It is common to see that some people who practice Baguazhang mainly practice the eight palms and sixty-four palms, but rarely practice some basic skills in tradition. It is true that the eight palms and other sets are the core content of Baguazhang, but few people know that its basic skills are also an important part of Baguazhang. Just like the cornerstone of a high-rise building, although it takes a long time to practice and is very time-consuming, if it is firmly built, the main body can be stable. Therefore, it is necessary to practice basic skills. Although it is very boring when you first learn it, if you really put your heart into it and get the essence of it, your experience and understanding will be different: the old generation of successful Baguazhang masters all attach great importance to the practice of basic skills.
It is said that when Mr. Liu Fengchun first learned Baguazhang, he practiced only a single palm change for three years. After three years, his kung fu skills were very pure and incomparable, so he was famous at the time. Of course, this is inseparable from the guidance of the master and his own hard work. Practicing traditional Baguazhang and Xingyiquan, there is a saying that one must first practice turning palms and standing for three years. This is to test the sincerity and perseverance of the disciples, and secondly, it is mainly to let the disciples lay a solid foundation. In fact, there are many basic skills of Baguazhang. In addition to the most common turning palms, standing and walking, there are also guiding and walking, holding weapons and practicing internal skills.
Now I will introduce several simple and common practice methods of holding weapons and practicing internal skills to everyone, the purpose is to throw out a brick to attract jade, for fellow enthusiasts to study, and hope that experts will correct them. Holding weapons means a method of increasing one’s own skills through certain equipment training. Although Baguazhang emphasizes light and agile movements, if you practice with certain auxiliary equipment on the basis of practicing until the whole body is smooth, it will be more effective to improve your flexibility, stability and enhance your striking power. There are many methods. According to the old predecessors and old records, some of the weapon-assisted training skills of Baguazhang include the light training of running on poles and boards, inserting sand to practice palm skills, pulling nails, digging wells, walking on poles, grabbing mud buns, rubbing balls, and practicing qi running on poles and boards. There are also many other methods such as ear training, eye training, and nine-palace pole training. Now we will only briefly introduce the two training methods of inserting sand and grabbing mud buns.
(I) Inserting sand: Inserting sand is a method of practicing palm skills and palm power in Baguazhang. There are many different methods of practice in different schools. At the beginning, you can choose fine sand from the river and put it in a deep wooden barrel or iron barrel. Stand in a horse stance in front, and use your qi to insert your fingers into the sand. It is best to have the whole palm not in the sand. After practicing for a long time, you can change the fine sand to coarse sand and practice the same way, and then change to iron sand. The iron sand must be net-like and without edges and corners. You can first stir-fry it in an iron pan with medicine or stir-fry it to remove the toxic fire. Then operate it without any harm. As for whether to switch to angular fine iron sand after practicing to a certain level, it should be decided based on safety and personal skill level. After each practice of the above palm training method, you must wash your hands with medicine or medicated wine to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, protect your palms and increase your skills; there is another method of practicing with mung beans and peppercorns in a certain proportion instead of iron sand. Although the skill is not as strong as iron sand, its safety is more reliable. No matter what kind of sand material is used, it is best to practice under the guidance of a teacher.
(II) Grabbing mud buns, also known as grabbing cones. The so-called mud buns are two cones made by mixing loess and hemp knives with water, that is, half spheres, shaped like buns. Use the five fingers of both hands to open and leave five finger hole grooves on each of them. The depth should match the fingers. After it dries, it can be used for practice. At first, the weight of the mud buns is 2-3 jin. After the skill is deepened for a long time, the weight of the mud buns can be gradually increased to more than 20 jin. When practicing, you can open your feet flat, with the distance between your feet shoulder-width apart, hold the weapon in front of your chest with both hands, bend your arms and sink your elbows, and then practice in various ways such as stretching forward and backward, stretching left and right, circling diagonally, rotating in circles, and circling around your armpits. Practice should not be too fast, and should be coordinated with breathing. But no matter what form you practice, you must always remember the three taboos and the key points of the exercise. The three taboos are holding your breath, straining your breath, and using clumsy force.
