Learning Pa kua.

[leke]

I am attempting to learn Pa kua for self defence from video instruction. Can anyone recommend a good tape/DVD or even warn me of any bad ones out there?

[cybermonk]

This wont answer your question and althought I dont want to be the one to tell you this someone has to, learning pa kua from a book or video alone is probably not going to happen unless you are some super martial arts talent, maybe you should try a simpler style.

[Wanderer]

I think it is better to find a person that studied it before.

You practice the wrong way, once the habit is formed, it is very difficult to correct. You may injure yourself, too.

You can not learn tap dancing or ballet from videos, can you?

Find a good teacher will save you a lot of time and mistakes.

-Stance practice. you have to stand with your spine straight, chin tugged in. You assume a high horse riding posture. You then rotate your waist 30 degree, 45 degree, 60 degrees and then 90 degrees, either left or right.

Every stance has to be 24 min up to 45 min in a session.

-Steps: Bai Bu (Swing step), Gou Bu (Button step), Ru Bu, Tan Nih Bu (Muddy walk)

Best of luck.

[soggycat]

Leke,
Which city / country are you in ? Mebbe we can help find you a teacher ?

[leke]

I live in Oulu, Finland. I am learning Old Yang Taiji (from a teacher) at the moment which is why I thought I could maybe learn Pa Kua from video.
I kind of know of the various styles taught around Oulu at the moment, but haven’t heard of Pa Kua being taught. If anyone does know of a Pa Kua teacher in the same country/boarder of Sweden I would really like to know!

[KRONOS]

Here's a link to some DVD's from my teacher.

http://www.traditionalstudies.org/st...ct=phoenix_dvd

The one you want to see is Vol.2 from either the phoenix, bear, or dragon systems.

Other than those dvds the only video I'd recommend is Gao style videos by Liu De Xie

[Azrael]

My advice would be to focus on your taiji training and wait until the opportunity to learn under someone with bagua experience presents itself.

Bagua, in my experience, is a very precise art, especially in the beginning where you are learning the crucial aspects that will form the foundation of your training. Too much room for error and the formation of bad habits. I understand that you are obviously very interested in learning this art, and I can only persume that you have looked around for a teacher where you live to no avail, but do yourself and whoever you eventaully find to teach you the art in the future by not attempting to learn via a book or even a dvd. Books/Videos/Dvd's cannot correct you and give you vital feedback, only an experienced teacher can do that. If you attempt it, you may very well learn bad habits that will take your future teacher a long time to correct before he/she is able to train you in the correct manner. Focus on your taiji training, and keep your eyes open for someone to teach you bagua.

[leke]

Thanks, you are probably right.
I always intend to keep with the taiji training but my teacher is only into the spiritual/healing side of it. I might still buy Kronos's recommendation, just to watch and see how effective Pa kua could potentially be. I will promise not to imitate any of it at home!!

[leke]

Oh almost forgot... Kronos, I ran a search for "Liu De Xie" on google and nothing came up.
Thanks for the http://www.traditionalstudies.org website. A very good resource.

[KRONOS]

You can find Luo De Xiu's videos and a ton of other stuff at:
http://www.plumflower.com/
click on the bagua page 2 products.

The other Bagua products I would take with a grain of salt, a lot of it is contrived and unrealistic. The cd-rom of the bagua journal is a good historical record though.

For more Yin style info:
http://yinstylebagua.rrace.net/

[Mad-about-Bagua]

Originally Posted by leke

I live in Oulu, Finland. I am learning Old Yang Taiji (from a teacher) at the moment which is why I thought I could maybe learn Pa Kua from video.
I kind of know of the various styles taught around Oulu at the moment, but haven’t heard of Pa Kua being taught. If anyone does know of a Pa Kua teacher in the same country/boarder of Sweden I would really like to know!

Try these links :
Stockholm Yin Style Bagua
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/bagua.zhang/resources.htm

Frederik Regn e-mail: fredrik.regn@spray.se



Yin Bagua DVD set review (DR. Xie Peigi):
http://www.traditionalstudies.org/ysb/what_to_buy.html

Buy it here ( reliable supplier in USA, I’ve bought from them before):
http://www.plumflower.com/ba_gua_zhang.htm
Quite expensive ( some 10 DVDs? )

Massive Internal Martial arts video shop ( based in Hong Kong)
Mr, CS Tang himself is a TaiChi , Bagua etc etc practitioner
http://cstang.www3.50megs.com/

[leke]

Thanks for the links. I have already been through the traditionalstudies website. I got the Lion system DVD's (as recommended on the website) yesterday and I was really impressed.
The Stockholm Yin Style Bagua Group looks interesting too. Its real cheap to fly there from Oulu if they have classes.

[gerard]

Leke, forget about learning internal styles in distance education format. It doesn't work that way. Close supervision is a must or you can really hurt yourself.

Stick with Taiji and wait until you find a knowledgeable Bagua instructor.

Anyway, why don't you try to master Taiji, which will take you around 15 years if you train for 5 hours per day or 30 if you train 1 hour per day. It's a long and hard quest but really worth it.

Good luck though.
__________________

[leke]

As I said before, I always intend to keep with the Taiji. I only do about 4 hours week - which I thought was enough.
Thinking on, even if I wanted to go to Sweden to learn Bagua my wife probably wouldn't let me!