3 Bagua Internal Warm-Up Method

BAGUA MASTERY PROGRAM
;~-.~
1:1 :1:
'~~:::?
MODULE 1
Bagua Internal Warm-up Method
BRUCE FRANTZIS
Copyright 201 0 Bruce Frantzis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval syste
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recordi1
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by Energy Arts, Inc., P.O. Box 99, Fairfax, CA 94978-0099
The following trademarks are used under license by Energy Arts, Inc., from Bruce Frantzis: Fri
Energy Arts system, Mastery Without Mystery, Longevity Breathing program, Opening the E1
Gates ofYour Body Qigong, Marriage of Heaven and Earth Qigong, Bend the Bow Spinal Qi~
Spiraling Energy Body Qigong, Gods Playing in the Clouds Qigong, Living Taoism Collectio1
Rev Workout HeartChi, Bagua Mastery Program, Bagua Dynamic Stepping System, Bagua
nal Warm-up Method, and Bagua Body Unification Method.
Editing: Heather Hale, Bill Ryan and Richard Tau binger

Interior Design: Heather Hale
Cover Design: Thomas Herington
Photo and Illustration Editing: Mountain Livingston and Thomas Herington
Photographs by: Eric Peters, Bill Walters, Caroline Frantzis, Richard Marks and Catherine Helms
Illustrations: Michael McKee and Kurt Schulten
Image Alteration: Lisa Petty, GiriVibe, Inc., Patrick Hewlett and Jodie Smith
Models: Bill Ryan, Keith Harrington, Don Miller and Paul Cavel
Printed in the United States of America
PLEASE NOTE: The practice of Taoist energy arts and meditative arts may carry risks. The inform
in this text is not in any way intended as a substitute for medical, mental or emotional counseling
a licensed physician or healthcare provider. The reader should consult a professional before unde
ing any martial arts, movement, meditative arts, health or exercise program to reduce the chan
injury or any other harm that may result from pursuing or trying any technique discussed in this
Any physical or other distress experienced during or after any exercise should not be ignorec
should be brought to the attention of a healthcare professional. The creators and publishers o
text disclaim any liabilities for loss in connection with following any of the practices described i1
text, and implementation is at the discretion, decision and risk of the reader.
Table of Contents
Section 1: Bagua Warm-up ExercisesIntroduction ........................ ................... 7
Five Warm-up Exercises ............................................ 7
Internal Warm-ups are Different from
External Warm-ups ..................................................... 8
The Progressive Development
of Sensory Awareness ............................................... 8
Step 1: Connect Your Inner and Outer Body ...................... 9
Step 2: Feel the Energy Flow within Your Body
(Intermediates) ....................................................................... 10
Step 3: Focus On Your Fluids (Intermediates) ................... 10
Step 4: Sense the Chi Flow (Intermediates) ....................... 11
Step 5: Sense Your Mind Inhabiting Your Body
(lntermediates) ........................................................................ 11
Step 6: Use Intent and the Heart-Mind
(Intermediates) ........................................................................ 11
Step 7: Examine the Nature of Change
(lntermediates) ........................................................................ 11
Advanced Warm-ups ................................................. 12

Warm-up Sequence ................................................... 14
Seven Ways to Know If a Warm-up

Has Done Its Job ........................................................ 15
What to Expect over Time ....................................... 16
Section 2: Warm-up 1Crossover Standing Posture 17

Overview .................................................................... 17
Benefits ....................................................................... 17
Duration of Exercise ................................................. 18
Instructions ............................................................... 19
Basic Alignments while Standing .......................... 20
Section 3: Warm-up 1-Crossover

Standing Posture (Intermediates) 25
Instructions ............................................................... 25
Section 4: Warm-up 2Vertical Kwa Pump 29

Overview ................................................................... 29
Instructions ............................................................... 30
Phase 1: Squat and Close the Kwa ......................... 30
Movement Guidelines .......................................................... 31
Important Points to Remember ............................. 32

Phase 2: Rise and Open the Kwa ............................ 33
Movement Guidelines .......................................................... 33
Safety Issues: Protecting Your Knees ................... 34
Section 5: Warm-up 2Vertical Kwa Pump {Intermediates) ...... 35

Variation 1: Instructions .......................................... 35
Phase 1: Drop and Close the Kwa
while Squatting ......................................................... 35
Phase 2: Rise andOpen the Kwa ............................. 37
Intermediate Guidelines ....................................................... 37
Variation 2: Squatting with One Leg Forward .... 38

Safety Issues: Protecting Your Knees ................... 40
Section 6: Warm-up 3Forward Spine Stretch .......................... 41

Overview ................................................................... 41
Benefits ....................................................................... 42
Instructions ................................................................ 43
Phase 1: Stretch Forward and Down .................................. 44
Phase 2: Rise and Open the Kwa ............................ 45
Other Variations ...................................................... 47

Pigeon-toed ............................................................... 47
Feet parallel ............................................................... 47
Using a Chair or Other Training Aid ...................... 47
Parallel Arms .............................................................. 48
Safety Issues: Protecting Your Back ...................... 49

What to Avoid ............................................................ 49
Section 7: Warm-up 4Dragon Body Turns .............................. 51

Overview ................................................................... 51
Instructions ................................................................ 52
Maintaining the Four Points ................................................ 54
What to Expect over Time ................................................... 56
Intermediate Instructions ....................................... 57

What to Expect over Time ................................................... 58
Section 8: Warm-up 5Turning Forward Spine Stretch ............. 61

Ov~rview
................................................................... 61
Instructions ................................................................ 62
Important Points to Remember ............................. 63

Intermediate Considerations .................................. 64
Section 1
Bagua Warm-up Exercises:

Introduction
Five Warm-up Exercises
In the Bagua Mastery Program, you will learn five warm-up exercises.
encourage you to learn and practice Warm-ups 1-3 alongside the first three
modules. Save learning Warm-ups 4-5 until the next installment (Modules 4-6),
after you've had some time to assmiliate the foundational materiaL
In Module 3, you will also learn unification exercises meant to better link your
body's parts into one integrated whole.
The purpose of internal warm-ups is getting your chi to circulate. They do this by
linking many different aspects of your energy into one coherent flow. In short,
warm-ups allow you to perform bagua and tai chi movements dramatically
better.
201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.
Bagua Mastery Program
Warm-ups will:
Make your practice time more efficient and ultimately save you
time in the long run.
Reduce your body's internal resistance to physical movement.
They metaphorically oil your body's machine. Otherwise, you
might spend much more time practicing to arrive at the
starting point of diminished internal resistance.
Internal Warm-ups are Different from

