Five Animal Frolics Qigong (Wu Qin Xi)

Repost from 2006:

Lately, I been working outdoors on gardening and home improvement projects in the cooler early morning; as well as practicing Taijiquan, Daoyin, the Tai Chi Kung Fu Fan, and cane forms. In the hot afternoon, I retreat indoors and read, write, and work on webpage development.

I have been steadily working on reorganizing, updating, and expanding my webpages on the Five Animal Frolics Qigong (Wu Qin Xi). I moved all the Wu Qin Xi webpages from the Cloud Hands website over to the Valley Spirit Qigong website.

The exercise set is considered to be Daoyin, or what is now called Qigong (Chi Kung). In this context, the word "Dao" means to guide, lead, show the way, slowly, inch by inch. The word "Yin" means to pull out, draw out, or stretch. So Daoyin are mind-body exercises that show us how to draw out the potential for diseases and restore an integrated or balanced state of well-being in body and mind.

Many people credit the famous Chinese physician, Hua Tuo (110-207 CE), with developing a popular Daoyin animal frolics set which consists of exercises based on the deer, crane, monkey, tiger, and bear. Hua Tuo's best student, Wu Pu, lived to be over 100, and wrote that Hua Tuo told him:

"Man's body must have exercise, but it should never be done to the point of exhaustion. By moving about briskly, digestion is improved, the blood vessels are opened, and illnesses are prevented. It is like a used doorstep which never rots. As far as Tao Yin (bending and stretching exercises) is concerned, we have the bear's neck, the crane's twist, and swaying the waist and moving the joints to promote long life. Now I have created the art called the Frolics of the Five Animals: the Tiger, the Deer, the Bear, the Monkey, and the Crane. It eliminates sickness, benefits the legs, and is also a form of Tao Yin. If you feel out of sorts, just practice one of my Frolics. A gentle sweat will exude, the complexion will become rosy; the body will feel light and you will want to eat."

The Animal Frolics Qigong (Daoyin, Chi Kung, Yangsheng) webpage development plan in 2009-2010 at the Cloud Hands website is: I intend to develop the webpages on the Animal Frolics Qigong in 2009-2010 in the following order: 1) June - August 2009: Animal Frolics Qigong and the Crane Frolic; 2) September - October: the Monkey Frolic; 3) November - December: the Tiger Frolic; 4) January - February 2010: the Bear Frolic; 5) March - April: the Deer Frolic; and 6) May - June: Dragon Qigong.

How the Five Animals are assigned to the Five Elements varies according to the "authority" consulted. I have used the following table of correspondences:

Bear Frolics Dao Yin, Exercise #1

1.  The Big Bear Turns from Side to Side

Movement Description of Big Bear Turns from Side to Side 

Face towards N12.  
Bent the upper torso down, flexing forward, keep the back straight and head up. 
Move the upper torso slowly towards the right side of E3.  Try to remain bent forward until you reach E3.
Keep your hands on your hips throughout this exercise. 
Gradually lift the head and torso until you are upright and the face and chest are facing towards E3. 
Your right elbow should be pointing towards S6 and your left elbow pointing towards N12. 
Gently turn the head only to the left and look towards N12. 
Gently bring the head back to face towards E3, the whole body is in an upright posture. 
Bend forward at the waist and draw the head and torso downward towards E3.

Move the upper body, flexed forward, from right side to the left side for 180 degrees, moving from E3 to W9. 
Gradually lift the head and torso until you are upright, and the face and chest are facing towards W9. 
Your right elbow should be pointing towards N12 and your left elbow pointing towards S6. 
Gently turn the head only to the right and look towards N12. 
Gently turn the head only back to the left, and W9.
Bend forward at the waist and draw the head and torso downward towards W9.
Move the upper body, flexed forward, from the left side to the right side for 180 degrees, moving from W9 to E3. 
Repeat the movement sequence from side to side, 3 to 8 eight repetitions. 

Breathe freely, comfortably, and deeply during this exercise. 

Return to Bear Spirit Posture or Wu Ji Stance. 

Compare this version of "Big Bear Turns from Side to Side" with the version in the Eight Section Brocade Qigong, and with the demonstration.   



Bear Frolic Qigong Exercise Set

Eight Animals Frolics Mind/Body Fitness Practices (Chi Kung) by Mike Garofalo

The webpages for the eight specific animals will also have photographs of me or others doing these exercises.  There are also five, eight or twelve animals in Shaolin Kung Fu, Ba Gua Zhang, Taijiquan, and Xing Yi Quan.  Movements or postures called a "crane" or "hawk" or "rooster" are found in most of these mind-body internal arts.   

Chinese exercises recommended for improving fitness, maintaining good health, overcoming diseases, increasing energy and vitality, contributing to good mental health, and improving one's chances for longevity have a very long documented history going back to as early as 160 BCE in the Daoyin Tu.      

