Ba is the number eight, and ershi is the number twelve. The remaining two syllables, duanjin, means “golden brocades,” implying something both beautiful and valuable. The original Eight Golden Brocades is a very old eight-movement qigong set performed while standing. It became the foundation for many subsequent qigong practices, which follow a similar sequence, but may not be named in a way that reveals that origin. There is also a seated version of the Eight Golden Brocades. That and the Twelve Golden Brocades were developed later, and have little practical connection to the Eight Brocades.
The Seated and Twelve Brocades are not true qigongs, at least not the versions I’ve seen, but they are useful, health-building practices, frequently taught as warm-ups or adjuncts to other practices. Some of those are included in this book. The original Eight Golden Brocades is a true qigong, but there are many versions and variations which have removed some of the components that make it such. Again, even those variations are useful, and one or two are included in this book.
Core Channels
See Energetic Anatomy.
Daimai
The Daimai, or Girdling or Belt meridian, is one of the Eight Extraordinary meridians. It’s the only meridian that has a horizontal trajectory around the torso, intersecting all the twelve regular meridians, and the remaining seven of the Eight Extraordinary meridians. As the Girdling meridian, one of its main functions is to bind and stabilize all the other meridians, and in that capacity it has a positive effect on the entire body. It also intersects the Dantian in the front of the body, and the kidneys and the Mingmen—“the Gate of Vitality” or “Life Gate Fire”—at the rear of the body.
All of the Extraordinary meridians serve as reservoirs of Qi and Blood. Due in part to its location and intersections, the Daimai influences all reproductive health and plays a particularly beneficial role in gynecological health.
Dantian
The Dantian is one of the main energy centers in the body. Although there are three primary Dantians—upper, middle, and lower—when the word is used alone without any stipulation, it’s almost always the lower Dantian being referred to. That’s because the lower Dantian has the most to do with physical functions, health, and vitality, so it has most to do with everyday life and with the interests of the majority of people involved in energy practices.
It is located a couple of inches below the navel, and two to three inches in from the surface of your body. It serves as the main reservoir of the energy acquired through various qi practices. Storing qi at the Dantian is an important part of all qigong practices, and of many other energy practices, as the way to have a net gain of energy at the end of the day, held stable and secure so that it does not simply dissipate.
The word Dantian literally translates as “elixir field.” “Elixir” is a precious substance that imparts good health and long life, and in many cultures it is referenced as something that can maintain life indefinitely. As it is used here, “field” is synonymous with an arable pasture where nourishing crops may be planted. So, the Dantian is likened to a field in which the seeds of life and vitality may be planted, so that they may grow into an abundant source of life energy, able to be harvested and used as needed.
Daoist Yoga
There are a few practices called Daoist yoga that may be encountered today. One is less common, more in the realm of an advanced qigong and meditation practice, focusing on the Eight Extra meridians for psychic and spiritual cultivation. This book does not include anything from that practice. A couple of them are quite similar to each other, a little more common, and may superficially look like Hatha and other traditional Indian or contemporary Westernized yogas.
Those two Daoist yogas involve held stretches or a flowing series of moving postures more reminiscent of Indian yogas. Since Daoist yogas all include an aspect of qi regulation, the moving yogas come close to being qigong practices. The qi regulation and attention to the specific health goals and benefits are a couple of things that may distinguish these from their Indian counterparts. This book primarily includes stationary held-posture Daoist yoga.
In Daoist yoga any increase in a stretch only occurs through release of tight or held muscles, not through actively using even the slightest force. That release is accomplished by combining at least three factors. The first is the use of your breath, which is directed to a tight muscle or region on an inhale, and the tension is released to whatever degree is possible on the exhale, leaving your body along with the breath. Numerous directed breaths can be done to facilitate this process. The second factor is the influence of gravity. As you engage in any stretching practice, gravity will usually play a role in increasing the stretch. Its felt influence will allow it to open your body into a deeper stretch. The third factor is your mind. Some part of your mind must contact the tense, tight, or held muscle, and be used to soften and release that held tension. There is no physical effort involved by engaging your mind in this aspect, and it is significantly different than using only your breath and gravity, both kinesthetically and energetically. The stretch occurring through release and let go comes from the nervous system, releasing held tension there as well, and so is a deeper stretch than one involving muscles alone, even if the outer movement appears to be less.
Daoyin
The main purpose of Daoyin is to get the qi to move, and to direct it where you want it to go within your body.
The word daoyin is one of many used to refer to qigong-like practices before the word qigong was coined in the early 1950s. It literally means, “to induce and guide.” Unlike with true qigong practices, this inducing and guiding will not give you a net gain of qi, but will give you better use of the qi you already have, and free up some otherwise unusable qi. This is typically accomplished in one of two ways.
