In other articles, it has been introduced that there are two main ways to practice walking and turning in Baguazhang, one is “straight inside and buckle outside”, and the other is “swing inside and buckle outside”. The first is the current mainstream practice method. When walking and turning, the inside foot goes straight and the outside foot buckles. Most practitioners sit on the hips and twist the waist. In the elementary and intermediate stages, they sit on the hips (sinking the qi into the dantian), and then sit on the hips on the back legs. The purpose is to facilitate the qi to sink to the feet. The flat mud-walking steps pay more attention to the front foot’s stepping, because it comes from the requirement of the force-generating method of power from the root. However, in this practice, when practicing the power-generating stage, the hips are no longer sitting on the back legs, but the steps follow the body, that is, the back hips send the front hips, and the center of gravity chases the front foot. The back foot chasing the front foot in Xingyiquan is a specific manifestation of this practice. The purpose is to hit people with the whole body instead of just the front hand, and the whole force is needed. The internal strength training of this practice method requires loose and sinking force, and the mind is mainly focused on the feet, that is, it mainly practices Baguazhang’s lower body skills. At present, most Baguazhang schools such as Cheng School and Liang School use this practice method. We also have this kind of training method.
The internal straight and external buckle training method of Baguazhang corresponds to the “force from the root” in the force type, that is, the whole body is driven by the feet to generate force, and the action and reaction force between the feet and the earth are the source of force. Because people use their upper limbs to work and think with their brains, the heart fire rises and the kidney water falls, forming a “clumsy force” that is biased towards the upper limbs. Therefore, the practice of internal martial arts focuses on relaxing the shoulder blades and upper limbs, emptying the chest and filling the abdomen, and “changing force” from top to bottom. First, “Qi sinks to Dantian”, and then “Qi sinks to the feet” to achieve unity of Qi and force “force from the root”. Most internal martial arts follow this idea, although the specific methods may be different. Since “force is generated from the root”, that is, from the feet to the hands, Qi and force are unified, and the specific manifestation is “internal three combinations” and “external three combinations”. Then, after practicing internal Qi, there must be a reverse process of internal Qi from the feet to the hands, or the use of the tendon and bone spring force from bottom to top to form overall force.
In the process of practicing martial arts internal strength under this force-generating framework, there will be three bottlenecks: 1. Since the source of force and Dantian are not in the same place, how to take effective methods to practice the internal three-in-one, that is, sufficient Dantian Qi, while forming the basic framework formed by the external three-in-one practice (muscle and bone practice). 2. If Dantian Qi has a certain foundation, how to form the “six-in-one force” that coordinates the inside and outside when exerting force. 3. In the process of exerting force from the root and from the feet to the extremities, it is objectively contrary to the requirement of “lowering the heart fire”, especially when practicing to a higher level, how to open up the connection between the upper and lower Dantian, and in this process, not to go astray due to high blood pressure caused by the internal Qi opening up channels such as the central channel from bottom to top. This is a realistic problem that all practitioners of internal martial arts will encounter.
In addition to the “inner straight and outer buckle” training method, our school also has another training method of “inner swing and outer buckle”. In this training method, the hip is suspended on the side of the non-load-bearing leg, and the hip is used to drive the thigh and then drive the swing and buckle step of the foot. Therefore, the horizontal mud-walking steps practiced in this training method are also called “suspended suction steps”. In this training method, it is “rotating the waist and twisting the hips” instead of twisting the waist without twisting the hips. The twisting of the hips drives the horizontal twisting of the Dantian Qi, and the Dantian Qi is practiced while supporting, twisting and drilling during walking and turning. Its force type is “force from Dantian”.
The turtle has two main forms. On land, especially when someone touches it, its limbs and head will shrink to the center of the shell. When it is put into the water without any threat, its limbs and head will stretch outward from the center. In the “inside swing and outside buckle” training method of Baguazhang, we use the two forms of turtles to represent the two artistic conceptions in walking and turning. On the one hand, when walking and turning, the front hand should sit on the wrist and stand on the palm, the feet should swing and buckle, the whole body should “crouch like a dragon and sit like a tiger”, “support, twist and drill”, and the head should be “empty and energetic”, and the tendons of the whole body should be moderately stretched so that “force comes from the bones and strength comes from the tendons”, forming a twisting frame structure. When exerting force, the whole body is in a state of instant expansion, release and tension outward. Note that this kind of “tightness” can only appear at the moment of touching the opponent, and 99% of the time, “tightness should be relaxed”, otherwise there will be the phenomenon of straining qi and chest. Therefore, it can be said that whether you can be relaxed in walking and turning is the key to practicing Baguazhang well.
