Bagua Walking Techniques for Health + Fitness
To elaborate on yesterday’s post on bagua walking methodology, I’ve got more on how to really get your bodily fluids (blood, lymph, interstitial, synovial and cerebrospinal fluids) to circulate strongly throughout your body. Since the fluids are responsible for delivering nutrients to and removing waste byproducts from the body, boosting their circulation is one of the key ways that the internal arts (bagua, tai chi and hsing-i) can foster incredible health from the inside out. In hsing-i, movement is initiated from the hands and...
read moreBagua Zhang Walking Techniques: How to Create a Concertina
Bagua is first and foremost about the feet and legs, so any good training starts with learning and developing stepping techniques. In the monastic bagua tradition that I teach for health, fitness and stress relief, there are two kinds of stepping: heel-toe and mud walking. Regardless of which type, you don’t want to bob up and down like you’re on a boat at sea. Mud Walking for Beginners In mud walking, the classic bagua stepping technique, when you put your foot down in front of you (to take a step), you want to ensure it lands...
read moreTai Chi + Qigong Exercise for a Healthy Spine
Poor posture and repetitive movement using improper body alignments have resulted in back, neck and shoulder pain that has become a pandemic in the West. It’s not only affecting adults, but our youth as well. The symptoms are caused by prolonged sitting, usually starring at computer or television screens, and recurring micro-movements operating keywords, remote controls, clicks on the mouse and more. With each passing year, we are only becoming more reliant on technology, so although prevention is key, the solution (at least in part)...
read moreQigong, Tai Chi + Bagua for Beginners
How Much Practice Is Appropriate for a Beginner? Okay, I’m going to make this short and sweet because this has got to be one of the most popular email questions of the year: I advise new students to mind their 70% of effort in mind-body-chi, and save 45-minute to hour-long practices for many months (or even years) down the line, once you have a solid foundation in neigong. Otherwise, you may injure yourself or build up too much internal resistance and stop practising. Go with the flow and do whatever “clicks” for you yet try to build...
read moreWhat Beginners Learn at Qigong, Tai Chi + Bagua Classes
After 16 years of teaching the Energy Arts System of courses, I’ve learned that it can actually be quite difficult for a beginner to get in the game because there is just so much material and practices from which to choose. Also, it can be difficult to understand which classes are appropriate for beginners, and how a new student might join an on-going class or jump into training a subject matter that advanced students are also studying. Paradox of the System Although it may sound counter-intuitive, new students learn almost exactly the...
read morePulsing the Body’s Cavities in Qigong, Tai Chi & Bagua Circle Walking
My last blog introduced the concept of pulsing, and provided an overview of how to pulse the joints in qigong, tai chi and bagua for health benefits. However, the more dramatic, broad-ranging and long-lasting results come after the tuning in period, when you can go deeper than only pulsing the joints and gain some faculty in opening and closing the body’s cavities. Pulsing the Joints: The Middle Ground Activating the joints is only the beginning stage. Whether you only pulse the joints in the limbs (arms and legs) or the entire skeletal...
read moreQigong, Tai Chi & Bagua Teachers
My friend and fellow tai chi instructor, Dan Kleiman, wrote the following blog. It has some great pointers for teachers and students alike, so I thought I’d share it with you… So You Think You Can Teach? By Tai Chi Instructor Dan Kleiman The desire to teach and share what you’ve learned over time is a natural outgrowth of your own personal practice. In fact, being able to articulate principles you feel in your own body by explaining them to someone else can be a really important learning stage for you. Every time I have the...
read morePulsing the Joints of the Body in Qigong, Tai Chi & Bagua
This article is Part 2; see Part 1 on Essential Neigong Exercises. Pulsing is a naturally occurring phenomenon replicated time and again throughout the universe as an essential aspect of every living organism, including human beings. Pulsing (also known as “opening and closing”) is little more than a synchronised, alternating rhythm of expanding and condensing energy. Paul Cavel Teaches Pulsing in Qigong In terms of qigong, tai chi and bagua, the concept of pulsing is simple: You want your entire body and its energy to pulse as one...
