2 Circle Walking Basics - Changing Direction and Important Considerations

BAGUA MASTERY PROGRAM

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MODULE3

Circle Walking Basics:

Changing Direction and

Important Considerations

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PLEASE NOTE: The practice of Taoist energy arts and meditative arts may carry risks. The inform in this text is not in any way intended as a substitute for medical, mental or emotional counseling a licensed physician or healthcare provider. The reader should consult a professional before unde ing any martial arts, movement, meditative arts, health or exercise program to reduce the chan injury or any other harm that may result from pursuing or trying any technique discussed in this Any physical or other distress experienced during or after any exercise should not be ignorec should be brought to the attention of a healthcare professional. The creators and publishers o text disclaim any liabilities for loss in connection with following any of the practices described i1 text, and implementation is at the discretion, decision and risk of the reader.

Table of Contents

Section 1: Changing Direction •••••••••••••••• 7

Overview ... 7

Benefits of Reversing Direction ...

9

Personal Health ... 9

Chi Development ... 11

Martial Arts ... 12

Meditation ... 12

Basic Reversal Options:

Easier and More Difficu It ...

13

Section 2: Changing

Direction-Simplified Version 1 ...•••••••...••••••••••. 15

Overview ...

15

Turning from Counter-Clockwise to

Clockwise Walking ... 18

Turning from Clockwise to

Counter-Clockwise Walking ... 20

Overview ... 23

Turning from Counter-Clockwise to

Clockwise Walking ... 24

Turning from Clockwise to

Counter-Clockwise Walking ... 26

Section 4: Important Basic

Circle Walking Considerations ... 27

Your

Eyes ... 27

The Width of Your Feet ... 28

The Width between Your Thighs ... 32

Benefits ... 32

Personal Health ... 32

Chi Development ... 33

Martial Arts ... 33

Meditation ... 33

Keeping the Perineum Open ...

34

Correcting Pelvis Issues ...

35

Intermediate-Level Considerations ...

36

Involuntarily Moving of the Rooted Foot ... 37

The Size of Your Circle ... 38

Making Smaller Circles ...

40

Section 5: How to End a

Circle Walking Practice ... 45

Appendix 1:

Martial Arts Applications ... 47

Overview ... 47

Basic Training for Applications ... 50

Toe-in Step followed

by

a Toe-out Step ... 53

Section

1

Changing Direction

Overview

Every chi practice is deigned to create balance. This is an absolutely fundamental purpose of changing direction when Walking the Circle, which enables you to perform the same movements on both sides of your body. Regardless of whether you Walk the Circle in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, every inside or outside three-, four- or two-part step is exactly the same internally and externally. In mirror-like fashion, your left foot does what your right foot does and vice-versa.

Different schools of bagua teach different methods of reversing direction. Some use both simplified and complete footwork patterns to change direction as is taught in this program. Simplified versions usually use only a toe-in step, as presented in this module. Complete versions normally use both in and toe-out steps as taught in Module 7. Some schools also use more complex methods and incorporate not only single but multiple toe-in and toe-out steps, weight shifts and waist turns into a single complete turn.

A

B

c

D

Figure

3.1.1

Basic Reversal of Direction

Easier Version, Pivot on the Ball of the Foot

When you reverse direction from walking clockwise to counter-clockwise in your circle or vice-versa, you want to do the physical movements well. Above and beyond that, a central goal is to develop a smooth, calm state of mind through-out the reversal. It starts during the transitional space of the last few steps before beginning the turn itself. Think of the space between gear shifts in a stick-shift car. The purpose is to prepare, warm up and smoothly transit your body, mind and chi into doing the next set of parallel yet opposite external and internal motions within the turn and the Circle Walking that is to follow.

Many intermittently and internally freeze or have mini freak-outs if they don't transition smoothly- especially after they pass the beginning level and start

-changing direction at high speeds.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 9

E

F

G

Figure 3.1.1 (con't) Basic Reversal of Direction

Easier Version, Pivot on the Ball of the Foot

H

Benefits of Reversing Direction

Reversing direction provides benefits for personal health, chi development and meditation.

Personal Health

Reversing direction balances your musculoskeletal system and internal organs.

While walking in one direction around the circle, the muscles and other soft tissues of your legs naturally turn around your leg bones, primarily in one direction: toward the center of your circle. By changing direction, you automatically shift and reset your leg muscles and other soft tissues to begin turning primarily in the opposite direction around your leg bones.

A

B

c

D

E

Figure 3.1.2

Basic Reversal of Direction:

More Difficult Version, Foot off the Ground

Walking the Circle generates clear pressures on the points where your muscles, ligaments and tendons attach to your spine, joints, internal organs and oth-er structures. These pressures can vary significantly depending on if they are exerted more from left to right or vice-versa, as occurs when Walking the Circle in opposite directions. It happens in part because your internal organs are located on both sides of your body. So each leg pulls on your organs differently, depend-ing on how you move.

For example, doing a right footbrake can affect your internal organs to varying degrees and in different ways than does a left footbrake. The effects of these footbrakes are even vaster if one is a straight-line inside step and the other is a curving outside step.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 11

Walking the Circle in a single direction therefore carries the danger of hidden body imbalances emerging or being created. Some parts of your body's inter-nal structures may become too strong while others are neglected. This causes the neglected structures to progressively weaken in direct proportion to those you strengthen. One leg can become stronger and more flexible while the other becomes weaker and tighter. Weak points are usually problem areas as in the famous phrase: A chain breaks at its weakest link. These weak links could include body alignments, uneven twisting of the legs, or imbalanced opening and closing of the joints.

Every time you change direction, you get the opportunity and eventually the ability to re-twist and rebalance your insides, so any unequal pressures inside your body and mind can better equalize over time.

Chi Development

Energetically, the most important function of changing direction is the way it can develop the spiraling energy of your body. It can dramatically benefit your health. Circle Walking naturally pulls up the spiraling energy of the earth into your body regardless of whether or not you are initially conscious of it. Each time your reverse direction, you naturally reverse the primary direction that energy spirals.

