US Magui Baguazhang

09/25/2026

Have you ever wanted to learn a martial art and then talked yourself out of it? Maybe you don't feel flexible enough, maybe you think you've waited too long to start, or maybe your week already feels full.

I'd understand any of those. In our Bagua, my teacher Li Laoshi now starts with spirit and trains the body right alongside it. I translate spirit as mental and emotional health plus self concept, meaning what you fundamentally believe you're capable of. If you're convinced you can't change your body, you'll probably prove yourself right. You still have to do the training, and believing change is possible is what makes room for it.

On the body side, most of us, even people who train hard, assume knee, back, or neck trouble starts in the knee, back, or neck, so that's where we stretch and strengthen. Magui works from the ground up. We put a lot of attention on the parts of the body that tend to be weakest: the ankles and the stabilizers around the calves, the lower back and waist, and the nape of the neck. As the lower legs get stronger and springier, the joints stacked on top of them don't have to work so hard to hold you up.

If flexibility is what worries you, look at where we begin: feet about shoulder width, knees bent as if you're sitting down, hips tucked, spine straightened, and then that structure held while you walk a circle slowly and deliberately.

Chinese masters kept these practices going for generations. They trained for health, for longevity, and so they could still defend themselves into old age. I think of them as case studies in what long, steady practice can look like at any age.

Li Laoshi ties our Baguazhang to two classics. The tendon and muscle changing classic associated with Bodhidharma is the body conditioning side. Guiguzi is the mental and spiritual side, and it shows up physically too, including in the footwork for closing and opening.

As for time, I'd rather you ask me what the early training actually looks like than guess. The early work is slow circle walking and structure, and I'm happy to talk through your schedule with you before you commit to anything.

I'm a direct student of Li Baohua Laoshi and currently the only instructor he has authorized in the US. Accepting new students in the greater Fort Lauderdale area for our December training session. Online training is available if you contact me.

If one of those three worries has been holding you back, send me a message or leave it in the comments, and I'll give you a straight answer.

09/23/2026

Yoga often trains attention through held postures and careful breath. You settle into a shape, stay with it, and let strength, mobility, and awareness grow from that deliberate stillness.

Magui Baguazhang walks through a related door, then asks something different of the body. Instead of holding a posture, Magui trains continuous spiraling movement: changing angles, footwork, and martial application, so structure and attention have to stay connected while you move. Tendons and whole-body connection are conditioned in motion, not only in a held shape.

That body work is oriented to the tendon-changing classic associated with Bodhidharma, the Indian Buddhist monk traditionally linked to China's early martial and meditative training. Yoga and Magui both sit in older Indian and Buddhist-adjacent streams of training the body and the mind together. Same wider door. Different demand once you're inside.

This isn't a promise of particular outcomes. It's deliberate practice in a different shape.

If you're curious about Magui Baguazhang, follow the USmagui page. Training interest in the greater Fort Lauderdale area is being explored for December, with online options by contact.

Brian Fine is currently the only Li Laoshi-authorized Magui instructor in the United States.

09/18/2026

What if slowing down could make you stronger?

Magui Baguazhang is a Chinese internal martial art built around circular movement, whole-body coordination, awareness, and practical martial application.

If you’ve practiced yoga, tai chi, or strength training, some of the ideas may already feel familiar: learning to move with intention, developing strength and mobility, finding balance, and becoming more aware of what your body is actually doing.

Magui takes those ideas in a different direction.

Instead of simply moving from one position to another, you learn to move continuously—spiraling, changing angles, shifting your weight, and coordinating the whole body as one connected unit.

And a big part of that training begins with something deceptively simple:

Walking in a circle.

But the goal isn’t to walk laps.

In the early stages, circle walking is slow and deliberate. You work on bent knees, an upright spine, the position of the hips, the opening of Mingmen, and keeping each step centered and balanced.

Why so slow?

Because speed can hide instability.

Momentum can make a movement look strong before the underlying structure is actually there. Slowing down gives you nowhere to hide. You begin to notice the small things—the ankle that isn’t stable, the waist that isn’t connected, the shoulders that want to do all the work.

Over time, the practice is about bringing everything together.

Feet. Legs. Hips. Spine. Breath. Attention.

Not as separate pieces, but as one body.

Traditional Magui training also places importance on circulation, tendon development, bone power, and what practitioners describe as qi. These ideas are approached through consistent training and proper structure—not as shortcuts or promises of particular health outcomes.

There’s another part that’s easy to overlook: how you carry yourself mentally.

The practice asks you to develop steadiness and awareness alongside physical skill. You’re not just training the body. You’re learning how you respond when something is difficult, unfamiliar, or uncomfortable.

That’s one reason practices like this have been passed down for generations as part of traditions concerned with health, longevity, and remaining capable as we age.

No magic. No guaranteed outcomes.

Just a lot of deliberate practice.

If you’re curious about experiencing Magui Baguazhang, follow the USmagui page. Training opportunities in the greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward area are being explored for December, with online options also available.

Brian Fine is currently the only Li Laoshi–authorized Magui instructor in the United States.

Sometimes the best way to understand the circle is simply to step into it.

09/15/2026

A gift from my good friend and student. A new flag and logo for our Magui Baguazhang training featuring the river horse map! To a new chapter sharing Laoshi’s teaching across the US

09/05/2026

A lot of people show up to practice already dealing with knee pain, low-back pain, or a stiff neck. Looking at how aging often shows up, those joints are usually not where the trouble starts. What softens first is the strength, stability, and flexibility in the lower legs and ankles. Once that foundation gives, everything above it starts compensating, and the body spends years trying to hold itself up from the wrong places.

In our Magui Baguazhang, structure works the other way. We train so the lower legs get strong and springy again. The work is bottom-up: you resist gravity from the ground. When the ankles and lower legs can do their job, the knees have less to invent. When the knees settle, the low back and neck stop working overtime. You take care of the stack by fixing the foundation.

Chinese masters kept these practices for generations, for health and longevity, and so they could still defend themselves into old age. That living record is the evidence Magui points to. Honest structure work, including the early hip tuck and Mingmen push we use so the body has a place to stand, done slowly enough that you can feel what collapses when you walk a circle.

If you already know yoga or tai chi, you already know how quiet attention in the body feels. Magui keeps that kind of door open, then puts demand into the lower legs and the chain that rests on them.

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Accepting new students in the greater Fort Lauderdale area for our December training session. Park and Meetup sessions first. Small groups. Good-hearted beginners welcome. Online training is available if you contact me.

Message for December dates or the waitlist ·

People train Magui for health, longevity, and practical self-defense, the same reasons this tradition has been carried forward.

09/02/2026

Will be moving training to Ft. Lauderdale FL in early December. I also travel around the country extensively for work so contact me if you are interested in training

Send a message to learn more

07/19/2026

05/09/2026

The most important thing is to have a great relationship with your teacher.

Laoshi, words can not express my gratitude for your kindness and guidance on this path

05/06/2026

Thoughts from my current training with Laoshi in Japan:

Laoshi compares accumulation of training and ability to a tree. Each year, a tree get another ring of growth. That ring is similar to the circle we walk in Magui Baguazhang.

When you first begin and learn the foundations of our practice, you will find it both difficult and incredibly rewarding. As the years go on, you will learn “the same things” over and over, but with a greater degree of nuance and depth. Eventually, you’ll find that your evolved understanding is both completely different and that you have sort of been kind of right all along.

Our cultivation is a journey, one ring of growth at a time