In Bagua, there are no blocks, strikes, locks, kicks, sweeps, takedowns... There is stepping, twisting, coiling, pushing, pressing, lifting... You are first taught abstract internal principles. Then you are taught how to perform abstract body movements applying these abstract internal principles. Then in semi sparing you are taught how these abstract body movements translate into techniques.
Depending on the situation, a combination of your body and the opponent body can result in block, strike, lock, takedown... It all depends which part of your body connects with which part of the opponent’s body, under which angle and so on...
Also you can decide how badly you want to hurt your opponent. You can then adjust your body position and perform the movement either as a strike (bad injuries) or a takedown (a bit better but still potentially resulting in bad injuries) or lock (the least harmful unless you proceed with break). It is the same move, resulting from applying the same internal martial arts principles, that can be applied it three different ways.
What I have found while practicing with people from different martial arts, is that learning these abstract Bagua principles and how to apply them in movement, greatly improved the understanding that those people had of their own martial arts, and ultimately made them better at what they do, very quickly.
Dong Hai Chuan developed Bagua as a set of abstract martial arts principles and their applications. It was then taught to students coming from different martial arts backgrounds. Each one of his students has taken these principles and applied them to what he knew. The application of the internal martial arts principles then changed their practice into what became known as their own style of Bagua.
This is why when you look at all different styles of Bagua that exist today, it is difficult to understand how they can be all so different, yet they all call themselves Bagua. But once you understand the internal principles, you can see them being applied in the same way in every one of them.
I believe that in order to learn them, it is important that someone actually explains these internal principals to you. And then shows you exercises that you can use to learn these principals. And then explains to you how these principals generate your techniques.
This is quite rare in both internal and external martial arts. Very few teachers teach that way. I have no idea why. Maybe they don’t have the knowledge that I am talking about. Maybe they have the knowledge of internal martial arts principles but don’t know how to pass the knowledge to their students. Maybe this is because they acquired this knowledge through long practice of techniques and meditation on those techniques. So they can feel it and can do it, and maybe even explain how you should do the technique when the internal martial arts principals are being applied. But they were never through any coherent exercise system that can teach you how to learn and experience these principles. So you are left to practice your techniques and hope that you will get it one day. Which you might, but it’s very unlikely.
I was very fortunate to meet one of the people who were taught these exercise sets that allow you to learn and experience these internal martial arts principles. It has been an eye opener.
