In this Bagua Academy live session, we went over: - Warm-up method (alignment + bottom-up mechanics): ankle rockers, knee pumps, swirling waist, loosening arms, “stir the pot” hip/knee circles, finger ripples—trained as mechanics drills, not stretches (feet awareness, tiger’s mouth, hip vs. waist separation, open/closed chain feel, empty/full recognition). - Movement & shapes (volume + durability): piercing and lifting emphasized opening/closing (开合) over twisting, turning from the waist, and building “hardiness” through high reps (the memorable benchmark: 100 repetitions to force softness, efficiency, and full-body coordination rather than “first-hit power”). - Linear walking (Chéng style focus): reaching step → advance → collect, with knees staying “together on the line,” slowing down to give each phase its own beat, and introducing “mud wading” as a source (ground feedback) rather than a stylized look. Hands trained as two qualities: “hands floating on water” (soft, responsive) and “qílín rubs the earth” (麒麟—engaging/grabbing intent when needed). - Flowing set foundations: refined the first change into snake palm with precise centerline timing and the key lesson: don’t turn the body with the hands—turn the hands with the waist. Bonus footwork play (hooking/swinging action) tied directly to future trapping/capturing and partner-leg concepts. The theme was “posture finds the horizon” (not posture collapsing into the feet) while developing a bottom-up perspective—learning to feel the ground, organize the body through key connection points (heels → sacrum/tailbone → crown), and make your mechanics durable enough to hold up under volume. A big takeaway: the live format wasn’t just “follow along”—it was coached training with real-time corrections, questions, and specific weekly practice goals. Great work, everyone who participated. See you next week! ✅ The full live session is uploaded in our classroom if you missed the session.

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

So... I think I mentioned that I did my PhD in philosophy, and it happens that Bagua Zhang is (sometimes?) related to the I Ching, or the Book of Changes, which I studied a bit some time ago. Does anyone in this group know much about this connection? I've read a small amount about it, in an aforementioned primary text on Bagua, but I would be fascinated to go further into the relationship if possible.

Hey there, I’m just checking, but I thought there was supposed to be a live session tonight. Did it get canceled?

During Thursday's live class we went over the Liang style 64 Palms line one. Here is a YouTube clip going over the first few moves.