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We are coming up on our third year of the Bagua Mastery Program. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately about my practice and what’s missing. I went down the list of 16-part neigung and tallied what parts I thought I knew and which were missing from my practice. It struck me that much of the program is still unknown to even Bruce’s most senior students. Do you really think anyone knows #16? I asked anyone if they knew anything about #15 in a previous thread. The lack of response speaks for itself. Very few people understand anything about their central channel, #13. Although many work with the lower tan tien, I doubt anyone really has a complete understanding of #14 because there is such a lack of understanding of #5. Without Core II, Spiraling Energy Body, almost every part of the system is incomplete. There isn’t a single person certified at any level in Spiraling Energy Body. I haven’t met one student that appears to understand the subject. Many have bits and pieces. That’s a bit depressing when you consider spiraling represents more than 1/5 of the core neigung system. Without spiraling, Gods Playing in the Clouds can’t be complete nor can any of the others.
There is a much better list of the 16-part neigung system in the BMP. I’ve listed a simplified version below for reference. What’s missing from your practice and more importantly how are you going to fill in the gaps?
Simplified 16 part neigung system:
1 Breathing methods, in increasing complexity.
2 Feeling, moving, transforming and transmuting internal energies along the descending, ascending and connecting energy channels of the body.
3 Precise body alignments.
4 Dissolving physical, emotional and spiritual blockages.
5 Moving energy through the body’s meridian channels and energy gates.
6 Bending and stretching the body, from the inside out and the outside in, along the yang and yin meridians.
7 Opening and closing all parts of the body’s tissues, including the joints, muscles, soft tissues, internal organs, glands, blood vessels, cerebrospinal system and brain, as well as all of the body’s subtle energy anatomy.
8 Manipulating the energy of the external aura.
9 Making circles and spirals of energy inside the body, controlling the body’s spiraling energy currents, and moving chi in the body at will.
10 Absorbing and projecting energy to and from any part of the body.
11 Controlling energies of the spine.
12 Controlling the body’s left and right energy channels.
13 Controlling the body’s central energy channel.
14 Learning the capabilities and uses of the body’s lower dandien.
15 Learning the capabilities and uses of the body’s upper and middle dandien.
16 Connecting every part of the physical body into one unified energy.
I haven’t done any bagua for a while as I can’t give it the time it deserves with my other training taking up so much time. In terms of the neigong components I kind of move between them and try to feel how they help each other achieve a better result. Not particularly struggling for content at this stage.
How has the emotional body been going? Have you confirmed that the jump you mentioned a while back was indeed that, and has it changed much with your practice?
No, I haven’t verified it yet. My practice changed significantly a few months back. I went off in another direction for a while. I’m coming back to the Wind Palm again, but with a clearer understanding of how it works just outside the bones. It took me some time to build up the proper connections to support it. So, I’ve been very body centered versus going out into the etheric field.
So, I thought I’d answer Cameron’s question a little less vaguely.
When I moved from working with the bone marrow in the Single Palm change to working with the bone in the double palm change and then to just outside the bones for the Wind palm, I found the relationship between the gates and the ligaments. Basically, I found how to release the ligaments much deeper than ever before. I learned how to open and close the joints two decades ago, but there was always a very muscular manipulation of the tissue. Now, I manipulate the gates to release the ligaments.
This changes the game completely. I’d consider this the cross over point from external martial arts to internal martial arts. Once you’ve got this together, you don’t need muscular strength anymore. Everything comes from releasing the ligaments. You do this in all sorts of ways that explain many of Bruce’s cryptic descriptions of how he is creating power.
It also makes the order of the 16 part neigung system become clearer. Since that’s what this post was originally about, I’ll try to explain more in the context of the 16 part neigung. Hopefully you’ll get a better sense of how deep the neigung system runs and how the components have many overlaping meanings.
So, you start learning about the gates in Core I. Part of neigung #2 is related to disolving downward and beginning to open the descending energies. In Core II, spiraling energy body, you start working with the ascending channels as well (also part of neigung #2). Neigung element #5 is more explicit: moving energy through the body’s meridian channels and energy gates. This is the beginning of learning how to connect the gates. If you tweek to using the gates to release the ligaments, you start understanding how to manipulate them in increasingly more complex patterns. Bending and stretching can be done without using the gates, but when they are used, it is much more effective and powerful. Bending is stretching is considerable easier than opening and closing; hence, the order.
Once you can release a single joint by using the gates, you can release every ligament in the body in exactly the same way. It just takes time and training. That’s the major change in my practice that I referred to. I realized that I hadn’t opened my body fully and needed to go back and train this more completely before progressing. The joints progressed to the vertebrae which progressed to opening and closing everything listed in neigung #7. Although I have a general idea how the glands are impacted, I don’t know precisely how to work with them yet, or precisely how to work with the brain. I’ll need Bruce’s instruction before I can progress with either.
As a result of my training, I have found a different interpretation of neigung #8. Instead of the general opening of the exteranl aura I was working on in the wind palm, it now has a precision that I need to talk to Bruce about. Basically the gates within the body can be used to open the etheric field. I think this is the priciple behind Bruce’s explanation of Gi focusing two forces to point in space. But that’s a comparitively simple application compared to what is possible.
Once you get the ligament release together, you really start to be able to control the spine (the beginning of neigung #11 but not the end). You also start to control the circles and spirals inside the body (neigung # 9) and they become very concrete. You can finally use them to create powerful movement that is core to Hsing-i, Tai Chi, and Bagua.
For the first time since I met Bruce in 1990, I’m starting to feel like I know something about every part of the 16 part neigung system. I’ve been using Bagua to develop that understanding for the last 6 years. Looking back at where I was when I started the BMP is instructive. My interpretation and understanding is still constantly changing (in some areas almost daily). Honestly, reading my earlier posts are almost comical to me.
When I posted this thread I had realized how little anyone knew about spiraling energy body. I still haven’t completed my studies and I’m looking forward to opening up the entire energetic grid inside the etheric body. This is work that I’ve had to delay in order to cycle back and complete more foundational elements like neigung part 11 so spiraling can be more complete.
The same has proven to be true for much of the neigung. The second major hurdle that no one has completed is Bend the Bow. IMHO, Bruce has only taught the most rudimentary aspects of this neigung set (the two most important being controlling all the energies of the spine and balancing the left and right channels). Until these are understood and trained deeply, you can’t progress very far. These are the “glass ceilings” that Bruce has spoken of many times over the year.
Thank you for your effort and time to share your attempts…and successes… to find the patterns. Your insights encourage those of us (me) who are nearer the beginning and know that there is so much more to learn. As I continue to practice, your pages are integral to my understanding of the BMP . Now, with the 6 month study program, too, there is a wealth of knowledge to glean. May be one day I will find something I can add to your dialogue.
Jennifer Gardiner
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