http://www.pakua.org/

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed earlier, but I ran a forum search and didnt find anything regarding this school.

Anybody familiar with this organization? I snooped around the site for a bit and a few things (actually a lot of things) just dont add up. Like since when did they start teaching nunchucks in bagua?

Im hesitant to call bullshido being that im relatively new here, so I'm hoping that some of our more seasoned brethren would deliver a verdict on this one.

They suck...I believe Emptyflower has more detailed insults

I've had a little exposure to Bagua, but am certainly no expert. But I think even I can see some warning signs (I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable forum members will soon let us know if I'm wrong....)
Isn't Bagua (or Pa Kua) famous for it's oversized weapons (broadsword, jian and pole)? Strange that there's no mention of these in their list of traditional weapons. Also - the weapons work going on there seems very linear to me.
I'd love to see the video's - but that's going to have to wait till I get home...

Bagua is also famous for NOT BEING JAPANESE.
http://www.pakua.org/weapons/gifs/Photo3.gif
Looks like a shitty little karate school to me.

At emptyflower they are second only to SifuZ. SifuZ gets roughly one threa/month specially devoted to ridiculing him. He is like out own little Ashida Kim.

This pakua.org is a close second but they lack the abundance of goofy pictures to make fun of so it takes more work to get worked up over their stupidity. I'm personally find of this certificate he displays so proudly on his site:

http://www.pakua.org/gifs/TransferCard1.gif

It makes no sense at all. The first half is written in the first person. Since when do certificates of transmission start off, "I am the only disciple of...." Second, the grammar is ****. 3rd, the last "sentence" is illegible to foreigners and Chinese alike. I have showed it to native Chinese, people who speak Cantonese and attempted to decode it myself. It strikes me as the kind of thing that happens when you try to use a dictionary to write in a foreign language. Maybe if I used spainish grammar to decode it it would make sense.

I tried to find our thread where we dicussed the legal ramifications of giving a beatdown to . . ..waitasec, check this out:


Pakua Martial Arts 7914 Valley View
Buena Park, CA 90620
714-522-7776
Master Michael Jackson http://www.pakua.org/school/northamerica.htm

I heard pakua was known for it's footwork but I had no idea the king of pop was behind it all.....

To get an idea of real Ba Gua and Internal Martial Arts check out www.chi-arts.com. I've personally trained with Shrfu Bracey on a few occassions. This guy is the real deal, as they say.

If you ever get a chance to meet him I highly suggest you do. He doesn't throw his chi or anything like that. (at least he's never done it or even talked about it in any class I've taken with him) But he can do some amazing 1 inch type strikes that will impress the most skeptical people, IMO.

And I will testify that after a one hour private lesson I was able to generate a whole lot more power out of my strikes. No, I don't do chi/ki blast! lol! But I will honestly say that with his help in getting me to understand how to better align my body, I can strike with a great deal more power.



-John (not a Ba Gua practitioner - just open-minded)

While on the subject - has anyone else come across Aarvo Tucker?
A few years ago I spent a weekend seminar with him.
The guy can't teach, and the guys skills are distinctly mediocre. On the plus side, he never mentioned Chi.

Just another tragic example of the idiots that incorrect martial arts training can produce.

The weapons are not Chinese weapons, the gis and hakamas(sp?) are clearly not Chinese...it's just all wrong. :hmh:

I heard pakua was known for it's footwork but I had no idea the king of pop was behind it all.....
[/size][/font]

Pakua Martial Arts - Disneyland
Chapman 1038
Anaheim, CA
714-748-4374

The Sifu of this location wears white gloves and likes little kids too!

While on the subject - has anyone else come across Aarvo Tucker?
A few years ago I spent a weekend seminar with him.
The guy can't teach, and the guys skills are distinctly mediocre. On the plus side, he never mentioned Chi.

I know of Aarvo Tucker. He teaches Tai Chi (Chen Man Ch'ing style) and Bagua once a month in Manchester, and no doubt elsewhere around the UK - although I hear he's leaving the country soon. He's trained with some fairly senior CMC Tai Chi people and certainly has a good reputation for this art. I don't know much about his Bagua though, although based on his reputation I would expect him to be pretty reasonable.

I attended one of his tai chi classes last year. It was a reasonable enough class, although I didn't feel I saw enough to come to any real conclusions about him as a teacher, and with only one opportunity a month (at most) to train with him other commitments got in the way. From talking to some of his students I get the impression that his attitude to teaching is that he guages how prepared you are to listen and learn from him and, based upon this, either teaches you properly or just lets you pay your money and train...

Here's a couple of web-pages with a bit of useful info on Aarvo and his Bagua...

http://www.taichichuan-cornelia.com/e/school.html#Aarvo
http://www.taichicaledonia.com/resources/Bagua-Aarvo-Luigi.pdf

Pa-Kua develops every part of the human anatomy by generating a proper flow of energy within the body. The movements are studied to provide an internal massage of the organs as well as develop in the student an unparallel coordination of movements coupled with improved mind/body communication.

Internal massage of the organs.... Must be popular at parties.

Before I gained my brains I used to 'do' Pakua.
Here is an actual video taken from a class(takes time to load)
http://www.pakuaaz.com/images/albums/Videos/vid02.mov

Basically If you pay them 5,000 dollars they will name you a BB in under a year. To date I have tapped out 13 BB and that was before I started BJJ. A few months ago some 16 year old chick BB opened up her own school. Kinda pethetic...But this is the system!

Here is a link to the site if you guys wanna bitch to them www.pakua.us

A lesson for all those who plan or do TMA: learn the history of the art and research your instructor's lineage.

Or one could just not do TMA...

Bagua's a difficult art to do right. These guys are obviously hell bent on proving that.

*Points* Is that?...a flying sidekick?!?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I ran into a guy here in phoenix that trains at one of these schools and I asked him the same questions.. (gi's japanese weapons etc) I will try to dig up his response and post it here. But if I remember correctly he said the chinese uniforms were given up in the early years because the gi's threads run with the meridian lines and help promote chi... He also sent me a video of him being attacked by 6 people holding weapons (bats etc) and he said that they were really trying to attack him and hurt him but he single handedly took them all out.. Well the link to the video didn't work so I didn't get to see this incredible video of his.. (sarcasm) Clearly this cat has some issues and I really don't think they have any thing of martial value to give....