WHY CIRCLE-WALK?
The training of the circle-walking builds your health and enables you to do all techniques with whole body power. Otherwise, why would we spend so much time walking in circles?
The main effect is to bring full circulation of blood and qi to all parts of the body and strengthen the tendons and ligaments throughout the body. When the whole body is unimpeded then disease and injuries will gradually disappear.
Another effect is to connect all the tendons, ligaments, and soft tissue from the bottom of the feet through the body to to where they connect to the skull. Circle-walking is designed so that at no point in the process do you lose whole body power, thus, you build whole body power when you circle-walk. If you have an error in technique, you will find that this error occurs in your circle-walking, and that it will self-correct once you have fixed your circle-walking. All techniques in MaGui Bagua should 'feel like you are circle-walking'. There is no difference in feeling between circle-walking and any other move. There must always be the same power and positions. Power is developed in the circle-walking. Later, fali movements are simply a test of the power of your body, the connectedness of the body. Once you get the circle-walk then nothing is new. All other moves express the circle-walk. If it wasn't like this, then circle-walking would have no meaning.
Once you have developed this stability and power, then whether you do the techniques, routines, partner drills or sparring, you will move with total control. Always circle-walk slowly, then the rest of your training can be done at the speed that you wish.
All movement types are present in the circle-walk. Fast and slow, hard and gentle, long and short. All movement principles are also present.
The slow circle-walking is not a 'beginner basic' that you stop doing as you get better. You will always do this practice. There are some specific drills that use a fast circle-walk, but this is not the normal practice. Slow circle-walking develops the qi and blood so that the tendons change. You cannot change the tendons without the support of the qi and blood.
HOW TO CIRCLE-WALK
Middle
“Contain the chest and tighten the upper back, twist the lower back like a rope, lift the anal sphincter and breathe into the kidneys”
Settle down the chest. Let the ribs settle down towards the pelvic basin. Don’t cave in the chest, settle vertically, not forward.
“Have a turtle back.” The upper back is stretched wide, both sideways and up/down. Do not hump the upper back – open it evenly in all directions.
Keep the torso upright and centered, like a bag (not like a stick). It is not simply an upright body – the qi has to be centered, so that both internal and external are centered – this is not just a ‘requirement’, it is an ‘essence’. Then, when it turns, it is not twisted and weakened. A full bag remains full and rounded when it is twisted, it gets bigger and stronger. An empty bag just twists thinner and thinner.
Tuck the buttocks well in, but do not force this position. It should be natural and comfortable to do this, like sitting really relaxed on a chair or sleeping slightly curled up. This is the position that you naturally take when you are tired, as it allows the circulation to flow and helps you recover. It is like a bottle of water, don’t squeeze the bottom, leave it round. Lift the anal sphincter like putting a plug in the bottle.
Bring the hip joints into the body, both back-front and side-side. This is called 'suck in' or absorb (xikua) , which is similar to but slightly different than releasing (songkua).
Settle the qi to the dantian. Breathe down into the dantian, allowing the flanks to expand. Breathe quietly like a turtle. This is better for your health and longevity than strained breathing.
Compact the body, like folding laundry into a nice, neat package. Instead of leaving yourself all in a heap. This allows the qi and blood to flow throughout, and will leave you feeling good and big afterwards. The upper part of the torso is settled down and the lower part of the torso is supporting it, so the whole torso is connected and can connect down to the feet.
The middle is the most important part. Stepping is based on an upright, balanced body. If your step is perfect but your body is not right, then you will not progress well. If your body is straight and settled then small mistakes in the stepping are not a problem.
Lower
“Keep the knees together, step forward below the knees, do not allow the upper body to move.”
Place the feet at two foot widths apart for a stable support. The stance should always feel like a mabu. The knees are rolled slightly inward, and when stepping, the body is turned slightly so that the knees are together.
