2 Introduction - Learning Bagua, Physical, Energetic and Mental Principles

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B GU M STERY PROGR M

; ~ . ~: : :

~ : i 7INTRODUCTION

Learning Bagua: Physical

Energetic and Mental Principles

BRUCE FRANTZIS



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Published by Energy Arts Inc. P.O. Box 99 Fairfax CA 94978-0099

The following tr adem arks are used under license by Energy Arts Inc. from Bruce Frantzis: Fri

Ene rgy Arts® system Mastery ithout Mystery® Longevi ty Breathing® program O pen ing the E

Gates ofYour Body™ Q igong Marria ge of Hea ven a nd Earth™ Qigong Bend the Bow™ Spinal

Spiraling Energy Body™ Q igong Gods Playing in the Clouds™ Q ig ong L iv ing Taoism™ Collectio1

Rev Workout™ HeartChi ™ Bagua M astery Program ™ Bagua Dynam ic S tepp ing System ™ Bagua

nal W arm -up Method ™ and Bagua Body Unif ication M ethod.™

Editing: Heather Hale Bill Ryan and Richa rd Tau binger

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PLEASE NOTE: The practice ofTao ist energy arts and m ed itat ive arts m ay carry risks. The in form

in this text is not in any w ay intended as a subs ti tute fo r m edical m enta l or em otiona l co unseling

a licensed physician or healthcare pro vider. The reader should consul t a professional before unde

ing any m artial arts m ovem ent m ed ita t ive arts hea lth or exercise program to re duce the chan

in ju ry or any other harm that m ay result f r om pursuing or trying any t echn ique discussed in this

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Table o Contents

Section : Learning Bagua ...................... 5

Physical Principles ..................................................... 5

Train Sensibly .............................................................. 5

Cultivate an Even, Smooth

and Long Breath ......................................................... 6

Never Twist or Spiral the Spine ................................ 7

Cultivate a Bear.Body and ShouldersIntermediates) ............................................................ 7

Develop Physical Internal Cohesion

Intermediates) ............................................................ 8

Develop a Dragon Body and the

Central Axis Intermediates) ..................................... 9

Energetic Principles ................................................... 9

Separate and Combine .............................................

Understanding Chi Is Simple ...................................13

Become Sensitive to Chi ........................................................13

Mental Principles ..................................................... 6

Stage 1: Ordinary ntent .......................................... 16

Stage 2: Relaxed ntent .............................................17

Stage 3: The Heart-Mind ...........................................17

Cultivate a Smooth and Seamless Continuum 18

Make Your Movements become an

Extension of Your lntent ...........................................18

Lengthen the Mind ............................................................... 18

Put Your Mind inside Your Body ......................................... 19

Become Aware of Multitasking .......................................... 20Move beyond Time ............................................................... 21





Section

Learning Bagua

hysical rinciples

In th e Bagua Mastery Program ™ you w il l encounter the principles and te ch-

niques tha t are the basic foundation of bagua and tai ch i as m ovem ent practices.

The better yo u g t at the physical energ etic and m ental principles the better

your bagua and Single Palm Chang e w ill be and the close r you w ill m ove toward

accomplishing t he benefits th t bagu a has to offer.

rain ensibly

Training se nsibly starts with the e ig h ty percent rule. O nly p ra ctice to a m axim um

of eig hty perc ent of w hat yo u can do at your m ost e xtrem e effort. If you have

not done any physical exercise for some tim e then yo u should on ly do f i f ty to

seve nty perc ent of your ability. If yo u have had any re cent injuries you wou ld

adju st your practice to th ir ty to f i f ty p ercent a nd practice f or s horter periods of

tim e. If yo u have any questions abou t the frequency or in tensity of your tra ining

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agua Mastery Program

please consult your physician. The eighty percent rule is only for those people

who are physically fit and healthy high performers. Bagua has the ability to take

you to the pinnacle of performance, but only if you stay within your body s natu

ral limits.

Frankly speaking, unless you re very young, you won t get much more from your

practice for training more than two hours. The nature of bagua is that as you in

crease your speed with practice, you get double the workout in the same amount

of time. There s a great difference between running a twelve-minute mile and

repeating a six-minute mile over and ove r again because the amount of pressure

on your system dramatically increases in the latter.

