First Practice at UNLV a Success!

The first day of Bagua practice at UNLV went quite well. Four people showed up, two others expressed interest and one person watched from a distance. The people that came represented a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and age ranges. Most were beginners, but some had prior experience with Tai Chi and Qigong.

I started the class with basic stretches and warm ups and then followed this with basic Bagua palm exercises, which included Tuimozhang. From Tuimozhang we went right into basic mud slidding step and circle walking. I then taught a few basic Titui including front, and inner and outer crescent kicks. We then practiced the first three basic mother palms without the transitions together as a group. I then had them practice the first palm on their own around a tree. We then took a break and tried to feel the Qi from each other's palms.

We then got into pairs and practiced walking around the circle facing each other in Tuimozhang (Grinding the Millstone Palm). The emphasis was maintaining proper posture and distance while mud sliding around the circle. There was a "leader" and a "follower", the leader dictating when to change direction and the follower would have to respond in kind. We practiced this several times and then switched roles and eventually switched partners.

I then finished the class with two basic Bagua Qigong exercises. I then answered questions about Bagua and performed Deerhorn Knives and Youshen Lianhuanzhang. Overall, I think it went quite well, I think we'll need to schedule more practice sessions during the week to maintain steady progress.