The Way through Baguazhang - 八卦掌道

For the final podcast episode of 2022, I ask this simple question: Is doing Xingyiquan the same as doing Baguazhang internal martial arts? Both styles are Taoist in origin and both styles fall under the category of internal martial arts, but are they the same? And the answer to both questions is NO! While FaJin 化勁 may be a Xingyiquan and Taichi concept, it does not exist in baguazhang philosophy...

In this episode I answer the question: Must I be or do I need to be a Taoist to do or practice the internal martial art of baguazhang? Listen to it, to learn further on what you signed up for. Some of you already have your answer but for others it may be enlightening, even if only in a tiny hum-drum sort of way. 🙂

What’s the difference between having rituals and having habits in Baguazhang? And does it affect my neigong practice?

Both are internal martial arts styles, but is doing baguazhang the same as doing taichi? And the answer is… NO! A lot of people, who don’t know any better, make this mistake all the time. If you are listening to this podcast, you probably already know the difference but it doesn’t hurt to go over it again.

The biggest question I get asked repeatedly is: Is the story real or true? And that’s a good question to ask and it all depends on what you are actually wanting to experience. Let the Tao 道 be your guide.

Last night I finished reading the biography ‘The Chronicles of Tao’ by author Deng Ming-Dao. Whom, some of you on the spiritual Taoist path, would already be familiar with. This book is supposed to be a loose biography of his spiritual teacher Kwan Saihung. As a lesson in Taoist spirituality and in what the followers of the Huashan sect did to attain immortality, I enjoyed it thoroughly. And it wa...

The proof is in the pudding. As they say. So you say I’m full of shit with my stories, even though the Genchitaofu Baguazhang was my proving ground as a baguazhang master. Rather than dismissing what I am about, I challenge others to go and have their own Baguazhang adventure and prove it to themselves what it means to be a master of this art. In this episode, I discuss how far I still have to go...

When’s the best time to learn baguazhang? Well, not 5 minutes before you to go out and fight. As a martial art it takes years to master it. It looks s unrealistic to think you can learn it over night.

We have all asked the question: When is the best time to practice baguazhang? And typically you’ll get an answer that the Shifu wants you to follow. But few people ask why, and fewer still know why. But it is important to know why if one truly wants to progress further. In this podcast you will hear my answer to this question. You may have heard it before but I strongly suspect that a lot of bagua...

Further baguazhang ramblings inspired by sifu Neil Ripski’s book: Secrets of Drunken Boxing in the Eight Shadow Style.

I strongly recommend this book to other internal baguazhang practitioners because 1) it’s good to sometimes walk a different path and gain new experiences. And 2) it contains baguazhang neigong exercises from the Ma Family style (馬家八卦掌) of baguazhang. Which I am sure some of you will be familiar with. This was the review I intended to post in Amazon.com regarding this book. However it didn’t...

In this episode I answer a qood question that I get asked a lot: Is a bagua master (八卦大師) the same thing as a baguazhang master (八卦掌師傅)? And the answer is a yes and a no, and it depends…

I thought I would take tonight’s baguazhang episode in a new direction and just bullshit my way through it. I am surprised that I’m not on ‘Bullshido’ yet, but I’m hoping that this podcast makes the grade. Anyway, let me know if there’s anything about my arts you would like to know etc, otherwise I may continue with this kind of talking!

For those of you who listened to podcast #263, you will be surprised 😯 to learn that I missed out 1 very important injury that a baguazhang practitioner may experience. It is a difficult one to explain but I hope this podcast episode will hit home!

Usually if you are doing baguazhang correctly, you should not get any injuries because baguazhang is a healing art at its core. Having said that, it is still possible to fuck things up. And people being people, no system is prefect. And so now I present to you a short list of the major types of injuries and their causes that can be sustained while doing baguazhang.

How does a baguazhang master pursue the Tao? That’s a very good question. And the answer is… A baguazhang master does not pursue the Tao. A baguazhang master walks the Tao. That is what walking the circle is all about. Like a road or pathway, the Tao is a thing and not a thing at the same time. And just like the bagua circle, it only exists when the practitioner walks the circle. But even without...

And so I finally did it. After months of procrastinating and going nowhere, I have finally received a call from a fellow martial artist with a simple request: When am I going to publish a gongfu book? What? Yes. When am I going to publish a gongfu book? I thought I did already. But no. I have not. What’s been missing is a manual with pictures and instructions and shit on how to do baguazhang. I sa...

Just a day ago I posted on social media a picture of my new 3D puzzle of a Chongqing streetscape featuring a spring festival dragon dance. Now, because I totally suck at gluing things together, which in turn makes modelling stressful for me, I prefer not to them. However, because this puzzle has a clip together system that avoids gluing, I was all for it. And I enjoyed putting it together with my...

It has taken a decade or so, but I am now coming to the realisation that I have committed myself to the baguazhang path toward enlightenment. Which from the Taoist mountain summit, it is sometimes called being an immortal. Immortality as it is defined in Taoism is a very broad concept that needs the clarity of having deep internal knowledge of one’s martial style and the knowledge of who you are s...

So recently I wrote and spoke about how rare the internal martial art of baguazhang (八卦掌) is. And I have even used some rough numbers to support my claim. But, no matter what, it is always amazing how many people do not actually dig deeper into things and would prefer to argue that the martial art is one of the most popular styles out there. I never said that baguazhang was not popular. What I...

Recently at work, while it just so happened that I was pondering on the baguazhang path to Taoist Immortality, I got asked by a coworker what type of martial art do I do? It had been a difficult night of standing at the front door requesting for the 200th time for an adult customer’s Covid vaccination passport. Most customers are really good about it and we try to fold the rules in such a way so t...

At some point in the baguazhang practitioner’s journey along the Tao, there comes a moment when the practice of baguazhang loses its glamour and the practitioner will quit. This isn’t a case of things getting too hard, but rather it is becoming too easy and in a sense it loses its challenge. When this happens it is because deep down inside the baguazhang practitioner has been persisting in trying...

Today is not one of my better days. The humidity is up and it is reminding me of why I do not live in the tropics. Everything else I can reasonably handle but just not the humidity. And so, just before the humidity really started to hit at around 9am, I made sure I had already done most of my baguazhang sets. But there is still one form I still must do, but I am wavering on it because on the days...

Some of you may have noticed that The Baguazhang Art of War series has recently gained a new member to the family: The Baguazhang Jin of War. Of the six books on baguazhang I have published thus far, this book has been the most challenging. And it has been the most challenging because in order to get anywhere with this book, I have had to confront who I am, and what I am as a martial artist and wh...

Since my most recent podcasts about jingong 勁功 came to air, I have been requested to give a practical example of how jingong 勁功works; for the less spiritually inclined. For the briefest of moments, this got me thinking. And I got the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I might be overthinking it a bit. And as it turns out, I was overthinking it. Because after I received the request, it just so hap...