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I’ve posted on the Heaven and Earth trigrams. I don’t think I’ve commented on the Wind trigram yet.
I continue to try to work out the meanings and energies of the trigrams. As always I’d like to hear any comments that anyone has gotten from Bruce. All I can say about this post is that it is based on everything I’ve learned from Bruce but isn’t something that has ever been explicitly taught. At least to my knowledge. Remember I’m trying to work this out.
So with that, I’ve been playing with the idea that the Wind trigram is about simply changing from Heaven to Earth. This implies that you have some idea what those energies are. If you don’t, how can you possibly be clear about switching between them?
For this post, just think about Heaven as all things yang and Earth as all things yin.
The upper lines are yang. The bottom line is the beginning of the switch over to yin or Earth. When I train this I manifest the energy by performing the form starting with Heaven palms and switch them to Earth palms. The Wind palm change is about how that transition or change occurs and this is where the description “gentle” comes in. When you project through the palms along the central channel there is this moment when the binding forces of the body begin to be felt. The binding energy is Earth. The projecting, expanding energy is Heaven. The change from Heaven to Earth is this way is Wind energy. You literally power your movement using this energy.
I perform the physical form in particular ways as a sort of memory aide. For example straight wrists mean yang energy and bent wrists means Earth energy. So the form begins with the energy projecting straight out along the central channel. The wrists are straight. The arms are seeking the straight in the curve. The energy is focused in the central channel throughout the body. The feet are projecting out the toes along the length of the foot.
When the palm comes out the palms transition from straight to bent. By the time you strike the palm is completely yin. Sound familiar?
Note: When I perform the double palm change, Earth. The wrists are bending. The arms are seeking the curve in the straight. The energy is focused the side channels (usually up one side and down the other). The feet are pulling energy in and down into the heels, etc.
In the Wind palm you start with the hands yang and end with the yin palm. You can do them simultaneously or like the very end where one projects and the other absorbs. Remember that Heaven can project out as well as in. At the end of the form find the transition going in both directions: the projecting out hand should switch to absorbing in a gentle fashion while the absorbing hand will switch to projecting using the same gentle wind like movement. The gentle feeling is literal and felt.
If this is making any sense to anyone, I’ll post how the Thunder palm can be interpreted as the transition or change from Earth back to Heaven. Unlike the gentle feeling of Wind, the Thunder palm is more violent or shocking.
Hi, James.
Thanks for the post. To be honest, I think I’m years away from a physical, embodied understanding of this. Could you tell us how long you’ve been doing Bagua and what your daily practice routine is like? It would be helpful to have an idea what the route to where you are is like.
I’ve been doing taiji on serious basis for 25 years, 12 of that in Bruce’s system. I’ve been exploring Bagua for its meditative possibilities. I’ve been following the BGM materials very carefully and practice daily. Although I’m enjoying it and feeling energy move, I haven’t gotten to the same feeling of “rightness” as with the taiji. With taiji, the first time I did it I felt like, ah this is it. I just took up the practice and have done it daily ever since. I’ve never felt that corresponding degree of rightness with Bagua.
I think I would find your experience valuable as I continue to explore Bagua, if you feel comfortable sharing that aspect with the forum.
Anyway, I always enjoy reading your posts though I know I’m a long way from really getting a lot of what you discuss. Thank
Matthew
I’ve been practicing Bagua for about 3 years. The first year I did a very simple form of circle walking for about 1 hour a day.
After Bruce released the BMP, I increased my practice to 2 hours a day. I train from 4 AM to 6 AM 7 days a week.
I generally don’t like the way Bagua is taught. I never liked the 2 part, 3 part, 4 part walking stuff. I still don’t. I think it makes the mind tense which is just the opposite of what we are trying to learn. I like to play. Don’t misunderstand me though, I train pretty hard and genuinely work at learning as best I can. I just like to enjoy the work. I like training.