If we regard the artistic conception of the turtle in the water with its limbs and head and tail stretched outwards as representing the “tight” side, the open and releasing side of our walking and turning, then the artistic conception of the turtle “shrinking” on land represents the “loose”, gathering and “combining” side of our walking and turning. Specifically, when we walk and turn, on the one hand, the muscles and bones should expand outward from the center point (Dantian) like a turtle in the water, and increase the internal strength by stretching the muscles and bones. On the other hand, the stretched limbs and the middle of the head with “empty spirit and top strength” should be sucked inward to Dantian, and the pores and some acupoints of all parts of the body should also be sucked inward to Dantian. The whole body has a sense of tightening due to the gathering of internal qi to Dantian. However, this tightening is not caused by muscle tension, but by the gathering of internal qi. It is the feeling of elastic potential energy formed by the spring force generated by the muscles and bones of the whole body being bound and compressed. Once this elastic potential energy is released by the mind, it will form an instantaneous spring force and explosive force. In the two artistic conceptions derived from the turtle, the artistic conception of external support is invisible, and the artistic conception of internal contraction is the main and dominant one. The artistic conception of “turtle shrinking” of internal absorption makes “Yin in Yang, Yang in Yin”, so it can “seek relaxation in tightness” and “tightness in looseness”, and balance Yin and Yang. Once the mind changes, Yin and Yang will change to each other, forming “introducing and falling into the air” or loose and tight force, which fully reflects the concept of Baguazhang with “change” as the core. The following is an introduction to the specific manifestation of “turtle shrinking”:
Five-heart internal absorption:
Five-heart internal absorption refers to the internal absorption of the palms, soles of the feet and the “secret shrinkage of the top of the head” at Baihui. Some schools also call it “five hearts in one”. In Baguazhang, the front and back hands should sit on the wrist and stand upright, and the base of the palm should be pushed outward while the waist and hips should be twisted. At this time, we require the palm of the “Ox Tongue Palm” to be empty and inhaled in correspondence with the contraction of the Dantian, gradually forming the breathing function of the Laogong acupoint. The outward push of the hand is yang, and the inhalation of the palm is yin, so this palm style is yang in yin and yin in yang. The footwork of the soles of the feet Baguazhang requires a flat and even mud-walking step, but the understanding and practice of the mud-walking step are different in different schools. In the practice of swinging and buckling the feet with the hip twisting, I have mentioned before that the non-load-bearing leg’s hip slightly lifted drives the leg and foot to lift.
When we first practiced, we seemed to be walking on the ground but not walking, in order to familiarize ourselves with the basic skills of the mud-walking step. After forming the basic structure of the mud-walking step, the height of the feet was raised to the height of the ankles, covering the crotch, covering the knees, scissors legs, grinding the shins, leaving no gap between the legs to prevent the opponent from stepping on the middle door. In fact, this leg is hanging on the other hip, so it is called the hanging and sucking step. The “sucking” here means that when the foot is flat, the sole of the foot is empty and absorbs energy from the earth. When it is flat, it is not mainly stepping forward, but grasping the ground with five fingers downward. To put it in a more vivid way, it is like the state of an eagle catching a chick with its claws, and when the foot is lifted when it is flat, it is similar to the artistic conception of an eagle catching its prey and lifting it up and contracting it. And this lifting and stepping and grasping are synchronized with the contraction and expansion of the Dantian and the inhalation and exhalation of breathing. In fact, in addition to the mud-walking step, our Baguazhang footwork also has the chicken-walking step and the crane-walking step. Except for the different shapes, the connotations are actually the same.
If the channels between the four hearts of the hands and feet and the Dantian are opened, your Da Zhoutian is basically opened. At the same time, the opening and closing of the hands and feet are highly related to the expansion and contraction of the Dantian, and the basic elements of the Dantian’s power are available. “Dark contraction of the top of the head” means that the Baihui point (fontanelle) on the top of the head is opened. There are two ways to practice the channels of the upper dantian and the lower dantian. One is to use the true qi of the lower dantian to open the channel from the bottom to the top, but this requires certain conditions and correct practice methods, otherwise it will go wrong. Another way is to use methods such as introspection and introspection from the top to the bottom, and shine the divine light inward on certain parts of the lower dantian. At this time, of course, there is also true qi going up. Therefore, this practice is the intersection of yin and yang above and below, and what is practiced is the neutral qi.