Find a practice space where you feel psychologically at ease Don t practice in

places where anything is grating on your nervous system or making you feel like

you want to flee or psychologically or spiritually shut down.

Don t train hard one day, then not practice at all for a few days or even a week,

and try to make up for the lack of practice by doing a marathon blast the next

time. This strategy will render you incapable of exerting your full eighty percent

effort with the degree of strength you would have been capable of if you had asteadier, day-to-day regimen. Consistent practice will build up your strength and

stamina so that eventually you wil l be able to go longer than a single hour in one

session.

Do not practice in an area with high wind because it can go into your pores and

cause a cold or worse.

Cultivate an Even Smooth

nd Long Breath

It s very important when practicing bagua that your breath becomes very

even, smooth and preferably long. At times, it is difficult to coordinate physical

movements with the breath because some movements can be longer or shorter,

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Introduction Learning Bagua

especially in the Single Palm Change. Whatever you do, don t hold your breath.

Instead, see if you can make your breath become long, very smooth and calm.

Your primary goal should be to make sure your breath does not excite or over

stimulate your central nervous system.

Never Twist or Spiral the Spine

In bagua, never twist the vertebrae of your spine. Only twist around your spine,

but not into it. Twist only from the front of the abdomen so you create a spiral

inside and into your internal organs. Although this twist ing of the spine may be

done in spinal twists in Hatha yoga, it is never practiced in bagua or tai chi.

Turning and twisting actions are meant to stimulate your spinal cord and twist

your internal organs, but not to twist your spine. The central principle in bagua is

practicing so that the spine becomes straight and flexible, and able to move in all

directions with ease.lf you twist the spinal vertebrae, your abil ity to move quickly

will become compromised.

You should twist from the center of your body between your perineum and the

center of head, along the central channel, which is located in the middle of the

torso neither to the front or sides. This is the place your torso revolves around.

Never never, never should you have any sense of turning or twisting from the

spinal vertebrae themselves.

Cultivate a Bear ody and Shoulders

Intermediates)

In bagua, cultivating bear shoulders means more than just keeping your

shoulders down. A bear body involves the shoulders and shoulder blades

being slightly rounded and sprung forward. The back muscles open and round

sideways from the spine to the buttocks while the area in the front of your hips

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8 Bagua Mastery Program

sucks in (ca lled l iu tun sh i kw a in Chinese). The hea d is up and the chin is sli ght ly

tu cked so tha t the crown of the head is directly over the center of the pelvis, i.e.

the per ineum.

Develop Physical In terna l ohesion

Intermediates)

You m ust endeavor to feel an ever-increasing sense of in ternal co hesion in yo ur

bod y. This m ust be a concrete, tang ible fe e ling where everything inside your

body draw s into you r core and becomes a c ohesive and integrated whole. All

body parts should feel d irectly connected to every othe r body par t. In gross andsubtle ways you sh ould gain the ab i l i ty to feel if any body p a rt is disconnected

from an y o ther body par t or your m in d.

In ternal cohesion goes bey ond pro per internal or external a lignm ents of ordi

nary tai chi or qigong whose main purpose is to provide a sou nd bio-mechanical

base for the bo dy. This is what prevents you from wa sting o r b lo ckin g yo ur chi.

M aintaining proper body alignm ents is a good prelim in ary step, ut yo u cou ld

st ill lack a s trong sense of in ternal cohesion. This point is wort rem em bering, so

I ll cover it further in modules to come.

CHI ND THE INTERN LSENSES

The ability to re lat ively or precis ely feel ch i does not derive from

your exte rna l senses but ra ther fr om your in tern l senses. ll

esoteric t ra d it ions seek to aw aken and develop these senses in

people. For exam ple, the classic texts of In dia s yo ga and K undal in i

trad it ions are qu ite specif ic that there are f iv e ex terna l and fi ve

in te rna l senses (ten in tota l), ideas w h ich Taoism and Buddhism als o

s are. • ~ i J l

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Introduct ion Learning Bagua 9

Deve lop a Dragon ody and the

Central xis Intermediates)

While m aintaining a bear body w ith internal cohesion, you must also, w i th every

turning ofthe waist, develop what is ca lled the Dragon Body n the Dragon Body,

your torso m ust become able to clearly segment the hips, abdomen and chest,

so each one can tu rn in d ifferen t direc tions along the body s central axis. It runs

through the cente r of the body wher e the central chann el of energy is located.

