Baguazhang, Taijiquan and Xingyiquan are the three famous internal martial arts. Internal martial arts must pay attention to the cultivation of internal strength. Here, I will take Baguazhang as an example to talk about the understanding of practicing Baguazhang internal strength, and at the same time talk about the methods of practicing internal strength.
In 1992, I was fortunate to meet Mr. Wu Yongshan, a disciple of Mr. Guo Gumin, and began to practice Baguazhang under his strict guidance. Mr. Wu’s Baguazhang is very powerful, chic, light and fast. With a downward palm, it swooshes up very fast. I was very envious at the time and asked the teacher how he could be so fast? He said that everything is on the waist and legs, and everything must be sought from relaxation. Mr. Wu said that if you want to relax, you have to turn slowly and find it in the circle little by little. If you practice the ground-stepping palm for half an hour every day, you will be very different in three years. Just practice it according to the teacher’s instructions. The ground-stepping palm taught by Mr. Wu is to turn the body into the circle. What is different from outsiders is that every fixed form of movement must be paused.
- (Take the left turn as an example) Stand at attention.
- Bend your legs and sit down, then step out with your left foot.
- With your left foot firmly planted, move your body’s center of gravity forward, straighten your right back leg into a lunge and pause.
- Then, move your center of gravity completely to your left leg and keep your body still, lift your back leg flat and slowly bring it to your left ankle and hold it.
- Step out with your right leg and buckle up in the circle.
- With your right leg firmly planted, move your body’s center of gravity forward, straighten your left back leg into a lunge.
- With your body’s center of gravity completely transferred to your right leg, lift your left leg flat and slowly bring it to your right ankle and hold it.
- Step out again, repeat. You can choose the size of the circle yourself, it can be large at the beginning, and it can be gradually reduced as you become more skilled.
Key points: The front leg should be stretched forward as far as possible, and should be gently extended forward like cotton wool; the body should not be raised or swayed left and right during the whole process, and jumping, shaking, and shaking should be avoided; each movement should be paused for a while, especially the pause when the back leg is lifted up is the most labor-intensive. The result of such training is very effective in removing body stiffness and producing loose and sinking strength.
For fast turns, Teacher Wu teaches to turn more circles and change less styles. The skills of Baguazhang are all in the circle, and you must turn it well and thoroughly. You must practice all eight palm styles of the fixed palm, and you can turn it quickly or slowly like the ground-stepping palm.
For breathing, Teacher Wu teaches natural breathing. He said that when turning Bagua, you must let it go naturally and don’t let your mind wander too much. Many people say that you inhale when you start and exhale when you fall, and these are all correct. But it is the final result, and you usually breathe naturally. Generally, the speed of movement can be inhaled and exhaled when rising and falling, but the slow rotation of the ground-stepping palm is not a simple inhalation and exhalation. For example, the pause after the back foot is lifted is not solved with a single word “exhalation”. It includes several small breaths. Only in this way can you be calm and steady. When you have mastered the skills, you can breathe naturally when you rise and fall.
From 1992 to now, it has been 15 years. I practice from 5 to 6 in the morning, then take the bus to work, and practice from 8:30 to 9:30 in the evening, except for special circumstances. It contains great perseverance and brings great fun. In addition to practicing Baguazhang, I also practice Taijiquan. I persisted for many years and had some experience after a long time. Now I feel that the internal energy in the body can be agitated with the movement, and it can also flow in the body like mercury. For example, when a palm is pierced, the internal energy can flow to the tip of the palm. When the palm is tucked back, the internal energy flows to the back palm. The body is empty and spacious. The movement is light and fast. Because you have practiced to the extreme, the two hands work together, and the separation is relatively clean and neat, especially for grappling, you can hold the opponent very smoothly, and the opponent? It feels very comfortable and smooth. It is not like there is no hand strength and you rely on the brute force of the whole body to twist, without depth, and you waste your energy, and it is easy to hurt the opponent. In the past, the teacher said that the hand strokes are the same, but on the contrary, the same movements and moves cannot be separated or closed. Why? There is no internal strength support. Now it is different. Not only is it very smooth to separate, but it is also accompanied by the effect of the aura, which is very lifelike and feels very interesting. Let’s talk about qi. Some people feel that they are hot here and there on their bodies, so they think that they have internal qi. In fact, this is the initial feeling. When the real internal qi accumulates, it will surge in the body and fill up. It not only needs to break through the barriers and realize the small and large circulations as traditional qigong says, but it also needs to be like the rising Yangtze River and the big rivers, filling up the ditches and canals and flushing away all obstacles to it. Here, the process of loosening, loosening, opening, and emptiness, as described by Tai Chi master Wang Yongquan, runs through. From another perspective, it can also be said that it is to practice essence to transform into qi, practice qi to return to spirit, and practice spirit to return to emptiness. The skills of internal martial arts are all connected. Now, when you turn to the ground palm, you feel that your leg will naturally slide forward and flow to your toes. When you lift your leg to your ankle, you will feel that a magnetic field is formed outside your body, which will hold you firmly. Here, you can take a step forward and practice the crane-shaped step of the ground palm. When one leg is raised to the same level as the hip, you will immediately feel that your whole body is empty. The raised leg will float up by itself, which is very light and agile. After stabilizing, your body will feel like a big bell that has been knocked down, empty from the head down. The “relaxed and clean qi in the abdomen” mentioned in the boxing manual is probably this feeling. Then, lift your leg with the sole of the foot as the lead, and the step down will also be very light and agile, without the feeling of pounding when you first practice.