The first way is more biomechanical. Qi can be induced to move and be guided through acupressure techniques, either performed by a therapist for a client or patient, or as self-massage practices may be used on oneself. The second way is more advanced, in which the induction and guiding is done entirely by the mind for oneself. This is the method used as a component of many qigongs, and of some meditation practices. This book primarily makes use of the first method, and occasionally moves into an intermediate stage where acupressure and mental guidance are used simultaneously.
Energetic Anatomy: Shoulder’s Nest, Kwa, Core Channels, Laogong, Yongquan
“Shoulder’s Nest” and “Kwa” are terms used in Chinese healing and martial arts to identify two important anatomical and energetic body regions. They share some similar characteristics.
The Shoulder’s Nest is located where each arm joins the torso, deep within the body. Its lower border is near the center of the armpit, and its forward, front border is at the depression formed when you roll your shoulders forward, just to the medial, chest side of your shoulder (Fig G-1A). Superficially, many muscles attach at or pass through the Shoulder’s Nests. Deeper, it is the site of numerous lymph nodes and vessels, which influence the health of the immune system. Other significant local anatomical structures include veins, arteries, nerves, and the apex of the lungs. Accordingly, supple and open Shoulder’s Nests have a positive effect on blood flow, transmission of nerve impulses, and fuller, healthier lung functions.
Figures G-1A–G-1C (Energetic Anatomy:The Shoulder’s Nest is also an energetic structure, a body cavity capable of amplifying qi flow, and the site of the first external acupuncture points of both the Lung and Heart meridians. Used in taiji and various qigong practices, it is the region that connects the left and right side channels from the torso to the arms.
The Kwa is located where each leg joins the torso, deep within the center of the inguinal crease. The lower external border of the Kwa is the center of the inguinal crease, while the upper border is below and deep to the outer edges of the pubic bone (Fig G-1B on previous page). As in the Shoulder’s Nests, the Kwa is the anatomical site of many lymph nodes and vessels, and veins and arteries. It is another primary energetic structure, a body cavity capable of greatly amplifying qi flow, and the region where the side channels connect from the torso to the legs.
The line between the left Shoulder’s Nest and left Kwa delineates the left channel within the torso, while the line between the right Shoulder’s Nest and right Kwa delineates the Right Channel (Fig G-1C on previous page). Note that they are not often completely parallel lines, as an individual may have wide shoulder and narrow hips, narrow shoulders and wide hips, and a range of variability between those extremes. These two side channels and a third central channel are used in various energy practices, martial and medical arts, and are the Core Channels from which the regular acupuncture meridians arise.
One of the most energetically sensitive regions of the body is a palm point called Laogong, used in sensing, absorbing, and projecting qi in various qigong, medical, and martial practices. As it is the eighth point on the Pericardium meridian, it is also called Pericardium 8, or simply P8. When you make a soft fist, the point is located where the tip of the ring finger touches your palm, near the center of your palm (Fig G-2).
Figure G-2 (Energetic Anatomy:
Figure G-3 (Energetic Anatomy:A corresponding point is found on the sole of the foot, on the centerline just below the ball of the foot (Fig G-3 on previous page). This is called Yongquan, or the Bubbling Well point. Since it’s the first point on the Kidney meridian, it’s also called Kidney 1 or simply K1. Most people do not actively sense with their feet, but this is also a very energetically sensitive point, and is used most to open and activate the Kidney meridian, and to draw earth qi up into the body, although with practice qi may be equally projected from this point. As the first point on the Kidney meridian, it governs all the ascending flows of qi in the body. Laogong and Yongquan are used in many of the Chinese self-care exercises for their energetic value. It is recommended that you become familiar with them, so that you can easily locate and use them when referred to in the exercise instructions.
Ershiduanjin
Five Element/Five Phase
Over the millennia, many philosophical systems evolved through which Chinese medicine and related healing, martial, and spiritual arts have been viewed and practiced. One of the oldest, and possibly the most purely Daoist, is the Five Element or Five Phase approach.
The Chinese five elements—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water—represent unique energetic qualities and derive from observations of the natural transitions in energetic states over time, from the hours of the day to the seasons of the year, through the twelve-year cycle of the Chinese zodiacal/astrological calendar. In the most comprehensive reckonings, each element has nearly forty attributes assigned to it.
