five animals chi gung?

[spiraler]

i heard this exercise predates da mo's appearance at shaolin. does anybody do this exercise?if so, do you think you could shed some light on the subject? so sinking your mind to your dantien isnt chi gung? okay im confused, not like it matters, just a vague thought.

interested in any input.

[Three Harmonies]

I do a version (Five Animal Frolics) that is said to be created by Hua Tuo, but who the hell knows?? Other than that I know very little history wise, but good post!

Cheers
Jake

[Unfettered Palm]

I practice the 5 animals chi gung, but it of Wudang descent. I am sure many styles all have their own 5 Animals chi gung. I asked my master when it was created and who created it and he does not know. (Big thanks to the cultural revolution) Sinking your mind to your Dan tien is different then sending your Chi. your Chi is flowing through out your body at all times wether you realize it or not. the practice of chi gung and tai chi is to get you to control your chi and be aware of its presence. because your (lower) dan tien is the "center" of your body, it is where you want to send your mind. the first thing you will feel soften is your shoulders. the purpose of the 5 animals chi gung is to soften the body. we refer to it as a soft chi gong. after much practice you will gain more mobility in all parts of the body, upon the many health benefits of it. it is good for the kidney, lungs, heart, spleen, liver, blood and spine/neck.
If anyone is interested in learning this, let me know. I am available for seminars.
-Zi Zheng-
16th generation disciple of Wudang Shan

[spiraler]

i dont know anything about 5 animals chi gung, but im familiar with the da mo set of chi gung exercises, i found it in the ultimate martial arts encyclopedia, the author is wong,little. good source of general info, also has a couple pages by dr painter on nine dragons ba gua.

[Repulsive Monkey]

5 Animal Frolics was indeed founded by Hua To, and is considered by many to be the original Dao Yin set that precursored all other qi gongs.
However I think its probably fair to say that that was the first recorded mention of a qi gong set.
Qi has been around since the dawn of time and people's recognition of it under another name prehaps must of been known prior to Hua To aswell.

The 5 animal frolics depicts and exhibits 5 different qualities represented by 5 different animal based qualities.
From the health prespective they also co-ordinate with five main sets of organ functionality too, so it is a whole body exercise. For example the Bear qi-gong set emphasizes the Liver and the Crane the Lungs and Deer form is most famous for it Kidney strengthening aspects.

I myself have not learnt the entire sets of all 5 animals and mostly just practice Deer and Crane sets for their specific results.
Longer forms however like a Taiji Long set has the equivalent effect of doing all the animal forms together. So, as Taiji is a qi-gong too, it is down to preference as to what one wants to practice and develop.
I have studied a few qi-gongs but my heart remains with Yang style Taiji.

[jun_erh]

read the "I wrote a book " thread cuz that is what the nigga wrote about