All turn ing m ust eventually emanate from a spiral that originates in the central

axis and moves between it and the body s extremities (toes, fingers and crown of

the head).

From this central axis you m us t create a po werful sense of in ternal cohesion

where everything comes together w ith a d ist inct sense of solidity. So ra ther

than on ly feeling as though everything is kind of l ight and f loati ng inside of your

body, a heavy conn ecting force gets created where everything inside your body

collects r igh t along the c entral channel. You don t want any sense of anything

being diffused or am orphous.

This quality in bagua and extrem ely high-level tai chi can be more im por tan t

th an maintain ing correct external body alignm ents in gene ral.

This po in t is d istinct f rom most ordinary qigong or tai ch i that is practiced for

health, where the primary funct ion of correct external or internal alignments

is to ensure tha t you don t waste or blo ck energy flow. This said neither correct

external nor i nternal align ments alone can necessarily create massive inter nal

cohesion with everything coming together around the core of your body.

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10 agua Mastery Program

nergetic Principles

The original chi cultivation (qigong) system in China invented by the Taoists

is ca lled neigong (also known as ne i gung and n i kung . Neigong or internal

power form s the basis fo r the Taoist system in the internal martial arts of ba

gua, tai chi and hsing-i. The full range of neigong is made up of sixteen com po

nents. Each component forms a segment of a c ircle and each is organically con

nected to the rest. The ord er listed below is ot fixed and linear, only descriptive.

The sixteen basic components ofTaoist neigong include:

1. Breathing methods, from the simple to the more complex.

2. Feeling, moving, transforming, and transmuting intern al energies along

both the descending, ascending, and connecting energy channels of the

body.

3. Precise body alignments to prevent the f low of chi from being blocked

or dissipated-prac ticing these principles brings exceptionally effective

biomechanical alignments.

4. Dissolving blockages of the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of

ourselves.

5. M oving energy through the main and secondary meridian chann els of he

body, including the energy gates.

6. Bending and stretching the body from the inside out and from the outs ide

in along the direction of the yin and yang acupuncture meridian lines.

7. Opening and closing all parts of the body's tissues (joints, muscles, soft

tissues, internal organs, glands, blood vessels cerebrospinal system, and

brain), as well as all the body's subtle energy anatomy.

8. Manipula ting the energy of the external aura outside the body.

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In t roduct ion Learning Bagua

9 M aking circles and spirals of energy inside the bod y, controll ing the

spira ling energy currents of the body, and moving chi t any part of the

body at will, especially t the glands, brain, and internal organs.

10 Absorbing energy into, and projecting energy away from , any part of the

body.

11 Control ling all the energies of the spin e.

12 Gaining contro l of the left and right energy channels of the body.

13 Gaining control of the central energy channel of the bod y.

14.1earning to deve lo p the capa bilities and all the uses of the body s lo w er

ta ntien hara or elixir/cinnabar field).

15 Learning t develop the capabilities and all the uses of the body s u pper

and midd le tantiens.

16. Connecting every part of the physical body into on e unified en e rgy.

AGUA PLAYS WITH ETHERIC ENERGIES

WATER TRIGR M

Bagua plays with the energetic con tac t w i th your ethe ric fie ld , each

rela ting to qual itie s of the di f fe rent of th e I Chings eight t r ig rams.

The Water tr igram is simi lar to the metho th t the late t i chi

mas ter Cheng Man Ch [,Qg cal led sw im ming iQ .q ir. You feel the

sense of the ir being h§wvy, like being un der water, which lays its

weight on your arm s as you ttempt to move through the water

(o r eventual ly even h ea vier molasses). This in turn creates a kin of

energetic resistance, wh ich penetrates your arms to the bone nd;.

makes your arms feel exceeding ly heavy. · •

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12 agua M astery Program

Because it is impossible to state the precise beg inn ing or end of a circle, the six-

teen com ponents ha ve neithe r beginnings no r end points . Each catalyzes an d

in fluence s the oth ers as they f lo w in and out of each oth er. As such, every t im e

yo u revisit any one or mo re of he sixteen co m ponents, it beco mes pos sible to o

to a deeper, m ore ful fill ing and beneficial level.

