Cloud Hands and DRILL

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  • #128176

    Anonymous
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    Hi,

    Even though i’m a total beginner at BaGua, I sneaked a peek at module 3 in advance and especially at the body unification method. I’ve been doing Energy Gates Chi Gung for some years now and the diagrams for the DRILL exercise really jumped at me, especially the diagram for the 2-hands variation, which is exactly the diagram for Cloud Hands from the book “Opening the Energy Gates…”.

    Although Bruce warns in a comment box that DRILL and Cloud Hands are similar but not the same. The differences are not very clear to me.

    I’ve got 3 questions for you more experienced people out there :

    1) since I’ve been doing Cloud Hands for quite some time, would it be OK to start doing the DRILL body unification exercise, even though I’m only starting to work on Module 1 stuff in other regards ? Or should I really go step by step and strictly follow the order of the modules ?

    2) what exactly are the differences between Cloud Hands and Drill ? How are the body mechanics diferent ? The intent ?

    3) In the audio, Bruce mentions 2 types of breathing/energetic patterns for the 2-handed Drill, one basic and one intermediate. I’ve been doing the basic one (breathe in on extension, breathe out and gather on returning to the middle) in my Cloud Hands up to now. Is it a good thing to try the intermediate one (follow one hand and inhale on up and exhale on down) in my practise of Cloud Hands ?
    I’ve already felt quite strong simultaneous currents of upward and downward going chi on the let and right channeles in Cloud Hands (regardless of the breathing pattern) that happened all by themselves, in coordination with the hand movements. Is this OK? Is it to be replicated in 2-handed DRILL ?

    Thanks a lot in advance,
    Erwan

    #130436

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hi Erwan,

    Just my thoughts, hope others will chime in.

    1. For sure, if you have some experience with Cloud Hands, go right into Drill, it’s nearly the same thing, just drilling forward not to the 45. I would think that one could go through the modules as you wish, no need to slavishly follow them fanatically. Some things will speak to you more, so do them now, other things will be more interesting later.

    For instance when I first learned Ba Gua I couldn’t stand to go slow. I was a kid, so of course going slow was a nightmare. Later a mentor of mine Frank Allen told me to do slow walking for 100 hours. It doesn’t matter when you do it, at the beginning, middle or end of your life, but eventually you’ll have to do it sometime! And when I slowed down and focused on the Four Part Step for those hours, it made a huge difference and made circle walking take on all kinds of new dimensions. Then again, you have to do Fast walking at some point too, and that is no picnic either!

    2. Cloud Hands drills off to the sides, Drill goes straight ahead. The differences are minute and will become clear over time and practice. Not much use analyzing it until you’ve got a lotta repetitions under your belt.

    Drill was one of Dong Hai Chuan’s favorite techniques, and his student Yin Fu made it into the center piece of his Ba Gua system. Every Ba Gua school has it, and some are fanatical about it. It simultaneously reaches out to meet your opponent and at the same time opens them up to your follow ups. One of the best and most intuitive sparring techniques I’ve ever used. Great both for offense and defense. No way to over-emphasize Drill!!!

    3. Over time experiment with every possible breathing pattern. Over time add each and every one of the 16 nei gung methods to your Drill practice. There is no limit to what you can do with Drill or any of the other movements.

    For instance, try Dissolving your whole body one layer at a time while doing Drill. Anything you have learned within Nei Gung, do it within Drill, one at a time. This will help your Drill blossom and develop into a fully alive, connected and intuitive move, while at the same time helping improve your ability to do all of the nei gung skills.

    As you can see I’m a big fan of Drill (and Palm and Cut!!) so once you get me going it’s hard to stop!

    Take care,

    Jess O

    #130437

    Anonymous
    Guest

    “Frank Allen told me to do slow walking for 100 hours.”
    That sounds like great advice. I’m going to start logging my hours.

    #130438

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Guys, i got a little bit of chest pain after doing a few minutes of cloud hands tonight. It wasn’t a full blown exercise, i was just testing out the movements and trying to keep connection. But now i’ve got a small, sharp pain just in or inside of my breast bone. It’s not very deep but it got my attention. Does this have to do with twisting beyond the central channel inadvertantly? Or turning into it?
    Patrick

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