I thought I would share a bit of this practice with you all. This is section one of the Da Bei Quan, a set I learned while living in Beijing. It is a very interesting sequence that was developed by a monk in the northern temples near Beijing. After the temples were shut down by the government he began teaching this set in the city. It is mixture of a bunch of different things that he had learned throughout his life. Some Shaolin, tai ji, qi gong, bagua, xing yi and other basic kung fu movements. The monk, Qi Yun, had been a martial artist and soldier throughout his life. After he became a monk he wanted a set that would still work him physically but that he could relax into and not think about fighting. So the only concepts in the Da Bei are open and close. It is meant to be a physical cultivation set to improve flexibility, focus and strength. It is a very challenging form to learn and perform. The entire form is a 7 sections long with 63 postures and takes about 20-40 minutes depending on speed. If there is enough interest over time we can open a specific class to study and learn this set!

Hi. Found this on an old disk, from youtube.. light hearted fun...

I'm a little proud of this: My first attempt at a mukyanyong! The arms are concentric PVC pipes with a threaded rod running through, and I drilled some extra holes for tent stakes around the base. The arms are too short and too low, and there's just a little more flex in the post than I want. The next one will have better caps on the arms. I'll also wrap the middle with my white belt and the lower part with dock line for shin kicks. I'll make a bill of materials once I get it straight.

Hi. Dropping this here, just for the sake of discussion. A while back I posted an question about W E Fairbairn and bagua, on Dean Franco's podcast. This portion of the iterveiw is the answer... https://youtu.be/LKKXW0u96KU?t=1957

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.