Bagua was develo ped from the Ta ois t sixteen neigong with the purp ose of

em bodying th e e igh t universal energies of th e I Ching Conversely, all the o t her

Taoist arts-qigong tai chi and hsing-i -a re external form s infu sed with neigong.

First and fo remost, all th e energ etic principles, conten t and relevant specific

te chniques and general m ethods of th e sixteen ne ig ong are th e core of how all

bagua s e nergy w ork is done.

It s v ery im porta n t to realize tha t ab ove an d beyond th e list s de scription of the

basic six teen, a lt hough they may so und v ery simple, they are not. Each of the

sixteen has an incredible a m oun t of variations in the ways each in d iv id ually can

be applied.

For example, pulsing (op enin g a nd closing) the jo ints is a hugely im po rtan t

neigong concept t h a t applies to:

• In ternal o rg ans

• Energy gates

• Body cavities

• The th ree ta ntiens

• Entire ran ge of energy ch annels w ith in the body a nd the ir

specific p o ints

• How puls ing sp eci fically happens in a ny a nd ev ery dire ction

and in all e ig ht energy bod ies.

If you co nsider all t he im plications of rying to make the s ixteen neigong happen

inreal

time, it gets even m ore co m plica te d.

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In troduct ion Learning Bagua 3

eparate nd ombine

Critical to the nature of implan t ing the sixteen neigong in bagua is the principle

of f irst separate, then combine, wh ich is so e loquent ly and te rsely expressed in

the Tai hi lassics the theoret ical foundat ion for the mart ia l a r t of ai chi chuan).

First, you learn how to perform a ny single neigong componen t. Then, you work

with it unt i l your body can dig est it and do it on demand reasonably effortlessly or

even bet ter yet, in a st rong manner. Next, you integrate it into your system to

where you can do it effortlessly without even th ink ing bout it. This is analogous

of the jou rney of learning to ride a bike or drive a car with all the pitfalls and

learning curves. Finally, you a rrive a t being able to r ide your b ike or drive y ou r careffortlessly and hopefully) well.

So you learn one m ethod, work t h rough it and then stabilize it unti l you becom e

comfortable with it. Then and on ly t hen do you integra te it into your system as

you are truly ready to learn the next component.

Once you learn and successfully absorb two i ndependent ne igong pieces, you

com bin e, integrate and coord in ate them toge ther in a seamless manner.

Then, you repeat the process as you add yet a third neigong com ponent unt i l you

can seamlessly e m bo dy all three within your physical m ovements.

Learn, develo p, stabilize, b ecome com fortable with and integrate each p iece y ou

learn before m ov ing on to the next one. This basic energet ic principle is ideally

how all qigong, bagua, tai chi and Taoist me ditation systems should be learned.

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- -- -- -AGUA PLAYS WITH ETHERIC ENERGIES

EARTH TRIGRAM

The etheric resistance of the earth tr igram feels dramat ica lly hea vier

nd stronger than the Water trigram-like mud ra ther than water.

This d if ferent ial is not about the relative hierarchy of bagua and ta i

chi, but ra ther pertains to a ba sic Heaven and Earth c hi pr inciple of

Tao ist thoug ht: Naturally, the chi of the upper body moves upw ard

(heaven) nd is l ighte r whi le the ch i of the low er body descends and

is natura l ly heav ier (earth).

Act ivat ing sw imm ing in .fiir for the arm s anqmud walking for:+ J t i > i ~ :

the legs can then be used to create peng j in, or expans ive energy,

in both the arms nd legs You must become su fficien tly sensitive

to the en ergetic sense ofm ov ing inch by inch through something

that's heavy and viscous to accomplish this. Paying ttention to

these qu al i t ies is the road to developing a great energetic sensit ivity

and Power ~ : ; ~~ ; 1 :1=::V

nderstanding Chi s imple

Although the parts of the sixteen neigong can sound very complex your goal

during practice is to seamlessly com bine them into one coherent whole. This is

where the concept of chi becomes progressively more sim ple and comprehen

sible to you.

Although there is only one chi in the body it functions in many specific manners.

However if you are going to really ge t into the techniques of understanding chi

the devil is most certainly in the details. This is where the better teachers can

help by imparting the more complete story. The better the y do the more the

student is able to g t it and ultim ate ly ben ef it - regard less of whether they train

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Introduction Learning Bagua 5

for physical health, martial arts or m editat ion.