External Warm-ups
External warm-ups are common. Internal warm-ups are not. While both kinds of
warm-up share similarities, they also have distinct differences.
The primary focus of external warm-ups is to move large muscle groups to
increase blood flow and oxygen levels throughout your body. This is usually
accomplished through some kind of aerobic activity. These are preconditions
necessary to sustain a high level of athletic performance.
Although external and internal warm-ups use single and short series of movements to stretch the body, they also use different methods to get your blood
circulating. In athletics, the primary goal is to make sure blood flows strongly in
the body since it prevents muscle pulls and enhances performance in the main
sport/activity itself.
Internal warm-ups include the external goal, but the primary focus is to smooth
out uneven blood flow in the less obvious stuck parts of the body. These stuck
areas can and commonly do set the stage for injury.
The Progressive Development

of Sensory Awareness
An internal warm-up connects energy flow to your physical movements by
Module 1: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method
stimulating internal sensations and developing your sensory awareness (see

steps 1-7 below). Most people do not have a great deal of sensory awarenesseither because they lack the natural talent or have never developed their natural
capacities.
Although awareness starts with the physical, it should progressively move
toward making you aware of the energetics. From there, it moves forward onto
progressively more refined states of mind.
Step 1:
Connect Your Inner and Outer Body
Initially, the main point is to get the inside and outside of your body to connect
to each other. The goal of internal warm-ups is for you to feel and work every part
of your body.
For example, your arm is connected to the inside of your body, not just your
muscles. With an arm movement, you're looking for a visceral sense or
recognition of being connected (or not) to your spine, inside of your abdomen
and internal organs. You must have a visceral sense of the movement of your
spine connecting to everything that you can feel inside your pelvis, through your
legs all the way down to your feet.
At a baseline level, you sense one physical pressure moving into another and,
as your awareness opens up, feel your arm's chi moving through all the internal
connections of your body.
Likewise, the sense of interconnectedness should be activated and concretely
felt inside your body from the opposite direction (i.e. upwards from your feet to
your pelvis, torso, spine and internal organs) all the way to the top of your head
and fingertips. Initially, this is through physical pressures. Later, you'll be able to
feel your chi moving along the same related pathways.
If it's truly an internal warm-up, the felt sense of either moving physical
pressure or chi moving through your body will be similar to the scenario of
10
steadily squeezing a balloon filled with water. Squeezing the very bottom of the
balloon automatically changes the pressure at the top of the balloon. This occurs
as the water flows through the middle and you can feel the flow happening all
the way through the balloon as a concrete, physically felt sensation beyond an
abstract concept.
This process is similar to the sensory experience of having a massage, which is
quite different from the abstract mental image of having a massage. In a real
massage, someone has their hands on you, they're pressing flesh and you
unambiguously feel pressure beyond any abstract idea or visualization. You could
do a virtual reality massage if this weren't the case. The reality of your physical
body is different from the abstract imagery of your mental construct.
Step 2:
Feel the Energy Flow within Your Body (Intermediates)
After obtaining the previous internal physical sense, you must develop a true,
felt sense of connecting the energy flows within your body. The next steps are all
intermediate steps that progressively awaken sensory awareness.
As your internal sense of awakening chi increases, your level of sensory awareness may also increase. The physical sense of pressure or movement inside your
body may change as well. For example, you might begin to concretely feel blood
moving, which moves in tandem with chi.
Hang on a minute! What do I mean you can feel your blood moving? It's not so
strange! After exercising your arm for awhile, have someone simultaneously grab
your wrist and the bottom of your forearm. You may feel a pulsation of blood
moving inside your arm. That's an easily felt sensation if you put a bit of attention
on it. All that is being discussed is not to stop there, but rather to keep on going ...
Step 3: Focus On Your Fluids (Intermediates)

After you can do the previous steps, you now focus your sensory awareness on
feeling all of the fluids inside your body and feeling how they connect to each
11
other in various ways. For example, the connections from your feet to your
fingers and top of your head and vice-versa, or from the lower tantien in the center of your body to the periphery-upwards to your fingertips and the top of
your head, and simultaneously down to the bottom of your feet and back to the
center.
Step 4: Sense the Chi Flow (Intermediates)

As the sensations of fluids become more stable, you can go for a concrete sense
of chi flowing throughout your body. They can be radically different sensations
from purely physical sensations to which, by now, you should already have
become sensitized if you're working at this stage.
I don't say it's easy to master the skills, only that it's possible. Over time, as you
focus internally, you can alter your experiences and thereby consciously direct
the sensation of energies moving in your body to practical effect.
Step 5:
Sense Your Mind Inhabiting Your Body (Intermediates)
With more progress, your workout should become ever-more internal until you
have the sense of your mind inhabiting your body. This sense should be a part of
every motion you make.
Step 6: Use Intent and the Heart-Mind (Intermediates)

Feel how using your intent, especially the Heart-Mind, allows you to consciously
change the quality of your mind, depending on the nature of the specific warmup.
Step 7: Examine the Nature of Change (Intermediates)

Start looking at the nature of what changes in the entirety of your consciousness-the sum total of your mind, which is beyond internal dialogue or imag-
12
es that pop up on your mental radar screen. Your entire consciousness can be
inside your body, which can be simultaneously experienced as physical,
emotional, mental and psychic events. The nature of change is about more than
a mere mental experience.
Can you discriminate between the different types of flows inside your bodymind? What do they feel like?
Advanced Warm-ups
Beyond the warm-ups presented in this lesson, bagua includes more advanced
exercises that require significantly more complicated movements. Over time,
these are wonderful for stretching the body, opening up chi flow and pumping
blood and other bodily fluids even stronger. These are particularly valuable to
warm up the body and connect the limbs, waist and spine for more advanced
bagua practice. However, for the Single Palm Change, the five internal warm-ups
presented in this section are quite sufficient.
Both the martial-art orientated Beijing and Tianjin bagua schools have many
types of effective and very strong complementary exercises. When practiced
with all of the internal components, they can make the body's chi very strong.
For example, the Shi Da Tien Gang or the "1 0 Heavenly Stems" from the Gao
I Sheng bagua system, which I learned in Taiwan from Hung I Hsiang and my
classmate Luo De Xiu, is excellent and commonly taught in the West. It is also one
of the better representatives of warm-up exercises from the Tianjin school.
In these advanced warm-up exercises, the essentials are the same, just more so.
The difference is the stances get progressively longer, the internal pressure inside
the body is greater, the tendons, ligaments, muscles and fascia stretch further,
and the internal opening, closing and compressions are stronger. There are also
more complex arm movements associated with keeping the feet still in space.
Figure 1.1
Warm-up Exercises from a Tianjin School
Demonstrated by Luo Dexiu
However, simpler warm-up exercises are useful for many reasons:

Most people don't practice several hours a day. More complex
techniques were designed to warm you up for long periods of
practice.
Very complex movements are best learned from a master at a
live teaching where in-depth explanations and demonstrations
of subtle points and nuances are taught.
What is presented in this module is more than enough for what
90 percent of bagua practitioners in the West will realistically
practice.
Simpler movements make understanding the principles
involved much easier to assimilate than complex movements.
The more complicated movements are much more specific to
bagua and not as relevant to tai chi. The warm-up exercises
presented here have real value for tai chi practitioners.
2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.
13
14
Warm-up Sequence
These five warm-ups should be practiced in the sequence recommended.
Practice them before beginning Circle Walking practice until they produce the
desired results in your body.
Warm-up 1, the Standing Posture metaphorically dips your foot
into the water and gets your chi circulating.
Warm-up 2, Open and Close the Kwa with Vertical Drop gets
your kwa working and thereby enables your chi to easily rise
and fall in your body. It also prepares your body for vertical up
and down physica l movement.
Warm-ups 3-5 prepare the legs and waist for horizontal turning
and twisting-not as a series of disconnected parts, but rather
as one integrated whole without breaks. This is very important
as all qigong, bagua and tai chi is completely based on wholebody, integrated movement.
GOALS OF THE FIVE WARM-UP EXERCISES