I taught myself the 8 palm changes from some old VCR footage of Frank Allen (similar to the Frank “the Snake” Allen video on YouTube). This is just a shell that I put neigung into.
About 10 years ago I attended the first month long Wu short form teacher training. I tested for the level 2 certification but didn’t get it at the time. Bruce wanted me to develop more internal content before he would give me my level 2 certificate. I really was stumped at the time. I wasn’t sure how to be more internal. What did that mean? What were the other people doing that I wasn’t?
I’ve been working on that ever since. I simply went back to the beginning and started to rethink everything Bruce ever taught me. I just figured I missed it and started questioning everything. I kept thinking about how strong Bruce was. Who else was that strong? I could be completely wrong, but I never felt like anyone else was even close. So I was on my own. This reminds me of Bruce’s story of Hung I Hsiang’s students on page 30 of the first BMP module. IT is one of the reasons I’ve only used Bruce’s material and my own experience as a guide.
I remember having dinner with a few of Bruce’s senior students a couple of years ago. I remember asking about the heart mind. I was wondering if anyone else was working with it or if they knew of any of the senior students that were working with it. I had been working with something that I thought was the heart mind for some number of years and wanted to compare proverbial notes. The student told me that he didn’t think about this stuff anymore. He had given up trying to figure it out. This in my opinion is a real problem. I may be wrong. I may be deluding myself. I might not be working with the heart mind at all, but do you think this student can help me sort this out?
Basically, I think you fumble around for a long time before you start to really get this stuff. How long that will be I can’t say. It reminds me of how my son’s friend described learning to play the guitar really well. He said at first you suck and then you practice and practice and practice until you don’t suck anymore. The only difference is that I know when someone plays guitar well. Bagua is a lot trickier however. Who really knows what good Bagua is? If you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing, how can you judge whether you are doing it well or not? That’s the position most of us find ourselves in.
I’ve been posting to try to get others talking about their experiences particularly in the more advanced material where it gets tougher to know you are on the right path.
I doubt this was helpful, but perhaps it was a little entertaining.
No, this is both helpful and entertaining.
I’ve been doing the energy arts stuff for 12 years after a start with a serious teacher who holds a taiji and meditation lineage. I get a lot of the internal content in meditation and taiji. I’ve been working with the heart mind for several years.
All the nei gong continues to come together for me, bit by bit. I practice for two hours every morning, from 5 to 7, 6 days a week. That’s sitting mediation and moving stuff as well.
Given how natural the fit with taiji feels, and how long I’ve been at it, I’m not entirely sure Bagua is the best thing for me to do. I’m go give it another year or so and then decide. I like the meditative component but I’m not sure it’s right for my body. We’ll see.
Anyway, thanks for your post. I can imagine going back and reading your posts a few years from now and that they’ll make sense, in the meantime I’ll keep practicing and see where I goes.
Best,
mjn
I wish my body would let me get up that early.
Do the different energies feel different or is it the same feel but just used a different way?
Wind: Proceeding Humbly (I-Ching)
“We must devote ourselves to achieving this state of equilibrium and harmony and to establishing the proper order between Heaven and Earth.” Confucius
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
Wind–Huayra
There is a temple in the mountains of Ollantaytambo (Peru) called “The Wind of the Four Directions.” It carries the seeds of new life, new directions and new intentions and then scatters them all over the world.Matthew:
I am beginning to get some of the same “internal content” with bagua (2010) that I get from meditation (1976) and taiji (1993).I am an older player (11-28-40);
so, I’d give guys like Bruce Frantzis (b. 1949) and Frank Allen wide birth.But I still can’t figure out whether “Peng” energy is “Wood” or “Wind.”
Stuart Alve Olson sees Wind in “Single Whip;”
at least in the Pulling technique of the back hand (crane-beak, a variation of “Shao Yang” hand–Valley).He associates Wind with the SouthEast, gentle and soft. (tension balanced with release).