At one level, me ditat ion is no th ing more th an making all the hum an poten-

tial within you become whole and intact, not partial. Bagua is one path which

enables you to realize that wholeness.

Become Sensit ive to Chi

Sensitiv ity to chi is an important part of bagua practice in two ways:

1 How the di f ferent kinds of chi generated by the sixteen neigong affe ct

flow within your body.

2 How the e nergetic rela tionships and qualities you can generate as your

body moves wi th in th e air that surrounds you contacts you r e theric body s

chi.

Ways t evelop hi Sensitivity

You can think of developing chi sensitivity as a two part process. In part one,

you tune your mind and imagination in such a way that you can detect subtle

feelings and distinctions, such as the difference between w ater and mud. This

becomes the br idge to feeling chi on a gross le vel. In part t wo, once you have a

gross general feeling of chi, con tinue to refine it to where it becomes very specific

and precise. Otherwise it remains as some nebulous or generalized feeling w here

you re in doubt abou t whe the r it s real

Perhaps you l ightly brush your hand ag ainst a piece of wood that has some sort

of carvings. You have a vague idea that the w ood has so me kind of carving on

the wood, but what? If you press your hand into that wo o d very slowly, you can

start to feel the outl ine of every bit of the carving u nti l you can interp ret what it

is This is sensitivity. Your goal is to use the feeling of swim m ing in air or walking

through m ud to create the sensitiv ity to the eth eric field s chi as you m ove your

hands or le gs throu gh i t.


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AGUA PLAYS WITH ETHERIC ENERGIES

WIND TRIGRAM

As you progress you play with the etheric field, so that you feel and

eventually use the swirling currents of chi that move within it In

bagua, it is affectionately referred to as Riding the winds like a

celestial dragon. It's learned in several stages.

Initially, have your arms and legs absorb and circulate this wind-

like chi in your etheric field throughout your body. Th.fs chi is meant

to provide thejuice as it moves within the energy channels ofyour

body to mot ivate the physical movement ofyour arms, legs and

waist turning independently or simultaneously. It's the same

quality as blowing wind randomly picking up dry leaves and

s your physical nerves and your internal senses become more sensitive you can

use them to become more sensitive to the chi inside your body. Just as you can

make your legs sensitive to the air as you Walk the Circle you can make your

feet sensitive to what they feel as they contact the ground: initial contact sliding

forward and grabbing and holding the ground.

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Introduction: Learning Bagua 7

Because bagua has a very yang energetic quality, many falsely presuppose the

corollary that if people get extremely yang, they must be very insensitive. This

stereotype of testosterone-driven, very macho-type men being very insensitive

is often reinforced in the media. Well, it ain t necessarily so In bagua, the stron

ger your yang chi gets, the more sensitive you should get. This is essential to the

principle of balancing yin and yang the counterbalance. It s the other side of

the yang that practitioners deliberately seek to acquire.

- -- -

BAGUA PLAYS WITH ETHERIC ENERGIES

THUNDER TRIGRAM

When the energetic winds blow very strongly they create within

them a kind of chi that could be compared to static electricity. f

swirled in certain ways it can be influenced to erupt into lightening.

n the eight ways ofpracticing the Single Palm Change Thunder

can be induced for very powerful shaking and vibration-like

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18 agua Mastery Program

ental Principles

The empha sis in bagua and ta i ch i is awareness and subtle ty over brute o r

m ental force. A sm ooth steady an d continuous stream of awareness and

consciousness is w hat should m otiv a te everyth in g in your m ovem ents from the

physica l to the energetic. In ten t may be of the ord in ary variety or th a t of the

Heart-M ind and goes th rough th ree prim ary stages.

Stage : rdinary ntent

Ord in ary in tent is used to cross a room. You in it ia ll y pro je ct y our in ten t to where yo u w ant to go. This causes everything needed in your body to g t th ere to

m obil ize according to the needs of your in tent. Or if yo u w an t to put pen to

paper after having had the in te n t of w ha t to wri te your hand goes to the p aper

and starts w riting . The in tent process starts and ve ry shortly or instantaneously

mobilizes everyth in g re quired to actualize the intent. If your hand is on your

chest and you wish to put it fo rward in f ro n t of you yo u m ust first pro je ct your

in ten t where you w an t your hand to go. A lm ost s im ulta neously your ha nd arrives

at the designate d destin atio n.

