- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
This is something I don’t know much about, so I’m hoping that others can provide informative commentary. What are the connection(s), if any, between the 3 swings [to include left and right channel] and baguazhang?
I have only encountered the 3 swings in the context of Bruce Frantzis’s teachings, whereas plenty of people do baguazhang and none of the other ones I trained with dealt with the 3 swings or the left and right channel.
Personally, I know that all the times I trained to make a consistent practice involving the 3 swings it just never felt right, and I could never maintain my practice thereof. I’ve always been able to maintain my interest in, and practice of bagua, however. Again, other than BKF people, none of my bagua instructors [or tai chi cinstructors] ever dealt with swings or left/right channels.
I’m interested in both theoretical and practical/experiential responses.
Also, on this subject, can anyone speak more about what the left and right channels are? I dont recognize them as being ordinary or extraordinary primary chi meridians, nor do they correlate to any yogic nadis that I am aware of. Now, there ARE tons of meridians and nadis, but I’ve never felt chi movement through a left or right channel whereas I have for meridians and nadis. Are the left and right channels really even “chi meridians” or are they simply “we have two physical points [shoulders nest, kwa], mentally draw an imaginary line connecting said two points, and walla you now have an imaginary axis?” As an imaginary axis around which one can physically rotate your body, or a “maintain the alignment of your 4 points” I get those, but context from other places clearly discussed energy flow through the central channel and strongly appeared to discuss chi flow through the left and right channels as well. Hence it seems that there is something more than just “imaginary physical axis of rotation” or “4pt alingment maintainment” going on there.
I have only played around with the left and right channels in regards to sinking. What I did was think of blood/chi/whatever sinking from my head to my neck, then from my neck to my shoulder’s nest, then from my shoulder’s nest to the points just below my bottom ribs. What I found was that each point that I opened up along the left and right channels made it not only easier to pump blood out of my head, but my pulse became noticeably stronger after opening up the left/right channels somewhat. That’s not something I read about, just something I played around with when mucking around with the microcosmic orbit.
I’m not sure about the connections between the 3 swings and the channels. I have encountered similar exercises in tai chi through the Cheng Manching lineage, so perhaps that’s another angle of attack in regards to research. Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1S78x0fOJo
To throw my 2 cents into it…
I like the three swings, and there’s many things they can be used for.
They are the introduction to soft power, and the swings are what you use to get a knockout strike, using your whole body in a loose, relaxed way to hammer somebody in the side of the head. This is refined by the opening and closing of Heaven & Earth, and the twisting and spiraling of Gods that comes later. But the swings are how you quickly create power, and on the other side of the coin, they are how you begin to develop the ability to take a heavy hit to the body without it hurting too bad.
To me the exercises of Energy Gates are more about the three burners of the body, and less about the side channels. However, Energy Gates starts with the Four Points, and making a felt connection between shoulder’s nests and the kwas. As you get deeper and deeper into that connection, you eventually come to connect with the Left and Right Channels. Energy Gates is how you begin this, Cloud Hands in particular. The four points come first, then the yin and yang surfaces of the body in Heaven & Earth, then the deeper channels in Gods.
In terms of Ba Gua, Energy Gates is crucial. In the end Gods is much more connected to Ba Gua, if you ask me, but Energy Gates is the foundation.
You need dissolving in order to get your mind on a hair trigger for sparring, and for healing when you get hit. Cloud Hands teaches the alignments you need to prevent killing your knees, and it teaches the whole body twisting that all Ba Gua moves utilize.
The swings teach you about momentum. The first swing is Cut, a Ba Gua technique for chopping horizontally, and can be used to the head or to the body. This type of horizontal power is used over and over in tons of Ba Gua techniques.
The second swing teaches the footwork of Single Palm Change. It’s a HUGE help in getting structure, connection and power throughout the Single Palm Change movement.
The third swing gives you soft power in an up and down direction, and is simply awesome for smashing down on people or lifting them up while you are moving. And it continues to develop the footwork you need for Ba Gua, while swinging your arms at the same time.
The spine stretch helps get your spine stretched and awake for Ba Gua, which really taxes your spine.
I’ve seen similar swings to these in most Chinese martial arts schools I’ve trained at, they are usually rushed through in the warm up without the detail that Kumar demands. But they are in there somewhere!
Take care,
Jess O
This is an archived forum (read only). Go to our active forum where you can post and discuss in real time.