Stretch the fascia and muscles of the belly, creating elasticity.
Connect the energy of the organs and spine to the arms and legs.
Relax the body.
Get your blood and other bodily fluids circulating strongly.
Gain control of the kwa opening and closing.
Stretch the spine and back muscles.
Connect your back to your arms and legs.
Twist the legs, hips and waist while leaving the spine straight and
not curved.
Cross and i'!,tegrate the energies and energy channels between
your body 1 left and right sides.
Connect the brain and physical bodily sensations-a.k.a. put your

rbody.
. . . . .illlllllilll. . .
~~~
c,c '~;..,7
15
Seven Ways to Know If a Warm-up

Has Done Its Job
These five warm-up exercises are invaluable for warming up and preparing the
physical body and chi before you practice the Single Palm Change.
When they have done their job sufficiently:
Your body should, in every crevice, be physically warm and not
cold.
The sense of your body being wet with blood, other bodily
fluids and eventaully chi will increase.
You should feel connected to a certain degree. You may not be
100 percent connected, but at the end of an internal warm-up,
you should at least finish feeling significantly less disconnected.
Physically your muscles should be stretched and neither cold
nor stiff.
Your chi should have a sense of moving and flowing in your
body. Conversely, if you had an extremely bad and stressedout day, the chi inside your body would feel as if it were stiff or
frozen like a piece of ice. At the end of an internal warm-up, at a
minimum, your chi should be at the stage of feeling like water
rather than inflexible ice.
At a minimum, you should have diminished whatever freakout level you brought in with you before practicing. You
should have reduced your general level of body-mind tension.
You want to become more present than your starting point.
So, before you practice, you are present and not excessively
distracted.
Your body feels like one connected piece. You don't want to
feel like a series of disconnected gangly pieces all thrown
together in a hodge-podge. You have a sense of your body
being tightly woven and unified.
16
What to Expect over Time

Don't ask me! I don't know how you're personally going to develop, but I can give
you some pointers to help you advance the quickest way possible.
Over time, as you practice the basic bagua standing position, you're attempting
to incorporate many aspects simultaneously. Although this may be difficult at
first, it will become fairly easy to do if you chew your meal in small bites. Only add
one new detail after a few practice sessions have passed and you have digested
your meal before you try the next one.
This process follows a simple idea commonly used by painters: Do the big brush
strokes first and gradually fill in the details as you move forward. In this way, the
instructions that follow will list a recommended sequence. Feel free to change
the order as long as you follow another basic Taoist learning principle: Do what's
easy first and what's more difficult later. In the West they say: Let success build on
and create future success.
201 0
Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.
Section 2
Warm-up 1:
Crossover Standing Posture
Overview
Even in the world of internal martial arts, this standing exercise is somewhat
unique to bagua. It derives from the ancient Taoist system of two-hundred
standing postures through which all sixteen neigong can be developed. This
system is the energetic foundation of all moving Taoist chi practices and internal
martial arts.
Benefits
This exercise will jumpstart your chi and create an energetic crossover, where
the chi of the left and right sides of your body penetrate, flow between and
communicate with each other. The exercise gets your chi to naturally sink, so
that chi begins to store and build in your lower tantien. It allows the mind a few
17
18
Figure 1.2.1
Warm-up 1: Crossover Standing Posture
Bruce Frantzis demonstrates the standing posture from
front and side views.
minutes to settle down and become calm-an exceedingly valuable quality in

hectic times.
In Beijing, practitioners of the hsing-i variant called I Chuan or Da Cheng

Chuan are know for standing in static postures for anywhere from one to six
hours at a time-even in cold winter weather in the snow.
Duration of Exercise
For bagua purposes, this standing warm-up is done for only five to ten minutes.
This is in contrast to other internal chi and martial arts, like tai chi and hsingi, where standing with static arm postures-even if only practiced as warm-
19
ups-can last anywhere from minutes to several hours. Bagua's parallel to these
prolonged standing postures (with feet remaining still in space), as used in
classic tai chi and hsing-i (with its SanTi practice), is to dynamically move and
Walk the Circle while maintaining energy postures.
STANDING AND MOVING ARE DIFFERENT

While in Tokyo, Japan, between my first visit in the summer of 7968
and the third time I studied bagua with Wang Shu Jing in Taiwan,
I also studied I Chuan (a variant of hsing-i chuan) with Kenichi
Sawaii.
I Chuan specializes in developing internal power primarily by
standing in eight postures for long periods of time. Some are
similar to the energy postures of Bagua Circle Walking. Both teach ers had also studied with the founder of I Chuan, Wang Hsiang Zai,
although when I initially studied with Wang, I did not know this.
At Wang's home, after a bagua Jesson, I mentioned I was standing
for hours everyday and asked him how this vyould help my bagua.
He said that although he knew and practiced bagua and standing
that they were different. In terms of developing internal power,
bagua is about walking and moving while I Chuan and the initial
San Ti practice of classical hsing-i (which he also practiced) are
about standing. Wang then emphasrtkd th<1t'*althoogh both could~
reinforce each other, they had different functions. (:f~~
"~X.
'~~?
Instructions
Beginning Position: Stand facing forward. Many who think they
are facing forward are actually slightly twisting their body. The
tendency is then for bodily chi to become imbalanced and stuck on
the side to which you twist. This interrupts a smooth flow of energy
between the left and right sides of the body.
i
ll
20
Position your feet about shoulder's width apart,

pigeon-toed with your toes facing toward your
centerline. Your feet will now look like the classic
Chinese character for the number eight (Figure 7.2.2).
J
Figure 1.2.2
Basic Alignments while Standing

1. Lightly clasp your palms together on the centerline of your body, either
in front of your heart (ideal, see Figure.1.2.4) or at the base of your throat
(also acceptable, Figure 1.2.5). The energy of the body's right and left
sides of your body branches off from the central channel at the heart, and
from your spine at the throat notch and the seventh cervical vertebrae
just behind it. The exact height is dictated by the openness of your body
and your personal70 percent of range of motion as it relates to your neck,
shoulder and chest alignments.
A) Correct and not Twisted
8) Incorrect and Twisted
Figure 1.2.3
Face Forward with Basic Alignments
2. Press the center of your palms toward each other (lao

gung points in Chinese). The centers of your palms
are directly connected to your body's three tantiens.

When your lao gung points connect to each other
energetically, this crosses over and integrates the
energies of your body's left and right sides, and
stabilizes the crossover. Initially, this occurs within
your lower tantien and in later practices, within your
middle and upper tantiens.
3. Bend your elbows with the elbow tips even with each
other and on a straight line. There are basically two
ways of implementing this technique: the center of
your elbow tips should directly point perpendicular
towards the ground; or, by using an inward twisting of
Figure 1.2.4
the arm, put a strong yet relaxed downward internal

pressure into your elbow tips.
4. Bend your knees slightly. A slight or large bending of all the joints, especially the knees and elbows, is
necessary for the energy gates within them to be fully
activated in chi practices. Let your weight fall through
the backs of your knees into your feet, but not into
your knees. If you feel weight or tension in your knees,
bend them less.
5. Sit in the kwa. This is necessary both for maintaining
the structural integrity of the spine as well as enabling
the energies of your body's left and right channels of
energy to smoothly flow between the torso and legs.
This alignment is also part and parcel of having a
strong energetic root to the ground and eventually to
the energy of the earth itself.
6. Make sure your back, neck and head are straight.
Figure 1.2.5
21
22
B
Figure 1.2.6
Basic Stading Alignments

A) Correct: Spine, neck and head are straight and not leaning forward
or back, nor tilting sideways. The center of pelvis and crown of the
