Strength Movement Demonstration Step by Step

Strength movements are techniques students eager to learn. So whether students can go on learning depends on one’s demonstrating strength movement order. In teaching practice, we have beginners and those who want to improve skills. It’s a focus of considering both of their interests. I think, besides the above methods, it’s crucial to demonstrate strength movement. For example, in explaining Swaying like a bear in Wu Qin Xi, I regard to grab three main points in introducing Swaying like a bear, which is made up of hip raising, lunging, forward moving, and recoiling. Firstly in exercising bow step/ stance，it's required to shuffle your gravity, with torso and upper limbs moving. Also swing your shoulder downwards in the same direction, arm rotating in hip nearby. Palms outside, you swing to knees in front with body moving. Secondly in moving hands and arms inward, you shrink your muscles in waist in the same side and relax your shoulder. You should always lead your hands and arms moving in front by shoulder. Thirdly, hip is driven by waist, shoulder by hip, with shoulders leading hip. Pay attention to waist in the same side should sink and compact in doing leaning front and sitting back, with shoulder moving. This can massage viscera inside.

Appropriate Use of Kinesthesia Teaching

Many essentials of exercises in Health Qigong are very abstract. How to express these essentials clearly and make students understand them are key to teaching improvement. I think Kinesthesia teaching is a good way to solve this problem. For example, in explaining “Qi reserving in elixir field”, I ask them to put one hand on hypogastria and the other on chest, making them feel chest rising and head down on chest. Chest rising, our hands putting on chest can feel relaxing, hands on hypogastria swelling whether inspiration or expiration. Therefore, they can really experience qi in chest and abdomen rise and fall. As a result, they also learn the essentials of exercises. Again, in teaching the seizing the prey in Wu Qin Xi, I make them in pairs to push shoulders for each other, to experience the correct sense of waist collapsing, rump and hands stretching before and during seizing the prey.

  Teaching practice has proved that students can receive, learn and master essentials easily and their confidence and interests are enhanced after utilizing the above teaching methods.

Vivid and Appropriate Cases Selection

Vivid and appropriate examples can make students understand what teachers say, help to attract students’ attention. While improving students’ understanding, it narrows distance between teachers and students. For example, in introducing principles of Health Qigong ••Liu Zi Jue, I take one as an example. What is the activity in which many people gather in the street, shouting loudly as well as performing many movements? They smile, saying that is a parade, which is what we often do in France. I reply yes and ask them what their purpose is. Is it to call on people to support them? They nod. Yes! Health Qigong • Liu Zi Jue is to awaken different viscera and cells to operate, so as to keep healthy and dig up one’s potential, by means of six different pronunciations. This is similar to parade as for purpose and principles. This example listing narrows distance between us and makes students clear about rules of exercises.

Again, in regulating body movements, meridian and collateral in humans are stimulated to make them unblocked and blood and qi are circulating. This can help to cure diseases and strengthen our body. It is similar with a river, which will be blocked for flowing a long time. A flood will appear in a blocked river. Similarly, when blood vessel and median and collateral are blocked, you will feel uncomfortable and ill, namely no pain for unblock, pain for block in Chinese medicine. When your qi and blood stop flowing, you will die, breathing out your life. So how can we remove silt in river? One way is to build dike and add brake to increase water level pressure, opening brake after rising up to a certain extent to clear up silt with high pressure water. So Health Qigong plays the role of brake by regulating movements to median and collateral and qi and blood to help them unblocked.

Another example is that some patients recover through music. This is a different approach to Health Qigong • Liu Zi Jue but is equally satisfactory in results. Without doubt, such vivid and appropriate examples will make students understand Liu Zi Jue and arouse their interest in Health Qigong exercises.

（By Cui Jian）