Key points of exercise: sinking your qi into Dantian, pressing your tongue against the upper palate, lifting your head along your neck, sliding your buttocks and contracting your anus, relaxing your shoulders and sinking your elbows, closing your mouth but not holding your breath, breathing through your nose, and breathing naturally. The weapon-holding exercise method can effectively help people strengthen their strength in the Baguazhang moves and boxing.
If you only practice muscles and strength, it will hinder your fitness over time. Although weapon-holding exercise is also inseparable from regulating your breath and qi, it is biased towards strength after all. Qi and strength are inseparable. As the saying goes, “three parts of exercise and seven parts of cultivation.” Therefore, it is necessary to assist with the corresponding internal cultivation exercises. Practicing internal cultivation is very beneficial for health preservation, disease elimination and longevity. We should also attach importance to it as a part of the basic skills of Baguazhang to assist boxing practice. In fact, the two have their own emphasis, but they are inseparable in boxing practice.
As Mr. Li Jianhua said in “National Martial Arts Theory”, “The meditation practitioners cultivate it, which is called “internal alchemy”; the national martial arts practitioners exercise it, which is called “internal strength”. However, there is no internal strength that is not achieved by external skills. It is because the movement and stillness are mutually rooted and nourished, and there is a wonderful return to the original state.” “And those who practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies mostly practice the tangible muscles and bones externally and the intangible spirit and energy internally.” “The two can only be helpful if they are combined. If you only cultivate the intangible and abandon the tangible, it will not work; if you only practice the tangible and abandon the intangible, it will be even worse.” Therefore, strength training and qi cultivation cannot be separated, they should complement each other to complement each other. There are many kinds of internal training and health-preserving exercises in Baguazhang, such as Lu Zu Eight Styles, Hunyuan Qigong, sitting meditation and internal training, etc.
Here we only briefly introduce the basic exercises of sitting meditation and internal training that are easy to practice in daily life, so as to help beginners understand. As for sitting meditation and health-preserving exercises, it can be called the internal training and health-preserving method, or simply the internal training. It is a common kung fu in ancient and modern times. It seems that there are practitioners in various schools and sects throughout history. Although the methods are different, they are mostly the same. For example, “meditation” and “cultivation of elixir” are such kung fu. The initial sitting meditation and health-preserving kung fu is not as complicated as meditation and elixir cultivation, and of course not as profound. It can be practiced in the morning and evening after practicing Baguazhang and other exercises. It is a pure training method of calming the mind, moving the qi with the mind, and moving the body with the qi.
Due to the different levels of its training, the methods and key points are also different. In-depth practice, such as Zhou Tianhe Cart Moving, etc., this method of moving qi through the body and meridians, if practiced improperly after deepening the kung fu, will produce some disadvantages. This requires us to be cautious and must proceed step by step under the guidance of a wise master. The practice venue must have fresh air and a quiet environment. Sit upright, single cross-legged, double cross-legged or natural cross-legged (i.e. flower arrangement sitting) and other sitting postures are all OK. Relax the whole body, straighten the spine, focus on Dantian, straighten the head and neck, slightly retract the chin, gently stroke the palms of both hands above the knees or overlap the hands and make a seal on Dantian. First inhale and exhale the turbid air through the nose, then close your eyes and lower the curtains, press the tongue against the upper palate, hold your breath and concentrate, do not wander your mind, and listen to the breathing in and out. If there is numbness or itching during the practice, ignore it.
At first, each sitting can be 10 to 30 minutes. If there is saliva in the mouth, it should be swallowed slowly in three times. When sitting down, you should open your eyes and relax your body, click your teeth 36 times, rub your palms together to make them warm, wash your face 36 times, then gently rub your lower abdomen 36 times on each side, then rub your knees and feet to unblock the blood vessels up and down, then stand up and take a slow walk, leisurely and happy.