36 Songs of Bagua - Songs 1-6

The 36 songs were a mnemonic used to help baguazhang players in their practice. This particular translation I got from a post on the rumsoakedfist.com forum. A good forum on the internal martial arts in which I sometimes lurk.

36 Songs of Ba Gua Zhang:
歌诀一
空胸拔顶下塌腰，Kong Xiong Ba Ding Xia Tao Yao,
扭步掰膝抓地牢。Niu Bu Bai Xi Zhua Di Lao.
沉肩坠肘伸前掌，Chen Jian Zhui Zhou Shen Qian Zhang,
二母须从虎口瞧。 Er Mu Xu Cong Hu Kou Qiao.


Song 1
Empty the chest, uplift the back and drop the waist.
Twist the hip, close the knees, and grasp the ground firmly,
Sink the shoulders, drop the elbow, extend the forward palm,
Look with the eyes through Hu Kou.


歌诀二
后肘先叠肘掩心，Hou Zhou Xian Die Zhou Yan Xin,
手在翻塌向前跟。Shou Zai Fan Ta Xiang Qian Gen.
跟到前肘合抱力，Gen Dao Qian Zhou He Bao Li
前后两手一团神。Qian Hou Liang Shou Yi Tuan Shen


Song 2
Pile the rear elbow, protect the heart with the elbow,
Turn and drop the hand and extend it forward.
Follow to the front elbow to create embracing power,
The front and rear hand join together to gather spirit.


歌诀三
步弯脚直向前伸，Bu Wan Jiao Zhi Xiang Qian Shen
形如推磨一般真。Xing Ru Tui Mo Yi Ban Zhen
屈膝随胯腰扭足，Qu Xi Sui Kua Yao Niu Zu
眼到三面不摇身。Yan Dao San Mian Bu Yao Shen



Song 3
Curve the step and straighten the foot to extend forward,
Walk like pushing a millstone.
Flex the knee, follow the hip and twist the waist the waist fully,
The eyes watch the three aspects (directions) without swaying the body.


歌诀四
一势单边不足奇，Yi Shi Dan Bian Bu Zu Qi,
左右循环乃为宜。Zuo You Xun HuanNai Wei Yi.
左换右兮右换左，Zuo Huan You Xi You Huan Zuo,
抽身倒步自合机。Chou Shen Dao Bu Zi He Ji


Song 4
Training one posture, “single whip” is not enough to be marvelous,
Circling left and right is appropriate.
Changes left to the right and the right to the left,
Withdraw the body with retreating steps creates the proper opportunity.


歌诀五
步既转兮手亦随，Bu Ji Zhuan Xi Shou Yi Sui,
后掌穿出前掌回. Hou Zhang Chuan Chu Qian Zhang Hui.
去来来去无而致，Qu Lai Lai Qu Wu Er Zhi,
要如弩箭离弦飞。Yao Ru Nu Jian Li Xian Fei.


Song 5
Once the foot turns the hand should follow,
The rear palm penetrates out and the forward palm returns.
Coming and going never with two in the same position,
Like an arrow leaving a bow.


歌诀六
穿时指掌贴肘行，Chuan Shi Zhi Zhang Tie Zhou Xing,
后肩改做前肩承。Hou Jian Gai Zuo Qian Jian Cheng.
莫要距离莫犹豫，Mo Yao Ju Li Mo You Yu,
步入裆兮是准绳。Bu Ru Dang Xi Shi Zhun Sheng.


Song 6
In piercing out, the palms should be straight, moving closely alongside the elbow,
Rear shoulder attacks and front shoulder succeeds.
Do not leave space and don’t hesitate,
Walk forward between the opponent’s legs.


These are posted here for my benefit, as much as anything. But nice to refer to now and again.

Netflix and Prime Video - The greatest threat to diligent martial arts practice?

Recently, I've been doing pretty well with my baguazhang training. Despite being unable to attend class due to lockdown, I've been training at home pretty regularly. Aided to a great extent by my teacher generously spending a lot of his time creating videos to help us get the most from our training at home.

A threat to this progress, though, is the fact I have discovered a wealth of chop-sockey movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Despite having discovered this treasure trove only a matter of weeks ago, I have already gorged myself on such classics as "36th Chamber of Shaolin", "Five Deadly Venoms" and several Jackie Chan movies.

To be frank, I've surprised myself. Watching so many classic martial arts movies has me feeling like a teenager again. In contrast to training at home which, usually after about twenty minutes, has me feeling like a decrepit old man.

Positive post for a change

While I've been very quiet over lockdown (there's really no excuse not to post when I'm stuck at home, anyway) I am, at least, managing to practice every dfay at the moment. This is despite a shoulder injury and my usual, lazy nature. My biggest motivation though, is perhaps that I'm trying in vain to counteract my working from home weight gain.

My weigh ins recently have been pretty shocking. Most of the weight seems to come from my torso/gut, so I've been concentrating on that. In myself, though, I feel pretty good and healthy-ish. Just need to trim myself down before all that inevitable rich Yule-feast food.