Each time you reverse direction, you also amplify your ability to absorb the earth's energy. During the turn, you initiate the earth's dynamic spiraling energy, filling your body's energy channels. As you subsequently walk more, you complete the flooding of your energy channels.

However, when your energy channels fill to a maximum degree in one direction, they may simply become overburdened, stagnant and frozen. By reversing the circle's direction with some degree of integrity, it causes the channels' energy to clear and re-open for business.

Martial Arts

See information about martial arts applications in Appendix 1 on p. 47.

Meditation

Each time you change direction, you get the opportunity to experience your mind move from a calm state to activity and return to a still state. The mechanics of walking, reversing direction, walking and once again reversing direction influences your mind to alternately expand and come back to its center. This first happens slowly as you walk slowly, and then rapidly as your walking speed increases. This opening and closing of the awareness of the mind gives you a continuous practice for recognizing how your thoughts can scatter or become present and still.

For example, after Walking the Circle in either direction for some time, you may find your concentration waning, becoming more diffuse or beginning to scatter. If this gets worse, your mind loses its ability to focus or be present, calm and still. At this point, you turn and reverse direction. With your best effort during the turn, allow your mind to return toward its center where it can once again re-establish its ability to concentrate in a relaxed way. Then, as you come out of reversing directions, do your best to relax and expand your mind, so it becomes even more still and present as you continue Walking the Circle.

Likewise, with more and more practice, you gain insight into what it is inside of you that enables your mental states to become obviously unstable. With yet more practice, you recognize what enables you to shift from an external orientation to that which is internally inside yourself. You begin to discover and develop your thoughts, so they concentrate and become stable. Eventually, this stability of mind can become continuous.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 13

Basic Reversal Options:

Easier and More Difficult

Two versions for simplified turns are presented, which will get your feet in the water. Module 7 will present the components of the complete turn, which will get your body completely in the pool and swimming.

Version 1 assumes you have absolutely no background whatsoever. It is a natural starting point for the neophyte to experientially engage with a deep-er more practical process of unddeep-erstanding and embodying the tenets of the I Ching. The process entails far more than intellectual theory alone. In terms of physical coordination, this method is about the easiest version of reversing direction that exists within the Circle Walking world. Ideally, it should be done a minimum of a month before learning Version 2.

Version 2 is still a beginning technique, but it's more difficult. It provides a better transition to the more complete ways of reversing the circle. How-ever, this version is geared toward those who are not still investigating to see if bagua is for them. Instead, it is for those who have already made a lifelong commitment to their practice as a vehicle for acquiring real knowledge and reaching excellence and their full human potential.

When you can do the beginning set of instructions comfortably and with-out strain (after a few weeks or more), you can add Version 2, where more valuable details are added to improve your turn. Version 1 should be practiced Walking the Circle in both directions until your body can accommodate the tasks easily and without strain.

These versions are essentially a replay of the methods for reversing direction presented in Model 1 on straight-line walking except for one critical differ-ence: Your torso and legs continuously turn in Circle Walking whereas they do not in straight-line walking. Therefore, moving into and completing a reversal of direction during Circle Walking has quite a different feel than in

straight-line walking. It presents greater challenges to your balance and the smooth, comfortable and free flowing movement of your hips, knees, ankles, feet and lower spine.

A part of this challenge is that during the Circle Walking reversal of direction, the pressure of the turn applied to your lower body parts can be significantly greater than the normal torque to the joints applied during straight-line walking (or just walking in a circle). This challenge is mitigated by pivoting on the ball of your foot in Version 1. Version 2 assumes that your body has sufficiently strengthened and that you have learned through plenty of practice of Version 1 how to handle greater pressures on your leg joints and spine.

Follow the basic principle in learning all Taoist chi practices: Move from the simple and easy to the difficult and complex. By following the recommendation that you practice Version 1 first-until you can do it well-you will make it easier for your body to absorb the basic change of direction movement patterns and to appropriately strengthen the surrounding soft tissues that hold your leg joints together. In this way, your joints can grow with minimal danger of overstraining or damaging your knees, so you become strong, flexible and perfectly capable of handling the increased pressures generated within your legs by turning.

Section

2

Changing Direction:

Simplified Version

1

Overview

As a general rule, a beginner completes one revolution around their circle in twelve to sixteen steps (or more). Walking a larger circle ensures that you do not strain your feet, knees, legs or lower back. Count each of your steps (inside or outside steps)as one step.

Bagua tradition holds that you start Walking the Circle in a counter-clockwise direction. As a beginner, you should walk around your circle three times and then reverse direction, as described in the following detailed instructions.

In all instructions, remember the seventy percent rule if your body is healthy. If you're ill or injured, follow the forty percent rule.

A

8

c

D

Figure 3.2.1

Basic Reversal of Direction:

Easier Version, Pivot on the Ball of the Foot

Movements are shown from the vantage point of someone standing in the center of Bruce's circle; the center of Bruce's circle is to his left.

He is using a three-part, mud walking to change from walking a counter-clockwise circle to a clockwise circle.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 17

E

F

G

H

Figure 3.2.1 (con't)

Basic Reversal of Direction:

Easier Version, Pivot on the Ball of the Foot

Movements are shown from the vantage point of someone standing in the center of Bruce's circle; the center of Bruce's circle is to his left.

He is using a three-part, mud walking to change from walking a counter-clockwise circle to a clockwise circle.

Note:

In the photos above. Bruce is looking down at the floor, which is what most beginners initially do to see if their feet are in the correct position. Later, once your footwork is stable, your head and neck should be straight and your eyes should look forward and not down.

Turning from Counter-Clockwise

to Clockwise Walking

After Walking the Circle three times with your left leg on the inside, turn around and Walk the Circle in the opposite direction with your right as the inside leg and foot.

