Bagua Collection

Baguazhang is an incredible "internal" martial art that focuses on twisting, spirals, moving in a circular fashion, and whole body useage. Use of legs, waist, and spine to generate power to the hands is a main advantage of this art. The body mechanics are similar to taiji and xingyi quan. In Avatar: The Last Airbender the character Aang's Airbending movements were based off of baguazhang. The basis for this art is circle walking, which comes from Daoist meditative practices of the Quanzhen sect. Circle walking allows one to train evasive footwork and allows one to transition to dealing with multiple opponents

There are two main branches of baguazhang: Cheng and Yin. Generalizing broadly, Cheng's focus is on throwing and joint manipulation because Cheng Tinghua had a background in shuai jiao (traditional Chinese wrestling); whereas Yin's focus is on striking because Yin Fu was a student of Shaolin Luohan quan. Liang is a hybrid of the two but mainly influenced by Cheng. A note about the Xei Peiqi lineage Dragon style, they claim that their Dragon system is what Cheng Tinghua learned. I was unable to find more videos of the Yin animal systems online and they are not a part of my DVD collection unfortunately.

I collected these videos and organized them, there are some interviews from masters, some articles, as well as eBooks for the respective styles. Also included is the entirety of the Pa Kua Chang Journal (Wade-Giles transliteration versus Pinyin) which is an invaluable resource. If you are really interested in learning, please look up an instructor near you. If you can't find baguazhang instruction locally, a martially oriented taiji instructor or a good xingyi instructor will teach you similar skills. I excluded most of the weapons training as you should not undertake such things without an instructor. I did include the elk horn knives from a Cheng stylist and some Yin sword.

If approaching training without an instructor, please remember this progression for training if one isn't presented in the material. This is mainly for the Cheng and Liang styles; the Yin Dragon is well organized and the Lion videos are only applications.

Beginning and Core Practices:

Standing Exercises
Basic Exercises
Old Mother Palms
Single Palm Change

Intermediate Practice:
Partner Work
Applications

Advanced:
Double Palm Change
Swimming Body
Weapons

Many people become passionate about this art and if you do, please seek out an instructor or a seminar as regularly as possible. Hands on correction as well as paired practice are absolutely necessary to provide you with feedback about your skill. Also, how will you know if you can fight if you don't test it? Try to mix it up with some MMA guys or someone from any other art.