Baguazhang is a system of martial arts which utilize centripetal and centrifugal force, to strike with precision accuracy while remaining in constant motion. The circle walk practice is the basis for Baguazhang's characteristic footwork and body mechanics. The feet remain in continuous motion as the practitioner revolves, simultaneously honing equilibrium and peripheral vision, while generating internal power. The ancient Taoists understood the circle as an intrinsic pattern within the human experience, capable of creating stillness of mind in motion, while developing the body externally and internally. As the potter's wheel when shaping clay, a properly trained circle walk becomes a sophisticated tool for human biomechanical alignment through energy and physics. The circle walk training develops a practitioner's Proprioception- The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. The circle phenomenon is not unknown in studies of human movement. Over the past century, research scientists around the world have studied the walking patterns of human subjects when blindfolded. Subjects were instructed to walk a straight line across fields, for various lengths of time and locations, including desert and forest terrains. When blindfolded, humans always walk in circles, and the circles become tighter as time goes on. The circular pattern occurs even when the subjects think and perceive, they are walking in a straight line. With no external focal point, like the sun or moon, tree, the human proprioception guides us, and this intrinsic pattern within us is circular by nature. Baguazhang enhances proprioception pathways in spatial cognition, with in-depth focus on the circle itself.
Intrinsic Patterns – Humans Walk in Circles When Blindfolded