“Trample the head and tail of the snake.” Grab the ground with the feet with whole body power. Grip with both feet equally. Set into the front leg, going firmly into it without shifting forward into a bow stance. Shift forward only so far as to have to grip the ground to be able to move forward.
"When the foot grips the ground then all movements will succeed." Both feet must be firmly rooted. Grab the ground with the whole foot, ankle, and lower leg. The entire lower leg is fixed to the ground, up to and including the knee. Watch out that the legs do not get lazy, just balancing on top of them, because the heart is too lazy to send the qi and blood to the feet. If you just relax and settle this can benefit you, but not as much as when you really grab the ground. Grabbing, in addition to being more stable, ensures that the qi and blood gets fully to the whole body.
Lift the feet flat and land flat. Do not let the rear heel come up even a little. Push into the heel. Imagine that the rear foot is an onion stuck into the ground, it is hard to pull out.
Step the foot directly through. Do not bring the lifted foot in to the supporting ankle, and do not stop midstep. Step directly forward to land on a tangent on the circle. This means that the outside foot lands hooked in and the inside foot land straight. Be sure to land the feet flat on the ground, do not twist the ankle or roll on the feet. As you step the inside foot forward, drop the body a bit more into the inside hip, this will turn the foot while keeping it straight.
Step as far as you can reach without a glide step (about one foot length). This is a small step, but do not hold back, step as far forward as you can with the buttocks rolled under and the body keeping its power - you need to stretch out the tendons. When stepping forward, keep the feeling that you are sitting back. This keeps your weight down and makes sure you do not go too far forward onto the balls of the feet.
“Kick the doorstop.” Extend the knee and the ankle fully as if kicking through a Chinese doorstop. Do not kick into the front of the knee, but reach through the centre of the whole leg. Fully extending the reaching leg strengthens all the structure around the knees. If you only squat as you walk, without also extending the knees, you can develop “peasant’s knee”– a bursitis in the back of the knee. For extra training, hold the extended leg out briefly before touching down. The point of the kick is not the kick itself (though it does develop a very strong kick that can break the shin of an opponent) but to make your body more stable and connected. You have to set well into the supporting leg to be able to kick hard. Doing the kick makes the tendons of the foot smooth, so the whole body's tendons can become smooth.
“Roll a hemp rope.” Push the lifted foot down as it moves through the air, as if making a rope out of hemp (or playdough). This keeps the lifted foot connected to the whole body. This puts great power into the foot, so obviously the power of the rest of the body can be great. If you do not do this then the unweighted leg is empty and you are not longer connected throughout the whole body. (do not worry about this too much at first, you need good qi and strength before you can do it)
“Toad walk.” Move the lifted foot very, very slowly like a toad. Toads walk with their body very close to the ground, lifting their feet carefully. The body moves forward steadily, no jerking, no rise or fall.
"Sit down like a tiger." All power settles into the ground. You can't tell if a tiger is standing or sitting, it is so connected and relaxed. It is easy to see if a human is sitting or standing. The tiger can make itself small because the tendons are strong enough to do any movement from any position. May people have difficulty standing up from a sitting position, squatting or jumping, because their legs are not strong enough or the tendons have become stiff. So the circle-walk concentrates on the tendons and bones, locking the bones together with strong tendons.
Upper
“Press the head up, turn the neck, tuck the jaw to the shoulder.”
Head and Neck
Put power to the weak part of the nape of the neck, where the spine meets the head. Fill up the two depressions on either side of the neck, just under the skull. This effectively presses the head up, while keeping the neck naturally relaxed.
Turn the head to tuck the jaw towards the shoulder. Do not exaggerate this action, keep it natural. You will end up looking to the apprpriate place for each of the models.
Arms
The arms are light and relaxed (though power must go through to the hands). “Give up” the hands, do not put strength into the arms.
Settle the shoulders directly down, opening up the shoulder joints. Be careful not to roll them forward into a weak position.