Creating Joyous Practice with the Five Animal Frolics

Qigong is a unique & ancient Chinese exercise and healing system that allows you to enhance health & prevent illness by aligning the mind & body with Qi (“Chi”/Vital Energy).  Qi is the vital energy that we are born with, the energy that we receive into our body by the food we consume and through nature (e.g. the air we breathe). 

THE FIVE ANIMAL FROLICS

The 5 Animal Frolics (五禽戲, Wu Qin Xi) is a complete qigong system, and the most ancient qigong system still practiced today.  According to Kenneth Cohen, author of The Way of Qigong,”As story has it (Daoist Legend) Hua Tuo [110-207 AD/CE] received this text as well as instruction in Five Animals from two recluses living in a cave on Mount Gong Yi.”  The “more recent” teachers whom are credited with spreading qigong (and Five Animal Qigong, in particular) are Madame Guo Lin (1906-1984) and Feng Zhiqiang (who learned this from his teacher, Hu Yao-zhen)*.  The series of exercises that comprise the Five Animal Frolics not only help to keep the body sprightly and strong, but it engages both the mind and spirit as well.  The Five Animal Frolics helps to create depth to your practice by allowing your body to communicate in different ways.

“When you practice the animals, do not imitate the animals, become them!”

(Kenneth Cohen)

TIGER – Strong and ferocious, the tiger is skilled at pouncing and quick at snatching prey.  When practicing the tiger form, it is necessary to keep eyes alert and “paws” flexible at times and sometimes with great power at the fingertips.  [Organs: yin/Liver, yang/Gall Bladder]

DEER – Practicing deer play helps to develop grace and relaxation through stretching the legs and spine. [Organs: yin/Kidneys, yang/Bladder]

MONKEY – Practice the monkey form to develop suppleness and agility.  It is encouraged to not only do the large movements, but to squint and purse your face as a monkey would. [Organs: yin/Heart, yang/Sm. Intestines]

BEAR – Practice the movements of the bear to develop strength/power.  It fortifies the bones and develops energy in the kidneys, your fundamental source of vitality. [Organs: yin/Spleen, yang/Stomach]

CRANE – Light, agile and balance are qualities of the crane.  Becoming the crane, you stretch the ligaments and helps to release tension/compression in the spine. [Organs: yin/Lungs, yang/Lg. Intestines]

“Feeling is a language.  This language allows your body and mind to communicate.  But if you don’t pick up this feeling, the effectiveness of exercise becomes shallow.”

(Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming)

We encourage everyone to find the various movements/exercises of each animal that work for you.  Adding this to your training will keep you feeling young, invigorated, and well-balanced.  For more information on the Five Animal Frolics you can check out any of these suggested titles:  The Way of Qigong (K. Cohen), Five Animal Sport Qigong DVD (Dr. Yang), Five Animal Frolics Qigong (F. Fick) or Wu Qin Xi (Chinese Health Qigong Association).

Check out Master Jesse Tsao’s video for an introduction to Bear Play

*According to Kenneth Cohen, The Way of Qigong.

Informational sources:

Five Animal Sport Qigong (dvd), Master Jesse Tsao (Youtube Channel Videos), Wikipedia.org, The Way of Qigong (Cohen), Animal Frolics (Garofolo, Michael P.), Life Balance (Zhuang)

Related Articles

Standing Three Circle Qigong : Eli Montaigue

A Few Words : Master Chungliang, Al-Huang

Living 100 Years, Re-Learning to Breathe : Joyce

Martial Effectiveness of Wuji : Rodney Owen

Living 100 Years: Re-Learning to Breathe

The famous comedian George Burns was once asked, “What’s the secret of Life?” … of which he replied,

“Keep breathing.”

Wise words from a guy that reached the ripe ol’ age of 100 (and two months).

The word is Qi (pronounced “chee“).  We’ve heard it plenty… some of us have read up on it… but every one of us has experienced it [just most of us haven’t been aware of it]!

When I speak to youngsters about qi, I often allude to the Star Wars films in which George Lucas replaced “Qi” with “the Force.”  Qi is a term that means energy, or breath.  It is the prime-mover of our existence and permeates throughout the universe.

There are different types of “Qi Training” (called Qigong) such as: Buddhist Qigong, Taoist Qigong, Wushu Qigong and Medical Qigong.  Within these, the practitioner learns to harness and cultivate this energy for the purposes of: emitting, absorbing, cleansing, conditioning and healing. [Author’s note: Wushu Qigong should not be attempted without a qualified teacher. Practitioners should also have a basic understanding of qi and qigong training before wushu qigong is attempted].  And yes, there are even methods: Natural, Differential, Reversed, Dantian, Embryonic and “method of no-method.”  All have their benefits but it is the first, Natural Breathing Qigong, that we will focus on for purposes of “beginning at the root”, health and in developing a habit of “correct method.”

