Liuhebafa (LHBF) is one of the main systems of internal martial arts from China. It has elements of taijiquan, xingyiquan, and baquazhang in it, particularly focusing on the turning generated from core muscles such as the abdominal obliques and shoulder girdle muscles such as the serratus anterior. The particular tradition I practice and teach comes from Liang Zipeng who was also a well known yiquan practitioner, so there are elements of that in it as well.
This particular practice has much to offer for martial artists practicing with applications in mind, but the gentle turning and spiraling offers much for those interested in health and wellness. This standing set is something I put together to focus on the health aspects and it is particularly useful in online classes as many participants do not have the space to study liuhebafa when streaming in from a computer or casting to the TV. It still contains the general principles.
Check out the video and if you are interested in attending class, click here for the schedule.
In taiji and liuhebafa, rotation is evident in many of the movements. This is especially true in liuhebafa which really highlights rotation and it features rotation in three main centers in the body; the pelvis, lower ribcage and shoulder girdle.
There are many martial applications with this type of rotation, but the health benefits are evident. Included are:
Mobilization of the the innominate bones (the main pelvic bones on the right and left) leading to better function of the sacroiliac joint and lumbar spine,
Mobilization of the low ribcage which engages the abdominals, improves health of the respiratory diaphragm and massages the internal organs like the liver, stomach and spleen.
Mobilization of the shoulder girdle leading to better shoulder health, a strong and stabile shoulder girdle and better health of the thoracic and cervical spine.
Check out the tutorial to start learning and practicing the basics and click here for in-person classes in Temple Terrace or my zoom classes online.
The image above describes 3 groupings of acupuncture channels (sometimes referred to as meridians). These channels in each grouping are all related and anyone who studies Chinese and East Asian medicine, including things like acupuncture, tuina, qigong and herbal medicine, would see and understand something about these groupings.
The major functional movement patterns are organized by these 3 groupings and you do not need to have studied Chinese medicine to understand this. I can use a bunch of technical jargon such as describing the 3 networks by the names in the graphic above, but I can make it far simpler by describing the basic movement patterns that these channel parings do. These three groupings produce the following three movement patterns. They:
1) Expand, extend, and propel the body forward,
2) Compress, flex, and hollow the body; and they
3) Side bend and rotate the body.
Expansive movements which propel the body forward:
We can look at something relatively simple such as a pull up for an example of this movement pattern. This movement engages muscles of the back of the torso and shoulder girdle. And, if your form is good, there is engagement of core. This relatively straightforward movement primarily involves expansive movements that lift and propel the body forward. These movements lift the body up (literally, in the image below), but also lift you into an upright posture when standing and walking; and they also stabilize the spine.
Photo by Ruslan Khmelevsky:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/muscular-sportsman-doing-pull-up-exercise-in-gym-4608157/
Compressive movements which hollow the body:
Other movement patterns compress and hollow the body. They protract the scapulae, depress the chest, and flex the torso and hip. There are many calisthenic and gymnastic exercises which illustrate this movement pattern. Hollow body holds, L-sits, a front kick, and many other movements fall into this category. The image below shows a gymnastics moves called a planche which is being performed on gymnastics rings. These movements protract the scapulae (round the shoulder girdle), depress the chest, and they flex the torso and hip.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-male-gymnast-practicing-on-gymnastic-rings-3763702/
These movements also balance the expansive ones described above and there are many exercises that move back and forth between these two groupings. For instance, rowers would move back and forth between these phases; going into a compression so that they have more range as they engage the back, expand and propel forward as they pull the paddle through the water. You have to compress and load the spring before you expand, especially if you want to do it explosively. The spinal wave from White Crane qigong is another example of this ebb and flow and you can watch my video by clicking here.
Movements which side bend and rotate the body:
Sidebending and rotation are two separate movements....., sort of. Major joints of the spine and pelvis couple these two movements which means that if you perform one of these movements, you are doing the other. Some movements are more apparently side bending, while others are more about rotation, but from a kinesiology standpoint, these movements are very integrated together and not as easily separated.
These movements involves trunk and neck side bending, but also abduction and adduction of the limbs, along with rotational movements. To fully understand this category, you also need to understand that this movement pattern involves preventing too much movement by stabilizing the sides of the body. It involves the muscles which allow us to stand on one leg, even momentarily such as when we are walking or running, without the hip buckling and failing to support this weight. Walking or running is actually a great example of this patterns since the rotation of this hips and spine is so integral to healthy gait.
