Thursday, June 03, 2021

Swinging Arms Qigong Exercises


Swinging Arms Qigong Exercises

A hypertext notebook by Michael Garofalo


"Swinging Warm Up:  Stand with your feet comfortably apart, knees softly flexed. Relax your arms at the shoulders. Gently swing from side to side. In swinging to one side, your knees will bend deeper; on reaching the side as far as you can twist, your knees should straighten again, but not to a locked position. While swinging, swing your arms loosely so that one arm swings behind, tapping the opposite hip while the other arm swings up and across the body, tapping the opposite shoulder. So in swinging to the right side, the right arm swings behind and the left arm swings up and across.  Now repeat the swing to the opposite side, remembering to bend and straighten the knees. This will generate energy and help it to flow throughout the body. The light taps are to stimulate meridian points."
-  Linda DonohueQigong Energy Exercises 

 

"Swinging arms, or ba bi, works on the principle that swinging the arms stimulates the Qi channels in the shoulder joint joints, arms and hands; the increased flow of Qi in the arms spreads to the rest of the body, producing a generally beneficial effect, but being particularly good for heart trouble, nervous disorders and certain types of cancer. In addition, the arms become loose and free, helping to make our Aikido more relaxed and effective. Essani incorporates these ideas and practices into his Aikido system, insisting that his Aikido is also a means of promoting and maintaining a healthy mind and body."
- Nick Waites, Aikido, Iron Balls, and Elbow Power, 2008


"One exercise that is gaining popularity for patients with type 2 diabetes is arm swing exercise. One study showed that doing arm swing exercises lowers blood glucose levels. Arm swing exercises are modeled after tai chi movements. They are sometimes called tai chi arm swing exercises. These are traditional Chinese arm exercises. The effect of arm swing exercises on type 2 diabetes is twofold. First, the exercises lower blood sugar levels. Second, they increase the activity of insulin receptor cells. For diabetic patients who can withstand more activity, tai chi classes showed improvement in blood pressure, fasting blood glucose levels, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Another study showed that balance and diabetic neuropathy, nerve damage, of the feet improved in elderly patients with diabetes who participated in tai chi exercises."
- Arm Swing Exercises for Type 2 Diabetics


"Dynamic stretching is a technique gaining in popularity due to recent studies which show that traditional static stretching techniques do little to increase flexibility or reduce injury when performed before a workout. In fact, many studies show that static stretches actually have a detrimental effect on explosive movements and strength output. There are two types of flexibility receptors, a static receptor, which measures magnitude and a dynamic receptor, which measure speed and magnitude. As one would expect, dynamic activities that require movement, such as running , jumping, or kicking use the dynamic receptor to limit flexibility. Therefore, a dynamic stretch that stresses the dynamic receptor is more beneficial when preparing for a warm-up when performing a dynamic activity. Dynamic stretching also includes constant motion throughout the warm-up, which maintains the core body temperature, whereas static stretching can see a drop in temperature of several degrees. Another benefit of dynamic stretching is that it prepares the muscles and joints in a more specific manner since the body is going through motions it will likely repeat in the workout. It also helps the nervous system and motor ability since dynamic motions do more to develop those areas than static stretches. It is important to note that although many studies show the lack of benefit of static stretching before a workout, there is still much data to support the benefits of static stretching after a workout. Dynamic stretching works by the practitioner gently propelling their muscles towards their maximum range of motion. It is very important to note the practitioner should not use jerky, forced movements to try to increase the range of motion beyond what is comfortable as it can easily cause injury. In general the practitioner wants to move the muscle into stretches in a similar way to how they’re going to move them in a workout. For example a martial arts practitioner who wants to stretch a hamstring for a kick may swing a straight leg forward to gradually increase the height they can obtain. Doing light kicks, with little explosive acceleration, while gradually increasing height, could also be considered a dynamic stretch."
- Dynamic Stretching



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