Baguaquan 


 

          Laoshr Shaoming Cheng and Laoshr Mark

 



The sequential actions of rise, drill, overturn, and fall in your single palm change is discussed in both the Xingyi and Baguaquan classics.  Initiate these actions by rotating at your core.  When deflecting, redirecting, or throwing your opponent, your single palm change can incorporate a strike to the side of their head or the back of their head or neck. The Piercing palm of Wang Shu Jin's style, known to Chen Pan Ling, coordinates with a longer lower Crouching Tiger stance.

The unwinding of your body and the uplifting, rotating, and falling of your arms and hands also aids you in the coordinated actions of your legs torso, spine, shoulders, and arms.  Twisting and rotating the muscles and supple joints - twisting the legs, opening and closing the hips gua or gates, and spiraling through the torso, shoulders, and arms are the motions of Bagua.  Execute your twisting in a coordinated fashion while maintaining your whole body connection.  These elements are all trained in the single palm change.



Double palm changes emphasize more contra-lateral associations and require chan si jin’s spiraling Silk Reeling for changing your strength, power, and awareness from one side of your body to the other.  More spiraling double palm changes develops your central equilibrium, coordinates your upper and lower body in whole body "twisting power” for what is both an offensive and a defensive motion. 

These actions lead to the motion classically described as "swimming dragon".  Hence the name of the style practiced at the Long Shan School.