1. To prepare to reverse direction, do a straight inside step with your left foot (A).

2. Then, shift your weight forward and bring your feet side by side with your right foot off the floor (not shown).

3. Maintain your weight fully on your left foot, and move your right foot forward so that it curves and forms a "T" shape with your left foot (as you do in straight-line walking).

This is called a "toe-in step;' and you should finish it with a footbrake (B).

Please note that between Figure 3.2.1 A-B, Bruce's weighted (left) foot has shifted position relative to the center of his circle. Normally, you should not allow this to occur. It was done here to make it easier for you to see the toe-in and following steps. Ideally, as you do a toe-in step, you should keep your weighted inside foot stable and on the ground, rooted strongly so that it does not shift position.

A

B

When you do your toe-in step, it is not wise to make your turning radius so

severe as to cause noticeable knee or back pain or strain in the pursuit of a "correct" or"ideal" movement. It is perfectly fine to turn less to protect your

body's well-being by moving in accord with the seventy percent principle.

lfyo.u have knee or lower back issues, then go with a forty percent variation

of the seventy percent principle to reduce the risk of injury.

4.

5.

6.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 19

The least challenging toe-in position-and the safest for your knees-is where your feet and big toes form an "L" shape. You should feel no strain in your knees. If you do,

turn in your toe-in leg less.

You may do this step either by touching the ground with your heel first and then rolling your toes down, or by using the mud-stepping technique.

At this juncture, your right leg is on the ground and your

torso's weight is still on your back, inside (left) leg (B).

Shift your weight forward and gradually turn your hips until your body faces in the same direction as your front-weighted toes point-ideally, toward the center of your circle. Your torso's weight should now be 100 percent on your rig~t leg (C).

Keep your weighted foot and knee stable and turn your hips to face the direction you just came from. Let the ball of your un-weighted (left) foot remain on the ground and pivot your foot on it as your hips turn. When finished, your toes should point in the same direction as your hips and in the direction that you want to walk (D).

When you pivot your un-weighted (left) foot, let your heel lift off the ground slightly and rotate backward toward your weighted (right) foot to avoid strain on your knee and lower back. Pivot in whatever way you must so that you feel no strain in either knee.

Step straight ahead with your forward (left) leg (E) and complete the step by putting your foot down with a foot-brake (F).

c

D

7. Shift your weight forward to bring your torso's weight 1 00 percent onto your front leg (G). As you do, keep your back, now un-weighted (right) foot, stable and pointing toward the center of the circle (as shown). However, if to be comfortable, you need to adjust your foot so that your toes point in the same direction as your weighted forward foot, do it.

8. Move your back (right) foot forward and off the floor until it is side by side with and parallel to your left foot. It should be 1-3 inches off the floor, or higher if your knees, back or hips feel any strain (H).

You have now reversed direction. Your right foot is inside your circle and your left foot is outside of it.

Begin Walking the Circle in a clockwise direction. Start with a straight step with your inside (right) foot.

Turning from Clockwise

to Counter-Clockwise

Walking

A beginner would now Walk the Circle three times in a clockwise direction, and then change direction in accordance with the instructions of the previous section. Reverse direction as necessary (next going from clockwise to counter-clockwise).

The process of walking three circles and then reversing direction can be repeated as many times as you like in a practice session.

© 2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

F

G

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 21

Focus on the Toe-in Step

From the feet side-by-side and parallel position (either walk-ing a clockwise or a counter-clockwise circle), the toe-in step should grow out of the natural way your outside foot curves or hooks across your body (B).

Let the whole leg and foot turn in farther than your regular out-side step and cross as far over the centerline of your body as is comfortable. Ideally, the toe-in foot points toward the center of the circle and your feet should form a ninety-degree angle.

When you do a toe-in step, consider the following points:

_B

• The least challenging option-and the safest for your

knees-is a turn where the big toe of your weighted foot points directly at the big toe of your toe-in foot.

• More challenging toe-in steps will be covered in Module 7 on complete Circle Walking.

• At this juncture, your toe-in leg is on the ground, but has none of your torso's weight on it.

• You should feel no strain in your knees. If you do, turn your toe-in leg less.

• At all times, your torso should remain upright without slouching or leaning forward, backward or to either side.

• As you do the toe-in step-and eventually other steps- keep your full awareness on your feet and how they feel as you move forward in space, millimeter by millimeter, inch by inch.

SKIP AHEAD

If you can perform all of the instructions in this section reasonably well, then proceed to Section 3. If not, skip ahead to Section 4 and keep practicing until you're ready to incorporate intermediate considerations.

Section

3

Changing Direction:

Simplified Version

2

Overview

This more difficult version of the basic reversal of direction is best done only after having some experience with the easier version. It requires slightly better balance and more leg stability. It is the foundation upon which the complete version of changing directions will be constructed. Beginners should do the easy version for a minimum of one to two months and this version for an additional one to two months before moving on to the complete turn in Module 7.

If you have knee, leg or lower back pain or have suffered any major injuries, stay with the easier version until the pain has disappeared and you are fully healed.

This version gives you a sense of the more complex and larger weight shifts and waist turning intrinsic to practicing bagua as an art.

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--...

A

B

c

D

E

Figure 3.3.1

Basic Reversal of Direction:

More Difficult Version, Foot Off the Ground

Turning from Counter-Clockwise

to Clockwise Walking

After Walking the Circle three times with your left leg on the inside of your circle, turn around and walk in the opposite direction with your right leg/foot on the inside.

Figure 3.3.1 illustrates a change of direction from counter-clockwise to clockwise walking. The center of the practitioner's circle is to his left. As the reader, you are viewing his movements from the vantage point of someone standing in the center of his circle.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 25

1. Begin again with your feet in the feet side-by-side and parallel position (A).

2. Your outside (right) weightless empty foot initiates the turn by moving forward and then curving inward toward your body's centerline. It's called a toe-in step (B).