Breathing and its link to good health makes plenty of sense …for it’s the air we breathe, the oxygen that’s delivered to our cells and all the “energetics” at work that nurtures Life.  But it’s our awareness of our breath through both moving or non-moving activities that bolsters results.

• Awareness: Concentrating on the “breath in” and the “breath out” focuses our mind internally and removes us from outside thoughts and common distractions.  Thoughts will always enter-in (it is our nature as humans to think).  But just as ripples appear on a pond… let the mind return to calm and think back to the breath as it is drawn into the body and finds its rest in the lower abdomen.

A MYTH:  Healthy breathing does NOT mean expanding the chest and letting as much oxygen in as possible.  By doing so, oxygen restricts the hemoglobin molecules and less is released to the cells.

THINK QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. 

• Quality:  Soft. Quiet. Relaxed. Smooth… all of these should be words to describe how you are breathing.  As you breathe into your nostrils (at a relaxed, steady pace), imagine the breath going all the way down to your abdomen (aka. dantian).  By bringing your breath to your dantian, even smallest blood vessels will relax and open and will enrich your body with a greater flow of blood, oxygen and qi.
• Natural or Diaphragmatic breathing: Breathe through the nose at a soft and steady rate and bring the breathe to the abdomen.  Allow the abdomen to expand (by way of the breath, and not by your abdominal muscles pushing outwards).  As you breathe out, do so by breathing out through the nose and allow the abdomen to contract/go inward.
• Relax: This cannot be repeated enough.  The better you are at relaxing, the greater the benefits you will attain from your practice.  Bring your thoughts away from school, work or any other outside distractions.  If your thoughts drift… return back.  Over time, over practice… the “return” will be easier and easier.
• Posture:  There are many qigong postures and all of them will have to be adjusted slightly since we all are built differently.  I have 3 basic postures that I use and they are: standing, sitting and laying.  I use each of these postures throughout the day (as I am often in one of the 3 postures naturally).  For instructional purposes, a standing posture should be made with a straight spine, head erect, knees slightly bent, arms by your side and the tip of the tongue resting softly behind the roof of the mouth (behind the first two teeth).  For more on standing qigong, please check out Eli Montaigue’s Combative Corner contribution entitled, Three Circle Qigong.

Illustrations of qigong movements are helpful, however the mother of movement will always be stillness.  There are many great books that may help you to better understand qigong such as: Qigong Empowerment, by Master Shou-Yu Liang & Wen-Ching Wu and The Way of Qigong, by Kenneth Cohen… but the act of qigong is a relatively simple way to improves your health and longevity.  Time, patience, willpower and correct intention are the only requisites.

Michael Joyce

Original article posted, April 2008 at ChenCenter.Com

Us at the Combative Corner welcome your insights as well.  Here are just a few of the questions we’d like to know.  Please post your response in the comment section below.

• HAS QIGONG WORKED FOR YOU ?
• WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCES ?
• MIGHT YOU HAVE ANY WISDOM YOU’D LIKE TO IMPART ON US ?
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Standing Three Circle Qigong | Eli Montaigue

To me, standing Qigong is possibly the most important thing to start your journey in the internal martial arts.  And yet it the part most people spend the least time training in, because it’s too hard, and boring.  Whether you’re more interested in the healing or the martial side of the arts, standing Qigong is the place to start.

Everything else in your training, Tai Chi form, push hands, fighting form etc. will all be only external movements in the beginning.
You can not get internal Qi activation in these things until you have taking them to a high level, which takes many years for most.
Through that time, you’re working on perfecting the physical movements, gaining fitness flexibility and strength etc.

THE BEGINNING

Your Qigong however will start working on your Qi right from the start, as it’s just a stance, as long as you have someone put you in it right, then you’ll get Qi activation from it. Where is in forms etc it takes years to get right, and only then will you start to get some Qi flow.  Qi will also flow better the less active your mind is, so if you’re stressed out and thinking about loads of things, you won’t get the Qi flowing.
So again, with forms, if you’ve not perfected the movements, then you’ll be thinking about how to do them.  But with Qigong all you have to do is stand there, and so is much easier to get into a no mind state.
Your mind uses more Qi than just about anything else, so to switch it off means that all that Qi can be used to circulate through the body, cleansing and healing.

HOW IT WORKS (view picture below)

Standing Qigong works by having the knees bent, to create heat under the Dan Tien. This stimulates the Qi to rise up from the Dan Tien and flow through the body. The structure then held by the body and arms helps to open up the meridian Channels through out the body.  Qi is always flowing through your body, by doing Qigong we’re only opening up the channels and enhancing that flow.