head are more or less centered over the center of the pelvis.
B) Incorrect: Spine is overly curved backward and not straight. The
crown of the head is more or less centered over the front of
the center of the pelvis.
7. Make sure your head neither tilts forward, backward or sideways. Otherwise, it distorts deeper internal alignments in the body, which may not
be obvious. It can also distort the alignments of the spine, hips and legs.
However, the least negative scenario is for your head to slightly lean
forward, so the vertebrae of your occiput (at the base and back of your
skull) stays open. The worst-case scenario is for the head to tilt backwards,
which closes down the vertebrae of the occiput.
8. Make sure your occiput stays open. The head weighs a lot. When
not properly aligned over the occipital junction, where the neck's
uppermost vertebrae are located, it puts pressure on the spinal cord. The
spinal cord connects the brain to the entire nervous system, so pressure
on it will diminish the flow of chi and nerve signals through it. Closing
the occiput also diminishes your ability to be sensitive to and accurately
interpret normal and subtle bodily sensations.
9. Maintain the crown (top) of your head over the center of your pelvis. This
helps to create maximum structural integrity and to activate potential
energetic flows of the central channel.
10. Keep your armpits open. In all Taoist practices, the armpits are an
energetic doorway between your arms and your torso, including your
internal organs, and are a key to promoting chi circulation. The energy
of the left and right energy channels travels between the torso and the
arms through the armpits. Keeping the armpits open maintains the flow.
Closing down the armpits inhibits and diminishes flow. There are classic
yoga energy (pranayama) techniques where the goal is to close down or
bind the energy in either the left or right energy channel. They involve
closing down the armpit of the side of the body where the prana or chi
is to be contained and opening the armpit on the side of the body where
energy is flowing strongly.
Conversely, all Taoist energy practices are based on circulating chi evenly
through all of the body's energy channels. This is an opposite energetic
approach and methodology to shutting down one side of the body to
increase chi flow on the opposite side (as taught in classical Indian and
Tibetan yoga). When performing all Taoist energetic practices, including
but not limited to standing, both armpits must continuously remain open
to enhance whole-body circulation of chi.
11. Extend your elbows from your spine as far as they can go without causing
tightening in the soft tissues of the upper body. This stretches, opens
and, over time, makes all the soft tissues more elastic physically and
energetically along the spine, upper back, neck, shoulders and upper arms.
23
24
12. Clasp your palms at the throat or heart level on your body's centerline. This
activates the energy of the spine and brain and helps extend chi through
your arms to your fingers.
Section 3
Warm-up 1:
Crossover Standing Posture
Intermediates
Instructions
After you have experience standing with the basic postural
alignments, this series of main points should be integrated.
1. Twist your legs inward.
2. Make sure your kwa shrinks and slightly closes.

Techniques 2 and 3 are fundamental to bagua and are
slightly different when applied in tai chi. Together they are
called liu twun shi kwa in Chinese.
Figure 1.3.1
25
201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved .
26
3. Gently expand and wrap your buttock muscles forward to encircle the
front of your pelvis.
4. Coordinate the opening and closing of your joints with your breathing. With regular breathing, expand your joints on the inhale and close
them on the exhale and vice-versa for reverse breathing.
5. Tuck your pelvis slightly forward (Figure 1.3.2). Your tailbone should also point slightly forward, so the chi of
your spine better penetrates your legs and activates the
bubbling well point on the ball of your foot (Figure 1.3.3).
This is in contrast to the tailbone being perpendicular
to the ground as is done in many forms of tai chi. Even
though the tail bone and pelvis point forward, the position
is similar to that in tai chi. The spine from the vertebrae
just above the sacrum and upward must be straight and
perpendicular to the floor.
6. Elbows fully extend away from your spine and your knees
fully extend away from your hips. This increases the
Figure 1.3.2
physical stretch from your spine to your elbows and knees,

and enables your spine's chi to flow more completely to
your arms, hands and fingers. To connect the energetic
flows between the corresponding joints, elbow and knee,
the knees should feel as though they're drawing upward
and the elbows downward to meet at a point in the middle.
This is a part ofthe external phase ofthe six combinations
of all Taoist chi practices. The combinations are: handfoot, elbow-knee and hip-shoulder. These joints are
energetically linked, where the chi of each either boosts or
diminishes the chi functioning in its corresponding body
part.
Figure 1.3.3
Figure 1.3.4
Armpits Remain Open
7. The inside of your armpits, about an inch inside from the surface, must
remain open at all times. This helps chi flowing from your torso to more
fully reach your fingertips via the left and right energy channels (Figure
1.3.4).
8. As you open all of your joints, your hands slightly extend forward in space
as your armpits and kwa slightly open. Your hands may expand an inch or
two forward in space.
27
28
9. When closing your joints, your hands return to their original position as
your armpits and kwa should slightly close, but not fully, or again your chi
will become blocked. This will amplify the chi circulation moving between
your body's core and its periphery at your arms, legs, fingertips and toe
tips. The elbows should not retract toward your spine if your hands move
during this standing warm-up.
Eventually, you will incorporate all sixteen neigong as you practice standing.
Section 4
Warm-up 2:
Vertical Kwa Pump
Overview
This warm-up has two variations. In the first your body's weight is placed evenly
on both feet. In the second your bodyweight is primarily on your rear leg. This
warm-up is specifically done pigeon-toed to prepare you for doing the toe-in
steps of Circle Walking.
Both variations are composed of two clear phases: a vertical drop where your
body shrinks and a vertical rise where your body grows. Both variations:
Get your kwa working.
Build in habits for protecting your knees and back.
Prepare your body for vertical up and down physical motion.
Get your chi to sink and rise in your body without getting
stuck.
29
30
For tai chi, this warm-up is done essentially the same with two exceptions: Your
feet would be parallel and your hands would most likely be held in a round
position as if hugging a tree.
Figure 1.4 .1
Warm-up 2: Vertical Kwa Pump
A shows foot and knee position as done for bagua; Band C show different
yet acceptable knee and foot positions as done fo r tai chi.
Instructions
Phase 1: Squat and Close the Kwa
Drop down vertically with feet pigeon-toed as legs twist in.
2010 Bruce Frantzis- AII Rights Reserved.
nL '. A
v
I+-~
t -t
~~
t I
(I
~~
~
f
)
~-k
t t\
uLJ
?=:J
~
H-t<\
.
f)
L I
;J ~
Q ~
f~
~K
t1 -f\
t\
~ f~ Ji~
8
(/
Figure 1.4.2
Warm-up 2: Vertical Kwa Pump
Squat and close the kwa (A-C). Kwa rises and opens (D-F).
Movement Guidelines
1. Start from the standing position of Warm-up 1
(Figure 1.4.2A). All of your weight is equally

distributed on both legs. Your feet are pigeontoed. Your back is straight and not leaning
forward, back or to either side. Through the
entire exercise, you will maintain all of the
postural points ofWarm-up 1.
2. Vertically squat down to about 70 percent of
your full capacity, so that you feel no strain
(Figure 1.4.3). Do this by closing your kwa.
Gently squeeze inward and backward into
your pelvic muscles, which surround your kwa
31
Figure 1.4.3
(including the muscles of your pubic region

and pelvic diaphragm muscles).
3. Twist the soft tissues of your legs inward.
32
I
A
8
Figure 1.4.4
Body Shinks as You Squat

A shows knee and foot positions as done for bagua;
B shows knee and foot positions as done for tai chi.
Important Points to Remember

1. Make sure the soles of your feet are flat to the ground, i.e. the balls, heels,
and outside edges of your feet all make contact with the ground. Maintain
the arches of your feet off the ground.
2. Maintain continuous, direct pressure evenly through the arches of your
supporting feet to their soles and into the ground.
3. Twist your legs inward.
4. The gradual closing of the kwa powers the squat as your chi sinks and
drops like a sandbag.
5. Your supporting knees bend. Your kneecaps should neither move forward or backward in space, nor should your knees collapse to either the
inside or outside. The weight of your body should fall through the back
