The Way through Baguazhang - 八卦掌道

Yup, that's right! The Weiqi Art of War is now on Amazon.com both on the Kindle platform and as a paperback. Follow on Insta: @baguazhang_

For those of you who do not like the idea that Weiqi is a war, perhaps it could be better fathomed as a dialogue between two antagonistic players, who are ready to back their words up with force. But the skill lies not in direct confrontation. Rather, the aim is to outmaneuver one's opponent and influence as much territory as possible before it comes to blows. It was this constant strategic maneuv...

The future is not fixed. It is forever changing by the decisions and actions we make in the right here and now. Even our thoughts and feelings in the present moment can be a major factor in how it all plays out, one stone at a time. As I am sitting here at my kitchen table, it is early morning and a light fog is slowly clearing up. I have a stick of Japanese incense burning nearby and I'm wonderin...

Fengshui literally means wind and water, and it is the ancient Chinese art of geomancy. My podcast number 146 (& 135) was about the Fengshui of Meadowbank, where I live. And it's all about how great it is to live where I live. Since that podcast, I've had people debating with me about my fengshui. And by debate, I mostly mean that the debate starts with 'I'm full of shit' and 'What have I got to s...

So now you know the main differences between Wushu and Kungfu. However, you will still get people who will use the terms interchangeably. And as a consequence, their martial arts journey will be long and difficult. There is no point in arguing about it. What matters is that you now know and that you have, or are in the process of, deciding where you stand in all of this. Wushu is more about the sp...

Calling Kungfu a smokescreen is an adapt description for what is going on and is better than calling some Shifu lazy! Which, sadly, was also sometimes true. Not just with non-Chinese but amongst Chinese themselves. Within the broader Chinese community, including China itself, there is a lot of misunderstanding around Kungfu within the martial arts world. The third major difference is that a Wushu...

What is the difference between Wushu 武術 and Kung Fu 功夫? To most people around the world, there is no difference. They are one and the same thing. Chinese Martial Arts or the Chinese way of boxing: Zhong Quan Tao 中拳道. But there is a difference. The first major difference is territorial. Within China proper martial arts is called Wushu, because Wushu is the literal translation of the term. Wu...

⚫ Would you believe me, if I told you that I haven't played a game of Weiqi in over two weeks? ⚪ Would you believe me, if I told you that I haven't played a game of Igo in over two weeks? ⚫ If you are of the calaber, I think you are, then you'd be wondering: What's the difference? ⚪ Is there a difference? ⚫ Not really. ⚪ Unless, of course, like a lot of small-time players, extra rules keep b...

🐲👉 Some of you may be aware that I have been spending a bit of my time drawing black and white Baguazhang illustrations. Every night I do one illustration and then the next morning post it out yonder. Upon completion, there will be a total of 64 of them. One illustration for each hexagram or gua in the I-Ching or Book of Changes. The character I created for the images has been mockingly nickname...

In a world obsessed with the tangible like solid matter, those things that do not easily fit into a construct made up of three dimensions plus one of time, usually gets dismissed as quackery. For most people, when it comes to things like Qigong, this thing we call "qi" is mostly accepted provided that it stays within the bounds of breathing, meditation and sublime stretching exercises. Anything mo...

And now, something a little different. This morning at breakfast, I was asked by wife, if I have ever come across a book called "The Buddha and the Badass"? I said "No". Apparently it's a new book that's just recently come out and is making traction in the self-development world. How new? I don't know. But then, I got asked what I thought about the title? I told her, she being Chinese, that if I w...

Even if you care nothing for Baguazhang internal martial arts, or the game of Go/Weiqi, or even the Art of War and just want to find inner peace through the tranquil art of Qigong, the sad fact is: If it involves other people, the you have to play the game. What game, you ask? Truthfully, there is no game or at least there shouldn't be. Qigong is the inner cultivation of one's life force through e...