The three main things standing Qigong will do for you, is to build, balance and unblock your Qi.  Most people will have some form of Yin or Yang imbalance. The Qigong stance is a physically perfect balance of left and right, and Yin and Yang.  So by holding it, your Qi will follow what you’re doing, and so it will re-balance to a normal level.  You may notice while standing, one hand might drop lower than the other, this is a left and right imbalance, so correct the physical, and your Qigong will follow.

Creating a higher than normal Qi flow, through bringing up Qi from your Dan Tien, and also from the earth, will one, fill your body with more Qi, so you will feel full of energy. And two, by doing this you will unblock your meridians.
Think of a blocked up hose, if it’s full of gunk, and you just let a bit of water trickle through it, the gunk will never clear.  But blast a high current of water through and all the gunk will be cleared.
So when you put a high current of Qi through your body, the same thing happens, you clear out the channels.  So in everyday life, you will have a smooth and clear flow of Qi through out your body.

This is why you shake when doing Qigong as a beginner – it is the Qi trying to break through the blocked areas.

HOW LONG AND WHEN TO PERFORM QIGONG

You should do your Qigong for at least 20 minutes morning and night for the first 5 years of your training.  When I got serious about my training at age 14, I would with out fail stand for at least 20 to 30 minutes morning and night till I was about 19.  From then I felt very balanced and strong, and my other training had come to a level where I was able to build Qi from it – But I still did my Qigong quite regularly.

Now, age 25, my form has become very internal, small frame, and I can get out of my form what I use to only get from my Qigong, and even more so, as moving Qigong such as the Tai Chi form is a higher level of Qigong.
But I still do my standing, as I feel it is such a great strength and Qi building method.

If you’re serious about your Internal energy development for what ever reason, get into standing three circle Qigong!

 WRITTEN BY: ELI MONTAIGUE.  (HEAD OF WTBA)

{visit the WTBA website by clicking pic below}

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Contact Us at : CombativeCorner@Gmail.Com

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A Day’s Lesson [9/14/2010] : Coach Joyce

A Jedi’s skill flows…

“When I envision a proper martial artist, behold! I see a Jedi warrior, someone who not only has discipline enough to stay the course of rigorous physical training but also [and not emphasized enough] the understanding that “The Force” (Chi, Qi, Ki) flows; as Master Yoda said, ‘Its energy surrounds us, and binds us.’  We should take a serious look into what energy we are fueling ourselves with these days.

In a very serious way, we ARE what we eat, and this should seriously concern us.  After recently becoming vegetarian (90-95% at least) you should see the looks I get when I tell people my new, (healthy) lifestyle.  You would think that I had said or done something horrible.  They turn away and say something like, ‘I don’t know how you do it’ or ‘I could never do that.’  They (the ‘Norms’) go around eating what they want, playing the slave to their taste buds, to those pleasure centers in their brain, and worse off… they are reenforced by a society that tells them that they are F.I.N.E.,… as if eating in this ‘normal way’ IS fine.

Many Americans (that I’ve witnessed) take pride in being different.  Just the other night at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), Lady Gaga walked out on stage in a dress made entirely of animal flesh.  Whether she was trying to make a statement or not, she did make headlines.  In many teenager’s minds ‘different’ is ‘creative.’  It IS if you’re already famous enough that people go along with it.  Many health conscious people can show you another way to be ‘different’… examples: turn your back on fast food establishments, nicotine, alcohol, meat… or maybe the entire lot!

Yoda also said that ‘We must unlearn what we have learned,’ and I think this is an important step for the true martial artist, someone who sees beyond what he can do (i.e. how much he/she can bench press) but moreso, what he/she is made of.  We all know (at least we should know) that energy, not protein and animal fat, powers our physical body and helps us to grow.  My message is to seek a Jedi’s nutition by exercising control (meats, refined sugars, saturated fats & portion size).  Going green should not just be a recycling movement… it should be a shift in our thinking.  Yoda is green for a reason (and he lived to be 900 years old).”

Coach Michael Joyce

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A Day’s Lesson [9/13/2010] : Sifu Lee

MARTIAL ARTS . . . . . .

“Martial Arts is essentially directing your energy in positive ways; that is the artistic part of it. The Martial aspect of Martial Art is violence, anger, aggression, and fighting.  A Martial Artist must have an element of control in which to direct his energies to better himself and the society around him. He does not take advantage of the weak though he is not weak himself.  He is a rare breed, an individual who is between the oppressors and the oppressed. He is not oppressed but yet he is not an oppressor, he is the one who protects the oppressed.  A Martial Artist has power but he does not abuse this power, he uses this power in positive ways to better himself and those around him.  There are many fighters in this world, but very few Martial Artists.”

Sifu Freddie Lee

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