and center of your knees through the arches and soles of your feet to
the ground-not into the front or sides of your knees. You should feel
no weight being held in your knees, just pressure moving through them
(and your lower legs and feet) into the ground.
6. Keep the perineum open by expanding the space between your sit bones.
Let your chi drop down from your perineum through your legs to your
feet, and ideally to your etheric boundary below your feet.
Phase 2: Rise and Open the Kwa
~J
~)
&)
_yz
1 2
~ 'i
Figure 1.4.5
Rise and Open the Kwa
Movement Guidelines
1. Push up from your foot, ankle and knee joints to raise your body.
This releases the compression the downward squat
created in your feet and ankle joints so you can rise
upward through your legs to and through your kwa and
torso.
33
34
This will expand and open your kwa, regardless of the

feet or hand positions you are using.
It is important to rise from your legs and kwa and not
from your chest or shoulders as many beginners often
incorrectly do.
2. Twist the soft tissues of your legs outward to help power the rise.
3. Unbend your knees but do not let your kneecaps move forward or backward in space. Do not let your knees collapse or bend to either the inside
or outside.
Safety Issues:
Protecting Your Knees
Follow these important guidelines to avoid knee strain in all squatting exercises:
During the whole exercise maintain continuous direct pressure
from the backs and centers of your knees to the arches and
then soles of your feet. Your feet should support your bodyweight during the whole exercise, not your knees.
Your knees do bend and unbend as you squat and rise but
should not move forward or backward in space nor collapse
to either the inside or outside.
The opening and closing of your kwa powers the squat, not the
muscles of your calves or thighs.
When you go down twist your leg muscles inward, but don't
let your knee joints twist or move inward. Let the soft tissues of
your legs twist through the backs of your knees, not along their
sides or fronts.
When you rise, twist your leg muscles outward in a similar
manner.
Section 5
Warm-up 2:
Vertical Kwa Pump
Intermediates
Variation 1: Instructions
Phase 1: Drop and Close the Kwa
while Squatting
1. Starting with the standing posture, vertically squat down to about
70 percent of your full capacity, so that you feel no strain (Figure 1.5.1 on
the next page). This is done by simultaneously and gently closing your
kwa, condensing the energy within your kwa, and decreasing the space
within the hip socket by closing the energy gate within.
35
36
2. Shrink your entire body and gently

close all of your body's joints
especially your knees, cavities,
and if capable, your spine.
3. Twist the soft tissues of your legs
inward. Figure 1.5.1 A shows Bruce
at the lowest point of his squat
at which point he has already
begun to twist his legs outward
to initiate his rise back up. Thus,
his knees are just slightly further
apart than in Figure 1.5.1 B.
Figure 1.5.1
Drop and Close the Kwa
4. Drop and sink the chi from

the underside of your pelvis and perineum downward like releasing a
metaphorical sandbag of chi through your legs into the ground. In the
beginning, for most people, the release is slow and gradual. However,
with practice, it should get more rapid and sudden.
5. Drop from the bottom of your pelvis and buttock muscles and not from
your chest or shoulders. This is a common pitfall for beginners.
6. As the chi drops from your pelvis, let it drop smoothly through your legs
into your feet and into the ground. Your legs must be aligned correctly.
7. Make sure your knees remain stable, neither moving excessively forward
or backward, nor collapsing. Your ankle smoothly connects into your feet,
so both knees maintain a sense of compressing like a spring.
8. The goal of your practice is to eventually be able to squat down to where
your buttocks are on an even height with your knees, or as close to them
as you can go without strain.
Phase 2: Rise andOpen the Kwa
~n
r~n
rr-!1
~~ ~~~~
Figure 1.5.2
Let Your Body Grow as You Rise Up
Intermediate Guidelines
1. Press your feet against the floor, growing and opening everything in your
body as you rise, just as you shrink and close them on the first half of the
cycle. Especially expand the energy within your kwa and the backs of
your knees, and increase the space within your hip socket by opening the
energy gate within it.
2. Twist the soft tissues of your legs outward.
3. Let energy rise up from the ground to help lift your body. Dropping energy
into the ground, as you did in the previous phase, always creates a swell
of energy back up from the ground. Feel for this natural rebound and try
to ride it up. In the beginning, when you are moving slowly down, the
swell back up also moves slowly. However, with practice, both the drop
and swell back up should get more rapid and sudden.
5. Rise from the bottom of your feet and your perineum and kwa, and not by
lifting your head, chest or shoulders. This is a common pitfall for beginners.
37
38
6. Make sure your knees remain stable, neither moving excessively forward or backward, nor collapsing. Your ankles smoothly connect into your
feet. The ankles and knees maintain a sense of a spring releasing.
9.
At the top of your rise, maintain the pressure down through your feet,
and let your legs and kwa stretch upward past your original starting point
to as high as you can go. Feel for a good stretch in your legs, hips, kwa
and belly, but do not go to the point of strain. Stay within 70 percent of
your capacity. Maintain all of your alignments from your feet to your head
and hands. Keep your knees stable, with minimal forward or backward
movement, and without fully straightening them.
Go up and down a minimum of three and a maximum of ten times. Try to rise and
fall smoothly like a good elevator.
Variation 2:
Squatting with One Leg Forward
This is the same squat, except that one leg is forward and you are rear-weighted.
This is the same rear-weighted-foot position that is used extensively in bagua's
straight-line walking and Circle Walking.
1. Place all your weight on your rear leg. Your opposite, weightless leg
is in front of you with your toes facing forward. In the early stages of your
practice, placetheweightofyourt orsoon your rear leg and let your forward
leg fall out of its hip socket, so that its weight falls forward through its foot
into the ground.
Over time and with practice, you will develop stronger energy flow in your
legs (especially the forward leg) and thereby be able to shift more and
more of your full bodyweight into your back leg with no muscular tension
or strain. Such holding diminishes chi flow.
Figure 1.5.3
Variation: Squatting with One Leg Forward
2. Maintain all the same technical points as in the feet side-by-side version.
3. Vertically squat down and rise up three times. Fully engage both legs at all
times, including both sides of your kwa, knees, and ankles and feet. Feel
physical pressures and energy moving through your feet to the ground
and back up, not just through your back foot.
4. Then, switch legs-either in place, or by stepping forward or back as you
choose.
5. Again repeat three times for a total of six squats and six rises. Be sure to
drop and rise from your kwa and pelvis and not your chest, shoulders,
neck or head.
6. At a minimum, do this at least once and a maximum of three switches or
18 squats and 18 rises in total. Remember to close your kwa and joints, and
twist your legs inward as you squat. Open your kwa and joints, and twist
your legs outward as you rise.
39
40
Safety Issues:
Protecting Your Knees
Follow these important guidelines to avoid knee strain:
Feel continuous pressure through the center and back of your
knees to the bottoms of your feet and not into the front, inside
or outside of your knees. Your feet should support your bodyweight during the whole exercise.
Maintain your four points. Let both sides of your hips move up
and down evenly together and not side to side.
Your supporting leg and knee must bend, but should not move
forward or backward in space, nor collapse to either the inside
or outside.
The opening and closing of the kwa powers the squat.
When you go down, close your joints and twist your leg
muscles inward. Let the soft tissues of your legs twist through
the back of your knees, not along the side or front of the knees.
When you rise, open your joints and twist your leg muscles
outward in a similar manner.
Section 6
Warm-up 3:
Forward Spine Stretch
Intermediate instructions are included in the main sections of
Warm-ups 3-5 since there are only a few differences in technique
and the degree of movement attempted.
Overview
There are many different ways to stretch your back muscles and spine, and
connect the chi of the spine and torso to that of your hips and legs. Once you
learn this forward spine stretch, the next stage is to do the same physical movements, but add the spinal pumps of Bend the Bow and Shoot the Arrow Qigong.
