We Are Family…

fam-i-ly [FAM-uh-lee] noun, plural -
     -Any group of persons closely related...
     -A group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals...

In June of this year at the annual Gathering in the Circle, a group of people got together to study Jiulong Baguazhang. From the first moment everyone assembled for dinner Sunday night, I knew this was not an ordinary event. The friendship and camaraderie was unbelievable. This warmth extended to new attendees, like me. The feeling of welcome and inclusion is hard to describe, but was as palpable as the first warm day of Spring. Just like the definition above, we became a family.

I spent my days studying Flying Dragon Qigong and Thunder Palm. There was enough material presented to keep me busy practicing for a year or more. Dr. Painter's depth and breadth of knowledge is incredible and his training method is excellent. We all worked hard in his classes as Dr. Painter is an ever-watching teacher and wants things done right. Nevertheless, we also had fun; the games we played on the last day of Thunder Palm were enjoyable and enlightening.

One of the highlights of the week was the Friday morning trip by the Qigong group to the waterfalls that is located on the property where the event took place. It was roaring from the recent rains and water was cascading down in a mad rush to get to the small stream that was its outlet. In the presence of this natural phenomenon, we performed the Flying Dragon Qigong that we had learned during the week. The power that was felt from this spot was amazing and wonderful.

I can’t thank enough my brothers and sisters in the art who attended. Thank you for your warmth and generosity. To Dr. Painter, thank you for sharing your knowledge and this amazing material. To those that did not or could not attend, please try next year. It will be worth it. JBG is amazing stuff; there’s no other way to describe it. The art has very powerful martial capabilities, calming and healing capabilities, and a built-in family when you join. Don’t get me wrong, though, there’s no Kool-Aid that you have to drink to become a member.

I would also like to extend a special thanks to all the Study Group Leaders for their patience and willingness to help and lend a hand when they saw me do something… less than correct.

Structure is King

 Well, if it isn’t king, then it’s right up there in the hierarchy. Structure is what gives one stability and ‘rootedness.’ And it is from this base, this root, that all movements derive their ability to strike with tremendous force. When the body is aligned properly, all action through it is braced by the ground, regardless of whether we are standing still or moving. Jiulong Baguazhang (JBG) is known for its ‘rolling root,’ in other words being able to carry structure while moving.

 This is especially important when facing multiple opponents because it’s not a good idea to stand still, root yourself, throw a punch or kick, and then look for another bad guy to hit. Chances are good that a bar stool will be broken over one’s head before a second (or first) punch is thrown. Being able to move and strike with authority, with ‘rootedness,’ is important in encounters because bad guys don’t travel solo.

 Structure is so important that it is one of the first things taught in this art. Quiet Sitting is another. Quiet Sitting is important because, among many other things, it gets one’s mind right so he doesn’t get himself in a situation where he’s facing multiple opponents in a bar somewhere…
 Structure is comprised of the right body alignment; hips tucked, head reaching to the sky, shoulder over hips, knees and toes facing the same direction, etc.

 Structure is comprised of proper movement; stepping (rolling step, immortal man step, etc.), turning (ba turn, night swallow turn, etc.), crossing the great river (the name of a concept where one does not become double-weighted and have all of one’s force applied to the hand, arm, elbow, etc. that’s on the same side as the supporting leg), breathing (proper breathing provides internal structure), and so on.

 Proper structure is a complex set of body mechanics that when properly configured and set in motion, provides the same body rigidity as standing still, bracing with the legs, and punching or kicking. It’s quite a sophisticated set of body mechanics and a foundation of the art. All other aspects of JBG build on these concepts, so they are taught right from the get-go.

 When the Akron, Ohio group first got together, we met in Coop’s basement. We did that for about a year before moving to our current location. After the first few classes in his house, Jean, Coop’s wife, asked him what was being taught. He answered something about standing, walking, and breathing. Jean then asked with an innocence that belies a certain impishness, “And what will you learn next week, how to roll over?”

When I First Noticed a Change

 One Thursday about nine months ago, I was driving my wife and her friend to the JBG class that I had been attending for about six months. My wife wanted to try the class and talked Cheryl, her friend from work, into going, too.

 I asked Karen, my wife, why she wanted to attend. I thought it was because Dr. Painter had appeared in her favorite movie, Midnight Cowboy, and that mystique was the draw.

