This is my favorite exercise
I learned it with the older transliteration of "I Chin Ching"
The set I know consists of 49 postures done with hard chi breathing where you "hiss". It is good for health but also a very intense strength, flexibility, and balance workout. The first posture is the same as the one stated above, making fists. from there it goes into all sorts of difficult postures in which no part of the body is left out. To me it seems to be a blending of chinese hard chi kung with indian yoga, which fits in well with the story of its creation by Ta Mo. The way it works (supposedly) is by creating muscle tension in specific body parts, then using the breathing and concentration to send the chi there, where the tension traps it and causes it to build up progressively. Once you do all the postures every part of the body has been flooded with chi. Without even considering the chi aspect, its still an enormously difficult physical workout.
This is by far the most difficult exercise set I have ever come across. To do it properly with the correct number of breaths would take no less than 8 solid hours.
The benefits are many, including greatly increased strength, energy and endurance. If I could only do one exercise, this would be the one.
ok, you may commence the anti-shaolin-do rhetoric :)
Shaolin Yi Jin Jing 易筋經 : Fake or not Fake?
Shaolin Yi Jin Jing 易筋經 : Fake or not Fake?
One of the most argued about Qigong sets was always this set.
The common story is that the Yi Ji Jing (Muscle-Tendon Chang Classic) arose from Damo's (Bodhidharma) teachings.
Shaolin researcher, the late Shi De Qian in the Shaolin Encyclopedia said that this Damo origin story cannot be documented by historical record and nor can its authors or sources be substantiated.
Martial arts historian Tang Ha said that this story was first found in the preface of an 1875 edition of The Yi Jin Jing book by Surig Kuang-So called the Weisheng Yijinjing. In it, a first preface is said to have been written by Li Jing, a great military officer of the Tang Dynasty (618-906 A.D). It is dated the second year of the reign of Emperor Tai Zung of the Tang Dynasty (about 629 A.D). A second forward in this book claims to be written by General Niu Gao of the Song Dynasty.
All research so far by many people has shown these prefaces to be fake and full of erroneous information. (For example: in the first preface, Shaolin temple didn't even exist yet when it was claiming the date that Damo had created it! The second preface mentions a Qinzhong temple that wasn't even built yet till 20 years after the date it gives for itself!)
Shaolin researcher Matsuda Ryuchi found mention about the existence of a Yì Jīn Jīng only as far back as 1827. In the course of his research, Matsuda found no mention about Damo at all in any of the numerous texts written about the Shaolin martial arts before the 19th century. Thus, there were no mentions that he created any sets either.
But the actual movements themselves?
Historian Lin Boyuan attributes the Yì Jīn Jīng to a Taoist priest named Zining, writing in 1624.
So, I don't think the movements are fake as some people today claim (not the actual old time historians that researched this), just the prefatory information given in the book, which contradictorily claimed it to be a Taoist art that came from a Buddhist origination point. It seems that the movements existed way before this book came to be published.
There also are supposedly known to be the same physical movements in Qigong sets with different names written about from other time periods. I remember reading that the movements originally came from what farmers did in their daily chores, such as when constantly moving heavy rice bags using ergonomic movements without getting sore muscles.
I once saw a hand written book that was passed down for generations from Shaolin via (early 16th century) Yi Quan's lineage (which led to Choy Gar's founding) mention the Yijinjing type movements as being a "Luohan 12 section Brocade" Qi gong set.
Today, the definitive and respected version (for its therapeutic value) of the Yi Jin Jing is considered to be the 12 Posture Moving Exercise that a Wang Zuyuan learned at the Shaolin Temple. There are two anciently written and illustrated routines known of this Yi Jin Jing set, one from Chen Yi’s “A collection of Annals” published during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and another more recently published in 1882, from “Internal Work Illustrated”, which is that of Wang Zuyuan.
In practicing this set, Taoist neigong, and Indian Yoga, I find that although there is much from Taoist Daoyin that can be seen in the Yi Jin Jing, equally there are movements and postures that are very very close to Indian Yoga postures.
How they all got together, I don't know.