Ba Duan Jin

Ba: eight, Duan: section, Jin: glossy treasure;

One of the four qigong practices included in Health Qigong. It is so named because it has eight routines. The movements are simpliest, easiest among the four health qigong practices. Because of this simplicity, it is often picked up as the first qigong for begginers.

Other names: Baduanjin, Eight Exellent Movements, Eight Section Brocade, Eight Brocade, Eight Brocade Exercise, The Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade Qigong,The Eight Treasures Dao-yin, The Eight Silken Movements Ch'i Kung.

Dan Tian

One of the most important area for Qi, the vital energy, to rest. It refers to the abdomenal area just about 4 centimeters bellow the navel. In Qigong practitioners are often required to keep their mind focusing on Dan Tian in order to lead Qi to the area.

Dao Yin

Refers to bodily movements, often cordinated with breathing.

Hard Qigong

Refers to various qigong forms that are practiced as martial art. It is believed that practicing these qigongs can lead to exceptional strength or other physical abilities.

Health Qigong

Qigong forms that are officially promoted by Chinese Health Qigong Associations (CHQA). There are curently four forms, namely Ba Duan Jin, Wu Qin Xi, Yi Jin Ying and Liu Zi Jue. These qigongs are designed for improving general health of those who practice them.

Liu Zi Jue

Liu: six, Zi: word, Jue: verse;

One of the four qigong practices included in Health Qigong. Six words are XU, HE, SI, HU, CHUI and XI. They are six ways of exhalation. Each exercise targets at one internal organ, XU spleen, HE heart, SI lung, XU liver, CHUI kidney and XI bladder.

Other names: Liuzijue, Six Routines, Six Sounds Approach to Qigong Breathing Exercises,the art of expiration in producing six different sounds

Medical Qigong

Qigong forms that are practiced for healing specific illness. There are two forms of practices. One generates internal Qi for self healing. The other generates or collect external Qi that can be direct by achieved practitioners to heal their patients.

Qigong

Qi or Chi: vital energy, live force, or simply air; Gong or Kung(): skill, power.

Art of generating and controling Qi, the vital energy through mind and body exercises. Practitioners generate and move this vital energy around body to regulate mind and body or to achieve exceptional physical abilities. There are numerous forms of Qigong. For instance, medical qigong, health qigong, hard qigong, soft qigong, Buddhist Qigong, Tao Qigong, Wudang Qigong and Shaolin Qigong.

Other names: Qi Gong, Chi Kung, Chi Gong

San Jiao or three Jiao

San Jiao is medical term in Chinese traditional medicine. it refers to three areas of human torso, upper Jiao, middle Jiao and lower Jiao. The upper Jiao is the area above the diaphram where heart and lung located. The middle Jiao refers to the area between the diaphram and the navel where liver, stomach and spleen are located. The Lower Jiao refers to the area bellow the navel where kidney and intestines are found. These areas are main focusing points for Qigong healing.

Other names: San Guan

San Tiao

San: three; Tiao(): train, adjust, regulate

San Tiao refers to the three means in Qigong and the traditional Chinese medicine to improve a person's condittion. The three means are training the mind, training body movements and training breathing. The mind, movement and breathing are three most important factors in Qigong practice. They may be trained separately but for the best result, the three must be synchronised.

Soft Qigong

Refers to forms of qigong that are practiced for mind and physical well being of practitioners or for healing. These qigong do not aimed at abtaining exception strength or other extreme physical abilities. Practices generally involve only slow, light movements or no movement at all. For these qigong mind control is usually considered more important than physical excercises.

Tai Ji

Tai: heigh, big, extreme; Ji: summit, the end

Tai Ji is a very important concept in traditional Chinese pholosophy. It refers to the early stage of the universe when it was just a mixed mass, no Yin or Yang (before the "big Bang"?). From this mass everything was created. Tai Ji Chuan is a set of slow moving exercises that are designed for improving health as well as for empowering practitioners for kung-fu fighting. It is named Tai Ji Chuan because it was initially invented and practiced by Taoists to whom Tai Ji was a very important idealogy. The symbol of Tai Ji is a circle with black and white parts symbolifying Yi and Yang, black is Yi and white is Yang.

Other names: Taiji, Tai chi, Taichi

Yi Jin Jing

Yi: change; Jin: tendon, ligaments; Jing: book, verse

One of the four qigong practices included in Health Qigong.

Other names: Yijinjing, Muscle/Tendon Change Classic, Muscle & Tendon Limbering Exercises.

Wu Qin Xi

Wu: five; Qin: birds, animals; Xi: play, show

One of the four qigong practices included in Health Qigong.As the name implied, this qigong mimics behaviors of five animals. The five animals are tiger, bear, monkey, deer and bird.

Other names: Wuqinxi, The Five Animal Sports Qigong, The Five Animal Qigong Exercise, Five Animal Frolics