If you practice further, you can change the embrace of the single fish palm (push the grinding palm) into a crane-shaped step, raise your leg high, and then kick it upwards, which requires more skills. The practice method is the same as the ground-stepping palm. The back leg is raised to the ankle of the front leg and relaxed, then the leg is raised and aligned with the crotch. At this time, you feel the legs floating up, the body moving forward, and a kind of round force is formed in the whole body. Then you can use your body to drive both palms to turn to the center of the circle as much as possible, while consuming, and then straighten the legs and point them out, and a stream of internal energy goes straight through the soles of the feet. Then drop and bounce the legs, bow step, lift back and follow up, and then lift the legs again, repeat the action, the same for both sides. In the dog days of summer, turn this posture, sweat pouring down every day, and the body feels hearty. “The inchworm bends in order to stretch.” Only by bending deeply can it stretch greatly, and only by loosening and kneading deeply can the elasticity and shaking force be fully exerted. For this reason, the following methods are proposed to encourage everyone.
- Practice according to the boxing manual
There are many boxing manuals and boxing formulas of Baguazhang, but the most famous ones are “36 Songs” and “48 Methods”. The former is the general principle of practice, and the latter is the law of fighting. These are the summaries of the practical experience of the old predecessors, the general principles and criteria of practicing, and those who are interested in practicing must comprehend them carefully and follow them. Although there are different schools, different techniques and different routines, they are inseparable from these boxing theories.
- Practice basic skills in a down-to-earth manner
It is said that the master Dong Haichuan taught very few palm styles in the early days. The emergence of various routines later was mostly developed and changed by the second and third generations of Baguazhang people. Among them, there is the development of Baguazhang fighting skills, and the elements of market economy are not excluded – if you want to teach, you have to keep renovating to retain students. In fact, the renovation of various routines is also based on the basic skills of Baguazhang, and they are the development and extension of basic skills. In 1992 and 1993, I was fortunate to meet the apprentice of Mr. Guo Gumin, a master named Li. At that time, he had retired and was very kind, but because of his poor background, he was sent to the Northwest Third Front during the Cultural Revolution. He had previously studied Baguazhang under Guo Gumin. Due to the passage of time, most of the original palm styles were forgotten. He would practice the ground-stomping palm every morning and evening. He said that at that time, the brothers and sisters gathered together every day, inseparable from Teacher Guo, practicing martial arts and drinking tea together. Mr. Guo praised the circle-spinning. Unfortunately, he later believed in Buddhism and meditated at home every day. It was difficult to see him once a year, but when he saw him, he was in very good health.
- Combination of fast and slow practice
Baguazhang is generally recognized to have eight fixed palms and eight modified mother palms. This is the basis of Baguazhang. Other various modified palms, such as the chain palm, the wandering palm, etc., are all derived from the fixed eight palms and the mother palms. As for the fixed eight palms, you can practice fast or slow. Fast practice will produce lightness and agility, slow practice will produce internal strength, remove stiffness, remove clumsy strength, seek relaxation and purity, and produce great strength. Only when you are very relaxed and quiet can your internal strength grow fast. It is often seen that some people run around because they have not worked hard on slow practice; some people practice in a very beautiful and unrestrained way, but they fall out at the touch, which is also the reason why they have no internal strength. Since Baguazhang emphasizes fighting with others during exercise, it is very important to pay attention to body movements and hand techniques, so it is also necessary to practice quickly, but in the end, it still depends on internal strength.
- Cross-practice of various palm styles
Baguazhang, like other internal martial arts, also emphasizes round strength, two-struggle force, and the induction of yin and yang when practiced to a certain level. Since the landing points of each palm style are different, the parts of the body to be exercised are also different. For example, in the push-mill palm, the index finger of the front hand is raised, and the Du channel on the back can be led. And the landing points of the tiger’s mouth upward are the tiger’s mouth, elbow and abdomen. The former uses the forward and backward force, while the latter seeks the upper and lower combined force, especially the tiger’s mouth palm, the elbow is self-supporting, and the internal qi in the abdomen naturally swells, which is very comfortable. You can even focus your mind on the front hand slightly, and focus on the abdomen. You feel that the front and back hands are gently floating, and the arms are gone. It seems that the person is revolving around the front hand, and the internal qi in the abdomen is swelled, and it is induction with the front tiger’s mouth from time to time, which is very comfortable. When the Moon-Bao Palm is swung, the hands and the back naturally form a circle. With the improvement of Kung Fu, the chest becomes wider and wider, and the other half of the imaginary circle of the hands and the back forms a big circle, while the chest is empty, and the higher state of looseness and emptiness is slowly born. There are other finger-pointing and drawing the earth, which is to find the pulling force of the upper and lower hands, the Yin-Yang fish, which is the front and back force of the negative Yin and the Yang, and the lion rolling ball palm, especially, which shows the ball force everywhere, left and right balls, up and down balls, front and back balls, and accompanied by the effect of the field.
Although the internal power training involves fighting, it is more beneficial for health preservation.