Ba Gua: Hidden Knowledge in the Taoist Internal Martial Art

Bracy and Liu's book is a great introduction to the art of ba gua. While I have studied tai chi, I have had very little experience with ba gua, and I found that this book answered many of my questions. It is not a training manual, but provides a taste of the flavor of the practices, drills, and martial techniques of the art. The text is well written and clear, and there are many pictures to illustrate the authors' points. Its discussion of the history of ba gua was especially interesting. My only complaint with the book is that the photos used to explain some of the two person techniques are hard to follow because they switch models at different points in the sequence of illustrations.

I got a hold of this book - as I do with all internal martial art books - thinking that this is another history book. It definitely is not just another history book. Authors Liu Xing-Han and John Bracy have delved deeper into the art with the inclusion of the alchemy of taoists of old, explaining their methods and motivations, bagua training sets, different models of ch'i cultivation with special notations and diagrams from Robert Becker's "The Body Electric," Baguazhang chi gung and more. Well written, with compassion and excellence! 5 - stars!

As a teacher of Bagua Chang I have to commend Mr. Bracy for doing an excellent job in presenting some rather complex material in an easy to undesrstand manner. I enjoyed the material presented and felt the history lesson was quite good. It was very clear that Mr. Bracy has a greater knowledge and understanding of metaphysical internal arts than he choses to reveal. And based upon some of his reviews, this is probably a wise choice. It will be interesting to see what his next book will be like:-)However, the best praise I can give is that my students found the book very informative and helpful in their practice. It added more depth to their circle walking and the definition of a Yogic internal art suited their nature. They enjoyed the pictures of Master Liu walking the circle. (That alone, is a good reason to own this book)Bagua has produced more magical masters per capita than any other internal art. To only view this art as a martial one is a tremendous disservice and insult to its creators and first level masters. Mr. Bracy should be applauded for not creating another technical "how to do it" manual.

This book was really good, it gave a great history section, overview of theory, and general explanation of what Ba Gua is about. There are very good explanations of internal power theory, the differences between the different levels of that theory(muscular effort to internal power, and what the differences are between each level). It also includes several two-man sets which are very good, and a section on applications. Strategy and actual applied fighting theory are elucidated to good depth, which made me quite happy. This book is a great overview, but don't buy it expecting to see tons of forms and the whole style laid out before you, there are a couple of chi-gung forms( with very good explanations), the aforementioned two man sets, and several applications. This book is a steal at 12 bucks and I would suggest it to anyone interested in Ba Gua- especially if you don't know anything about the style. This book presents the best introduction I have seen to Ba Gua, it's history and basic theory; one that clearly states what is esoteric and what is concrete, and is a very straightforward treatment of this style which is many times shrouded in obstrusity when discussed.

I am a former student of Master John Bracy, and a T'ai Chi instructor at the Kapiolani Women's Center and 24Hour Fitness in Hawaii. I studied T'ai Chi Ch'uan at Hsing Chen School of Internal Healing Arts and had the opportunity to observe private classes with my Sifu and his Ba Gua students. I remember hearing the shared laughter between teacher and student as they challenged each other using this mysterious and beautiful art. I found this book on Ba Gua to be informative and inspiring. I now incorporate the chapter on Ba Gua Qigong in my classes and my life and have made his book "required" reading for every student. They tell me that reading "Ba Gua" helped them achieve a deeper and clearer understanding of T'ai Chi as well as stimulate interest in learning more about Ba Gua. I hope that all students of the internal arts get a chance to read this well written work. It's like getting private lessons with the Grand Masters!