PAKUA
Pakua is an esoteric practice that has evolved into many different sysems and forms over thousands of yearso. Modern forms are traced back only a few hundred years, but the practices have been around much longer. Pakua is an internal style and is very fluid and circular. Hands may come to a stop, but the feet should not.
Internal kungfu is a development of the concepts of yin and yang and the I Ching. Because HsingI, Pakua and Taiji share the same roots they have many similarities. The internal arts I practice are esoteric. There are forms taught by each successor, but they are to teach the student accordingly. The text book forms were a creation of the PR of China. Too often we think of learning a particular system as learning a certain number of forms and techniques. In esoteric arts we learn the techniques from forms our teachers create for us, and later learn to implement the techniques we learn into our own freeflowing form. Just as we learn a new form of qigong we should not be tied to the concept of doing something exact everytime. During one session I will practice many different techniques of each of the arts, but they are strung together in what I call a freeflow of movement. This way we learn to integrate all of the techniques naturally. Our elbows, knees hands feet, shoulders and hips all work in harmony and we have a bubbling cauldron of energy in our dantian.
Pakua is very graceful, swift and smooth. I fhave found many curative effects from it. For those who feel that taiji moves too slow pakua may be more suitable. With Pakua there is no set speed for perforimance. It's alternately fast and slow. Its twisting movements open the channels on he trunk so your energy flows freer. For seniors who like walking this is an excellent form of excercise. When we walk the Pakua circle we incorporate the different palms in a freeflowing sequence, stringing together the techniques at will in a sort of dance.
Pakua as a self defense art emphasises footwork and joint locking. The movements are learned in a continual flowing so every move leads to another. There are no stiff powe moves. This art is the ultimate in flexibility. It keeps your body and mind flexible.
People of all ages and abilities can learn pakua. It has so many healing effects for the body and mind. There are many qigong excercises included in pakua that will help you to get the feel internally for this art.
