang style. My Cheng style comes from Andy Dale who I began training with in the early 2000's. He began his study in Seattle in the 1970's training Cheng style from 3 different teachers as well as Fu style from Viktor Fu, descendent of Fu Zhen Song. His Cheng style can be traced to the Zhang Zhao Dong, Liu Bin, and Cheng Yu Long branches. One of his teachers, Tchoung Ta Tchen was a training partner of Wang Shu Jin. My Liang style comes from Zhang Wei Dong of Beijing who I began studying with in 2007. His Liang style is traced to the Guo Gu Min branch which is a lesser known branch of Liang style. Guo Gu Min was peer of Li Zi Ming and is often credited for recording the Bagua Songs. Both my Bagua teachers also trained in various other martial arts just as I do including shuai jiao, tai ji, xing yi and other external styles like mantis, monkey and wing Chun . Zhang Laoshi also trained in San Da and BJJ. Andy is 6th or 7th degree black belt in Aikido and also highly ranked in Judo. I mention this because both of them saw Bagua as an art that helped them integrate and develop their martial arts skill as a whole. This is something that is very important to me in my training and teaching. If you can understand the proper method of training then Bagua becomes an incredibly rich training ground for building skill. How to train these styles together without confusion? In my opinion and experience there is zero conflict between bagua styles. There is no liang style body method, cheng style body method, there is only bagua body method as developed by the individual in relation to their practice. The movements are guides and tools. Creating something that "looks like bagua" is not the same as creating bagua generated movement and over stylization should be avoided. Rather we work the movement and forms according to the criteria and standards set forth in the Bagua classics, also called the bagua songs. These are movement and energetic principles that when applied correctly teach proper bagua body method. It's not just about twisting and coiling.

Welcome to The Grove! "The martial forest is one family”. My hope is that together we can shape the culture and curriculum of this community so that The Grove will come to represent a level of quality and skill of which we can all be proud. I am still building out the space, but there will be free content for Shuai Jiao, Ba Gua, basic gong fu and more. There will also be focused training cohorts starting soon with options including -Liang & Cheng style Bagua Zhang -Beijing Shuai Jiao -Chen Style Tai Ji Quan & Da Bei Quan -Gong Fu basics and Praying Mantis Kung fu -Qi Gong As someone who has either trained with me in the past or expressed interest in learning one of the arts I teach you are here as one of the founding members of the community. You have probably heard me say before that I don’t take myself that seriously, but it take the arts I teach very seriously indeed. In this space I am a teacher, a coach and a fellow martial artist studying as diligently as I can. Reach out with any questions and I look forward to sharing this space with you all. If you don’t mind, please take a moment to leave a comment and let us know a few things about yourself. -name and location -age and previous/current martial arts experience -what you are interested in learning Feel free to add anything else you would like to share. This is your space!