3. If mud walking, finish this toe-in step with a mud walking footbrake, planting your toe-in foot firmly on the ground (C). If using heel-toe stepping, touch down with your heel first and your toes second. The toes of your outside foot should point toward the center of the circle and your feet should ideally form a "T" shape.

4. Extend your rear leg and shift your torso's weight fully onto your (right) planted foot (0).

5. Turn your hips to face toward the opposite direction from where you began,

lift

your foot off the ground and into a parallel position with the ground (E). This is the beginning of what is known as a "toe-out step:' Let the turning of your hips carry your leg and foot through the air. When you finish turning your hips, ideally the foot and toes of your un-weighted leg will still be in the air (pointing in the direction opposite to which you began). As you do these motions, do not let your un-weighted foot move closer toward your weighted leg.

Safety Note:

As you do the toe-out step, it is very important to maintain your weighted knee in line with and above your weighted foot. If you let this knee collapse inward or outward, you may severely strain your knee.

6. Once you have reversed direction with your un-weighted foot in the air, move it forward as you would in Part 1 of whatever stepping method you are using. Next, put it down, either with a footbrake or a heel-toe step (not shown in Figure 3.3.1 ). Continue walking until you arrive in the feet side-by-side position.

You have now reversed direction. Your right foot is inside your circle and your left foot is outside it.

Begin Walking the Circle in a clockwise direction by taking a straight step with your inside (right) foot.

Turning from Clockwise to

Counter-Clockwise Walking

A beginner would now Walk the Circle three times in a clockwise direction, and then change direction in accordance with the instructions of the previous section. Reverse direction as necessary to account for the reversal (now going from clockwise to counter-clockwise).

The process of walking three circles and then reversing direction can be repeated as many times as you like in a practice session.

Section

4

Important Basic Circle

Walking Considerations

Your

Eyes

Look straight ahead and simultaneously feel the rest of your body as you Walk the Circle and reverse direction.

Ideally, you do not look down at your legs or feet. Although it is fine for beginners who have a tendency to look down to do so, over time it is best if you can clearly feel your legs and feet while looking straight ahead. Initially though, seeing your legs and feet can make it easier for you to feel them.

You may find yourself wanting to look down for two basic reasons. First, it may help your balance, which again is fine for a short while. Stop doing it as soon as possible though.

The second reason has to do with how the brain is neurologically organized and hard-wired to your eyes. Eye movements naturally activate parts of your brain responsible for specific functions.

• Upward eye or head movements naturally activate the visual centers in your brain, often triggering a natural involuntary response to internally visualize without consciously knowing it. • Sideways eye or head movements activate the auditory

centers that cause you to consciously or unconsciously talk in your head or remember words or sounds you heard in the past. • Downward eye or head movements activate the body feeling

centers in your brain, for example feeling your feet while walk-ing. This phenomenon can be observed in people who become depressed and consequently look down more often. They also tend to bend their head down to track the movement of their eyes-unconsciously focusing on horrible body feelings.

The Width of Your Feet

Regardless of whether you're using three-, four- or two-part Circle Walking there are new variables at play because your body and legs continuously curve. They will feel completely different to straight-line walking and must be understood and adjusted.

One important consideration is how far apart your feet should be while Walking the Circle. So to begin your exploration ofthis question, initially recognize what the width of your feet should be when standing still.

© 2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Figure 3.4.1 Practitioner with Thin Legs

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 29

Stand and try to touch your feet together. If you're ultra thin (Figure 3.4.1 ), you should be able to put your feet together and feel no pressure inside your pelvis. That is unless your pelvis is out of alignment in which case you would follow the guidelines for those with thicker legs (until your pelvic alignments are corrected).

Figure

3.4.2

Practitioner with Thick Legs

If your feet move too close together and you have thicker legs (Figure 3.4.2),

you will normally feel some pressure inside your pelvis. This necessitates that

you move your feet wider apart until the pressure inside your pelvis leaves and

becomes comfortable.

What is the distance where it feels just right? For body types like sumo wrestlers

or football linebackers with giant legs, the width between their feet might be almost as wide as their hips. Whereas for a thin one-hundred-pound dancer with super long and thin legs, their feet might even touch while their pelvis remains quite open.

In the beginning, just make sure that the width of your feet does not become so narrow that it squeezes down your perineum. If the perineum physically closes down, it blocks the flow of energy moving between your legs and upper body and vice-versa.

Excluding the thinnest and thickest thighs, the normal width variation between most people's feet is somewhere between one-and-a-half to three inches. It can be less for very thin people and much wider for really big people in any par-ticular Circle Walking stance.

Figure 3.4.3 _{The only reliable tool you have to judge the} proper width of your feet while walking is your sense of body feeling. You have to trust yourself. Ask and answer for yourself two questions:

• What are my personal indicators for which I must constantly feel?

• What must I adjust (in tiny increments) so the physical pressures and energetic flows within my pelvis feel good?

Your answers will help you recognize if your feet are too close, too far apart or just right.

Questions that may help you decide whether your feet may need to be slightly more apart:

• Is your pelvis or perineum being squished?

• Is your lower back being pulled?

• Are your buttocks forced backward?

• Is there some sort of new or increasing tension in the bottom of your belly?

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 31

A "yes" answer to any of the above is a symptom that your anatomical structures are being forced and excessively pulled and strained.

Apply the seventy percent rule to find individual solutions for what is too much or too little pressure.

It's very common that in the aftermath of having an accident or being injured that the width of your feet must increase because all of your body's anatomical structures have become strained. Such injuries can be particularly difficult when layered on top of existing misalignments from other injuries that have not yet healed. The pressure compounds.

Tai chi chuan and Taoist yoga are better for healing and resolving lower body injuries than bagua because they are naturally less intense.

A

B

Figure 3.4.4 Thin

Legs

A} Feet-parallel Position B) Straight Step

Sometimes you can achieve a narrower width between your feet by simply increasing the degree of inward and outward twisting of your legs to mitigate or fully release the sense of internal pressures inside your pelvis. For example, for most people to do a low degree oftwisting and turning, their legs must be wider. Conversely, at a higher level of twisting and turning, your feet can safely come closer together because of the way it loosens up the anatomical connections between your body's substructures.

