Turning the circle, keeping it real

Last night's group-training session was small but very productive. Almost the entire class focused on circle turning practice, which is a very rare situation for our group training sessions. Usually we take the attitude that we can take some time to look at and adjust folks' turning and let them do the bulk of it at home. Last night, though, we spent the entire time training circle turning and direct applications of circle turning.

We turned in three different representative animal postures last night, and we turned for a total of 45 minutes in one extended session. We turned the Phoenix representational posture predominantly, then compared it against the more familiar, more demanding Lion representational posture, and then finished out with a relatively short, shockingly painful session in the Rooster representational posture.

Bradley Moore turning in the Phoenix representational posture

After that, we wrapped up the class by exploring various ways that we can use the footwork and body movement from circle turning practice to directly apply to our fighting. While circle turning is a deeply "internal" exercise said to do all kinds of wonderful things for our qi, it is first and foremost a practical fighting practice, something that seems forgotten too often.

Keeping it real...

One of the beautiful things about Yin Style Bagua is that while it is deep, profound, and at times esoteric, it is all accessible, attainable, and practical. Done correctly, everything in the art has direct benefits to fighting skill and direct benefits on the health of the practitioner. We do not separate specific "internal" exercises and "martial" exercises. We just train, and the training is carefully designed to provide development in both regimes in an efficient manner.

The upside to that is that whether you are or you aren't interested in developing "internally," the circle turning practice of Yin Style Bagua is designed to meet that interest. What's most important, though, is keeping it real when we train.

Do I know if magic internal powers exist or not? No, despite whatever stories and claims people make (but never seem to be able to put to a real, controlled test, a la James Randi).
Do I know incredible martial skill exists? Yes, absolutely. Clarke's Third Law states that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I expect this applies equally well to the mystical claims of "internal" Chinese arts.
Which do I train for? I train for what I know exists. If there is more to it, great. I'm glad I'm in a system that provides for what might be while focusing on what is.

Turn. Turn a lot. Turn with fighting intent. Turn to become a warrior. It works, whether it makes you into a magician or not.

Challenge yourself!

Follow the lead of our study group meeting for the week. Get out on the circle. Turn. Train. Try to find the fight in your turning, and spend some time doing it! With a good turning practice, you'll develop martial footwork, power generation, power expression, coordination, and an enhanced ability to create that necessary combination of hands, eyes, body, waist, and footwork. Shoot for an hour a day!