baji

More Baji talk! The follow up to my first Baji Podcast, with Sifu Damon Smith

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I’ve recorded a follow-up to my recent podcast with Rikard and Miika about Baji, this time with my Heretics podcast co-host Damon Smith, who is also a Baji practitioner. Listen to the new episode here. There’s a lot of talk about technique here, and how it compares to Xing Yi.

Here’s the blurb:

“This episode follows on from Episode 26 of Graham’s Tai Chi Notebook Podcast in which he interviews Woven Energy patrons Rikard Elofsson and Miika Wikberg about the little-known martial art of Baji. We discuss the possibility that the Baji Xiaojia is the most perfectly balanced form from any martial art – “Xiaojia is more Tai Chi than Tai Chi”, and look in a bit more detail at the history, technique, strategy and background to this subtle and robust martial arts style.

Graham, Miika and Rikard’s original episode can be found here: “

New podcast – Rikard Elofsson and Miika Wikberg: A deep dive into Nordic Bajiquan

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Listen now!

Bājíquán (八極拳) or shorter just Baji, is commonly known as “the martial art of bodyguards”. It emphasises the use of attacks that close down the distance as well as explosive close combat techniques such as combinations of elbow, knee and takedown techniques.

Both Rikard Elofsson and Miika Wikberg are senior Baji students of Lü Baochun, based in Finland who has over 40 years’ experience in the training and practice of baji. He has trained under many of the famous martial artists who used the style, such as Han Longquan and Zhang Xuchun.

Timestsamps:

0.40: – Rikard – Introduce yourself/how did you meet your teacher Master Lü Baochun?

3.15: – Miika – Introduce yourself/how did you meet your teacher Master Lü Baochun?

7.15: What makes Baji different to other martial arts?

8.30: Old Baji and new Baji

9.20: Trademark techniques of Baji

10.15: How is Baji power different? Training methods and the 3 stepping methods –

12.40: The forms and sets in the Baji system

19.20: The history of Baji

25.15: The mixing of Baji and Pigua

26.09: Baji and body guarding

29.41: Is Baji hard to practice?

31.29: Baji and stamping/stomping

34.34: Baji and Tai Chi being taught together

36.25: How to train with Master Lü Baochun

38.00: Do you spar?

40.15: Can you add Baji to an existing skill set?

41.05 Is there a Baji Qigong?

42.18 Are there Baji conditioning exercises?

43.54 Iron Body and Baji

44.35 How do you integrate Baji with other arts?

47.24: Baji standing exercises

51.00 – Wrap up and the Muhammad Ali influence

Links

The Baji Association (English):

Bajiquan Wasa
Facebook
Instagram

Baji Kung Fu Stockholm:
Facebook

Video:
YouTube 1
YouTube 2

Baji Principles – Tiger head

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I’ve been in conversation with Miika Wikberg of Baji Wasa, Finland. Baji is a martial art that shares a lot of similarities with Xing Yi. One of those is the idea of Tiger as a body attribute/strategy.

Here’s Miika talking about Tiger Head in Baji:

I really like this video because it’s very similar to how Tiger Xing works in Xing Yi – notice that Miika is going from a position that’s outisde the range of his opponent’s attacks, straight into an almost body to body position. That’s the flavour of Tiger Xing in Xing Yi.

The only real difference is that in my Xing Yi we call it “Tiger Embrace” and it’s more about the embracing quality of the arms than anything you’re doing with your head. As an observation of how a tiger moves it’s spot on though – the body follows the head. I’ve heard other Xing Yi lines talk about Tiger head as well, but in ours we emphasis the embracing quality of a tiger’s attack more – you can see what I mean in this video I shot over the summer:

In Xing Yi you use the Tiger embrace to do as much damage as you can as you close the distance, once the distance is closed you have the final bite to the neck, which is expressed in Xing Yi usually as a choking method. Knowing a bit of BJJ can be helpful here!

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