The Whirling Circles of Ba Gua Zhang: The Art and Legends of the Eight Trigram Palm

This is a great resource on the history and practice of baguazhang, but most important to me was the section on circle walking. I've been practicing martial arts for 35 years and that experience and training provided enough of a foundation to help me undertake what the authors were offering in the form of a book. It's difficult, if not impossible, to learn a martial art from a book alone, but circle walking is not a martial art - it's an exercise - possibly the most satisfying and beneficial exercise you'll ever do. Baguazhang in all its diverse forms is developed and first originates from circle walking. Anyone can learn to walk the circle, especially with the help of these authors. Once you're comfortable walking the circle, then adopt the 8 palms (holding the hands in different positions while walking) that Tina demonstrates in the pictures on pages 75 - 77. Just practice and practice. It will tone your body in myriad ways and increase balance, power, flexibility and increased range of motion - especially in your core and your hips since you are always walking with the waist in a twisted position. You don't have to be a martial artist or fighter to investigate this supreme exercise. The practice also teaches you to sense stillness within movement - ie - it's the perfect form of moving meditation. It's been 8 years of including circle walking in my daily practice and the real value for me has been physical - unlike anything else, it has increased my range of motion in the waist, hips and buttocks, and the fascia throughout this entire area of the body.

I want to love this book. and there is probably a lot to like or love about itbut my biggest disappointment is the basic training. section. which essentially is stance training.and stepping patternsdont get me wrong stance training is very important. and perhaps their treatment of this important part of basic training should be commended. But internal basic training. is also the chi kung sets.. which help to open the body. does stance training open the body? yes it does.but lets face it how many will drill the stances the way they need to be drilled. there is no formula or explanation on how long to hold each stance. which could be as much as 30 min to an hour. How many readers will understand this or be able to develop the will to do this. When i hear training chapter which is what made me buy this book. I expected to see a set of warm ups chi kung body opening movements.I didnt see anything of the kind. this was a big disappointment. since in the description of the book they said there is a basic training sequence.Apart from this slight misrepresentation. the book does seem to have some pretty good insights. a look at frank allens palm will tell you he has the goods. (for those who know what to look for.)this book will go on my shelf for now and pulled down from time to time. I really wish there were more training concepts which to me are some of the most important aspects of the internal disciplines.exercises or nei gongstance training embrace the moon, mill stone posture,circle walking,form,wuji or meditation.fighting applicationsgood book overall. despite the lack of treatment of the nei gong.

This book will give the person who is considering the study of BaGua Zhang or the beginning student who has already started, a good introduction to the history/origins of the art, some basic postures and palm formations, and the relationship of the art to Daoist principles.I have found the sections on the Thirty-Six Songs and the Forty-Eight Methods to be particularly good reading as Frank and Tina explain the meaning of the Chinese texts and their relevance to internal martial arts in general and BaGua Zhang in particular. I have many of these Songs and Methods bookmarked for reference and continued study.A worthwhile read.

Speaking as a true beginner this book is fun to read, it teaches about a rare martial art form, the pictures are nice to look at and the explanations are clear. I like the format where there is a list briefly explaining each movement/position along with the Chinese name for each position. In other chapters there is longer paragraph style discussions. It is unique for an American book. Frank Allen and Tina Zhang are experts in the field of Martial Arts. If you want to learn about Ba Gua this is the book for you. Again, I bought 2 copies.

As a practitioner of BaguaZhang, I'm glad I purchased the book it has helped me further understand the fundamentals and the moral behind the style....

This is an awesome book. Good little history on the art of Baguazhang. Good descriptions of stances and forms. Like all other martial arts medias only uses this book as a reference no as an instructor some of the stances and the like can cause damage to the joints if done incorrectly. Other than that it is a great reference tool to have if you are just starting off in the art of Bagua.

The Whirling Circles of Baguazhang is a fantastic read for the novice and advanced martial artist.I found it incredible for several reasons:A great history -- the legends alone make me want to go out and practice!An Inclusion of the "Thirty-Six Songs and the Forty-Eight Methods" which were an oral tradition of teachings to pass onto the students.The Inclusion of the Daoist roots and some delving into the esoteric Iching.The pictures and explanations are great, and it's overall just a very well-done book.

Frank does a top notch job of giving brief descriptions of the lives of the Masters who gave us the lineages we have today in Bagua.His emphasis on basics is spot on, and the only thing disappointing is that he didn't elaborate further on the Taoist use of Bagua as meditation. Of course that's tricky thing to discuss in a book.An overall good read by one of Bruce Frantzis's "old timers".

Diese Buch besteht im Prinzip aus vier Teilen:Biographien der MeisterPrinzipien des Bagua ZhangWaffenDas YijingIm ersten Kapitiel werden die wichtigsten Meister diese Kung Fu-Stils vorgestellt. Diese Biographien sind kurz und knackig zu lesen.Das zweite Kapitel zeigt die acht Mutterhände und Basis-Stellungen bevor wir zum wichtigsten Kapitel des Buches und einem der besten Texte kommen die ich je gelesen habe: Kapitel 4 Twisting, Coiling Spiraling Twisting. Hier werden die Kampfprinzipien des Bagua Zhang aufgeschlüsselt. Prinzipien, keine Techniken. Kung Fu als offenes Konzept wie es ursprünglich gemeint war.In Kapitel 5 werden sechs Waffen des Bagua Zhang vorgestellt. Auch hier greift wieder Prinzipien über Technik. Abgeschlossen wird dieses Kapitel durch eine Darstellung der Messer-Form im Cheng-Stil. Im nächsten Kapitel folgen die 36 Lieder des Bagua Zhang. Diese kurzen Lehrgedichte dienen als eine Art Gedächtnisstütze für den Praktizierenden.Im letzten Kapitel verwebt Shifu Allen das Kung Fu mit der Philosophie des Yijing.Das einzige was mir an diesem Buch nicht gefallen hat ist dass sämtliche Bilder der historischen Meister offensichtlich von den Originalen von Hand abgezeichnet wurden. So etwas mag gehen wenn man dafür einen professionellen Zeichner gewinnen kann, hier aber sieht es aus als kämen die Zeichnungen von einem Kind.Dieses Buch richtet sich auf keinen Fall an Anfänger die eine Schritt für Schritt Anleitung suchen, sondern an Praktizierende die die Grundidee dieses Systems bereits verinnerlicht haben.