Warfox Bagua 錦園八卦掌

The process of trying to master one's self is a journey that first requires us to know ourselves. A step that is so easily over looked when trying to find a mate, teacher, job or other "needs". We tend to focus much more on what we want, than who we are. The truth is we can not know what we want until we first find who we are. If you find the perfect job and later discover more about yourself, that same job may turn into a nightmare. As we so often hear but forget daily, "the journey starts within." That means that you are going to have to first draw a line between who you are and who you want to become. Then we have to shed our true self from society's perception of our self. This takes a long deep look into the flowing river in your mind. What is it you have done up to this point? Are you proud of who you are? Is there anything you have wanted that you have ignored? Life gets us so busy often times we completely forget to ask ourselves the most imp...

Sometimes a workout can stimulate a thought of something we can not fully understand until days or even months after the fact. Three days ago in the midst of my flow training I made a connection. A deep connection that exposed the cores of movement centralized between myself and the earth. I gazed into an endless sea of techniques that had previously overwhelmed me and for the first time I was filled with great confidence. I wasn't sure what it meant but as I set at my desk and looked around at passing individuals I was able to see the truth of the nature of Bagua and Dong Hai Chuan's earlier intentions. It was something that Bruce Lee also tried to explain but was unable to put into place before he passed. Energy it seems will keep being reborn until a container can finally hold it's presence. The problem with Bagua being, there is what would seem to be too much energy to contain. My master and I both sacrificed a great deal of time, as he used every method possi...

Well walking the circle is crucial for helping you develop the necessary power for utilizing your attacks. However it is not directly related to the system of reaction regarding combat. There are other steps that can be used leading to thousands of modifications, but the beginning step is easy enough to explain. Stand so that most of your weight is on the back leg. The front leg should be about a shoulders length apart (roughly) and light, ready to move in either direction. It shouldn't be too light however because you may have to use it to move backwards. Remember when moving forwards, the lead leg should raise while pushing from the rear. When moving backwards the back leg should raise first while the front leg pushes to the rear. Whether moving forward or backward the legs should adjust to their original spacing, not allowing them to come to close or to far apart. The weight should still remain mostly in the back and the body should not elevate in mid step. If you elevate your...

In a previous article, " Master Wu Guo Zheng's talk on the history of the Bagua ", I translated a brief history explaining the reason that there are so many different styles of Bagua. In short we can say that the style itself was so young in exposure that the earliest successors of the art had to add their own "finishing touches" giving the different arts of Bagua different personalities according to the individual masters' traits. Cheng Style, Gao Style or Yin style were characterized from the masters that inherited them. Of course we know this leads into many political debates of what the art should be like. With all of the different variations how can we tell the true principles of Bagua? My dad used to tell me, "If you go outside and start practicing how to punch thousands of times, you will eventually learn how to punch. But having a master will save you at least half the time. " Meaning that it is the nature of our human body to...

This is a small explanation of some of the XIng Yi basics. This is a personal note that my master gave to me that I decided to translate into English for all those who may be interested. Keep in mind this is my own translation meaning some of the terms may be different than the ones they use traditionally for Xing Yi English. Written by Wu Guo Zheng Translated by Robert Jay Arnold Xing yi is composed in three major parts. Namely the Fist of Five Elements , the Twelve Shapes of the Fist, and Connecting or Linking Forms. The Fist of Five Elements being the most basic and most important of the fundamentals of Xing Yi. If these five elements are practiced thoroughly then all the other movements will come together in success. The five elements refers to Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. In terms of fists it refers to dividing fist, drilling fist, collapsing fist, exploding fist and horizontal fist. It is most important to pay attention to the order of the elements and techniques....

The first time I saw Bagua dates back to when I was 19 years old and already entering my second year in university. I had already studied martial arts for 15 years and had been teaching officially for 4 years. Most of my training consisted of Taekwondo, Boxing, Jeet Kun Do, Hapkido, Ninjitsu, Kung fu Sansoo, Jujitsu and many various hard styles. Because martial arts has saved my life so many times, I never slacked off in any of my training routines. My students also underwent extreme training in order to push ourselves to a new level. It was there we formed the Tianwudao. My two brothers also continued there training in their styles (Hapkido and Wingchun) and my brother Aaron came to me with a video from his Wingchun teacher that had many different Chinese styles that I had never even heard of. The video seemed to be so secretive and everything spoken was in Chinese leaving us doing our best to decipher the movements. When I heard the word "Bagua" my mouth opened as it was fo...