I think that bagua is fantastic. I see it as an honour to be taught something so detailed and deadly. Every new starter [including me] has different ideas about self defence and martial arts. This exceeds all expectations you could possibly come up with.

 Learning baguazhang at this stage in my tai chi experience is unexpected. I am getting to see aspects of shuai jiao and chin na that would only be possible much further into the tai chi syllabus. It can be rough depending on what is being taught, but it is never over the top. Pain within an application usually comes from being tense.

 (Barnaby Baron)