“Feel the incoming force move your body up and back” said Shifu Painter, “Feel your body being moved by this force and then compensating for it by coming back to True.”

I felt it. I felt the upward and backward sensation almost as if someone was actually pushing me. I felt the body react to this feeling and adjust so that it settled back to the feeling of “true”. This is the sensation of having the centre of the body vertically aligned. This alignment runs from the feet to the top of the head.

This entire experience was a small part of the weekend workshop in Toronto on October 22 – 23. [Read more...]

Weekend workshops in Toronto are usually spit into a health session and martial session. This time we had decided to stick with the martial theme for the whole weekend.

On Friday evening the focus was on the Willow Bends exercise. This is possibly the most misunderstood practice in the Nine Dragon repertoire and as a result the one that can become a complete waste of time. This is because it is actually designed to be a sensitivity exercise, but tends to get degraded into a competition very quickly. So Shifu Painter took the Toronto students through some exercises in feeling movement. This was done in a way that was designed to reduce if not eliminate the tendency to compete and “beat” one’s partner.

The problem with attempting to win in Willow Bends is [Read more...]

The chill in the air receded as the fascination with the teaching grew. Shifu Painter stood quietly and explained the steps in specific detail so I could feel what he was trying to convey. This feeling in the body was clear once I stopped trying to find something I thought was supposed to happen and started to actually sense what he was getting at. “The body will feel like a tightly wound spring, and you will experience its urge to suddenly unwind. In that unwinding will be the force that was stored in the moment of twisting around as far as possible” he explained. I wound, I waited.”A bit more” he said. I wound a bit more and then, whoosh!! It happened. The body unwound suddenly and I felt propelled in the opposite direction. And I mean propelled! The force of it threw me off balance and I stumbled to regain it. “That’s it!” exclaimed Shifu, “how did that feel?”. With that question I was brought immediately to the self-discovery that makes Nine Dragon Baguazhang so compelling.

We were in a park in Toronto in late October 2011. The autumn weather had arrived a week before and the colours were just starting. That distinctive damp chill in the air gave me cause for concern at first since we had scheduled the morning for this lesson. The sky was overcast and I didn’t want either of us to get cold while engaged in learning. But, it was not a problem. In fact, the temperature was forgotten while I worked to understand the lessons I was being taught. As is often the case, simply being busy with working on inner connections, structure of the body, balance, and the myriad other components that make internal power so compelling easily overcomes the mild discomfort of cool autumn air.

Shifu taught me the function of the gliding step as a method of assisting balance while walking with Yi Xin Gong (Intention Heart Skill). Because one moves very slowly with this practice, the addition of the gliding step is a great help in maintaining imagery. This can be easily lost when balance becomes a problem as it grabs the attention away from the task of feeling the forces generated by Yi Xin Gong. Then we turned our attention to the winding of the body described above. Imagine the centrifugal force that is generated upon release from this position and the body spins in the opposite direction with the arms opening into Embrace the Pearl posture. Wow! The few times I got it just right, meaning I didn’t almost fall and there was some control over the momentum, it felt very powerful.

But the moment that stands out from the morning was the briefest, most magical and sublime. I was working on the movement very slowly. Shifu Painter was gently advising a subtle change in where my body attention should go. There was a break in the cloud cover and the wind gently increased. Golden leaves floated on the breeze while the sunshine warmed my back. I became aware of the momentary perfection of this scene. In a beautiful park with my teacher, learning the intricacies of a complex movement, the warm sun shining through a small break in the clouds, and leaves gently floating in the air with a whisper of wind in the trees. Can you feel it?

(This article is taken from a recording of a talk at the start of class on August 2, 2011 in Toronto. The transcript has been condensed and edited.)

There’s this notion in the health aspect of our training related to Chinese numerology (“Lucky Number” Qigong). By doing some calculation related to your date of birth, you come up with a number. Depending on what that number is and your gender, you are given four directions  (4 of the 8 Cardinal directions of a compass: north, northwest, west, southwest, south, southeast, east, northeast). These are supposed to be [Read more...]

Jiulong student Fabian Ferreri shares some lucky experiences.

Luck #1 – GOMPA VISIT: It was my good fortune to be able to go to The Gompa this past weekend and train with Shifu Castaldo in the Dragon Rolling the Pearl Basics curriculum. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the curriculum is well thought out, linear, and quite complete. No exercise or new piece of information is given without receiving the base on which it is built.

Shifu Castaldo is a very talented teacher who knows this system deeply and can impart its pieces/parts with directness and pedagogical skill. He is an excellent teacher. He was easily able to bring different pieces of the system together to show me how they fit into the whole. Shifu Castaldo was able to explain a concept to make it easily understood, even for me. I don’t learn quickly, so it takes quite a few tries to get a movement down (just ask Shizi Krausman).

Shifu Castaldo’s love of the art was easily visible. You could tell that this is something that he does because he enjoys sharing this knowledge. One can get no better motivated teacher. As a bonus, I was able to sit in on Shifu Garza’s Taijiquan class and participate. His students made me feel welcome and kindly showed me moves that were unfamiliar. Besides training, I was able to go to lunch and dinner with Shifu Painter, Shifu Castaldo, and Shifu Garza. This was a great opportunity to glean information about the art from their combined 100+ years of experience.

The trip was well worth the cost and I would not hesitate to recommend the training wholeheartedly for everyone on this group. You may read these words and think, ‘Okay, maybe someday.” Don’t wait; someday may never come. If you’re serious about the internal arts, and JBZ in particular, then this training is a must have. It’s that simple.

Luck #2 – SHIFU PAINTER SEMINAR: The weekend before my Gompa trip, the Ohio group was lucky enough to host a visit by Shifu Painter. He presented a thought-provoking sessions on Flying Dragon qigong and the wedge. Shifu Painter is the embodiment of this art. His discussions on any aspect of JBZ are gems and the seminar was no exception. One student could only attend the Friday night seminar, but once she heard Shifu speak, she forced a change into her schedule and attended the rest of the weekend. I am always amazed how quickly the time goes whenever he lectures and instructs. Those of you who attend seminars know what I mean. The rest need to do yourselves a favor and attend one. Be careful, though, because you’ll get hooked.

With respect, -Fabian

PS: Ernest Hemmingway said, ‘You make your own luck.’ I’m going to be lucky three times because I’m going to the Gathering. You?