The 8 Mother Palms of Cheng Baguazhang Explained
At Dragon Phoenix, the 8 Mother Palms are one of the most important forms students learn in Cheng Style Baguazhang. After students develop a foundation through the 8 Turning Palms, or Old 8 Palms, they begin working on the 8 Mother Palms. This is where the art starts to open up in a deeper way. The 8 Turning Palms teach foundational concepts and some of the physics of how Baguazhang works, while the 8 Mother Palms begin to train a more flowing, connected, and martial expression of the art.
The 8 Mother Palms are sometimes thought of as the root of Cheng Baguazhang movement. The word “mother” is important. These palms give birth to many of the changes, applications, and body methods found later in the system. They teach how to move, change, turn, enter, yield, and transform while keeping the body connected.
At Dragon Phoenix, the 8 Mother Palm Linking Form includes:
Single Exchange Palm
Yielding Palm
Double Exchange Palm
Back Body Palm
Rub Body Palm
Turn Around Palm
Turn Back Palm
Revolving Body Palm
These names are listed in the Cheng Baguazhang resources at Dragon Phoenix, along with the other major forms and weapons in the system.
What Makes the 8 Mother Palms Different?
The 8 Turning Palms are a foundation. They help students learn the basic shape, stepping, body alignment, and turning mechanics of Baguazhang. The 8 Mother Palms build from that foundation and begin to show more clearly how Baguazhang changes.
This is one of the reasons Baguazhang can be difficult at first. The body has to learn how to remain stable while moving in circles, changing direction, and coordinating the arms, waist, legs, eyes, and intention. It is not enough to simply copy the shape. The student has to learn how the movement works.
In Cheng Baguazhang, the goal is not to collect movements. The goal is to develop a body method. Once that body method begins to grow, the palms become more than choreography. They become a way of training the whole person.
1. Single Exchange Palm
Single Exchange Palm is one of the most important movements in Baguazhang. It teaches the basic idea of changing direction while maintaining structure.
In practice, Single Exchange Palm helps the student learn how to turn without losing the center. The feet change, the waist turns, the arms coordinate, and the body returns to the circle. It looks simple, but simple does not mean easy.
This palm teaches a very important lesson: change should not break your structure. When the body turns, it should not fall apart. When the direction changes, the mind should remain calm. Single Exchange Palm is a doorway into the changing nature of Baguazhang.
2. Yielding Palm
Yielding Palm teaches the ability to give way without collapsing. This is a very important distinction. Yielding does not mean being weak. It means learning how to receive force, redirect it, and find a better position.
Many people respond to pressure by becoming stiff. Others respond by giving up their structure. Yielding Palm teaches another possibility. The body learns to soften where it should soften, turn where it should turn, and remain connected.
This is one of the great lessons of internal martial arts. Strength is useful, but stiffness can become a problem. Softness is useful, but collapse is also a problem. The correct training teaches the body to find the middle.
3. Double Exchange Palm
Double Exchange Palm expands on the changing method. Where Single Exchange Palm teaches one major change, Double Exchange Palm adds more complexity and coordination.
This palm helps students understand how one change leads into another. The body begins to feel more continuous. The student starts to see that Baguazhang is not a set of separate movements, but a flowing method of transformation.
Double Exchange Palm also helps develop the waist. In Baguazhang, the waist is not just along for the ride. It directs the movement. When the waist turns correctly, the arms and stepping begin to make sense. When the waist is disconnected, the form becomes empty.
4. Back Body Palm
Back Body Palm teaches the student to use turning and body angle in a deeper way. The name points toward the idea of changing the body position so that the practitioner is not meeting force directly from the front.
Baguazhang is known for its circular movement and evasive stepping. Rather than always going straight into force, the practitioner learns to turn, angle, and move around the opponent. General descriptions of Baguazhang often emphasize circle walking, spiraling movement, throws, striking, joint locks, and evasive footwork.
Back Body Palm helps develop this feeling. It teaches students not to become stuck in one direction. The body learns to turn and access different angles while still keeping the palms alive and the stepping connected.
5. Rub Body Palm
Rub Body Palm teaches close-body movement and connected power. The name gives the feeling of moving near or along the body, but the real lesson is deeper than the surface shape.
This palm helps students learn how to keep the elbows, shoulders, ribs, waist, and hips connected. It can also teach how to move through close-range positions without becoming cramped.
Cheng Baguazhang is often associated with closer-range methods, including throwing and body control. In training, Rub Body Palm helps the student understand how power can be expressed from close distance when the body is connected.
