Twisting in four part circle walking

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  • #128253

    Anonymous
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    So in the four part straight line walking, my understanding is that from a forward position, you twist the leg muscles inward, as well we close certain parts of the body (I haven’t taken any classes on that, so my understanding in that area is lacking as well) to help bring the rear leg into the feet parallel position, as well as send chi up the body. From the feet parallel position, you twist your legs outward, this helps to send the foot on down and send chi down the body.

    Now on the transition to circle walking, specifically the outside, toe in, step, how does the twisting work? Because it’s my understanding that the toe in step is about bringing the energy from the outside in, so do the legs twist inwards, now, to help this? Legs also twist inwards, to my knowledge, to help facilitate the turn. How does this work for four part walking? The text says that in intermediate considerations, the kwa on the inside closes, while the kwa on the outside opens. Would the inside leg twist inwards, while the outside leg twists outwards?

    Hope this questions makes sense!

    #130950

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Great question. This weekend Craig Barnes showed a few of us some points on walking which I really appreciated and the kwa pump is something that I didn’t really get until he then. He pointed out that if you know how to do cloud hands from Opening the gates, you can get one side opening and the other closing with walking. Also, you’ll notice on the video the kwa engagement when Bruce brings his rear foot in to parallel.

    This is definitely something I’ll be working on from now on. The other things I’ve discovered this weekend, along with twisting are; ‘skidding’, smoothness and pulsing.

    #130951

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Rich,

    If you don’t mind me asking, how a beginner would feel pulsing?

    I’m interested in this technic (it’s also called opening and closing, right?); Bruce talks a lot about it in the Bagua program. But I haven’t been able to find more detail on how to actually do it in addition to placing some intent on joints/cavities. No EA instructors in my neighbourhood (Vancouver, BC) unfortunately.

    #130952

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hey Igor,

    My teacher here in Illinois, Don, said the very basics in Heaven and Earth qigong, which is specific for pulsing is opening and closing your joints. I can experience pulsing by extending my arm in/out from my spine.

    At the Wind Palm seminar I was able to ask questions to folks who know bagua very well and were gracious enough to share their knowledge. Walking was described to me as falling or sinking with each extension, and raising the spine simultaneously. Ed from Colorado showed that to me, thanks buddy. That description sounded a lot like pulsing to me; a vertical (spine) and horizontal (feet) expansion and contraction from my central channel.

    Hoe that helps

    #130953

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hey Rich, thanks for your comments!

    What do you mean by “skidding”?

    #130954

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Thanks, Rich.

    The best I can feel is some expansion and perhaps lengthening. I can’t get to the point where I’d feel any pulsing or joints openings.

    Would pulsing be in tune with the heartbeat?

    #130955

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Skidding is my name for when you skid your lead feet to the ground to activate that ‘bubbling well’ pressure point.

    One of the videos, someone asked about how jarring skidding can be to a beginner and Bruce used Craig to demonstrate how to do it correctly, so I suggest you check that out because it’s one of those ‘hidden’ details very few teachers explain.

    #130956

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I don’t think it’s in rhythm with the heart beat. I suppose if you have access to a metronome you could use that for rhythmic walking though.

    And I’d like to point out, I don’t know how to pulse ‘correctly’ either. I’m just trying to do what my friends have graciously told me what I should do. That goes for twisting, skidding and whatever lesson I’m working on currently. Like Bruce said, ‘work on what’s easy first, then go to the harder stuff.’ :)

    #130957

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Ah, I gotcha.

    I think the term used in the text and videos is the “foot brake”, right?

    If that’s the case, I get what you’re saying, thanks!

    #130958

    Anonymous
    Guest

    I was looking online and discovered some of our own bagua teachers, Jess and Isaac, show four part stepping that looked a lot like cloud hands. And as I wrote earlier, kwa engagement in circle walking and body unification is cultivated really well doing this particular exercise.Check it out. It’s a fun addition to my daily training.

    #130959

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hello again, everybody!

    Got some interesting answers last time. But I still think I’m stuck somewhere on this issue :(

    For my circle walking, I’ve mostly been just sticking with three part walking, as I’ve got that down pretty comfortably. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my four part walking in straight line. But now I want to bring my four part walking into circle walking, but I’m still a bit confused on how the twisting works in the outside step in the circle!

    In straight line, four part walking, as the leg steps out, the legs twist outward (from the text). This feels good and right. Then twist in to pull you forward, twist out to shift weight forward, then twist in to bring it all back before the twist out again when you step forward. No problem.

    BUT….

    How do you translate this into the outside step in circle walking? The inside step is just the same as the straight line walking….

    But how is my outside leg twisting when doing four part circle walking? Do I twist out to push my leg forward, then twist in to get my foot to do the toe in? Intellectually this feels like what it should be…. but I have a hard time translating that to my body (and that’s fine, I’ll just practice). Sometimes it feels easier if, right from the feet together, I just twist in for the toe in, which feels okay, but in my mind I wonder if that’s just an oversimplification….

    I really want to get this right, or at least know what the right way is, so I can work up to that point.

    Thanks for the help, everybody!

    #130960

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hi Roland,

    I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The leg twisting should be so light you can barely feel it. Over time it will grow, but if you get obsessed with it, you might overstrain or get stuck.

    In the long run you can twist either way with an outward step, and when you engage spiraling you do both at once. So for now just do a bit here and there. For me twisting was frustrating for the first 10 years then it started to do itself.

    Good luck man!!!

    J

    #130961

    Anonymous
    Guest

    Hey Jess, thanks for the response!

    Yeah, I didn’t even consider twisting. Waaaaaaay beyond where I’m at right now!

    I’ve just been experimenting a bit with twisting, and I’ve started to feel really small amounts of movements, so I wanted to start to work with it a bit more in my stepping to help get things pumping/circulating a bit more practically.

    But I’m waaaaaayy off the ten year mark!

    Anyway, thanks again, and it’s back to practice for me.

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