However, the degree to which greater twisting of the legs can remedy leg-width distance is always based on the specifics of your individual body structure.

Once you have figured out the appropriate width between your feet, main-tain it continuously during all steps without variation. If you find that in some

Figure 3.4.5 Thin Legs:

Circle Walking positions your feet can be wider than in others, then figure out at which width you are comfort-able for all positions, and maintain that width.

With practice and time, your legs and body will loosen, and the width you can continuously maintain will likely decrease.

The Width between

Your Thighs

Closely related to the width between your feet is the width between your thighs. Your thighs should always be open enough that your perineum feels open and comfortable. (The perineum is the patch of skin between your anus and genitals and the structures directly above it.) Equally, you should feel space inside Toe-in Turning Step and between your sit bones.

Benefits

Keeping the perineum open has many benefits, although it can be quite difficult at first, especially when doing curving outside steps.

Personal Health

Keeping the perineum open increases the flow of chi within your body-mind. It can upgrade your internal organs and get the fluids of your body to move and circulate better.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 33

Chi Development

Keeping the perineum open enables the rising and falling of energy between your feet and head and vice-versa to become very strong. Turning the body as your feet get progressively closer to each other further facilitates the body's horizontal energy flows.

Martial Arts

Keeping the perineum open enables more power to be generated from the legs, which will travel upwards through the body and amplify the power of the arms and hands. Likewise, this upward transference of chi from the legs to the hands can effectively increase the speed at which the waist can turn and enable your arms and hands to move faster. Power and speed upgrades are qualities that can increase high performance in almost any sport at many levels.

Meditation

In Circle Walking, finding the proper width between the thighs is an important initial step toward awakening the energy of the central channel. Tao-ist central channel meditation practices have similar purposes as the central channel meditation practices of ancient India, such as classic Hatha yoga, Hindu and BuddhistTantra. They are not necessarily done in the same ways, however.

By bringing the mind into the central channel, wayward movements can become quiet, resolved, still and balanced. Getting the energies of all the secondary energy channels within the body to concentrate inside the central channel enables the settling to happen at a dramatically faster rate. Over time, this essential stage of all Taoist meditation energetic practices enables practitioners to reach a high level of clarity, stillness and openness that is extremely alive and vibrant.

the energies from various places in the periphery of the body into the central channel and the left and right energy channels. Sometimes you bring these energies into the central channel, then out to left and right channels and back even deeper into the central channel.

Keeping the Perineum Open

Initially, it is enough that the width ofyourfeetdoes not become so narrow that it squeezes down your perineum: If the perineum physically closes down, it blocks the flow of energy moving between your legs and upper body and vice-versa.

While Walking the Circle and reversing direction, generally the thinner a person's legs, the closer their feet can be together; the thicker a person's legs, the wider apart their legs. This implies that the width of your thighs must be periodically adjusted. As such, it is useful to understand the rules of how and why you may need to adjust the width of your thighs and under what circumstances.

B

A

Figure 3.4.6 Human Pelvis

A} Sit Bones B) Wings of Pelvis C) Pelvic Ring or Pubic Synthesis D) Sacrum E) Perineum

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 35

Correcting Pelvis Issues

Any issues with the pelvis are strongly related to the width of the thighs.

The sit bones on the bottom of your pelvis can easily close down. This in turn can potentially cause your pelvis-in varying degrees-to anatomically "freeze up" rather than move naturally, including tucking and turning.

If the space between your thighs becomes too narrow, you can dislodge either or both of the natural alignments of the ring (Figure 3.4.68) or the wings (Figure 3.4.6() of the pelvis. This will

limit

the ability of:

• Your waist to turn.

• Your legs and feet to project outward during step-forward and footbrake steps.

• Your rear foot to smoothly pull in to the feet side-by-side and parallel position by the tucking of your pelvis.

If the space between your thighs becomes too narrow, it can also distort the natural alignment of your sacrum. So, rather than being central, it may twist to one side or the other, or rotate at all sorts of odd angles (including diagonally). This can potentially overstress the ligaments of the sacrum; once overstretched, they are really difficult to return to normal, which can lead to destabilizing the lower sacrum.

Legs are heavy. If your thighs are too close together or your leg movements are imbalanced, it can generate cross pressures that unevenly go across the vertebrae of your spine. This has a tendency to cause vertebrae to go out of place or twist and create back problems. The internal organs can also be excessively pulled, either left or right.

THE WIDTH OF YOUR THIGHS

GETS CLOSER OVER TIME

If you could track any beginning bagua practitioner's Circle Walking over a ten-year period, regardless of body or leg size, you would find that the thighs and feet progressively become closer. One

person might close the gap by inches while another only by tenths of a millimeter-depending upon how much they practiced and their body size. Regardless of degree, there is a relative tightening of the space between the thighs.

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Intermediate-Level Considerations

The perineum is the ever-famous root chakra of Hatha yoga and as such a fundamental energy center of the body. Even if the perineum appears physically open and not squeezed down, it can still be closed energetically. If the perineum is energetically closed, it blocks the flow of energy moving up and down your body.

This closing may occur because the energy center at the perineum is shut down. In this case, it must be energetically dissolved using the Outer or Inner Dissolving process. If, however, the physical space between the thighs is closed-not by a gross amount, but rather a subtle amount-you either open your pelvis internally, or activate and spread the muscles of your inner thighs sufficiently to cause your feet to become just a micro-millimeter wider.

A well-trained, competent teacher can help you make even the tiniest adjust-ments that you may personally need.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 37

Involuntarily Moving of the

Rooted Foot

The importance of having the feet rooted in bagua, or any moving internal chi art, cannot be overstated. This area is easily overlooked when practicing Circle Walking basics. Intermediate practitioners should consider this an essential task to be accomplished over time within your seventy percent.

