Ba Gua Zhang

Coil, Twist, Contract, Expand...

Ba Gua Zhang is one of the three major internal Chinese martial arts (Nei Jia Chuan) and literally means "eight diagrams palm”, “Ba” means “Eight” and “Gua” referring to the I Ching (Chinese philosophy; Book of Changes), and "Zhang" means "palm".

Ba Gua Zhang's characteristic method of movements and stances training involve practice of circle walking.  Practitioners walk around the edge of a circle using variety of stepping patterns, facing the center and periodically changing direction as they switch between techniques/forms.

Students first learn basic stances, walking, and flexibility through basic fixed exercises, then move on to more complex forms and internal power mechanics.  Ba Gua contains an extremely wide variety of techniques, including various strikes, low kicks, joint techniques, throws, and circular footwork that are very distinctive.  In many schools, students study both Xing Yi Chuan and Ba Gua Zhang.  These may be used together in fighting, as they often share complementary techniques. 

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