The number twelve fits into the Five Element configuration when we take into account that Fire has a subdivision, Supplemental Fire, giving a sort of “sixth element,” and each element has a yin and yang aspect, yielding twelve distinct energetic parts. Within the body, each part has an associated organ with its accompanying meridian, accounting for the twelve regular meridians. Every day, each organ/meridian system has a two hour period of ascendancy, when its qi is most abundant within the twenty-four-hour-hour daily cycle.
There are also associated Five Element directions: North (Water), South (Fire), East (Wood), and West (Metal), and they have related energetic qualities. The Earth element occupies either the center position, or a small transitional slice between each of the cardinal points, depending on the chosen Five Element application. This reflects the understanding that Earth Element practices are either centering and grounding, or harmonizing and unifying, often doing both simultaneously.
In classic Five Element acupuncture, sixty points are selected for primary use from among the 360 or so commonly used in other systems, with five points, one associated with each element, on each of the twelve regular meridians. Those points are located between the elbow and fingertips, and between the knee and tips of the toes. This is because in certain periods of Chinese history, it was considered improper for a noblewoman to expose any more of her body than that, even to a physician, so an effective acupuncture system had to be developed for use within those strictures. There are other points in the forearms and lower leg available to Five Element (and other) acupuncturists, and contemporary Five Element acupuncturists will sometimes use more than those points too, but those sixty have a special prominence within that system.
As elegant as the Five Element system is, its complexities are beyond what’s needed for you to benefit from these exercises. In this book, the classic Five Element points are used in a variety of exercises, and their characteristics and functions will be described within the context of each exercise. Their names, from fingertips to elbow and from toe tips to knees, are Jing Well, Ying Spring, Shu Stream, Jing River, and He Sea. Just as water increases in volume and power from Well to Sea, the qi in your body similarly grows, from the extremities to the knees and elbows.
Focused Breathing
Focused Breathing is an introductory stage of the breathing practices found in qigong, meditation, and some styles of yoga. It can be used as a stand-alone approach to improve health, longevity, and self-awareness. One translation of qi is “breath.” This indicates that the movement, quality, and acquisition of qi is associated with breath, so there is an energetic aspect to Focused Breathing even in the introductory stages.
Focused Breathing as it is used here means putting some of your attention on your breathing, for a few different purposes. You may use your attention to direct the energy of your breath to a particular body part, including the internal organs, to get that body part to release held tension, relax, and become more open. You can use your attention to increase the volume and slow the rate of your overall breath, in order to help calm your nervous system. Finally, you can focus on the rate, rhythm, and quality of your breath to quiet your mind and enter into a light meditative state. In all aspects of Focused Breathing, your emotions are affected and will become more balanced and even.
Kwa
See Energetic Anatomy.
Laogong
See Energetic Anatomy.
Meridian, Channel, and Muscle-Tendon (M-T) Meridian
Meridians or Channels are the primary energy pathways through which qi circulates, similar to the way blood vessels are the primary pathways for circulating blood. The words meridian and channel are used interchangeably.
The twelve main meridians connect with and directly influence the functions of all the internal organs. There are discrete points along those meridians, which are the points an acupuncturist will needle to influence qi flow and restore the body to a harmonious, balanced state of health. Pressure or other stimulation applied to those points will similarly influence qi flow and health, and are used in some of the exercises found here.
Overlaying the regular meridians are the muscle-tendon (M-T) meridians. They follow the same basic pathway as the regular meridians, but are broader and more superficial. As their name implies, they most affect the health of the muscles and tendons. Any focused stretch will directly influence the M-T meridians, and by extension, the underlying regular meridians. While it is most common to treat the regular meridians, the M-T meridians are frequently palpated diagnostically (especially to find ahshi points, or points of painful obstruction) and treated directly in sports and orthopedic acupuncture. All of the stretches in this book influence the M-T meridians.
Neigong
See Qigong, Neigong.
Paidagong and Vibration Practices
The main purpose of paidagong and other vibration-style techniques is to break up small and large regions of qi stagnation and obstruction in both body tissues and energy pathways. That frees up bound energy so that the usable portion may be made accessible and diverted back into healthful purposes, while the unusable pathogenic qi can be released out of the body. In that way, pain is reduced, functionality is improved, and a person will feel energized by having access to more usable qi. When combined with other practices such as daoyin, the obstructed qi that was broken up can be quickly moved out of that location, greatly minimizing the possibility that the pocket of stagnation will simply re-form.
While not a hard and fast rule in practice, the main distinction between paidagong and other vibrational practices is that paidagong—tapping and patting on various body parts—can have a narrower focus, creating vibrational energy through a smaller, targeted body part; other vibrational practices are broader, creating vibrational waves through one or more limbs simultaneously or through the entire body all at once. Otherwise, their underlying principles, purposes, and outcomes are nearly identical. Light and sound are other types of vibrational energies able to be used therapeutically, but their applications are outside of the scope of this book.
