Re: How do you step in the circle? Ba Gua
Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2023 3:16 am
D_Glenn wrote:Tang Ni Bu is Wading through mud, like what you would do in a Rice patty. So there’s a couple of things that this means. If you don’t want the mud to suck your shoes off, then you need to lift your whole foot up, not heel first. And there’s the idea that each step needs intention, since you’re balancing on one leg, while carefully bringing your other foot forward, then carefully placing it. It’s slow to make progress.
Baguazhang doesn’t want the feet to come very high off the ground, so it just hovers slightly above the ground. If someone is practicing in grass then it looks like their feet are sliding. So some people slide their feet now. It’s okay if you’re on something slick and wearing just socks. But once you put on shoes with tread and turn on rough ground, then when trying to force it to slide you gradually begin to jam your patellar tendon up into your knee with each step.
Heel to toe is called Ziran Bu- just the way you naturally walk. You never exaggerate the heel coming up. It’s just the way you want to Turn in a Circle until you learn the Mud Step where you want to try and pick the foot up flatter and hover it, then place flat. Which slightly and gradually begins to stretch your achilles tendons.
Regardless of how you walk, you want to start developing one of the 8 requirements- Grasping the ground with your toes. The feet are like hands. You can’t grasp something in your hand if it’s already in a fist. You have to pull your fingers open and spread them. So the important part of this requirement is that you’re pulling your toes back and spreading them in every step. This not only strengthens your calves but also protects the tendons and ligaments where they connect to your knee, just in case your feet are getting jammed into the ground.
.
Your posts are always a joy to read but, "you gradually begin to jam your patellar tendon up into your knee with each step." -- I don't understand what you mean. I can't see how touching the ground with your foot would do this when lifting it up and putting it down wouldn't.