Discussions about rooting can have many meanings, depending on the context and the philosophies of different internal arts, including:

• To what degree a foot and leg should be rooted.

• How you play with a rooted foot and become aware of how internal pressures can change within the foot while rooted. • Ways of changing the root from one leg to the other and the

neigong methods involved.

Initially, your focus should be on whether your rooted foot is stable and creates a solid foundation. The goal is for the foot on the ground (especially if it is the primary weight-bearing foot) not to wiggle or squiggle:

• The ball or heel must not move sideways.

• Your weight must not shift radically to the inside or outside of the foot.

• The inner or outer edge must not lift off the ground.

This is definitely a much easier task to perform when your feet are stationary or moving very slowly than in the constant and rapid weight shifting and waist turning of Circle Walking.

Many students find that once their feet are on the ground during Circle Walking, they shift and move all over the place. This is especially true for the back leg/ foot, slightly involuntarily twisting in during the step-out-to-footbrake or shift-weight-forward steps.

The instability normally occurs because the connections and alignments between your leg joints are uneven. If so, then you will unconsciously move your foot to take the pressure off those uneven joints. Otherwise, your joints (especially the knee and lower back) are at risk of being torn. Equally, as the pressure moves into the joint, the joint may simply have insufficient strength to hold the position.

Do your best to keep your rear foot rooted without wiggles or wobbles as:

1. Your front foot goes down and breaks.

2. You shift your weight forward from the back to the front leg.

3. You bring your weightless (rear) foot side by side and parallel to it.

This problem can become especially pronounced as your circle gets smaller and your waist and legs strongly turn or twist at more severe angles.

The Size of Your Circle

In Circle Walking, an intermediate practitioner walks a circle that requires eight to twelve steps to go around the circumference once, changing direction after completing two rotations in any direction. An advanced practitioner walks a circle that requires four to six steps to go around once, changing direction after completing one rotation.

The smaller the circle you walk, the greater soft-tissue twisting capacity you must have stabilized in your body, especially your legs.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 39

The size of your circle solely depends upon the degree to which your outer leg curves. Indications that your outer leg is curving more than your body can handle in the moment are feelings of excessive pressure in your ankles, knees, thigh muscles, lower back or inside your pelvis.

The less your leg curves, the larger your circle must be and the more steps it will require to walk around it.

As you practice over weeks and months, the pressures inside your legs, pelvis and back can either increase or decrease. You may find your circle getting either larger or smaller by a few steps.

For example, if you have an injury or weakness for any reason, your outer leg's curve diminishes and your circle might go from normally being eight to sixteen steps to temporarily as many as thirty-two steps. (If so, you'll need a larger space in which to practice.)

Likewise, as your lower body heals and significantly strengthens, the curving of your outside leg could get proportionately greater and your circle could shrink from thirty-two to sixteen to eight steps.

The lesser the outside leg's curve, the easier it is for the pelvis to turn and for you to smoothly bring your feet together from a weight-forward to the feet side-by-side and parallel position.

Conversely, a greater outer curve is more strenuous on the muscles, ligaments and other anatomical connections inside your hips that support twisting your legs. Intermediates must have more energy moving through the central channel to maintain the greater curve at faster walking speeds.

The smaller the number of steps, the more squeezing and stimulating pressures go into your internal organs. If you are healthy, this can be highly beneficial. If you are not well, keep to the fifty percent rule and make a larger circle until the problem is fully resolved.

Making Smaller Circles

The ideal circle size for a beginner is 16 steps. When you can do eight steps comfortably, you're doing fairly well. However, when you start moving to a four-to six-step circle, the degree of opening in your pelvis must be nothing less than wonderful.

Equally, as you achieve a lesser number of steps with a tighter outer leg curve, you must really loosen up your body to where your hips can smoothly turn and stabilize. Otherwise, you'll lose your balance. As your cir-cle gets progressively smaller from practice, your ability to turn your waist must radically increase. This allows the smooth transition from your weight being forward to bringing your feet parallel.

Figure 3.4.8

Degree of Outside Legs Curve

Developmentally, you don't want to force the smooth turning of the waist or the degree to which the waist turns (see "Dragon Body Turns" warm-up exercise). Let it happen gradually. So, at each stage of increasing your capacity, you

move

from some to minimal to ultimately no sense of internal resistance during the turn.

When you get to a point of walking a four-step circle, several factors must simultaneously come together:

• The angle of your outer curving leg will be pretty severe. • The space between your thighs must become very thin. • Your legs must twist rather dramatically.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 41

• You must have the internal ability to open up your sit bones, bottom of your pelvis and perineum to a very significant degree.

• Your kwa, pelvis, leg joints and lower back must be well-oiled and able to turn and move quite freely without strain-especially between the weight-forward and feet-parallel positions.

Heavier Body Types

How small a circle you walk is also impacted by your bodyweight. Several adjustments must be engaged for heavier body types.

A one-hundred-pound practitioner, Circle Walking and reversing direction (depending on speed), may put somewhere between one- to three-hundred pounds of torque on each of the joints of their lower body, due to the physical mechanics of bagua. A practitioner weighing between two- to three-hundred pounds could ramp up to possibly one-thousand pounds worth of torque and pressure.

Throughout the 4,000-year-old tradition of bagua, there have been many immensely huge practitioners that have mastered the art of not allowing too much weight to go into their joints. So it's not that you can't be big and practice Circle Walking; however, you must follow the safety precautions precisely and execute movements a lot more accurately than smaller practitioners.

In the beginning:

• Monitor how much your outer leg curves inward with all the considerations previously mentioned.

• Let your weight smoothly and gradually arrive into and

through your feet, rather than slamming your weight into them and shocking the joints of the lower body. This is especially

important during the footbrake, in the final step when your leg's weight stabilizes on your forward foot and for the weight bearing foot of the step-up-to-feet-parallel position.