Vibration is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Chen style taiji, perhaps the oldest, original form of that martial art. Vibration is integral to the way qi is moved and directed in that form. In contrast, most other forms of taiji, including the popular Yang style, utilize smooth, flowing, and continuous movements exclusively.
As a side note, some alternative Western medical practices recognize qi stagnation and obstruction as the root cause of many diseases, even if their terminology is somewhat different. In Zero Balancing (ZB), created by acupuncturist and osteopath Fritz Smith, MD, “standing wave forms” may be identified and released to restore healthful balance in a patient, while in Craniosacral therapy (CST), created by osteopath John Upledger, DO, OMM, “energy cysts” are similarly identified and treated. (Some of these are related to the “ah shi” points introduced with M-T meridians above, since both can be found on or off of acupuncture meridians. Ah shi points are always painful when pressure is applied to them, though, while standing wave forms and energy cysts may or may not be obviously painful.) While neither ZB nor CST use paidagong, each has its own methods of inducing energetic movement to break up those regions of qi stagnation and obstruction.
Energy can become obstructed from numerous causes, including prolonged emotional states, environmental factors, poor diet, and as side effects of many medications and recreational drugs. Perhaps the most common way, and easiest for most Westerners to understand, is from traumatic injury. The energy of the trauma may cleanly pass through the person entirely, but damage some physical tissue along the way, breaking bones or causing bruising. Almost any physical injury will cause Blood Stasis, a reduction or cessation of blood flow either within a blood vessel or when extravasated, pooling outside a blood vessel, with either accompanying overt visible bruising or microtrauma with no observable bruise. There is always qi stagnation where there is Blood Stasis. Conversely, some or most of that traumatic energy may lodge in the body and cause progressively worsening health.
In the point-strike martial art of dim mak, one method the martial artist learns is to strike in such a way that the energy of the strike does not pass through the opponent, as is more common in most martial arts, but rather lodges within the opponent’s body, creating pockets of qi stagnation. This can be particularly incapacitating when striking a targeted acupuncture point or sensitive internal organ. The internal damage from such a strike increases over time, often very rapidly. Among the many rumors surrounding Bruce Lee’s death, is the speculation that this was truly responsible for killing the famous martial artist, who died at age 32, just weeks after receiving such a strike from an angry martial artist. Even in a person who never practices a martial art, the energy from any traumatic injury or other causes cited in the previous paragraph may similarly lodge in their body and cause lingering pain and increasing debility, unless properly treated.
Qi
The word qi (pronounced “chee”) was formerly, and is sometimes still, seen transliterated into English as ch’i or chi. With or without the apostrophe, they are two different words, with different meanings, that have occasionally been incorrectly used to mean the same thing. The spelling “qi” eliminates that confusion. It is most simply translated as “energy,” but has many more, broader, implications.
Qi is both the most fundamental substance and the motivational force underlying everything in existence. This is very similar to the Western physics understanding of a photon, which exists as both a particle (substance) and a wave (a state of energy). The Chinese use the word in many contexts. For example, it may be used to refer to an attribute of changing weather patterns (weather qi), emotional states (emotion qi), and when referring to air itself, as in “pumping qi into a tire.”
For the purposes of health and functionality, regarding qi within the body we’ll use the understandings of it as “vitality,” “life energy,” or “life force,” as qi is what animates us, gives us drive, will, awareness, and intellect. In this book, “qi” and “energy” are frequently used interchangeably.
“Breath” is another possible translation for qi, which is why the word “qigong” is sometimes interpreted as “breathing exercises.” Since breath involves the inhalation of air, and is necessary for life, we can see the associations of life and air with that interpretation. So, while ordinary breath is only a partial aspect of qi, and breathing is only one component of qigong, some attention to breath is necessary in any health-building practice. Focused Breathing is included in this book for just that reason, as a means to facilitate and increase the benefits of any exercise in which it is used.
Within the body, qi may stagnate or become obstructed, run counter to its normal trajectory, become deficient or excessive, and exhibit other deviations that will cause specific pathological symptoms.
The word qigong is made from combining two separate Chinese words, qi and gong. Qi has been described above. Gong is commonly translated as “practice,” more fully understood to mean “effort put into any discipline over a period of time to achieve a desired result.” This understanding of practice is similar to the way we might use the word to mean practicing a musical instrument, or setting up a medical practice. Both require investing a substantial amount of time in order to gain the necessary skill to achieve some degree of accomplishment. So qigong may be defined as “putting effort into working with your life energy over a period of time, in order to acquire more of it, keep it moving freely, and direct it at will to where it’s most needed to ensure health and vitality.”
