Baguazhang Circle Walking & Xingyiquan Pan Gen (Coiling Root) Part One

Circle Walking/ Turning a Circle, when done as a solo practice with the intent of just walking in one direction for as long as you can, then quickly changing directions, and again walking in the opposite direction, is an internal practice that adheres to the theories of 易筋 'Yi Jin' (Changing the Tendons) and 洗髓 'Xi Sui' (Washing the Bone Marrow). It's a practice that merges the building up of the internal functioning of the body with building up of the strengths and flexibility required when using martial skills/ fighting.

It's called 行桩 'Xing Zhuang' (Moving Standing) practice method it takes the 站桩'Zhan Zhuang' (Static Standing) practices to another level of development as it moves more energy and blood around the body and accomplishes the more refined levels of mental and physical development in a more timely manner, and without other extracurricular Qigong practices.



'Xing Zhuang' (Circle Walking) will also achieve the same things as 'Zhan Zhuang' (Standing). So in Baguazhang, one could only practice the Circle Walking and not do any Standing; but it's a more efficient use of time, to use both Standing Practices to build up the lower parts of one's body and develop the Lower Dantian, and combine it with the Circle Walking practice, to get to the 'Xi Sui' (Marrow Washing)and other internal phases quicker. Not to mention that it forms the whole foundation of Baguazhang's martial strategies as the circle inside of the square and usage of Horizontal (Waist-Driven) power is key to being able to effectively apply the techniques of Baguazhang.

Contrary to what you may have read in various texts on other internal practices, concerning 'Yi Jin' and 'Xi Sui', in 'Circle Walking' you just have to follow the basic instructions and physical requirements for the posture and positioning of various parts of the body, then where to look/ focus your eyes, and the simple requirements for where to direct your 'Yi' (Intention), and then just start Turning around the circle.

Circle Walking is based on the farming process of grinding grains to remove the outer husk, or into flour, via the use of a millstone, like the one pictured. Only doing this work is just a type of manual labor. The Internal Martial Artists had, over the centuries, looked for, and sought out ways to make the hard work of the martial arts and common physical labor to be more beneficial, both physically (building up muscle) and internally (the proper functioning of the metabolism that builds and supports the muscles, tendons, and bones), so that one isn't just tearing down their own body down, day in, day out, and never regenerating/ rebuilding it properly. Killing two birds with one stone and making it a better, more efficient use of one's practice time. So the goal is getting one's own body, and it's ability to rebuild, out in front-of, or ahead of the work being done, and then build up a full supply that can then be drawn upon, for each day's workout.

董海川 Dong Haichuan (1804-1882) took this farming chore and created the Circle Walking practice out of it by combining the various Daoist and Buddhist theories with the principles and strategies from the numerous Martial Arts that he knew. So that then, by only imagining the labor and isometrically pushing a heavy millstone around in a circle, it will trick the practitioner's body into going into that regenerating/ rebuilding mode. But since there is little 'work' actually being done, there is a then a surplus of energy and nutrients to be put to use or stored up for later. This daily practice, when combined with a good daily diet, will begin to develop extra flesh while burning out unnecessary fat, strengthen tendons and build-up the fluids that surround them, which in turn then strengthens the bones that supports the tendons and the quantity of bone marrow is increased to keep the bone alive. This building up of tissues is a gradual process but what becomes noticeable is just the day to day maintaining of the physical body and one can then begin to know and understand their own level of health and gauge how much each exercise takes it out of them. This is turjn allows for a better understanding of how Baguazhang's strike drilling and other martial practices also benefit both the health and martial skills.

In the lineage of Yin Style Baguazhang of: 尹福 Yin Fu (1841-1911) to 门宝珍 Men Baozhen (1873-1958) to 解佩啟 Xiè Pèiqǐ (1920-2003), the largest Circle that we turn is about a six-foot diameter circle, roughly 8 steps to get around it. We also turn smaller circles depending on the Trigram being practiced, 6 steps, 4 steps to a 3 step circle where the center of the circle is the tip of your inside arm's shoulder.

In the beginning, the practitioner should turn the larger six-foot diameter circle and step carefully and relatively slower than a normal walking pace, paying attention to carefully placing each step, with only a moderate opening and closing of the legs using the hip joints to do 掰扣步 'Bai and Kou Bu' Stepping. Moving the whole leg from the hip joint helps to ensure that the knees aren't injured from walking along a curve instead of along a straight-line.

Turning the larger circle is done because an aspect behind the Circle Walking practice is that it intentionally causes one to become dizzy, and when practicing it, one should immediately change directions as soon as they start to feel dizzy. If that doesn't work, then try to face/look directly forward, rather than towards the center of the circle, and if that doesn't work then stop turning. Over time, and with consistent practice, this will also strengthen the muscles of the neck, which play a role in the Vestibulo-ocular_reflex, which helps us to stay balanced, maintain equilibrium even when the head is turning or changes in horizontal and vertical orientation are detected by the inner ear. Through the daily stressing of this function, one can gradually develop a stronger sense of equilibrium and balance. Which improves one's ability to withstand more abrupt turning or spinning, like you might get when being thrown by an opponent. After you develop the ability to turn in both directions, without ever getting dizzy, then another level is to start turning a slightly smaller circle, until you adapt to that diameter of circle, then later, again make the diameter smaller, and so on. The subtle strengthening of and the flexibility of the neck muscles is the most important reason for Turning in each direction for an equal amount of time, as the neck is something that you don't want to train in a lop-sided manner, for various physical and TCM related reasons.

There are many benefits to Circle Walking/ Turning the Circle, like how when Circle Walking, the practitioner is turning the waist, and upper body, in towards the center of the circle while the hips point towards the front of one's body. This develops great strength and mobility in the narrow band of muscles that power the movement of the waist. Which comes via the constant torquing and wringing of the waist as one is stepping around the curve of the circle and the hips are moving in the opposite direction of the waist.

Another one of the more Martial benefits is that it develops one's 心地 'Xindi' (Ground-Mind). This is the practitioner's awareness of what's going on below their waist, near the ground, without having to look down. This provides one the ability to step, walk, and use the legs to maneuver around, execute kicks, etc., all while the upper body, eyes, and arms are doing something else. Kind of like when playing Basketball where you have to dribble the ball while running / moving around, and is another example of using and developing one's 'Xindi' (Ground-Mind). Walking on uneven or rough ground is another aspect to this as it strengthens your ankles against sprains and further increases one's 'Xindi' capabilities.



A famous practitioner of 形意拳 Xingyiquan and student of 李洛能 Li Luoneng aka 李能然 Li Nengran was 宋世荣 Song Shirong (1849 - 1927), and having had seen the benefits of Baguazhang's Circle Walking firsthand had incorporated the Circle Walking into Xingyiquan and called it 宋氏形意拳纳卦 Song Style Xingyiquan 'Nagua' (Incorporating the Trigrams) or 盘根 'Pan Gen' (Coiling Root) as it's more commonly known.

Although it's theorized that another student of Li Luoneng: 刘奇蘭 Liu Qilan had incorporated the practice, as he would have had closer proximity to and was friends with more Baguazhang people.)

But for now I'm just going to discuss the texts that have been passed down in the Song Style of Xingyiquan.

Continued in Part 2...




.