• Notice the degree of opening inside your pelvis. There should not be any internal resistance or drag that causes weight to concentrate inside your joints or sacrum. This is especially true during the motions from the end of the footbrake to the weight being on the forward leg to bringing your feet parallel.

Intermediates must be careful to:

• Gain conscious control over the modulation of the joints open-ing and closopen-ing. The joints never close completely, especially to the point of grinding on each other. Neither do they open so much that they overly pull and strain your anatomical insertion points, such as your ligaments.

• Find the right amount of twisting-in a soft and relaxed way-for the legs, especially in the inner thighs. Simultaneously, your lower body will be springy, which will minimize shocks between the bottom (closing or compression) and top (opening or expansion) of the open-close bounce.

Section 5

How to End a

Circle Walking Practice

At the end of Circle Walking session, you want to store the energy you have generated during your practice and smoothly transition into the next activity of your day. Ideally, you'll carry forward into your day the benefits of your practice.

As you finish Circle Walking:

1. Slowly come to a stop and end facing toward the center of your circle. Stand in a comfortable position.

2. Cross your hands in front of your belly with the palm of either hand on top of the other.

3. Consciously let go of everything in your mind and relax your entire body.

4. Allow your mind to become as still and calm as possible.

5. Mentally and without force, encourage the energy from your extremities to flow into and concentrate in your belly, until your belly feels like it is filling with energy.

6. Use your intent to have the chi in your lower belly-or ideally, the lower tantien-to become relaxed and calm.

7. When the energy collecting in your belly becomes settled, you have completed the basic Circle Walking chi-development and meditation practice.

8. Do your best to remain centered for as long as possible, transitioning into the next event in your practice session, or in life.

Figure

3.5.1

Standing in Alignment

Appendix

1

Martial Arts Applications

Overview

In bagua, direction reversal methods are fundamental to combat if attacked by either a single opponent or multiple opponents simultaneously. In fact, the turning method (whether straight-line walking or Circle Walking) is as important to bagua as are the signature techniques of other martial arts.

Examples include:

• Karate or taekwon-do's down block, front kick and reverse punch.

• Thai boxing's round house thigh or head kick and elbow across the head.

• Judo or jiu-jitsu's chokes or throws.

• Slipping a punch in boxing.

When attacked from behind, bagua's turning methods give you the ability to rapidly turn into or away from incoming attacks. This is used both defensively to evade a blow and aggressively as you move toward a blow. It can also be applied to capture a weapon and initiate a simultaneous counterattack.

Turning methods can mitigate the damage of a blow when you are hit because the phases of the turn cause the force to glance off your body. This helps you evade, direct and absorb a blow's force. Because of the way your body revolves during the turn as a blow arrives, it lacks a solid place for its impact to arrive. Your

turn redirects it away from you by fractions of an inch. This prevents the blow from landing at all or at least forces it to glance off with minimal damage.

Constant direction changing, using large or tiny hand and waist motions, also prepares and trains the body for throwing techniques. Although it may not be obvious that there are many individual throwing techniques within the direction changing aspects of bagua's form movements, in fact there are many. Direction changes within the form train you to transfer the power and explosiveness generated by your stepping and waist turns into subtle and powerful pressures that you can express in your hand movements to create a multitude of effective throws.

These turning methods allow bagua throws to go beyond the use of leverage upon which the throws of many martial arts are based. In bagua, throws are commonly done first by either grabbing or sticking to an opponent's arms and the front or back of their torso. Then, you initially move them in one direction and immediately turn to the opposite direction. This creates a sudden reversal of momentum that throws the opponent.

For example, initially you move them forward and then turn abruptly to throw them backwards. Or, you can move them backward in order to throw them forward on their face, or left to throw them on their right side. Similarly, you can move their head down and then turn them up to make their feet go flying upward.

Direction changes are also very important to prevent someone from success-fully applying a joint lock on you. Before the lock really settles in and the space disappears in which to escape, they enable you to change direction, rotate your arms and waist, and step away from the finishing force of the lock. In this way, the opponent simply doesn't have the time or leverage to make a joint lock stick. The motion of your turn defeats their ability to apply the lock.

Bagua is particularly known for having the best footwork of all the internal martial arts. As the bagua turning techniques get progressively more complex, they enable these abilities to be fully realized in three ways.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 49

1. The basic straight, toe-in and toe-out steps of bagua walking and its basic and complete turns enable you to create extremely efficient fighting angles. Such fighting angles enable you to gain solid leverage on your opponent. All good martial arts traditions are based on gaining leverage. Without the skilled use of sly fighting angles and leverage, martial arts bouts simply degenerate into fairly crude affairs. People end up standing toe to toe and slugging it out. Walking the Circle in itself gives you an appreciation for fighting angles from a circular perspective. This is a unique hallmark of bagua that's very hard to find in relatively more linear martial arts, including tai chi.

2. Bagua's Circle Walking footwork was originally designed to enable a person to fight seven to eight people at once. The Taoists found eight opponents is the maximum number that can physically surround one person at any one moment without squeezing each other out.

Bagua's turning footwork patterns enable you to smoothly slide between opponents and not leave your back exposed for more than a microsecond. In most martial arts, fighting is more commonly done by taking on one opponent at a time before moving onto the next one. This can easily leave you exposed and vulnerable to being hit from behind while you're preoccupied with a single opponent.

3. Over time, the practice of Circle Walking and changing direction enables the twisting and turning of the arms to gain power, fluidity and spontaneity. You reduce and basically rid yourself of internal resistance, so that you can change rapidly without freezing. As the resistance lessens in the legs, it even more strongly reduces in the upper body.

There are two main fighting applications between the basic reversal methods presented in this section and those of complete turns, which Module 7 will explore.

A basic turn enables you to deal with an attacker who is to the side of you or one-hundred-and-eighty degrees behind you. A complete toe-out turn enables you to intercept someone who is two-hundred-and-seventy to three-hundred degrees behind you.

