When he was thirty Gao met Zhou Yu Xiang,(周玉祥) a student of Cheng Ting Hua and an accomplished fighter. They compared what they knew, then crossed arms to test each other's skill. After Gao was defeated three times in three attempts he asked to be taken as a student. Due to the small age difference between them Zhou thought it would be more appropriate that he took Gao to Cheng Ting Hua. If Cheng accepted him Zhou would teach him, though officially they would be brothers in lineage. 

Because of his background Cheng took him on. Gao then returned to Shandong to train with Zhou while making regular trips to Beijing to study with Cheng. Sadly after only two years, Cheng was killed by German Soldiers in 1900, the boxer rebellion. During an altercation over being work press ganged into a work detail he pulled a short knife and was shot jumping over a wall in an attempt to escape. Cheng was only fifty-two. 

After Cheng's death Gao continued his study with Zhou until he was forty-five when he returned to his hometown in Shandong and began to teach. After defeating a number of local teachers Gao soon developed a reputation and martial artists from the neighbor villages came to study with him. 

One day a long bearded Daoist monk came to watch Gao's class. He didn't look very happy with what he saw. Noticing his expression Gao asked him what was wrong. The Taoist told him 'Even though you have been scraping the surface of this art for many years you are still boxing blindly'. 

Questioned further the Daoist revealed himself as Song Yi Ren. He had been a student of Pi Cheng Xia, the teacher of Dong Hai Chuan. He claimed that Dong had only stayed long enough to study the pre-heaven skills of Ba Gua, and to teach the art completely the post-heaven skills also had to be taught. Gao then begged the Daoist to stay and teach him. He stopped teaching himself while learning Baguazhang again from the beginning. 

In the preface written by Gao in the Manuscript of "Yu shen Bagua Lian Huan Zhang" (Swim body Eight Diagram Linking Palm) , Gao said: 

When I was young, I liked martial arts very much. For a long time I carried on the family teachings. I had high regard for the Inner Family Arts, but I could not find them. When I was thirty years old, I followed Zhou Yuxiang of Wuqing County Wafang Village and practiced Baguazhang.  

Then I went with my teacher to Cheng Ting Hua's school to continue my training. I concentrated my attention and devoted myself to Baguazhang. ?K Now and then, Liu He, Wang Shutang, and others of the Bagua genealogy instructed me. Wang was engaged in business in the capital. For a long time he followed Master Cheng on a tour. ?K I felt sad that though I had a little instruction I was still ignorant. ?K When I was forty-five years old, because friends invited me to their ancestral home in Haifeng, Shandong. In their free time, the friends studied in the palm arts. I followed one who had the appearance of a beggar coming to beg. I asked what his name was, but he did not tell. He only said these words:  

Where is your hometown, We belong to same family, We practice an art that does not have an end, I am Song Yi Ren, I learned the whole set, I transmit it everywhere under heaven, I transmit the art and I don't hold back, This ability is to encourage people. 

When he was fifty Gao left Shandong and returned to Hebei, where he taught in Yang Cun village close to Tianjin. During this time he met with his old teacher Zhou, who wanted to test his student's progress. He made three attacks on Gao, was twice deflected, and the third time knocked away. Zhou was impressed enough by Gao's sixty four post-heaven palms that he returned to Shandong in search of the Sung Yi Jen, but was unable to find him. 

Tianjin is the closest major port to Beijing. At the time it was a thriving place with districts, or concessions given over to the control of foreign powers. In 1936 Gao began teaching on the football fields of the English concession. 

It was in Tianjin that Gao taught the majority of his students that began to spread his style so widely. One student, He Ko Cai began to teach in Hong Kong. Yu I Xien took the system to San Francisco. Another Chan Chun Feng emigrated to Taiwan. 

Though the branches of Gao's Ba Gua have diversified with each generation, their division into pre and post heaven has remained. The terms pre-heaven (Xian Tien) and post-heaven (Ho Tien) refer to arrangements of the eight trig rams. The pre-heaven arrangement has balances the opposing trig rams opposite each other. It represents a state of ideal balance existing in stillness. From a medical viewpoint it corresponds to the innate or genetic.  

The post-heaven arrangement places the trig rams in an order that shows progressive change when followed clockwise around the periphery. It represents the pattern of cyclic development found in nature. Medically this corresponds to the acquired characteristics of an individual.  

The pre-heaven contains the strategy of the art, while post-heaven contains the tactics. The circular changes exercise the body through its entire range, and include all the essential shapes and directions that can be combined to make a myriad of techniques. To look for a specific technique in the pre-heaven forms, to label a movement particular for instance would be limiting and incorrect. The ability to move smoothly transferring the whole body's power to its periphery while retaining the ability to change direction is the primary concern.  

The Xian Tien can be divided into single palm change, eight palm changes and a final form called Wu Long Bai Wei, or Black Dragon Waves its Tail. These ten elements can be likened to a dragon. Single palm change makes the dragon's head, all the other movements are derived from and follow it. The body is made of the eight changes. The tail of the dragon is Wu Long Bai Wei which is formed from a condensed combination of the previous eight palm changes.  

Gao's Xian Tien show the characteristics of Ba Gua derived from Cheng Ting Hua. The back is held straight and upright, the movements are large, round and flowing. It is the smooth flowing quality that has given the various branches of Cheng's Ba Gua the nickname swimming body, or swimming dragon.  

The Ho Tien is concerned with technique. Each post-heaven palm contains particular techniques, or principles that are directly applied to application. Again they are not limited to single techniques, but they are much closer in form to this.  

The Ho Tien are derived from the Xian Tien, and are divided into eight sets of eight palms. The different sets themselves have different emphases. For instance one set contains the simplest and most important principles of application, another has kicking methods, another elbows. In all it is a comprehensive systemization of fighting techniques.  
 
The beauty of Gao's Ba Gua is that it provides a entrance to the deeper principles in its Ho Tien praxes. Leaving it in Gao's words 

"Without pre heaven Ba Gua the art has no root, 
   without post-heaven the art is incomplete. 
   Pre-heaven is for strengthening the body, 
   post-heaven is for protection."