When you do Pa Kua Chang something really weird actually happens. Pa Kua, I should tell you, is that martial art wherein you walk circles endlessly. Circles where you find spirals within circles within loops.

Let me explain a couple of things first, before I explain this really weird thing that happens in Pa Kua Chang. You will find that weird is normal in this universe, and normal is weird, if you understand these things. All righty?

The circle takes eight steps from beginning to end. This is about six feet in diameter, or one good leg sweep. And, of course, the end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end, and so on.

Classical Pa Kua-ists claim that if you put the palms in various positions as you walk the circle, that the positions stand for various phenomena. Lightening palms, thunder palms, palms, fire palms, water palms, and so on. By creating this analogy they have created an entire and separate universe. There hasn't been a good explanation for what is happening, up till now, but this universe can occupy a student for a lifetime.

To understand what is happening, when one creates this Pa Kua universe, you must understand that the body is a machine. Power goes up the legs and down the legs, like alternating current. One must remember, at this point, that power is energy, and energy is the capacity for work, and the capacity for work is how much you can lift--and you should probably get yourself a good dictionary and start separating these terms.

The energy of the body is generated by the tan tien. The tan tien is a point which is located a couple of inches below the navel. The tan tien generates energy which goes up and down the legs and keeps passing through the tan tien.

What happens is that the energy can be stored in the body, and the body becomes a storage device, a capacitor. After walking the circle enough times, holding the idea I've told you here, you will experience actual lightening going up and down your legs. Also, exploring the potential motions of the palms, you will experience a swirling barber pole energy swirl up and down your arms.

The point here is that Pa Kua is not mystical, but it does take a dedicated practitioner and a calm mind to experience what I have explained here. One must tell the body enough times and with enough sincerity, and this while walking the circle enough times, for the body to start acting as a capacitor. It is possible, however, and even easy as one learns to believe that this universe is not a trap, but a journey.