The word nei means “inner” or “internal.” Neigong works with physical and energetic structures deep within the body, which are capable of greatly amplifying qi flow. Along the continuum of qi practices, most neigong is more advanced than practices that are identified as qigong.
There are no true qigong or neigong practices taught in this book, but they are referred to at times as supplementary information for people who already have such training and practice, and to introduce a clear understanding of those things for people unfamiliar with them. Some of these exercises, when performed slowly with attention to even more careful and specific body movements, and with more focus on breathing, keeping a quiet mind, and sensing and moving qi, either are or can be practiced as a qigong. For example, done in such a way, the Shoulder/Arm Windmill exercise found in chapter 5 is used to bring Yin qi from the earth up the center of the body, and Yang qi from the sky down the sides of the body, and vice versa. Qigong is not simply a matter of performing the movement itself. In this book, only the easiest version of a practice is taught, so that everyone may benefit equally in the manner described for each exercise.
On the whole, qigong of any sort is frequently simple on the surface, but to gain all its benefit, a considerable amount of time and effort needs to be invested in study and practice. In fact, a sequence of one or two to six or eight movements, common in most qigongs, really needs to be studied under the guidance of an experienced teacher many times, in regular weekly classes that may last for months or longer, or in retreat/workshops for a few full days to a few weeks at a time to layer in all the deeper energetic aspects of a true qigong, and practiced for many months or years to embody each part before the next one can be added in. This is one main reason why qigong can seldom be effectively learned from a book or video format.
At this point it will be helpful to make some distinctions between qigong and Chinese self-care exercises. While all qigong practiced for oneself is self-care, self-care exercises are not qigong. Of those that are sometimes taught as qigong, none are truly complete qigongs. One could make the argument that anything that influences qi is a qigong, but that’s not the case. Qigong practices are very specific things, with specific criteria, including among other things the coordinated regulation of the body, breath, and mind, leading to the direct, conscious regulation of qi.
This is not to say that there is no energetic benefit coupled with the physical benefit from these self-care practices. Acupuncture, acupressure, and Shiatsu all influence the body’s qi in positive, health-building ways, yet no one refers to them as qigong. It’s also not meant to diminish the value of these exercises in any way. In fact, their relative simplicity and effectiveness is exactly why I gathered and organized them in this book. The distinction is made only for the purpose of clarification, so that you have a better understanding of what you are learning here, and how that may be distinguished from qigong should you decide to learn that further down the road.
Rotational Stretch
The main purpose of Rotational Stretch is to provide more planes of motion through the stretched body part, creating both physical and energetic openness along many more pathways and trajectories than is possible in a linear stretch alone. This provides a much greater opportunity for healing an injured body part, and for increasing overall functionality to reduce the likelihood of injury in the first place.
In an active linear stretch, when one muscle contracts, its antagonistic muscle (the muscle that performs the opposite action) will then be stretched. For example, when a bicep contracts in a flex, bending your elbow, the tricep will be stretched. When the tricep contracts, straightening your elbow, the bicep will be stretched. Another variation of the active stretch is achieved by using one body part to actively stretch another, as when you sit on the floor, extend your legs, grab your ankles or your feet with both hands, and pull to stretch your low back and hamstring muscles.
In a passive linear stretch, body weight and gravity are used, and no muscle needs to actively contract to perform the stretch, as in a common standing toe touch. In this case, though, the stretched muscles will need to contract in order to return you to an upright position. A linear stretch is sometimes the most desirable, effectively targeting the involved body part in the most advantageous way. Many are included in this book.
In a Rotational Stretch, the linear lengthening of muscle tissue will always be accompanied by a gently wringing twist of those muscle tissues around bone. The action of the involved muscles will be like a corkscrew, the uncoiling or the winding up of a spring, or like the perceived spiral of the stripe rising up an old-fashioned barber shop pole which exhibits no obvious lengthening, depending on the type of Rotational Stretch. In some cases, as in the Rotational Stretches used in the advanced practice of neigong, there may be no obvious, outwardly observable linear lengthening, and the lengthening will only be internal. Similarly, there may be no observable Rotational Stretch, which will nevertheless be happening internally. In this book, the external lengthening is always present in an observable Rotational Stretch.
Rotational stretches are found in the practice of Wu style taiji and are used extensively in bagua. They are one important way those practices strongly open a body physically, increase energetic capacity, improve health, and promote longevity.
Shoulder’s Nest
See Energetic Anatomy.
Yongquan
See Energetic Anatomy.