A basic prin cip le of ch i states tha t the in ten t moves the ch i whic h m otiv ate s

and ena bles the physical m ovem ent. In bag ua and ta i chi the d eliberate use of

conscious relaxed in ten t becomes the source that creates your movements-

not only consc ious o r u nconscious muscular reflexes no m atter how well-tra in ed

an d f in e ly honed.

In tent is of two kin ds: the ord in ary inte llectual type or the extraordin ary kind of

the H eart -M ind. The in te n t you s hould use in bagu a and ta i chi should always b e

relaxed fl u id and contin uous and not tense forced or in termittent regardless

if em plo yed for longer o r shorte r tim es.

Ord inary in ten t is partial. It is derived f rom t he part of our bra in or m in d th rough

which w e use to m anip ula te symbols or pra ct ice logic and math ematics. It is the

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Introduction Learning Bagua 19

part of us we use to activate force of will. Activating ordinary in tent is the first

stage of practicing bagua well.

tage : Relaxed IntentHere you learn to rely on relaxed intent and seek to completely abandon any

use of brute mental force to drive physical actions. You use very relaxed, but

concentrated intent to tell your body to move until it s enough to accomplish the

task. f you want to get your arm to move, you cease to rely on needing to tense

your muscles to have them push your hand out into space.

Stage 3: The Heart Mind

All forms of intent ultimately derive either from ordinary intent or the Heart

Mind. In stage three, you learn to use the Heart-Mind instead ofordinary intent to

accomplish all your movements without tension at any level of the mind or

body. To activate what is called the chi of the Heart-Mind, you must ask and

experientially answer well a very subjective question: Where and from what does

my ordinary intent arise moment by moment?

When you find the answer, you have found your own Heart-Mind.

The Heart-Mind comes from an open dimension. Although it lacks concrete

formed thoughts, it is the amorphous center from where impulse for a thought

to come into existence lives. It s the nonspecific bir thing room for your thoughts,

which does not have concrete thoughts of ts own, but rather produces thoughts

out of it.

In bagua, you have the sense inside that when the Heart-Mind begins to arise

your body is already midway into the move or already having finished it. You

move as that sense of the Heart-Mind is arising rather than first obtaining the

sense and next, after some lag time, perform the move.

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20 agua M astery Progra m

u lt iva te a Smooth and

eamless ontinuum

While yo u are Circle W a lking the sense of whate ver is happening w ith in your

m in d sh ould be sm ooth a nd seamless until its point of focus changes. As m ind

continuously c ha nge s its fo cus, it should f low be tween th is and th t without

resistance. Then, again, it becomes just as sm ooth a nd seamless as you turn a nd

walk in the opposite direction.

This sm ooth and seamless pa ttern is contin uously re p eated regardless of the

various bod y rhythm s used w h il e Wa lking the Circ le or reve rsing direction. Bagua

when tau gh t by masters, has many external and in ternal body and ch i rh y thms,

te m pos and be ats that ch ange as your m ovem ents alte rnate betw een m ovin g

faster and slower. All these are determ in ed and governed by th e qua li ty of your

state of min d, w hic h enables yo u to change sm ooth ly an d seamlessly.

Make Your Movements become an

Extension of Your ntent

Bagua like tai chi, is a th ink ing person s gam e where thought or in ten t init iates

your physical actions an d fuses w i th your movem ents. Your m ovem ents be come

an extension of your in te nt. In effect, you create an idea and th en ac tualize it

th rough yo ur move ments , ra t her th an the m ovem ent st arting and b ein g fo l-

lowed by thoughts . This is w hy you can m ove an d change as fast as your in tent

can be ge nerated once y our bo dy is suffic iently trained. Even tually, the fa ster

your in ten t can be ge nerated and change, so can your intern al energy flow to

create p hysica l mo vements .

engthen the Mind

Lengthenin g th e body and th e m in d are parallel principles in th e Tao ist wa y

of th inking. Yo ur m in d sh ould continuously exte nd without breaks. W hen

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Introduct ion Learning Bagua 21

walking, th is sense of your mind should be th t it always sta bly extends out

wi thout contracting into itself.