Another very simple example is in a video below where I am swinging on monkey bars. This exercise emphasizes rotation, but you will also see side bending if you watch the video.
Photo by Los Muertos Crew:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-doing-sports-at-sports-hall-10039561/
Check out my Youtube channel where I will be exploring many of these concepts. If you do visit, especially if you find the information useful, please subscribe, like the videos, and comment on the videos. All of this helps build my channel and allows me to put the time into producing more content. Besides this, I appreciate the comments since it helps be continue to organize this information and we can all learn together!
Eight Pieces of Brocade (Chinese pinyin: Baduanjin) is attributed to general Yue Fei dating back about 1000 years. This figure was possibly a mythical figure and may not have existed, but the qigong exercise has its roots in antiquity, regardless. Legend has it that it was developed as a way to maintain the health of the soldiers. There is a standing form and a separate sitting form. I have learned the sitting form, but do not practice this regularly and do not teach this form, so the discussion below will be related to the standing form. Note that the standing form can be modified effectively to seated for those with limitations that prevent standing, but the original sitting form is a unique form and is not simply an adaptation of the standing form..
I learned this form from Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming at his North California retreat home. This was a fantastic introduction. I have since modified the form to highlight principles that I focus on and teach, but it is largely unchanged from what I learned with Dr. Yang.
Eight Pieces of Brocade: a great qigong form for spinal mobility and core engagement.
I practice and teach Eight Pieces of Brocade in several setting, but specifically I came to appreciate this form during much of the initial social distancing phase in 2020. This form, due to is simple stance and lack of stepping patterns, lends itself quite well to zoom based classes. In 2020, I initially also taught taiji, liuehebafa, and core strengthening classes, in addition to baduanjin (8 POB). While it is possible to teach taiji and liuhebafa on Zoom, they are not as obvious a fit as something such as eight pieces.
Eight Pieces of Brocade contains many of the same principles, especially those related to health improvement, that can be found in the other forms. Yet it is much simpler and more repetitive externally. The internal movement, however, features the same spinal mobility and core engagement. This can take some practice to find and maximize and is something we focus on in class. But it is pretty simple to jump in and start following, and you will likely be getting at least some of the this benefit from the beginning. You can get some nice stretching and strengthening from the start with plenty of room to develop and grow!
Eight Pieces of Brocade: Spinal Wave/Danyu
One way to maximize the benefits in eight pieces of brocade is to incorporate the spinal wave into each move. Some of the people I teach learned this qigong movement as the danyu (dūn yāo). There are some external differences between these two qigong exercises, but they both are ways of accessing the small circulation (microcosmic orbit) which is a circulation up the du mai (governing vessel) and down the ren mai (conception vessel). This movement can then travel out into the extremities and it would then be referred to as the grand circulation (macrocosmic orbit). Simply, this means that the movement of the spine and core manifest into the extremities. If you can find this movement in the Eight Pieces of Brocade, the benefits will be far greater for your health and wellness.
Check out the Youtube video below. This walks you through each move and allows you to follow along and practice. Also, check out the class information and contact info by clicking here.
Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions on the video by leaving a comment. Also, please like and subscribe as this helps build my channel which will allow me to continue providing content like this!
Liuhebafa (known in Cantonese as Lok Hup Ba Fa), is one of the major internal martial arts from China. It is similar in some ways to taiji, though lesser known, especially in the West. The liuhebafa that I learned comes most directly from Liang Zipeng. Liang Zipeng was a recognized student of Wu Yi Hui who was likely the most instrumental figure in the wider transmission of this art. However, Liang Zipeng only learned the first half with Wu and he created his own second half from knowledge of other styles such as Yiquan, Xingyiquan and Baguazhang, The liuhebafa I learned is most closely related to the version his student, Moy Linshin taught, though there are other sources and influences in the version I am doing now.
Liuhebafa Qigong Patterns
To teach Liuhebafa, I have 'created' several small qigong patterns (drills). I say created, but these are really just isolated movements from the liuhebafa form that are modified only to make them more bilateral (done on both sides) and repetitive so that you can isolate and train certain movement patterns. If you were to learn these patterns, that would be enough to work on mobilizing the shoulders, ribcage, pelvis and spine while massaging the internal organs. This is the purpose of these qigong patterns. Practicing these patterns would also facilitate learning the liuhebafa form. I put these together for that reason, so that they can be practiced in my classes. But I also teach them in my online Zoom classes. I find these patterns are much more adaptable to online classes than the full form, although they are a useful element of live class. Click here for the class info.
Check out two of these patterns in the video below.
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