Repost from June 4, 2013

Eight Animals Frolic Chi Kung Exercises

Eight Animals' Frolics Chi Kung Exercises
A webpage by Michael P. Garofalo

Five Animal Frolics Qigong (Wu Qin Xi)

Valley Spirit Qigong in Red Bluff, California

""Breathing in and out in various manners, spitting out the old and taking in the new, walking like a bear and stretching their neck like a bird to achieve longevity - this is what such practitioners of Daoyin, cultivators of the body and all those searching for long life like Ancestor Peng, enjoy."
-   Chuang-tzu, circa 300 BCE. (1)

 

There was a feudal lord, the Marquis of Dai (King Ma), who lived around 160 BCE during the Western Han Dynasty.  When the Marquis of Dai, his wife, and his son died, there were many objects placed in their family tomb as part of funeral rites and customs.  In 1973, archeologists in China excavated the family tomb of the Dai family on the outskirts of the city of Changsha in Hunan Province.  In the son's tomb they discovered a lacquered box containing medical manuals, documents, and a silk scroll on which were drawn 44 humans in various poses or postures.  Under each pose was a caption with the name of an animal or the name of a disease that the posture might help prevent or cure.  The chart or diagram (Tu) on this scroll shows Daoyin (Guiding/Leading Energy and Stretching/Pulling Out) exercises or poses.  A number of the postures shown on this Daoyin Tu closely resemble some in the Eight Section Brocade and in the Five Animal Frolics (i.e., the bear, monkey, and bird).  (2)

Improved artistic rendition of the Daoyin Tu, circa 160 BCE.

Another medical manuscript with Daoyin methods, the Yinshu (Stretch Book), dated at 186 BCE, related to the Daoyin Tu, describes 100 exercises, and gives advice on seasonal health regimens, hygiene, diet, disease prevention, sleep, and sexual behavior. (2)   We have ample evidence that Chinese physicians, and the aristocratic and wealthy classes of ancient Chinese society, had access to therapeutic and holistic exercise and massage methods (Daoyin) well before the advent of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE)."

Eight Animals' Frolics Chi Kung Exercises
Introduction to Animal Frolics by Michael P. Garofalo

Bear Frolic Qigong

I have practiced various versions of the Five Animal Frolics Qigong for a number of years.  There are many different versions of the Animal Frolics.  In the winter months I practice the Bear Frolic a bit more often.

The exercise set is considered to be Daoyin, or what is now called Qigong (Chi Kung). In this context, the word "Dao" means to guide, lead, show the way, slowly, inch by inch. The word "Yin" means to pull out, draw out, or stretch. So Daoyin are mind-body exercises that show us how to draw out the potential for diseases and restore an integrated or balanced state of well-being in body and mind.

Many people credit the famous Chinese physician, Hua Tuo (110-207 CE), with developing a popular Daoyin animal frolics set which consists of exercises based on the deer, crane, monkey, tiger, and bear. Hua Tuo's best student, Wu Pu, lived to be over 100, and wrote that Hua Tuo told him:

"Man's body must have exercise, but it should never be done to the point of exhaustion. By moving about briskly, digestion is improved, the blood vessels are opened, and illnesses are prevented. It is like a used doorstep which never rots. As far as Tao Yin (bending and stretching exercises) is concerned, we have the bear's neck, the crane's twist, and swaying the waist and moving the joints to promote long life. Now I have created the art called the Frolics of the Five Animals: the Tiger, the Deer, the Bear, the Monkey, and the Crane. It eliminates sickness, benefits the legs, and is also a form of Tao Yin. If you feel out of sorts, just practice one of my Frolics. A gentle sweat will exude, the complexion will become rosy; the body will feel light and you will want to eat."

 "In addition to the key points of Qigong exercise, the Frolics of the Five Animals require attention to the following points:
1.  Integration of Form and Mind
2.  Flexible and Circular Movement 
3.  Slow and Fast Movement  [The Bear's movement is slow and steady.]
4.  Heaviness, Stability and Subtlety 
5.  Softness and Toughness  
6.  Order of the Frolics  [The Bear movement is done first in the series: bear, deer, tiger, monkey, and crane.] 
7.  Coordination of Movements with Respiration 
8.  Three-way Stability 
9.  Preparation  
10.  Conscientiousness 
11.  Perseverance in Practice  
-   Jiao Guorui, Qigong Essentials for Health Promotion, 1988, pp. 193-195.  This is one of the earliest good English language texts on Qigong practices.   

Be sure to take a look at:

Bear Frolic.  UTube Video, 2:08 Min.  Performed by Anson Rathbone, 2007.  As taught by Deguang at NESA's Medical Qigong Class.  

Daoist Dragon Qigong

Taoist Dragon Qigong, Long Chi Kung
Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotes, Notes, Lore
By Mike Garofalo

Fire and Water, Yang and Yin, Male and Female, Tiger and Dragon;
Transforming, one into the other, as Summer into Winter, Day into Night;
Interpenetrating, evolving, changing, becoming, beginning-ending.
The Tai Chi, the Grand Ultimate, the Supreme Ultimate:
The Sacred Ridgepole,
With left and right, above and below, front and back.
Blue Dragons and White Tigers - endlessly.