This is one of those palms that may not look dramatic at first. But with time, the student begins to feel how much is hidden inside the movement.
6. Turn Around Palm
Turn Around Palm teaches the body to reverse and redirect. It is easy to move in a direction when everything is comfortable. It is much harder to change when the body is under pressure or when the stepping becomes complicated.
This palm teaches the student how to turn around without losing the circle, without losing balance, and without disconnecting the upper and lower body.
The mind also gets trained here. Many students want to rush through difficult turns. Turn Around Palm encourages patience. The body has to learn the path. The feet have to know where to go. The waist has to lead. The eyes have to stay alive.
When trained correctly, turning around is not just a movement. It becomes a strategy.
7. Turn Back Palm
Turn Back Palm continues the training of reversal, but with a different feeling. It teaches how to return, change back, and reorient the body while still keeping the movement continuous.
In Baguazhang, going back does not always mean retreating. Sometimes turning back creates the opening. Sometimes it changes the angle. Sometimes it causes the opponent’s force to miss. Sometimes it teaches the practitioner to reconnect with the center.
This palm can be very helpful for students because it challenges assumptions. Most people are used to thinking in straight lines: go forward, go backward, stop, start. Baguazhang asks for something different. It asks the student to move in circles, spirals, and changes.
Turn Back Palm helps build that understanding.
8. Revolving Body Palm
Revolving Body Palm brings many of the earlier lessons together. The whole body turns, changes, and revolves with more complete coordination.
This palm teaches the student to move as one unit. The hands do not move separately from the waist. The waist does not move separately from the feet. The eyes, breath, intention, and structure all begin to work together.
Revolving Body Palm also expresses one of the most beautiful qualities of Baguazhang: continuous transformation. There is no hard stop. The body turns and becomes something else. The student learns to adapt without panic and change without losing the center.
This is one of the reasons the 8 Mother Palms are so important. They are not just movements. They are lessons in change.
Why the 8 Mother Palms Matter
The 8 Mother Palms matter because they help students cross an important bridge in Cheng Baguazhang. The student moves from learning foundational mechanics into learning how those mechanics connect and transform.
At Dragon Phoenix, students first work on fundamental concepts, training exercises, and the 8 Turning Palms. Once the 8 Turning Palms are learned successfully, work begins on the 8 Mother Palms. Later, students may continue into weapons and more advanced Baguazhang material.
This step-by-step process is important. Baguazhang has a lot of depth. If a student rushes, the movements may look nice on the outside but lack the internal connection that makes the art work. When the foundation is built correctly, the 8 Mother Palms help the student begin to understand the real flavor of Cheng Baguazhang.
The Body Benefits of This Kind of Training
Although Baguazhang-specific scientific research is limited, related research on traditional Chinese movement arts gives useful insight into why this type of practice can be so valuable. Tai Chi and Qigong studies have found benefits for balance, mobility, strength, sleep, cognition, and psychological well-being.
This makes sense when we look at the way Baguazhang is trained. The practice asks the student to coordinate the whole body, pay attention to posture, shift weight carefully, turn the waist, control the stepping, and keep the mind focused. It is physical training, but it is also awareness training.
The 8 Mother Palms can help develop:
Balance
Coordination
Leg strength
Waist mobility
Body awareness
Focus
Patience
Adaptability
Calmness under pressure
These qualities are useful in martial arts, but they are also useful in daily life.
Learning the 8 Mother Palms at Dragon Phoenix
The 8 Mother Palms are not something to rush through. They are a practice to return to again and again. Each time the student learns more, the palms reveal more.
At Dragon Phoenix, Cheng Baguazhang is taught as a real traditional system, passed down through the lineage of Shifu Li Chunling and the late Sun Zhijun. Shifu Aaron Dison teaches the material in a clear, step-by-step way while preserving the traditional method as it was taught to him.
For beginners, the 8 Mother Palms may feel challenging. That is normal. Baguazhang is not supposed to be learned all at once. Kung Fu means hard work, and the work is part of the gift.
For experienced martial artists, the 8 Mother Palms can be eye-opening. They show a different way to generate power, change direction, and understand martial movement.
For anyone sincerely interested in Cheng Baguazhang, the 8 Mother Palms are essential. They are one of the places where the art starts to feel alive.
The circle teaches us to keep moving.
The palms teach us to change.
The training teaches us to become more whole.
That is the beauty of Baguazhang.