I've taken some Yang tai chi from a school in San Diego, which is where I lived before moving to LA for college.

Since I don't have a car, I have a hard time getting around in LA, and haven't been able to find any tai chi schools that I'm interested in - but I have found a Bagua school that looks promising.

Here are some questions:

When I read people posting about Bagua around here, it seems very similar to Tai Chi - I hear about push hands drills in Bagua, for example. I've read that Tai Chi, Hsing I, and Bagua are often referred to as the "sister arts." I'd like to know how developed/regimented Bagua fighting is, for example - one of the things I liked about Tai Chi is the idea that as long as you follow the principles, at the highest level, anything goes - there's a big emphasis on developing natural/spontaneous/unthinking reactions and movements. Is this freedom present in Bagua as well?

I've gone to Bagua websites and while they contained some useful information, I couldn't get a good picture of what the art is really like. From experience, I know the futility of trying to explain in words how a martial art (especially an internal art) works - you have to do it to really get it, or at least I do.

My second question is, are there any signs or indications of whether or not a certain bagua school is any good? I know that Bagua never really became the health fad here in the states that Tai Chi did, but even so, I can only assume there must be some subpar Bagua schools.