John Hine is a Chinese Internal Martial Arts Master who has been training for over 45 years, and runs one of the longest established and successful chain of Tai Chi schools in the UK.
In tonight's Bagua lesson I completed the learning of the sixth circle and practiced the circle walking in the opposite direction.
I also concentrated on footwork and posture of my back and arms.
At the end of the class we did some two hit Kuo Shou to help improve our fighting skills.
Exciting news. Master Hine has given the go ahead for a Bagua school to be opened in the Bexleyheath area. The class will be from 9pm – 10pm every Wednesday evening following the Tai Chi class.
The instructors will be Ray and Mick, who have been training in Bagua under Master Hine for approximately 8 years.
If you are interested in joining the class please email our office – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can also follow us on Facebook,  Bagua – Bexleyheath.
Tonight we added on to the 6th circle in our Bagua class and covered the moves:
•   White Snake Spits Out the Mushroom (one legged stance)
•   Fierce Tiger Leaves the Cage
•   Angry Tiger Puts Out its Claw
These are interesting moves which continue the two-fingered hand posture style.
At the end of the Bagua lesson we did some Pile Standing / Chi Kung exercises which are known as Neijia or 'Internal Family' Pile Standing / Chi Kung exercises.
The position of the body is with the back straight, and the chin tucked under. The tongue should touch the roof of the mouth.
The hips should be tucked under with the feet one shoulder width apart. The knees are to be bent so as to obscure the view of the toes.
The hands should 'embrace the ball' with elbows dropped and the hands about heart-height.
Under the armpits you should imagine a ball between them the size of an orange in order to help to practice not collapse them - if you block the Chi then the practice is pointless.
In tonight's Bagua lesson I concentrated more on my footwork and getting them to flow at the correct distances with the correct weight movement to each foot, in order to carry the body around the circle in a smooth a fashion as possible.
I also reviewed the first movement of the form which is called Monkey Presents The Fruit.
In terms of adding on to my form we reviewed and polished the Python Turns On Its Back move. There is an interesting detail where the movement of the right hand moves in a way similar to threading a needle and I concentrated on getting this more exact tonight.
At the end of the Bagua class we finished up looking at some Baguazhang Kou Shou (Crossing Hands) where we focused on syncing up Heaven Palm* outer parries with inner parries, while walking a couple of steps of the circle. This is intended to get us practicing the circle walking while performing basic martial applications.
The Chinese Internal Martial arts really are unique and highly sophisticated systems that all can benefit from learning.
*Heaven Palms are when your palms face the sky. Earth Palms are when the palms face the ground.