Bend the Bow Spinal Qigong is an advanced qigong set taught in the Energy
Arts Core Qigong program.
41
42
Figure 1.6.1
Warm-up 3: Forward Spine Stretch
Benefits
Benefits of this exercise include:
Strongly connecting your feet to the ground to increase your
overall body flexibility and root.
Stretching all muscles of your body, especially those of your
lower and upper back, neck and shoulders.
Physically and energetically connecting your legs, spine and
arms together through the kwa. This is sometimes called
"threading the needle:'
Ideally, intermediate practitioners will not move the tailbone in any direction
(whether it points directly to the ground or slightly forward). The tailbone acts as
43
a pivot point in space for your entire torso. When your kwa folds and straightens,
the torso and head first go forward and then return to their original position. If
the ideal is not possible, your tailbone may go backward and forward as required
(on a horizontal plane) as long as your pelvis and tailbone do not tilt to face backward and upward.
Figure 1.6.2
Stretch Forward and Down
Instructions
This exercise occurs in two clear phases: Folding (bending) forward and returning to the beginning position. Now that the two previous warm-ups have gotten
some chi flowing throughout your body, this warm-up builds on your progress.
On the way up and down:
Keep the spine from the lowest lumbar vertebrae to the top
of your neck straight.
Do not bow your spine backwards (i.e. upwards) or otherwise
arch your back.
44
Phase 1: Stretch Forward and Down

Ideally, the spine stretch is done with palms clasped as in the previous standing
exercise. Although this is more difficult, it's definitely more highly recommended.
In the first phase of this exercise, the torso moves forward and down as your arms
and hands stretch forward.
During both phases of this exercise, be sure to keep your spine straight from the
lowest lumbar vertebrae to the top of your neck. Also, do not bow your spine
backwards (i.e. upwards) or otherwise arch your back.
You will bend forward in increments The ideal goal is a minimum of three even
increments for your spine to reach ninety degrees and exactly parallel to floor.
In each increment, you should feel as if your back muscles and spine have
sufficiently released, so that going lower to the next increment is relatively
effortless (or at least engenders only a minimum of resistance). Otherwise, don't
go lower until the resistance releases.
During this entire spine stretch, always stay within your comfort zone to protect
your back. Remember and follow the seventy percent rule.
Beginners fold and bend at the kwa. Intermediates practice opening the kwa
while folding. As you bend, you will simultaneously:
Twist your legs outward.
As you move down and forward, intermediates keep the
tailbone still in space and don't allow the buttocks to go
backward in space (its okay for beginners).
Moving down, extend and stretch your hands or clasped palms
forward to extend your spine. Clasped hands remain on your
centerline. Make sure you extend your hands forward in direct
proportion to the degree your spine extends forward in space.
This should stretch your upper back, neck and shoulders while
also connecting the arms to the upper spine.
Intermediates: Internally, open the joints of your legs and arms

in direct proportion to the degree your hands extend forward.
Do your best to keep your spine straight and not hunched or
arched.
As in all the warm-ups, keep your occiput open.
Ideally, your head should not tilt forward, backward or
sideways. Instead, your head should feel as though its gently
growing out of your spine and neck.
Elbow tips must continuously face downward, perpendicular
to the ground, both on the down and up.
Phase 2: Rise and Open the Kwa
Figure 1.6.3
Rise and Open the Kwa
45
46
Now return to your original position. Rise up using the strength of your legs without straightening them while simultaneously doing the following:
Stretch to open your kwa.lntermediates close the kwa to lift
the torso upward.
Let your hands or clasped palms bend or retract back to their
original position.
As you unbend your kwa and raise your torso upward, keep
your tailbone still in space and don't allow your buttocks to go
forward or backward in space. Avoid the natural tendency to
drive the tailbone forward on the rise and back on the decline.
If you can, internally close your leg and arm joints, and let your
chi flow from your hands and feet into your lower tantien.
Twist your legs inward.
Do your best to keep your spine, neck and head straight without your spine being excessively arched or hunched, or your
neck bent excessively forward, sideways or backward.
Keep your knees unlocked. Although it is fine to slightly
straighten your knees and legs as you come up, it defeats the
purpose of the exercise if you fully straighten your legs.
Elbow tips must continue to face downward, perpendicular to
the floor.
Clasped hands remain on your centerline.
After practicing this method for awhile, you can reverse inward and outward
twisting of your legs to even further increase your flexibility. Observe how
twisting affects you.
Other Variations
Pigeon-toed
For this exercise, the ideal for purposes of bagua is to maintain a pigeon-toed stance. So, overtime, you will better execute the toe-in positions in Circle Walking. See Figure 1.6.4.
Feet parallel
Feet are parallel and shoulder's or kwa's width apart. This is
more appropriate for tai chi whereas in bagua it is considered a bridge position to the ideal.
Figure 1.6.4
Using a Chair or Other Training Aid
Figure 1.6.5
Use a Chair as a Training Aid
47
48
Use a chair or other easily movable object as a bridge to let you know if your tailbone is in the proper position while remaining still in space and maintaining your
balance. A chair is much better to use than a wall because it can move. Although
initally an unmovable object can help with balance, it does not appreciably raise
your internal acuity and can become a crutch. Then, when removed, it can rather
deaden your sense of feeling. Once you get the point and your balance improves,
it is best to let go of training aids and do without them.
Parallel Arms
Arms are parallel, a little less than shoulder's width apart
with the center of the palms and elbows on the left and right
channels of the body.
Keep your arms parallel (Figure 1.6.6). Do not lock
your elbows (Figure 1.6.7 A).
Make sure one or both arms don't slightly (Figure
1.6.78) or radically (Figure 1.6.7() leave the

parallel position, or move inward toward the
body's centerline or sideways toward the outside
of the body, or allow one hand to be higher or
lower than the other.
Figure 1.6.6
Figure 1.6.7
Incorrect Arm Positions
49
Safety Issues:
Protecting Your Back
If you have back problems, initially only stretch forward a maximum of fortyfive degrees. Less is fine. Remember the seventy percent rule and consider forty-five degrees as your ultimate target. Work towards a forty-five-degree bend
in three increments. So, after going down fifteen degrees for maybe a month,
consider going down the next fifteen degrees to thirty degrees, given your
level of bodily strain and the seventy percent rule. Then, stay there for a month
before slowly continuing to the next increment. If your back, balance and internal
connectedness are fine, continue downwards in fifteen .. degree increments until
your back is parallel and ninety degrees to the ground.
To prevent unnecessary strain and possible injury, beginners must take care that
the pelvis, and most especially the tailbone, continues to face downward toward
the ground. Under no circumstances should the pelvis or tailbone face backward
or upward. If necessary, until you're more stretched, while you fold forward and
backward, your tailbone (still facing downward on a vertical plane), may move
forward or backward within the range of your leg movements. This will help you
remain grounded and comfortably maintain your balance.
What to Avoid
Keep your spine straight from the lowest lumbar vertebrae to
the top of your neck. Also, do not bow your spine backward (i.e.
upward) or otherwise arch your back.
The tailbone and buttocks point backward, causing the lower
back to arch.
Rather than remaining in place, your tailbone and buttocks
move backward on the down or rise.
Chest sticking out causing the upper spine to arch.
50
Back being overly hunched over.

Knees or elbows becoming straight and locked.
Leaning the head forward, back or to the side.
Feet not being parallel.
If pigeon-toed, one foot being straight or splayed outward.
Elbow tips facing outward instead of downward.
Bending below 90 degrees (unless an advanced practitioner).
Leading the forward bend with your hands, shoulders, chest or
head instead of your kwa.
Section 7
Warm-up4:
Dragon Body Turns
Overview
The three previous warm-up exercises have prepared you to practice this one
