Ba Ji Quan:
Ba = Hachi = 8
Ji = Kyuku = Infinite/Ultimate
Quan = Ken = Fist
Hachi is contracted to Ha
Ba Ji Quan = Ha Kyuku Ken

Alex,

Hold Akira's "Mighty Warrior(Hora Hora Hora!)" stance for around 20 minutes to an hour every day, until you can do it without trembling. The feet don't have to be parralel. The hips are rounded so that your butt isn't sticking out. Back straight, chest out, Neck straight, Chin pointing slightly down so that your eyes can keep looking forward in a natural 'intent' position. You should keep the arms flared out, like when Akira says "Hora Hora Hora!" The goal is to maintain a level of alert relaxness. You're not tense, but ready to spring into action. Relaxing (in an alert state) is the key to not trembling. This is also called holding the water. The longer you hold, the more water you build up, and the more reserve energy you have at your command in a fight. Don't move during the stance. Once you straighten out a leg, you release all of the water that you have accumulated up to that point. Do it everyday,... even if for only 5 five minutes. Don't just do it every other day. Do it every day for 10 minutes instead of....... for a 1/2 hour only 1 out of every four days. Doing it daily is the key. Do it when you are watching TV. Discipline is the key. Do you want to be a mighty warrior? Then stand. Tai Ji often refers to the water building up from your foot upward into your waist as time goes on. Tai Ji practices shifting it from one leg to the other. The stances should feel heavy as if you are in thick air and the air alone is giving you resistance like in a pool.
Peace,
Don

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Hey Alex, (5/18/96)

On Ba Ji Quan:
This is what I know:
3 Cannon Fist - 2 person excercise
5 Circle Fist - 2 person excercise
and other basic 2 person excersises
Standing meditation in 'Mighty Warrior' Stance (A modified horse stance.)
The basic strikes.
I think there are 3 forms, but I don't know them. I had them demonstrated.
I learned a small form, but it was very basic.
I think BaJiQuan preceded TaiJiQuan. Bajiquan or Pa Chi Chu'an (Ha Kyuku Ken in Japanese) means '8 Ultimate Boxing'. Tai Ji Quan (Tae KyuKu Ken) means 'Supreme Ultimate Boxing'. Is that right Alex? Tai Ji is the soft, gracefull stuff you see old people doing in the parks and gardens and things for rejuvination. These are martial arts that are internal, or function on the principle of energy (Ch'i) coming from the center of the body (Tan Tien). The energy moves in a lightning fast pulse from the Tan Tien(located 3 finger widths below the navel) into the feet to the ground, then back up through the arms and into the target. In Tai Ji, one strives to be like a big spinning solid steel ball........ you hit it and you hand just gets deflected...... you try to puch it and you get thrown off...... and also.....like water, wrapping around (like a python to take down someone)and finding its way through to a vulnerable spot.
In Tai Ji, the first documented form of the art to be passed on by forms was taught by the Chen family and kept within the Chen family village(They wouldn't want anybody else using it to beat them up,.... and also why would the royal family need them protection them if the royal family could just learn it to defend themselves?)..... until Yang Lew Shan, a servent in the Chen family village learned it by watching the form and practicing it secretly. When he was discovered and asked to demonstrate what he knew, he impressed the master, and so he became the first outsider to become a formal student of the Chen style Tai Ji form. This style is the most combatitive form of Tai Ji, and most practical. When Yang finally left the village, he did something that the Chen family didn't want him to..... he started teaching it to the public. The original form he learned and taught was the Yang form, but over the years it evolved into what it is now. Besides these two forms, there are 3 other styles of Tai Ji that evolved, including the Wu style. The Yang style is softer, and less combatitive than the Chen style. The Yang style is widely practiced today as a means of rejuvination more so than for self defense, although there are definitely self defense applications. Both styles focus on the 4 primary energies of Ward-off, Roll-back, Press and Push. The Chen also focuses on the other four energies of Shoulder, Elbow, Split and Pluck.... it also has sudden rapid movements in the forms.... while the Yang style form is done at a steady pace all the way through. I believe each form has around 108 movements.
So far, I learned the first section of the Yang form, and know I'm learning the Chen form...... I think a person needs to learn the Yang form before learning the Chen form... because the energies in the Chen form are too difficult to learn right away. I think that after learning the Chen form, we are going to start learning the Ba Ji forms.......... It's strange that we have to go backwards chronologically to learn Ba Ji. Ba Ji is a brunt and powerful art, often using elbow and shoulder strikes and hip checks. Ba Ji practicioners are known for being crazy and ballistic and moving in far too close, way too fast for anyone's comfort. A trade-mark Ba Ji technique is pronounced something like, "Dy Shinzo".. or Akira's dashing elbow.
We learned some Hsing-I animal postures and excersises.... these help us produce the power we need. They say that a Hsing-I practicioner develops the same power in a year that would take a Tai Ji practicioner at least several years to develop. Ba Ji Practicioners practice Tai Ji to soften the way they expell energy. Hsing-I animal excersises are often used to develop power. -Peace, Don

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