“Inhale, hold, rotate, and sit” of the hip:
As mentioned above, the basis of “power comes from the dantian” is the practice of dantian qi. How can we practice dantian qi at a faster speed? The core of the practice method of hanging inhalation step with the hip leading the foot is the use of the hip, and the combined use of the hip and shoulder is an important part of the “external three combinations”. In our practice method, the synchronous use of the hip and shoulder is the key point of Cheng style Baguazhang body training. The hip and waist are the externalization of the dantian, so the practice of using the hip and waist itself is practicing dantian qi. Because of the whole body’s “turtle-shrinking” intention, the scattered Qi gathers towards Dantian, and Dantian can clearly feel this contraction. But we don’t want to train Dantian into an iron ball, but to make it swell. How to make Dantian Qi swell? When we practice the suspended inhalation step, the hip joint on the supporting foot side is located on the supporting axis, and the hip joint and sacroiliac joint on the other side are driven to roll and stretch horizontally through the bending and wrapping of the hips, which drives Dantian to roll horizontally. In turn, the horizontal rolling of Dantian drives the rotation of the waist and hips, and the bending and wrapping of the hips drives the swinging and buckling steps, hips→waist→shoulder. Driven by Dantian, the torso on the non-supporting leg side rolls up and unfolds around the supporting axis like a mat. This is most obvious in the two styles of “Flowers Hidden Under the Leaves” and “Blue Dragon Swinging Tail” in the single palm-changing style.
The horizontal cross section of the hip can be seen as a Tai Chi Yin-Yang diagram. When it is still, it is combined, and when it is moving, it is separated. The changes of the two Yin-Yang fish drive the changes of the whole body shape and the opening and closing of the hands and feet. Therefore, the practice of using the hands to drive the whole body in the Baguazhang change is wrong. If you insist on this practice of Dantian driving the trunk and then driving the extremities, then long-term practice of the inner three-in-one will drive the outer three-in-one, and gradually form the six-in-one force emitted by Dantian. So how to practice and use the hip in this process? In short, it is to inhale, hold, rotate, and sit. Inhale, that is, the non-weight-bearing leg side inhales the hip and lifts the leg, that is, the suspended inhale drives the swing of the foot. This practice is different from the feeling of the mud-walking leg in the loose and sinking practice. This leg is light and agile instead of sinking, because your intention at this time is to lift up (inhale), so the footwork is more flexible. Hold, that is, the hip should be held inward during walking and turning, which is consistent with the intention of shrinking the whole body to Dantian. Rotate, that is, not only twist the waist but also rotate the hip. Sitting means sitting on the hips and then sitting on the back legs, forming a three-fold body of “dragon squatting and tiger sitting”, which is conducive to the gathering of scattered qi in the body to the Dantian.
Lifting the anus, contracting the two yins and the seabed exercise:
In the process of walking and turning, while sitting on the hips and sitting on the back legs, in order to prevent the yang qi in the Dantian from leaking and to gather the internal qi, the coccyx should be rolled forward and the anus should be lifted in the early stage to close the perineum and prevent the yang qi from leaking. At the middle and high-level stages, the anus should be lifted and the testicles should be contracted to convert the acquired essence into the innate essence. At the same time, the seabed exercise should be used to make the perineum absorb the innate qi. In fact, the inhalation of the soles of the feet must enable the true qi to go up to the Dantian. In addition to opening the Yongquan, it is very important to open the perineum.
In short, through this “turtle shrinking” mental method of Baguazhang walking and turning practice, we can see that it is very different from the practice of “straight inside and buckling outside” and “strength from the root” in Dantian (internal three combinations) and force structure. Especially in the feeling of the lower limbs, it is completely different. As mentioned above, this kind of training method is in a state of interlaced yin and yang throughout the body. Yin and yang meet in the lower dantian, and what is trained is the neutral qi. Therefore, how to master the degree of inhalation and contraction of each part to balance yin and yang is a difficult point. This may be different for each person, and you need to constantly summarize and experience in the practice of boxing to find a boxing practice mode that suits you.
The “turtle shrinking” walking and turning method introduced above is actually just an overall framework. In specific practice, you need to break through each part one by one and then put them together. And the practice of each part combined with static exercises can be developed into advanced exercises. For example, the further development of the inhalation and contraction of the soles of the feet is Zhuangzi’s “breathing with the heels”. The further development of shrinking the testicles is the practice of “Horse’s hidden yin” in the Dandao. The practice of “top center dark shrinking” is actually rooted in “dual cultivation of sex and life” and the Buddhist practice of cessation and contemplation. In the past, internal skills such as “turtle shrinking” were not passed on to outsiders. The essence of many martial arts has been lost with the passing of the predecessors. In order to prevent the loss of our motherland’s treasure, I persuaded my junior brother Lu Zhongxing to disclose the “turtle retraction” method of Baguazhang. I hope that friends who like Baguazhang can avoid detours and that this treasure of Baguazhang can be passed on.