successfully. Warm-up 4 will:
Help you to stabilize your root and waist alignments.
Loosen your waist.
Tone your internal organs.
Further stretch your back muscles.
Prepare you to safely engage in the tremendous waist-turning
movements that are a signature of all quality bagua practice.
51
52
B
Figure 1.7.1
Warm-up 4: Dragon Body Turns

With proper alignments and feet parallel, turn your body up to
90 degrees in either direction
Instructions
Beginning Position: As in previous warm-ups, your hands are
clasped in front of your body's centerline and remain on your
centerline throughout the whole exercise. Also, the spine must
remain straight without any sideways 5-curvatures .
....... ..... .............. ... .... ...... ... ... ............ ... ......... .... .... .. ... ... ...... ... ....
To learn more about involuntary curving of the spine due to incorrect fourpoints alignments, see the revised edition of Opening the Energy Gates of Your
Body, pp. 171-74.
!{
&~
-t::?---Y
Figure 1.7.2
Warm-up 4: Dragon Body Turns
1. While your feet and knees remain stably still in space, turn your hips and
waist to one side (right or left). Observe the 70 percent rule and only turn as
far as is comfortable for you, and no more than 30 degrees (Figure 1.7.28).
2. As you turn your buttocks, hips and waist to the outside of your body,
simultaneously twist your legs outwardly.
3. As you turn, gradually stretch your clasped hands outward, away from
your body along your centerline. Ideally, your arms reach their full
extension at the moment you reach the completion of your turn.
4. Once you have turned and stretched your arms outward, then take at
least four deep breaths. Encourage your body and mind to let go, release
53
54
into the stretch and sink your chi. This allows the stretching that the turn
has created to complete itself, especially in terms of your body's insertion
points (where all the little pieces of your body's anatomy connect to each
other).
5. Turn your hips and waist back to your original position. As you do so, twist
your legs inward and gradually bring your arms back to their original
position.
6. Repeat instructions 1-5, turning to the other side of your body.
To each side, initially turn thirty degrees. If you can't turn this far and stay within
your seventy percent, then turn less. Only turn to your most capable side as far as
you can comfortably turn to your less capable side.
Once you can turn to thirty degrees comfortably on each side, then only turn
this far for a minimum of one to three months before attempting to turn a bit
more. Then, work in five- to ten-degree increments toward turning sixty degrees
to each side, which may take weeks or months. Then, stabilize at this degree of
turning for one to three months, until finally you can easily turn ninety degrees
sideways (Figure 1.7.2C-D).
Maintaining the Four Points

A fundamental technique of classic bagua and tai chi is maintaining your
centerline's integrity and correctly aligning the four points of your body while
turning your waist (Figure 1.7.3). These four points are your left and right kwa
points and left and right shoulder's nest points. These four points of your torso
should always be aligned so as to form a rectangular box or frame.
The degree to which the waist is turned in bagua (as will be described in Module
6 on the Dragon Body) is by far beyond what is normally found in tai chi, other
internal martial arts, qigong systems or competitive sports.
A) Four Points are Aligned
55
B) Incorrect and Twisted
Figure 1.7.3
Maintain Four-points Alignments
In this warm-up exercise, you must maintain your four points to ensure that during Circle Walking practice your spine remains straight and does not curve sideways or misalign at various points. This can easily happen in your lower, middle
and upper spine if you initiate waist turning from your shoulders or chest, which
can cause your shoulder's nest points to turn further than and out of alignment
with your right and left kwa points.
In addition, regardless of how far your waist turns to the side, an imaginary
straight line must always be maintained that passes through your body's centerline, and runs through your perineum, lower tantien, heart, tip of nose and
crown of your head.
56
Unless great care is taken while turning progressively more to the side, the tendency is to lose the four-points alignments. Turning should come from your hips
and waist moving in the same direction, at the same time-either turning away
from the center or returning to it. Either in this warm-up, tai chi or while Walking
the Circle, what tends to break down these alignments is not using your waist and
legs to turn your head and hands; and instead depending on your head, chest or
shoulders to power the turn. This must be avoided.
When the four points are maintained, three imaginary lines will be parallel to
each other during every point while your body turns (1.7.3A):
The body's centerline.
A direct line between your left kwa and left shoulder's nest.
A direct line between your right kwa and right shoulder's nest.

By keeping the technical details together, over time you should increase your
turning circle by increments of five to ten degrees. Eventually, it'll become
possible to arrive at a ninety-degree-pelvis turn (or better).
The further your body turns to the side, the more important and difficult it will be
to keep your feet flat on the floor. They should not move in space nor should you
feel that you ride up on the inside or outside of either foot.
Maintaining a stable stance with your feet still in space is an essential point if
you wish to develop a flexible root while doing the waist turning techniques of
qigong, tai chi or other internal martial arts practices. It is even more important in
bagua, where you only have a microsecond to stabilize your feet before moving
to the next position in fast Circle Walking and changing direction.
Figure
57
1.7.4
Maintain Four-points Alignments while Turning

With proper alignments and feet parallel, turn your body at least
90 degrees or more over time.
Intermediate Instructions
1. Follow the steps in the basic instructions, keep to the 70 percent rule, and
overtime continue to increase your ability to turn sideways to 90 degrees in
discreet increments of 15 degrees. Eventually, you will target 135 degrees
(Figure 1.7.4E) and then 150-180 degrees sideways (Figure 1.7.4F).
Your waist, arms, legs and soft tissues will also turn outward as
internally you grow and open your joints and body cavities.
Regardless of how far you have turned, at the end, take at least
four deep breaths. Encourage your body and mind to let go,
release into the stretch and sink your chi. This allows the
stretching that the turn has created to complete itself,
especially in terms of your body's insertion points (where all
the little pieces of your body's anatomy connect to each other).
58
2. Then, turn in the opposite direction to return to your original facingforward and center position. Simultaneously:
Your hands retract and return to their original position.
Twist your soft tissues inwardly.
Internally shrink and close your joints and cavities.
3. Turn to the other side and do the same.
Most people are looser on one side of their body than the
other, especially in terms of how far they can turn their waist.
The goal in this or any left/right exercise within bagua is to turn
your waist to the same degree on both sides of your body-not
more on one side and less on the other.
In general and especially if recovering from an injury, only
allow the looser side to turn as far as the tighter side, rather
than trying to force the tighter side to catch up.
As the tighter side gradually loosens over time, it will become
as loose as the naturally looser side is now. Afterwards, simply
turn an equal amount on both sides.

By keeping the technical details together, over time you should increase your
turning circle by increments of five to ten degrees, until it becomes possible
to arrive at a one-hundred-eighty-degree pelvis, complete backward turn (or
better). It is fine on extreme turns, when turning to the right, for your weight to
shift to the left leg and vice versa.
As previously noted, the further your body turns to the side, the more important
and difficult it will be to keep your feet flat on the floor. They should not move in
space nor should you feel that you ride up on the inside or outside of either foot.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER NINETY DEGREES?

The four points only hold together easily until you turn to about
ninety degrees or so. Then, another process kicks in as for most it is
virtually impossible for the pelvis to turn on their legs to face
directly one-hindred-eighty degrees backward. As you approach
a one-hundred-thirty-five -degree-or-more turn, there is a specific
method of physically and energetically spiraling the internal organs
