"5 loosening exercises"

[PingAnTu]

Has anyone ever heard of the "5 loosening exercises"? I trained in Taipei's New Park for a few months with a teacher that taught a series of exercises called "Song (relax) Shen (body) Wu Fa (5 ways). They were created by a master called Huang Shengxian who was a senior disciple of Cheng Man Ching. The story is that he went off to Malaysia to promote Taiji and came back to Taiwan 30 years later an incredible martial artist. I don't know that much about him but I've seen him in action on tape. Even at the end of his times -- he was really, really good.

After I came back to the states I did these every day for about two years. I've found them to be really good but I need to get back over there to get the advanced details. Now I only do them about 3 times a week.

The 5 exercises are supposed to distill the core principles of Taiji. It gives you a skill developing way to warm up. We used to do them every morning at 7:15am for about 20 or 30 minutes.