 “No,” she said, “it’s because of the change in you.” She turned to Cheryl in the back seat and said, "Fabe's turned into a different person since he's started this class."

 I looked at her and said, "What?!"

 "Yeah. You're not as likely to explode when I say something that you don't want to hear. I’m not walking on eggshells like I used to."

 Karen's comment surprised me. I had not realized that I had changed. I thought that I was looking at things a little differently than before I started the class. I can’t exactly say what the change was, though, but I seemed to have achieved a calmness that I hadn’t known before. This felt like a very slight difference and only perceivable to me. But my wife, the closest person to me, and someone who knows me better than I know myself, had noticed the change in my behavior, too. This appeared to be more than a small change, and for the better, it seemed. Also, while I didn't think of myself as a saint, I certainly didn't think that I ‘exploded.’ Other people ‘exploded’ while I rationally debated. I was no Mahatma Gandhi, but maybe, oh, I don’t know, his cousin or something. Karen just rolled her eyes when I said this.

 When she had said that I had changed, I remembered the words of my SGL, Shi-ge Rick Krausman, saying, “This art will change you.” I had written off that comment as soon as he said it. What? Change? Nah!

 But something *did* happen, and I attributed the change mostly to quiet sitting and reciting the four virtues after each practice session. When I recite them, I don’t rattle them off like a machine gun going through bullets, but think about each one and how it could apply to me and my life. Other things contributed, I’m sure, but I don’t know what they might be.

 “Wow,” I thought. “I’m going to tell everyone about this!” And I did. I bragged, “I’m a better person!” to family and friends alike. I hit quiet sitting with a vengeance; “Watch out Mahatma, I’m coming!” Soon after, I lost the feeling that I had before and my wife started walking on eggshells again.  

 When I realized what had happened, I remember Shi-ge Krausman saying, “You can’t chase it or it’ll never come. All you can do is be receptive and let the feelings take their own course.” This paraphrase of Rick’s words is a good synopsis of the following lines in the first verse of Gia Fu Feng’s translation of the Dao De Jing,

      Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
      Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.

 Desiring, and the ambition that desire brings, prevented the attainment of my desire. This catch-22 was so obvious afterwards that I just had to shake my head at the attempt. So I stopped bragging, and started over with quiet sitting, expecting nothing and putting in my time.
 I feel calmer now; things don’t upset me when they don’t go the way I think they should go. I train daily with a happy heart, and try to remind myself to enjoy every minute that I’m alive.

 Did quiet sitting do this? I don’t know. It’s irrelevant, really, because I just do the work and calming things happen. I’ve learned not to expect, not to desire, to let what will happen to just happen. Will this work for others? The synapses that fire in my brain are twisted by my background and my personal experiences. What quiet sitting, or whatever, has done for me may not do the same thing for someone else. Rick likes to say, “Your mileage may vary,” and nowhere is this truer than in this art, this journey that we’re all taking.

 So, where is all this rambling going? I think I want to make a couple of points. First, this art is world-view altering. This is monumental; no other adjective can apply in my opinion. I do not know how I made such a profound change to my core in such a short amount of time. And a change for the better. I just followed the instructions of my Shi Ge, and here I am, different. Better. Second, I now listen a whole lot closer to whatever Rick says, and especially to Dr. Painter.

A Brief History of Jiulong Baguazhang

There are many styles of Baguazhang, and the particular style that I am learning had a circuitous route to the United States that has the same synchronicity as my coming to it (see my first post). Briefly, Jiulong Baguazhang is one of several martial arts that were handed down in the Li family from father to son in China. The Li’s were bodyguards and being able to protect your principal and the merchants who hired you to guard their caravan was of utmost importance. Before the Chinese revolution, there was no organized police force in the country and bandits roamed the trade routs that rich merchants used to get their goods to lucrative markets. Consequently, the Li’s became experts at various weapons and martial arts. The martial arts they incorporated into their family for their business were slowly modified to meet their particular needs and became their trade secret. They did not share this with others for this was their competitive advantage, or ‘secret sauce’ as Coop likes to say. So, while the essence of Baguazhang remains in the art, much of the peripheral manifestations are different. They were changed by the Li’s over the hundreds of years that they had to use it. If something in the art did not work efficiently and effectively, they did not hesitate to toss it out. If they found something new that worked, they were not afraid to incorporate it. Jiulong Baguazhang was a dynamic living art based on the necessity of staying alive and making a living. There could be no greater acid test than the environment in which Jiulong Baguazhang was born, nursed, and grown to maturity.

