Training Regimine

Over the past couple months I've modified the training regimine for the Bagua class. At first I had them work on a lot of standing Bagua drills, two person drills, titui and self defense techniques before teaching the form, and then we would do Push Hands! This meant not as much time was spent on the form itself. I found they weren't really getting it, so for the past few weeks I've decided to just do some basic warmups and go straight to the form. They've since made a lot of progress.

Now that they've learned most of the major moves, I'm having them perfect them. One effective way is to have them slowly do one palm at a time and checking themselves in the mirror. We also do the form in its entirety as a group. Preparing for the performance was week was a major motivating factor for many of the students and this rapidly improved their form and interest in it.

When doing the form, many students have started to notice interesting sensations. For example, some have felt tingling in their finger tips. Others have noticed a floating sensation in their feet when walking the circle. I have felt warm energy emanating from many of their palms while walking in the circle in postures like Embrace the Moon and Yinyang Fish.

Internal Martial Arts Association Now Official at UNLV

Well, after much hard work, the Internal Martial Arts Association is now an officially recognized student organization at UNLV with a president and financial officer. Now that we're an officially recognized organization on campus we have since been able to reserve space in the Martial Arts room in MPE (McDermott Physical Education) building. Also, we are now eligible for funding and so we have purchased some basic weapons, stretching equipment, and striking pads.

Last Tuesday, April 10th we participated in UNLV's Unity Fest Variety Show in the Student Union Theater. Three students and I performed Dingshibazhang, one of the students performed part of a traditional Yang form, and Ｉ performed the complete 64 Palm Bagua form. Once we finished, we got a really good response from the crowd. It was a nice and brief performance at only about 6 minutes, with good music for each form. I think this was a good venue for us because there was a wide variety of acts including Rap, Hula, Jazz, Indian flute, poetry, and improv. My students were able to perform almost the entire Dingshibazhang form despite only having practiced it for a short time.

Wednesday, April 11th we had a booth at the Unity Fest Festival of Communities Fair and recruited several new members. Slowly but surely we're increasing our presence on campus. I anticipate the next academic year being a lot bigger for the club.