Five Animals Qigong
Introduction
The physical exercise chart; a painting on silk depicting the practice of daoyin; unearthed in 1973 in Hunan Province, China, from the 2nd-century BC Western Han burial site of Mawangdui Han tombs site, Tomb Number 3.
I have covered Qigong before in this post - https://www.blackwatertaichi.com/blog/eight-pieces-of-brocade.
Stepping back, it’s worth quickly taking a higher level view of what Qigong is…
Qigong (/ˈtʃiːˈɡɒŋ/),is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mythical life-force qi.
Qigong practice typically involves moving meditation, coordinating slow-flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a calm meditative state of mind. People practice qigong throughout China and worldwide for recreation, exercise, relaxation, preventive medicine, self-healing, alternative medicine, meditation, self-cultivation, and training for martial arts.
Qigong is a core part of the Wutan syllabus, but Five Animals is not specifically covered. I address it here for the interest of readers.
A short abridged overview.…
The "Five Animal play" (五禽戲, Wuqinxi) are a set of qigong exercises developed during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Some claim the author of this qigong sequence to be Hua Tuo, however Yang Jwing-Ming suggests it was the Taoist Master Jiun Chiam and Huatuo merely perfected its application and passed it onto gifted disciples including Wu Pu, Fan E, and Li Dangzhi.
The five animals in the exercises are the tiger, deer, bear, monkey and crane. According to TCM theory of Wu Xing (Five Elements), each animal has two exercises corresponding to the yin and yang internal organs (Zang-fu). Regular practise of this qigong is said to improve functioning of the Liver/Gall Bladder (Wood Element – tiger), Kidneys/Bladder (Water Element – deer), Spleen/Stomach (Earth Element – bear), Heart/Small Intestine (Fire Element – monkey) and Lung/Large Intestine (Metal Element – crane) respectively.
The summaries below focus on and address only the physical movements and omit the detailed descriptions found in the Wikipedia links.
The Animals
Tiger
…reaching up to bring down Heaven and reaching down to draw up Earth grasping is encouraged; which relates to sinews and therefore the liver.……This is then completed with a slow 'stalking' forward bend and sudden shout (release of anger) as the Tiger catches its prey with vigor while standing on one leg, to stretch the sinews…..
Deer
By twisting the torso, the energy of one kidney is opened while the other is closed…… The hand gesture replicating horns……as we turn to look at the back heel…..
Bear
It starts off with circular abdominal massage to aid digestion…..using the entire upper torso to move the hands. The arms are then poised to open and stretch the armpit …… by stretching the flanks. The palms are empty…..as the hip is raised to shift the leg forward while keeping the knee straight. The swinging torso and heavy step activates [the] kidney…
Monkey
the monkey is forever moving…….suddenly lifting the hands with hook palms up towards the chest, the shoulders towards the ears and balancing on the toes with the monkey looking to the side….as you release down again. The second part……(moving the branch) to grasp the peach (fruit of heaven) with the thumb inside of the palm…..while…lifting…the back heel ……the peach is then brought into view but is too heavy and must be supported as the monkey enjoys his find and soon to be "treat".
Crane
The shoulders are raised and squeezed into the neck….while the arms are brought up to mimic a beak and the tailbone is thrust out. The arms are brought back along with one leg to mimic gliding.……The final stretch upwards on one leg stretches the flanks…..
Various examples from a range of traditions
Lastly, I am including this example from the Wudang school. This version is different to the others as he does Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, Snake and Crane (no deer, no monkey). It’s also extremely athletic! Something to aspire to 😄