Compared to humans, most animals live in the now. Even if their concerns are for the coming winter and being able to survive it, they still pretty much are mentally and emotionally in the here and now. Humans on the other hand are always thinking about a better tomorrow or fearing it, while spending most of their energy trying to get back to the past and living the way life used to be. So I am gla...

For most people, if they know the game of Weiqi (or Go, as it is more popularly known) is just another strategy game. If they do get any good at it, then maybe they will choose to go professional. For this is the path proscribed for most people in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan, wanting to master the game. However, if you are listening to this podcast or any one of the other Weiqi Art of War podca...

Since my adventures with the energy pendants, I have been consistently wearing the Bagua pendant everytime I hold a Qigong class as part of cultivating the dantian qi within it. After six (6) months of wearing it, I have noted a slight buzz feeling over the area on the chest where it usually tests upon. And if I wear it for too many days in a row, a pulling heaviness settles upon it. The heavy pul...

In Baguazhang 八卦掌, when a practitioner comes upon a wall of resistance, the strategy is to change direction and go another way. The trick is to see the wall of resistance before it sees you and change direction before it has a chance to react. The thing is, most of the time that wall of resistance only looks like one, when you are right there having to deal with it. Despite what most people say...

About two weeks ago I had an unusual dream, even for me. I dreamt that I got elected by the Roman Catholic Cardinals to be the Pope. In the dream I saw myself wearing the Pope's white habit and white skull cap. I know this because in the dream I saw myself reflected in a mirror with full lucid clarity. A couple of days after the dream, I told a friend about it and just for fun he started calling m...

When the tides of fortune are flowing in your favour, problems can now be resolved. Even if a situation has reached a stalemate because too many obstacles stand in the way of further progress. This is because the other side's condition is not in their favour anymore and they have decided to make a strategic withdrawal, even though, they appear to be in a stronger position. For observors of the gam...

Recently while playing a bit of Weiqi (Go/Baduk), I had for the fourth time come across a dilemma that only reveals itself when a player repeatedly plays a certain game. This dilemma is the inexplicable sensation one gets that while the end result remains always the same, just like the starting plays, there is a sense that during the game the sequential order of play keeps rearranging itself. I kn...

☳ Because the Baguazhang 八卦掌 master moves in a circle, Heaven blesses the master with the ways of the sky. The Swimming Dragon form embodies the typhoon. Round and round it goes; this way and that. So that when the master has learnt the ways of Qigong ☳ 氣功 and Gongfu ☵ 功夫, the next level is Tianqi ☶ 天気 mastery. ☵ To be a good Tianqiren or Weatherman, a person must be good at reading...

Sometimes in order to succeed, we have to let go of our preconceived notions and trust in the unknown. And that means stepping off the established path and walking one's own Tao. Which for me is one of the principles of being a Taoist, even though I do not see myself as one. While there are many slogans and feelgood quotes out there heralding the virtues of living or training like a true black bel...

Neigong 內功 is the internal practice of developing one's inner strength. In layman's terms, neigong deals with the flow of qi 氣 around and within the practitioner's body. And on a much deeper level neigong is practiced in an effort to harmonize what Chinese call the three treasures or Sanbao 三寶. The three treasures are called: 精 Jing or essence, 氣 qi or energy, and 神 Shen or spirit. While t...

29 March 2020 wealth meeting. A little different from the usual profit and loss, and cashflow statements that we analyse.

As Coronavirus COVID-19 spreads around the globe, a growing number of people can't help but wonder if the virus is man-made? So far the numbers of people directly dying from the disease has been extremely low compared to the overall world human population. And yet, the virus has managed to induce such a dramatic response that whole economies are shutting down and countries are in lockdown. On top...

The Coronavirus COVID-19 is related to the common cold. It is not the virus itself that kills people, but the added complications cause either by the onset of a secondary virus, and existing illness or lowered immunity cause by either diet or lifestyle factors. What scares the health authorities a lot is the fact that: 1) China and Iran covered up their initial findings; 2) The virus has been in c...