QI GONG TIPS

Big Bear Turning Side to Side

This exercise is focused primarily on exercising the waist and surrounding core muscle groups. It uses the "horse stance", one that is good for strengthening and conditioning the lower back and leg muscles as well. It is possible to gain some cardiovascular improvement from this exercise due to the effort that is exerted, especially as you are able to grow in the number of repetitions performed. You will also feel some burn in your triceps and upper back muscle groups during part of the motion. The stretching motion helps to return the spine to its natural alignment as well.

Chinese medicine practitioners believe that this exercise will help the heart. They consider there to be an excess of ‘burn’ around the heart and lungs, and that this exercise will help the body to balance the heat and energy of the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems. If you have any concerns with high blood pressure, be sure that you do not lower your head past your waistline. Also, if you have problems with your hips or lower back, be sure that you do not stretch so far as to aggravate those areas.

Move from the starting ‘wu ji’ position into a ‘horse stance’ by lifting your left foot and moving it to the left side until it is slightly further than shoulders’ width apart from the right foot. Balance your body weight evenly across both feet and be sure that they are pointing directly ahead. Now slowly and gently bend at the knees into a type of ‘squatting’ position. If you can’t bend very deeply, that’s perfectly fine – just go as far as you possibly can. Move your hands as you bend so that the palms rest on the outside of your hips with your elbows pointing out at right angles to your knees.

The second part of the motion is to rotate and bend the torso. From the squatting position, slowly turn at the waist so that your chest is facing to the right, but keep your head facing forward. Now bend towards the right at the waist and turn the torso back to the center. Continue the path of motion until you end up erect, facing to the left. You are creating a swinging motion of the torso. As you swing to the right, your left knee will bend slightly more. And as you swing to the left, your right knee will bend slightly more. Your head and shoulders should be the furthest forward and at the lowest point when you are in the center of the swing, and at the highest point when you are at the furthest point of the swing to either the right or left.

Your elbows should remain at a perpendicular angle to the torso as you swing. Breathe in as you face the sides and breathe out as you bend down towards the middle. The further that you can bend, the more that you are working your muscles, but getting the full range of motion will take time.

James Chen

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