read moreEssential Neigong Exercises
The system of internal power for generating health, healing and an overriding feeling of well-being that has existed in China for at least 4,000 years is driven by 16 neigong components. Each one represents cosmic potential for developing your body, mind and chi—capable of producing seemingly mysterious and enigmatic results. Wherever it may take you, the neigong system is rooted in extremely concrete, tangible and specific training techniques that start with the physical body. Two introductory methods that can take the average human being...
read moreChi Balancing in Qigong, Bagua & Tai Chi
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 8 All internal exercise ultimately intends to get chi flowing in your body. In fact, one reason external alignments are a main focus in the beginning is to help optimise fluid (such as blood) and chi flow. So now that you have the basics of balancing your outer casing in your form, we’ll look at two primary flows in the body: ascending and descending chi. Descending chi is responsible for: Relaxing the nerves Softening the tissues Releasing the stress and tension out of the body and into the...
read moreBalancing the Upper & Lower Body in Qigong, Bagua & Tai Chi
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 7 So far we’ve been practising exercises for balancing the left and right sides of the body with a focus on the legs, the arms and the turning of the body. Now we’ll look at balancing the upper and lower body in qigong, bagua and tai chi. The lower body is much more capable of developing and cultivating blood and chi flow than the lower body. However, most people focus more heavily on their arms than the legs because they’re used to using their arms to carry out everyday tasks, especially when...
read moreBagua Balancing Exercises: Balancing the Legs, Part 2
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 6 Now that you’ve reviewed the basics of balancing the legs, let’s look at how to balance the legs whilst in a forward-weighted stance. Many practitioners find that when assuming tai chi or other postures where the front leg carries the body’s weight, that the legs, especially the knees, become compressed. You definitely don’t want to programme this position into your body memory because, over time, you will cause more harm than good. So start by focusing on keeping your spine erect....
read moreQigong + Bagua, Brighton
19-22 January 2012 | 9-12 August 2012 Medical Qigong + Bagua Zhang Palm Changes Courses. Senior Energy Arts Bagua Teacher, Paul Cavel—I will teach Qigong on Thursday and Friday evenings from 7-10 pm and Bagua Zhang Circle Walking Meditation on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday (10 hours). Dragon & Tiger Medical Qigong Energetics Practice of Dragon and Tiger Qigong is designed to balance chi in a like manner to using needles in acupuncture, only with the hands and body movements. Each movement is designed to stimulate not just a single...
read moreBagua Exercises: Balancing the Legs
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 5 In the last lessons, we’ve balanced the arms in symmetrical and asymmetrical postures as well as while turning the body. Now we will look at balancing the legs. The three primary points to balancing the legs are: Keeping the pelvis level. Maintaining an even stretch through both legs. Not compressing the knees. Start by aligning the knees, move up to leveling the pelvis and then sink the tailbone. Stretch the knees without allowing the body to go down in height. The spine must stay erect. When you...
read moreBagua Exercises: Balancing Asymmetrical Postures
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 4 In the least lesson, we looked at balancing non-symmetrical movement in tai chi. Now we’ll apply the same principles to asymmetrical bagua postures with the goal of equalising the body’s halves, creating even stretches and maintaining the left-right balance. Happy practising, Paul Any physical and/or energetic exercise can carry risks. Do not attempt these exercises if you have any physical, emotional or mental conditions that may make you susceptible to injury. © 2011 Paul Cavel—All rights...
read moreTurning Exercises in Qigong, Bagua & Tai Chi
Balancing Exercises Video Lesson 2 In this lesson, we continue our balancing exercises by looking at turning in the internal energy arts. Turning is a component of most qigong sets and all bagua and tai chi styles. So stabilising and equalising your turn (and weight shift into either leg) is a fundamental prerequisite to achieving a truly internal practice and the benefits that come from it. Many internal arts practitioners have greater flexibility and range of motion on one side of their body and they reinforce this imbalance by playing up...
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