In acupuncture the Gall Bladder meridian has GB-20 Feng Chi (Reserves of the Wind or Wind Pool);
Feng is an drawn as an insect surrounded by motion,
Chi is drawn as water and a utensil. At this point there is a dynamic vitality of energy that helps to unite and balance the harmonious growth of all the yang meridians. (Debra Kaatz).GB-31, Feng Shi (A Trading Market of the Winds or Wind Market) Here the markets within us can bring exchanges to adjust to the changing strength of movement of the winds and influences of the world.
(Debra Kaatz)Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253) uses the metaphor of a steelyard for weighing emptiness. (a portable unequal-arm balance to measure the weight of an object–like a sack of rice). The pivot point hangs in empty space to softly balance the complementary opposites of yin and yang (as in the “Single Whip” posture.) Or more spiritually, balancing delusion and enlightenment embraced within the whole united harmony of the Buddha Way, the Middle Way.
Bruce Frantzis describes the Wind Trigram as “blowing wind randomly picking up dry leaves and swirling them in the air.” at page 16.
Of course, the Middle between Heaven and Earth is Man at the Heart-Mind. Thus, Man “seeks to influence the way the energetic wind blows.”
And what could be more central than the Center of the Bagua Circle? The balance point of the steelyard?To me all these considerations come into play when walking the circle.
It is as awesome as Hurricane Sandy spiraling (counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere), slamming into a Nor’Easter.
But like the back hand in “Single Whip” Qi cannot be pushed, it must be pulled, with a release of tension in the joints–as a thread, being gently, softly pulled spirals the cocoon.
(Woah–a bit heavy on mixing metaphors, eh?)Kinda a windy old coot, eh?
For me they are distinctly different. I move and “organize” my body in distinctly different ways to manifest the energy as clearly as possible. The problem is I’m not sure if I’m right.
Also, keep in mind that my post on the Wind trigram isn’t meant to be complete. It doesn’t include any consideration for the emotional body for example. I spoke to that in another post. It doesn’t seem consistent with Bruce’s description on page 16, “blowing wind randomly picking up dry leaves and swirling them in the air.” That seems more like how it feels to play with it in the etheric body.
Thunder and Wind are dramatically different. I perform Thunder like two compressive forces (the two yin lines) further compressing each other until they blow (the yang line). This is like the pressure buildup of gases in a gun. The spark ignites the powder, the gases buildup, and then bang!
That’s very different than a plane climbing straight up until it stalls out and gravity slowly overtakes its momentum. That’s the gentle change over from yang to yin.
I realize these are just metaphors but they translate to the body and each feels very different inside the body.
I love all of your quotes.
Where did you get this one? Of course, the Middle between Heaven and Earth is Man at the Heart-Mind. Thus, Man “seeks to influence the way the energetic wind blows.”
I want to post something on the golden thread and this is a perfect lead-in to the post.
This is a paraphrase (cut & paste) from page 16 of the Introductory Chapter to Module 1 of Bruce Frantzis’ “Bagua Mastery Program” insert titled,
“Bagua Plays with Etheric Energies: Wind Trigram.”王 is the Chinese character for “wang,”
translated into English as “King.”Earth is the bottom stroke,
Heaven is the top stroke,
Man is the Middle stroke,
the vertical line connects these 3 horizontal strokes,
hence “King.”Note also that internally, the horizontal middle “man” stroke and the vertical “king” stroke forms a “Cross.”
The King of Kings, Son of Man, on the Cross?” My interpretation.This is where I feel the Heart-Mind,
at the Heart chakra, at the solar plexus.
The element is air (akin to “wind.”)
the function is balance, harmony, compassion.The heart chakra is at the middle dantian.
Along with the lower dantian the sacral chakra, and the
upper dantian the crown and brow chakras, they lie on the central channel, along the Golden thread.Bruce writes,
” Once the connection between your etheric field’s chi and the inside of your body is made, you use the power of the Heart-Mind to directly become sensitive and connect chi flows and eddies in the air.”Pretty description of my felt “internal connection.”
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