INTRO BAGUAZHANG
(Posted 2010-12-18 22:55:49 by ArchPaladin)

So this past weekend I went to what was basically an introductory
Baguazhang seminar.

It was pretty cool.  It is a soft-style art that is designed to be used in
a fight against multiple opponents, so the basic principles of the art are
primarily aimed at keeping you upright, able to move, and in a position to
throw your opponents while staying on the move.  Most of what we did this
weekend was to get a greater understanding of how to stay rooted when
someone is trying to pull or throw you off balance.

I admit that I have a greater appreciation for the difficulty of this
seemingly basic task having gone through the training process.  In Tae Kwon
Do there is a lot of emphasis placed on balance, and in Aikido there is a
lot of emphasis placed on sensitivity to motion.  However, TKD is primarily
a kicking art and its fighting style relies on not letting an opponent get
close enough to you to take you off balance.  And in Aikido you're expected
to be able to throw your opponents into each other, but the skill to do
this is not often practiced.  So this fills somewhat of a hole in my
current training.

It is a style that I admit I would like to know more of, but as usual, time
is limited.  Interestingly, this is an art that doesn't have many
practitioners, and those who do are geographically spread out.  So training
includes techniques on things you can do when you have no one around
combined with a lot of emphasis and encouragement to make it to their
regular seminars or find as local a teacher as possible.  I may look into
more of this depending on time and cost.

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