Lengthenin g the mind occurs not only when you look through your f inger into

space during th e Single Palm Change, but also in te rms of your m ind. I t move s

through your physical tissues and in to you r chi within your bod y and to the end

of your etheric field. It s no di f ferent t han the p r inc ip le in tai chi where the m ind

should f low without in terruption l ike a long river , such as China s Yangtze th t

runs on fo r thousands of miles, contin uing, never s topping, always surging on.

Your intention has to expand whi le m aintaining re laxed focus on mul t ip le tasks.

As this occurs the ab il ity of the m in d to mainta in awareness on an increasing

number of variables without exertin g ef fort be gins to increase. It should keep

on expanding into larg er and m ore open fields of awareness, where everything

within th t awareness is connecte d to everyth ing else This is the opposite of

what is classically called the natur e of the m onkey mind. Here the mind j u m p s

like a m on key swinging from tree to tree. It is unable to rest upon and engage

with any task comfortab ly as it bounces l ike a ping -pong ball from one plac e to

another.

This lengthening is spherical in nature. It is not a hype r foc us on one as pect whi le

losing sight of everythin g else In bagua and tai chi your f ield of awareness sh ould

keep on op ening until you re aware of everything within the fie ld as one in tegrat

ed whole and not a series of alternating d isjointed parts.

Put Your ind inside Your ody

You m ust be able to put your mind inside you r body. Wha t do es th tmean? While

looking ex ternally and Walking the Circle you should be able to feel the in side of

your body. Some part of your conscious mind (a lthough not necessarily all of it)

must be a bsolutely cognizant of wh tyou re d o ing inside and be low the surface

of every physical part wi th in your entire bag of skin (spine , lowe r tantien, legs,

joints, cav ities, muscles, etc.).


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In terms of human perception, like the directions of the I Ching there s always up-

down, left-right, in-out, inside outside both inside your body and externally.

For example, in one training method. As two bagua practitioners Walk the Circle,

each positioned on opposite sides of the circle, they must maintain awareness of

many internal and external techniques simultaneously. The practit ioners each:

• Look at their index finger and the other person.

• Have an internal sense of being still.

• Focus on clearly seeing the other person while everything

around that person seems to be moving faster and faster as the

speed of their walking increases.

• Simultaneously feel how the motions of their body parts are

moving inside of their own body for

example, their spine, internal organs, body alignments and

everything else related to the sixteen neigong as best as

they can.

This all requires multitasking of subtle awareness.

Become ware o Multitasking

This multitasking of awareness can only happen through a deep relaxation. When

it occurs a kind of internal coordination naturally arises that allows you to recog

nize many layers simultaneously.

In one sense this is no different than driving a car: you steer the car interpret

road signs, watch and respond to the flow of traffic, look at the road, drink a cupof coffee, listen to the radio, intermittently glancing at the rear view mirror and

possibly even have a conversation of some depth about important subjects.

In bagua, internal and external multitasking becomes possible when you

practice and relax enough into the environment within your own body and mind.

When you do all of a sudden your field of awareness pops open. This is what

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In troduct ion Learning Bagua 23

allows y ou to perfo rm m ore funct ions at once a nd fair ly effortlessly. In o ne sense

pract icing bagua regula rly is preparat ion for a wo r ld where m u lt i taskin g is more

th norm than th exception.

ove beyond Time

If you Walk th Circle well y ou move into a timeless realm. You move into a place

where tim as you normal ly know it either ceases to exist or complete ly loses

its ab il i ty to destabilize your mind . Time is m ore of a hum an creat ion th an a re l

th ing. When your m ind and awareness expand enough th sense of l inear tim

disappears .

With enough practice this happens organically of its ow n accord rather t han be-

ing an event you try to make happen. Lengthening of th m ind eventu ally results

in timelessness. O pening of th f ield of awareness ult im ately results in t imeless-

ness.

The nature of linear tim is like a monkey jumping f rom tree to tree. Genuine

relaxed focus elim in ates linear tim as w e ty p ically experience it. In a sense tim

is a mere menta l construct.

Once the mind really opens up in a true m ed itative state, there s o

sense o time. n te rms o spiritually, time truly doesn t exist.

Hope you enjoy the pro gram.

Documents

2 Introduction - Learning Bagua, Physical, Energetic and Mental Principles