Circle Walking: The Ultimate Health, Fitness & Stress Mangament Solution
Circle Walking is the foundation practice of Bagua Circle Walking Meditation. In fact, bagua is first and foremost about the legs, so you must begin bagua training by learning and stabilising stepping techniques and the internals that will ultimately drive the physical movements.
The process is similar in tai chi and qigong, which are basically little more than dance choreography without neigong content. (The neigong system consists of 16 components for internal power development.) Like the relationship between tai chi and qigong, where the vast majority of health benefits normally associated with tai chi are available with less complex choreography in qigong, Circle Walking delivers the vast majority of potential health benefits normally associated with more complex bagua palm changes.
How to Develop Internal Power in
Bagua Circle Walking Mediation
The prime directive of Bagua Circle Walking is to open—
- Open the body to release tension and stuck places;
- Open the energy to release stagnancy;
- Open the mind to accept reality;
- Open the spirit to find your true essence.
In terms of a physical practice, you begin by learning how to walk in a very precise and internal way. Paul calls these techniques "qigong walking" because the principles of qigong are applied to walking in a line or circle. The purpose is to profoundly open up the legs, torso and spine.
Eventually, qigong walking is practised by walking in a circle, allowing you to gain momentum without stops and starts. The goals of Circle Walking are similar to that of any aerobic exercise, including to increase blood circulation.
However, Circle Walking is also used to increase chi circulation throughout the body even while walking slowly (i.e., as a non-aerobic exercise). With each and every step, bagua practitioners seek to engage the body in a way that releases tension, obliterates stress, massages the internal organs and clears the mind.
Bagua Walking Postures
The next phase of Bagua Circle Walking involves learning qigong walking postures. Arm postures held while walking are used to open up various parts of the body, including facial strands, with the purpose of eventually linking the body into one coherent whole. Of course, qigong walking postures must be practised in a very specific progression while maintaining bio-mechanical body alignments. After some tuning-in period, which can take many months or more, qigong walking postures are practised with the purpose of amplifying all the health-generating aspects of Circle Walking alone and increasing the depth and quality of the bagua practitioner's exercise programme.
Once a bagua practitioner has stabilised bagua stepping techniques and balanced chi flow throughout their body—with only minor places where the chi is weak or blocked in some way—Circle Walking practice can go in almost any direction, depending on personal goals.
For instance, if a bagua practitioner is concerned with creating flexibility and strength, then bagua’s twisting, coiling and spiralling techniques are used to achieve these goals. If he/she aims to meditate for stress relief or spiritual pursuits, then there are a multitude of additional techniques that can be weaved into Circle Walking practice. For fitness, increased walking speeds infuse the walking practice with internal yet low-impact aerobic exercise.
For high-performers—whether super athletes, those with a lot of drive or high aspirations, those committed to realising their full human potential or any combination thereof—bagua’s primary palm change, the Single Palm Change, is the next step in the learning progression. For most people, however, Circle Walking is the practice of choice. For millennia, Bagua Circle Walking has been practised with the purpose of fostering health, fitness, vitality and clarity of mind—all that is normally associated with living a long and peaceful life.
Bagua Circle Walking Meditation
& the Single Palm Change for High-performers
Bagua is a rare and ancient exercise system that was specifically developed to take a human being to the absolute zenith of his/her ability. Demanding and intense at its more advanced levels, bagua has been practised and refined for more than 4,000 years.
Bagua is used to upgrade the
body’s systems by overhauling and imbuing them with internal power. Serious bagua students practise a very complex series of pressurisations and releases of the internal organs, soft tissues, cells and bodily systems (including the cardiovascular, nervous, lymph, respiratory and cerebrospinal systems) with the purpose of cultivating health from depend inside their bodies. Palm changes (eight very short forms) are the means by which a bagua practitioner trains to actualise such results.
Palm changes, such as the Bagua Single Palm Change, are repeated dozens or even hundreds of times in a single practice session. Through the continuous repetition of these incredibly well-crafted short forms (palm changes), the practitioner seeks to hone and refine his/her ability to access and eliminate all of their body’s long-term bound tension, trauma and injuries.
Chinese theory dictates that as layers of tension, lodged toxins and bound energy in the body are released, incredible health and vitality can begin to radiate from the inside out.
Learn More about Bagua Circle Walking Meditation
Paul is one of only five Senior Bagua Instructors of Bagua Zhang Lineage Holder Bruce Frantzis, having trained bagua in-depth with his teacher since 1995. Paul’s Bagua Circle Walking Meditation teachings have been centred in England and Germany since 1996. Paul now also teaches regular bagua classes in Kentish Town, North London | Seven Dials, Brighton | Neu-Ulm, Germany | Köln, Germany.
Check out his schedule to find a qigong walking or bagua course with Paul by clicking here.
Paul also writes a popular blog, www.CircleWalking.com, where all facets of Bagua Circle Walking Meditation are discussed, including how-to articles and video lessons. You can learn more about bagua specifically by clicking here.
Serious Bagua Students & Certified Bagua Instructors
On 11-12 February 2012, Paul will teach Bagua's Sixth Palm, the Water Palm, known as the "Gently Place the Flowers in the Vase" Palm Change in Ulm, Germany at the Tai Chi Schule. The following course is a prerequisite:
11-13 November 2011 | Köln, Germany SeminarTwisting & Coiling—Fundamentals of Qigong & Bagua's Single & Double Palm Changes