The Way of Least Resistance

Baguazhang is well known for its complex palm changes. But underlying these is a more fundamental concept - 8 basic "palms": conceptual movements that underlie the very fabric of each response to an attack. Here is my understanding of the 8 mother palms of bagua, with a special emphasis on understanding the principles of how and when to: move to the outside; and move to the inside; and cross the centre line. In the end, these sorts of fundamental issues are principles that provide a deeper insight into the art and science of civilian defence. Copyright © 2014 Dejan Djurdjevic

Introduction In Parts 1 and 2 of my article "Bridging the gap between karate and the internal arts", I discussed my design of an experimental or "research" form ("kenkyugata") - one that is an "external/internal hybrid".  In this essay I wish to describe and discuss the "final product" in detail. The goal of this project was to create a form for external martial arts practitioners (in particular, karateka) that enables them to assimilate  into their practice some  of the principles/concepts  (意 or "yi") of the internal arts relating to efficient momentum transfer - both for defence (effective evasion and deflection) and counter attack (landing blows more securely and with "whole body" force multiplication). Above all else I wanted this kata to be sufficiently familiar to karateka : I wanted to avoid the need for them to undergo lengthy training in the outward form  of the internal arts  (called 形 or "xi...