After the WW II, the Li family was hired to guard Chiang, Kai-shek and eventually ended up in Taiwan. From that country, Master Li, Long-dao, one of the last in the Li family who continued the bodyguard tradition, immigrated to the United States and ended as the neighbor to a sickly child namedJohn Painter. Taking this child under his wing, Master Li nursed him to health with traditional Chinese medicine and taught him Jiulong Baguazhang and the other arts in which the Li family specialized.

Dr. John Painter is now the head of the Jiulong Baguazhang family and teaches the art out of Arlington, Texas. There are several Study Group Leaders (SGLs) throughout the country, England, and Israel, who also are certified to teach the art. We are lucky to have Shi-ge Rick Krausman here in Ohio as our SGL as he has over forty years experience in martial arts and about ten in Jiulong Baguazhang.

Because of the route Jiulong Baguazhang took from a family’s private art to Dr. Painter, it is a little different from traditional martial arts. First, it does not have a belt system. They are not given to show your ranking because everyone is a student until he or she dies. There’s always something more to learn by combining core principles in different ways to come up with new techniques. Second, there are no forms to learn. Again, core principles are combined in different ways to create spontaneous forms that look one way today and may never be repeated. Third, there is no sparring. Sparring implies holding back so you don’t hurt your opponent. This form strives to react spontaneously and without thinking to disable your attacker. The thought is that one cannot perfect spontaneous reaction if one holds back. Fourth, this art did not become adapted for tournaments. There are no trophies in the schools where Jiulong Baguazhang is taught that were won using this art. Fifth, there are no punches in this art. All strikes are done with the whole body, torso, arms, legs, forearms, feet, or palms. Sixth, JBG has a moving root. By this I mean that one does not stand still while delivering a hit to an opponent. JBG was designed to strike on the move facing multiple opponents. Finally, there is a very large component of this art that is meditative in nature. What it tries to do is to get you into shape mentally in order to make you a better person, not just a better fighter but a better person.

Now some may take umbrage at the words that I’ve used in comparing JBG to traditional martial arts. Please don’t, as no offense was intended. These are simple comparisons and do not imply that one is better than another, only that there are large differences. Think of it as the preference people have for, say, Fords or Chevys; both are equally good car manufacturers.

How It Began

(ring) (ring)

“Yellows.”

“Fabe?”

“Yes.”

“Fabe, this is Cooper.”

“Coop! How are you? I can’t remember the last time we spoke. What’s new?” Cooper was a vendor’s technical representative that worked with me over twenty years ago. He supported the software for the computer hardware that we had purchased and installed. We had struck up a friendship and periodically kept in touch throughout the years.

“Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, I’ve been taking this martial arts class about two hours away, and if I get enough people interested I may be able to talk the instructor into teaching a class up here.”

My spider senses tingled at this last statement. What was Coop going to do, ask me to commit to taking the class? With my knees the way they are, well, there seemed little chance in that. Too much running in my youth rendered my knees less then optimal. Oh, I amble along well enough and people can’t tell that I have bad knees, but I can’t run. Or kick, for that mater. And I’m not young!

I started thinking of excuses so I would have them handy when Coop made “the ask.”

“So, uhh, tell me about this class you want to bring up here...” I said with some hesitation.

That’s when he started talking about internal versus external gung fu, meditation, walking circles, and on and on. His comments about structure negated my excuse of bad knees; “You're taught the proper way to walk.” And he’s just a little younger than I am, so that negated the age excuse. Besides, what he said really did sound intriguing.

Oh, what the heck, I thought. One night a week won’t be bad. It’ll get me out of the house. Karen, my wife, ias always at the barn riding horses and doing whatever else she does to keep those beasts healthy. She might have to change their oil and tune them up once in a while, I’m not sure.

From that inauspicious start where the stars just happened to be aligned (I had kept up a friendship with an old vendor contact, he and I had similar interests, I had the free time, was looking for something new, trusted Coop’s judgment, and had a nascent interest in the subject matter), I began my journey in Jiulong Baguazhang. I am now hooked, and hooked deep.