Simple chi kung / qi gong 5

the archer

quick drawings of my T’ai Chi teacher teaching the Short Form from 2000

Here is the last of the short chi kung exercises to add to the previous 4 and to make a little routine. The movement looks somewhat like drawing the string of a bow. We are not trying to impersonate that particular action, but instead, just get a lovely stretch across the upper body and good movement in the hip joints. You can do this for up to 5 minutes, then stand heel to heel for a moment afterwards to settle back into stillness (wuji).

The next post in September will be for a wonderful longer exercise called the Five Elements, which I have been looking forward to sharing.

After that, in October, there will be a post containing a complete set of all the exercises that you can just press ‘play’ on, and move along with me, until you can remember it all by yourself. I will record minimal verbal instructions at the start of each new exercise, and then continue quietly. You can also mute the video once you get the hang of it.

Then, you’ll have all the regular chi kung I teach publicly, I hope you enjoy it. People have said they find it both calming and enlivening, which is a common, yet paradoxical, aspect of many good forms of body and breath work, the world over.

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You can get in with me touch via the comments on the post if you have any queries, or send an email via Substack, just put ‘chi kung’ in the subject line, and I’ll answer as soon as I can. Later this year, I’ll arrange an open Zoom session for any paying subscribers to come along and do some chi kung with me. It’s lovely to do it in a group, even over Zoom, it turns out. If you want to know more about my T’ai Chi School, go to www.greatrivertaichi.com . If you want to learn T’ai Chi in person in London UK or on Zoom, go to The T’ai Chi Centre or drop me a line and I will put you in touch with my teacher, as I am currently on a sabbatical from teaching regular classes.

I am grateful to Kajedo Wanderer of the Findhorn Community for teaching me my first chi kung, including this one, in 1987. I have been practising ever since. Thanks very much for being a paying subscriber to Uncivil Savant, I really appreciate it.