The complete toe-out method also allows you to cover more physical distance. This ability becomes exceedingly important when you must intercept, avoid and generally navigate between and around multiple opponents, especially when there are more than two opponents.

Basic Training for Applications

Here are some of the basic stages to practicing the martial techniques of reversing direction.

A

B

c

Figure 3.6.1 Toe-in Step

D

© 201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 51

Toe-in Step

1. Facing forward, have somebody attack you from behind. Initially, the strike should be either to your upper back or the back of your head. This is for two basic reasons. Most beginners are not that sensitive to either their own body signals or the feeling of something entering their etheric field. If any sound can be heard (opponent's breath, air blowing or clothes rustling), you will hear it easier if the weapon attacking you is coming high than if below your mid-back.

If you lack total confidence in your training partner's bodily control, it is initially better to proceed by having them attack using a safe weapon, where they can go berserk without causing you serious harm. A sting or similar discomfort that will pass within an hour or two is about as far as you want to take it. You need a sting as a consequence for poor performance to realistically motivate you to perform better. In a real situation, it is unwise to expect a person with malevolent intent to take pity on you.

In this regard, your opponent could use anything that is relatively soft yet carries enough weight to move at sufficient and ever-escalating speeds, so that it poses a realistic challenge for which you seek to prevail. A light cardboard tube is not sufficient to motivate you, but a rolled up newspaper or plastic tube might to do the trick.

2. At first, your opponent comes at you very slowly, trying to hit you in the head or back. Do a toe-in and shift weight (Figure 3.6.1 ). As soon as you begin your turn and your feet begin to move, use your peripheral vision to see and surmise what's happening (Figure 3.6.1 8-C).

If before you began to move, the blow was going to hit you in the middle of your head, then by the time you arrive at the weight shift (after your toe-in, Figure 3.6.1 D), then the blow should just miss you. The distance you move your body should create sufficient space between your head and the opponent's strike or weapon to cause them to miss. At a minimum, they shouldn't land a solid blow on you. Barely landing a blow or lightly glancing off your head, neck or shoulder will hurt less.

3. Gradually, increase the speed of attack and your turns from fairly slow to progressively as fast as you can handle it.

4. Now that at least you have the bare bones of moving your feet, turning and getting out of the way, the next phase is focusing on the sensation of withdrawing your body from the initial space it occupies (facing forward in Figure 3.6.1 A).

Merely having a mental picture of getting out of the way with a sometimes dubious result is an entirely different animal from getting the feeling of successfully withdrawing. You must learn to feel what has to happen inside you to be physically successful. You want to get the sense that you can do it consistently and eventually at various angles to your opponent.

At the very least, you must develop the ability to instantly know when to abort a turn, change or do something else. You must instantaneously recognize internal preconditions within yourself that cause you to slow down or hesitate. In a real-life situation, your defense takes place in fractions of a second-if you are to be successful.

Developing this sense of recognition and nurturing your ability to over-come hesitation can be accomplished by your partner attacking and you responding in slow motion. Recognize how you hesitate. Then, steady your breath, calm your mind and use all of your creativity to overcome it. As you are able to successfully perform at each new speed, nurture this lack of hesitation and only very gradually increase the speed of attack and the corresponding defensive moves.

5. An old martial art adage warns: That which you cannot see will hit you. Your focus should be on making sure your vision remains clear and does not become blurred. Regardless whether Circle Walking by yourself or under attack, when you move very slowly, it's relatively easy to keep your vision from blurring. The faster you move, the more your mind must become relaxed, concentrated and clear if your vision is to also remain clear.

Module 3: Circle Walking Basics 53

Toe-in Step followed

by

a

Toe-out Step

When attacked from the rear, do a toe-in immediately followed by a toe-out step. • During the toe-out step, as you turn your hips and swing your

leg sideways, put your arm up in the air and rotate it. Contact your opponent's attacking weapon or arm in any way you can with the point of contact being anywhere along your arm. Move so that this action turns your opponent's torso, arm, hand or weapon to the side and hopefully away from you while simultaneously disturbing and destabilizing their balance. • Ideally, your arm should intersect their arm at a 45-degree

angle. This combined step and arm rotation should turn your opponent and disturb their balance.

• From there, do a footbrake, shift forward and bring your rear foot parallel to your front foot. Then, step out again at a 45-degree angle toward your opponents arm and torso. When you step forward to do the footbrake, hit him with either hand, depending upon the juxtaposition of your bodies. Your waist and stepping becomes like the ever-reversing gears of an old-fashioned Swiss watch.

To summarize, first do a toe-in and step-forward step, so you take their hand, club or weapon away from them. Continue the trajectory in a direction that is clearly going to keep your opponent from hitting you. Next, immediately step forward again and turn in whatever direction you must to hit your opponent.

This basic application will enable you to not only deal with single, but multiple opponents simultaneously as you develop your abilities.

Intermediate Practice

Try a variation of the previous exercise. Your goal is to feel and use the awareness of your etheric field to evade attacks.

As your meditation training deepens and your mind opens, tune your internal sensitivity to feeling what's around you and within your entire etheric field (front, sides and back).

Then, as an opponent attacks from the rear, try to feel without needing to see when and how they are coming at you. Let yourself be guided by how you feel your etheric field morphing. Move before they arrive to hit you. The Tai Chi Classics echoes: I begin after my opponent, but arrive before they do.

This method requires you to trust yourself, which can be especially difficult in the beginning. By the time you consciously analyze what you are feeling, you've already been hit. Thinking about it can cause you to hesitate-even for a microsecond. So it's tricky, but eventually you can get to the point where you feel and allow yourself to flow, so your physical movement is happening before your conscious thought surfaces.

You are unlikely to be successful overnight as acquiring this skill usually takes many years. The real challenge comes in becoming consciously aware of how your insides accomplish the task from moment to moment. It usually takes a long time before you can become consciously aware of even a little of what you subliminally take in. This is one reason why Taoist meditation has been practiced by martial artists throughout the ages.