around the body's central channel that allows the body to safely
turn to these extreme angles.
When this spiraling of the internal organs is done, the precise
method of maintaining the four points is determined by several
factors. This includes keeping the internal organs in an evenly
balanced box, so they are safely rung like a wet towel.
For most people, part of this fairly advanced technique usually
means that the hips turn less than the four points, so maintaining
them does not cause untoward pressure on the spine. Such
pressure can potentially cause vertebrae to misalign and go out of
place (with a spinal sublimation). These methods must be learned in
person witH awell-trained, highly competent instructor.
A central function of the four points is to activate the body's left
and right energy channels in relationship to the central channel.
201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved .
59
Section 8
Warm-up 5:
Turning Forward
Spine Stretch
Overview
This final warm-up exercise reuses all the methods of and expands upon all four
of the previous warm-ups. Please carefully review all of the instructions up to this
point before continuing onto practicing Warm-up 5.
The turning forward spine stretch warm-up essentially combines the forward
spine stretch with the Dragon Body Turn.
A beginner should only try to stretch forward and turn to a maximum of forty-five
degrees.
61
62
Figure 1.8.1
Warm-up 5: Turning Forward Spine Stretch
Instructions
1. Face forward with a straight back. This is the beginning position in the
initial forward spine stretch in Warm-up 3.
2. Observing the 70 percent rule, turn your body sideways as you did in Warmup 4, Dragon Body Turns.
Maintain your four points as you turn.
Twist your legs outwardly.
Over time (weeks or months), increase your turn in 5-1 0-degree
increments until you can comfortably do a spine stretch at a
45-degree turn.
3. Repeat the same forward spine stretch you did in Warm-up 3, both in terms
of how you should go down and come up. Only go forward and down as
far as is comfortable, with no more than a 45-degree, forward inclination.
As you come up, continue to face to the angle that you turned and slowly
straighten up until you are upright.
63
4. Turn your waist back to facing forward and center.

5. Repeat on the opposite side.
Only do a maximum of three spine stretches on both sides; less is fine.
Turning to one side and coming back to the front is essentially a four-step
process:
1. Turning
2. Stretching forward and down
3. Rising back up while still turned
4. Turning back to the front.
When you have practiced a lot and can do this method with great stability, you
can then try the exercise in two steps:
1. In a coordinated manner, turn and simultaneously extend forward and
down.
2. Straighten up and simultaneously turn back to facing center.
Don't attempt this second method until after the the first method has become
comfortable and easy to do, or you'll risk straining your back and slowing down
your progress.
Important Points to Remember

The following are important safety issues, to help you avoid injuries.
In all sideways spine stretches, it is important that you only turn
an equal number of degrees on both sides of your body, i.e. 45
degrees on both sides and not 35 degrees on one side and 45
degrees on the other. Otherwise, you may be setting yourself
up for potential injury downstream as unbalanced bodies tend
to break down where they are weakest.
64
Bagua Mastery Progrdm
At each greater degree of sideways turn and especially as you

go lower, bear in mind that the internal pressures within your
body can significantly increase. Therefore, only gradually and
carefully increase your range of motion in terms of turning and
extending forward and downward.
If you feel pressure building in your head, take notice. This
usually is a sign that you are overdoing the 70 percent rule. It
also means that the blood going to your head is having trouble
returning to your heart. If you feel pressure building in your
head, back off a bit and see a competent instructor who can
show you the appropriate methods for mitigating or solving
this issue.
To protect your back, observe the 70 percent rule when
practicing a side-turning spine stretch. Excessive enthusiasm
can inadvertently cause you to strain your back. Be patient, and
although it will take a little while longer at first, your body will
actually open up more quickly, injury-free and strongly. When
in doubt, err on the side of caution and turn or bend less,
especially if you are older or have suffered previous back
injury.
Intermediate Consideratio ns
At the intermediate level, practitioners work toward doing a spine stretch
turned a maximum of ninety degrees sideways and stretching ninety degrees
forward and downward. I recommend not trying to turn more unless under
the guidance of a real expert since this is beyond the ability of most people's
ligaments and spinal systems to handle.
The procedures for gaining the capacity to turn 90 degrees and extend forward
ninety degrees are the same as those you use to move from turning fifteen
degrees to turning thirty degrees (and then forty-five degrees). Over time, you
gradually increase your range of motion in ten- to fifteen-degree increments.
65
With each new increment, you should do the four-step process (turn, stretch,
rise up, then turn back to the front). Become comfortable with this process
before trying the two-step process (simultaneously turn and stretch, and then
simultaneously rise up and turn back to the beginning position).
As you turn and stretch, twist your legs outward and open your joints and
cavities. As you rise and turn back to the front, twist your legs inward and close
your joints and cavities.
You should incorporate into this exercise any other intermediate-level techniques
set forth in the previous sections for Warm-up 3-4.

3 Bagua Internal Warm-Up Method

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

3 Bagua Internal Warm-Up Method

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

BAGUA MASTERY PROGRAM

Copyright 201 0 Bruce Frantzis

Editing: Heather Hale, Bill Ryan and Richard Tau binger

Advanced Warm-ups ................................................. 12

Seven Ways to Know If a Warm-up

Section 2: Warm-up 1Crossover Standing Posture 17

Section 3: Warm-up 1-Crossover

Section 4: Warm-up 2Vertical Kwa Pump 29

Important Points to Remember ............................. 32

Safety Issues: Protecting Your Knees ................... 34

Section 5: Warm-up 2Vertical Kwa Pump {Intermediates) ...... 35

Variation 2: Squatting with One Leg Forward .... 38

Section 6: Warm-up 3Forward Spine Stretch .......................... 41

Phase 2: Rise and Open the Kwa ............................ 45

Other Variations ...................................................... 47

Parallel Arms .............................................................. 48

Safety Issues: Protecting Your Back ...................... 49

Section 7: Warm-up 4Dragon Body Turns .............................. 51

Intermediate Instructions ....................................... 57

Section 8: Warm-up 5Turning Forward Spine Stretch ............. 61

Important Points to Remember ............................. 63

Bagua Warm-up Exercises:

201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

Internal Warm-ups are Different from

The Progressive Development

Module 1: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method

stimulating internal sensations and developing your sensory awareness (see

Bagua Mastery Program

Step 3: Focus On Your Fluids (Intermediates)

Module 1: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method

Step 4: Sense the Chi Flow (Intermediates)

Step 6: Use Intent and the Heart-Mind (Intermediates)

Step 7: Examine the Nature of Change (Intermediates)

201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Module 1: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method

However, simpler warm-up exercises are useful for many reasons:

2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

GOALS OF THE FIVE WARM-UP EXERCISES

Connect the brain and physical bodily sensations-a.k.a. put your

201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Module 1: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method

Seven Ways to Know If a Warm-up

201 0 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

What to Expect over Time

Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

minutes to settle down and become calm-an exceedingly valuable quality in

In Beijing, practitioners of the hsing-i variant called I Chuan or Da Cheng

2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Module 7: Bagua Internal Warm-up Method

STANDING AND MOVING ARE DIFFERENT

2010 Bruce Frantzis-AII Rights Reserved.

Bagua Mastery Program

Position your feet about shoulder's width apart,

Basic Alignments while Standing

A) Correct and not Twisted

8) Incorrect and Twisted