Ba Gua Zhang is a Chinese internal martial art that improves your health, your mood and your ability to defend yourself. All are welcome.
Class is taught by Mark Greenfield. Mark has studied Ba Gua Zhang for 6 years with Tom Bisio. Prior to studying Ba Gua, Mark studied capoiera for 15 years, obtaining the level of Instructor under Mestre Ombrinho in NYC. Mark also studied Tai Chi and Kung Fu for 9 years under various teachers around the United States. In that time he worked with Sidney Austin (Tai Chi in NJ), Steve Hollister (Tai C
03/29/2025
Hi All:
I am starting up my outdoor BA GUA ZHANG class, Sundays in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn NY.
Classes are 12-2pm
1st hour will be basics and fundamentals.
2nd hour is for people with a little more experience.
Everyone is welcome to stay for as long as they like.
The class is $20 for each Sunday you come.
You can email me for more details at [email protected]
09/13/2023
Hi All: I am teaching BA GUA ZHANG, Sundays in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn NY.
BA GUA ZHANG is a Chinese internal martial art that improves your health, your mood,
and your ability to defend yourself.
Classes are 12-2pm
1st hour will be basics and fundamentals.
2nd hour is for people with a little more experience.
Everyone is welcome to stay for as long as they like.
The class is $20 for each Sunday you come.
If you are listed as an instructor on Tom Bisio’s Internal Arts International website, class is free.
If you are interested please email me at [email protected]
08/04/2023
Delighted to say that I just returned from a wonderful Ba Gua retreat in Italy where I was promoted to a Senior instructor. Thank you Tom Bisio and Valerie Ghent.
Just back from our first Internal Arts International Ba Gua Zhang Retreat in Tuscany, Italy. What an amazing week! Everyone trained hard from just after dawn until dusk with a little siesta and a lot of fantastic meals in between.
12 people completed instructor training. We are proud to announce that we now have six new Foundational Level Instructors and six new Senior Instructors. Congratulations!
Foundational Ba Gua Zhang Instructors:
Skye Cooley (Oklahoma, USA)
Joe Giacoio (New Jersey, USA)
Hayden Hennigson (Arkansas, USA)
Kathy Taromina (Seattle, USA)
Dobrin Vassilev (Sofia, Bulgaria)
Carroll Whitelaw (Toronto, Canada)
Senior Ba Gua Zhang Instructors:
Jonathan Breshin (New York, USA)
Mark Greenfield (New York, USA)
Pascal Jauffret (Le Beausset, France)
Kelly McDonald (New York, USA)
Craig Mitchell (Seattle, USA)
Svilen Pronev (Toronto, Canada)
Our focus for the retreat was on the key elements necessary for mastery of Ba Gua Zhang - Old Eight Palms (Lao Ba Zhang) and Foundational Exercises. Mornings began with Ji Ben Gong, Qi Cultivation Exercises, Eight Fixed Palms (Ding Shi), 12 Standing Postures, and Tian Gan – all before breakfast. Then we worked extensively on the Lao Ba Zhang form and its many applications, which include linear movements, kicking, elbow strikes, Qin Na joint locks, and throws. Chief instructors Tom Bisio and Valerie Ghent also introduced participants to the 12 Postures of the Waterwheel – a unique form of Daoist Ba Gua Circle Walking Meditation that opens and activates the Microcosmic Orbit.
The location, hospitality and food could not have been better – a big thank you to Daniela and Ivan - our hosts at Agriturismo Terenzana!
Look for our follow-up post coming soon with images from the retreat!
This is not Ba-Gua. This is an extremely basic wing-tsun exercise being taught to me in Fort Greene Park by my friend Hakiem who I met in the park.
One of the things I love about martial arts is how you meet and make friends with people you may not have otherwise met. That's why it's always confusing when I hear martial artists from one school or another putting another school down.
Exchanging martial arts techniques with Hakiem and with other Martial Artists I meet in the park is great. I always walk away knowing a little more than I did before.
One of my earliest and favorite teachers (a Kung-Fu, Tai-Chi teacher from Ohio named Jesse James) told me once, "you can learn something from anyone you meet." I would add, you can learn even more when those people spend much of their lives perfecting an art form such as wing-tsun or ba-gua, or any of the many great martial arts that are out there.
11/05/2021
Hi All: I am starting up my Sunday morning online Ba Gua class again. Details in flyer below. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]
08/10/2019
An article from Internal Arts International's newsletter written by Ba Gua Basics Mark Greenfield. For anyone interested, Sunday foundations and conditioning classes are being taught in Brooklyn.
Why I Practice Ba Gua by IAI Instructor Mark Greenfield – Internal Arts International Which Martial Art?Which martial art is the best? It depends. If you are interested in beginning martial arts or considering switching to a different style, the more relevant question is “which martial art is the best for you at this point in your life?” Martial arts are not a one-size-fits-all e...
Ba Gua Basics and Conditioning continues tomorrow (and every Sunday) at 11am in Brooklyn. For more information email me at [email protected]
Qin Na set from the NY Internal Arts Ba Gua retreat. This form was taught to me by Zhao Da Yuan and of course by my teacher Tom Bisio. Here I am practicing with Keith D. Norris, a school brother who is one strong dude and a great training partner. This set is not sparring. You know what the other guy is going to do - it serves a different function. It trains you to execute seizing and locking techniques in different situations and how to get out of them. While Qin Na is not officially Ba Gua, Ba Gua utilizes Qi Na techniques (as does Xing Yi and Tai Chi) and the techniques in QI Na, conversely, are rooted in these arts.
01/07/2017
Foot steps from Lao Ba Zhang & Ba Mien Zhang
| 11am - 12:30pm |