Health Qigong Five Animals Exercises

Many people may not have heard of the name of this aerobics, but the Five Animal Exercises of Qigong has been very popular among the elderly in recent years. Because this fitness method is very helpful for physical health, some elderly people will have the habit of morning exercises after retirement. The Five Animal Exercises of Qigong is a good choice. If you are interested in learning more, you can read on.

Nowadays, life is all about study and work. If you have time, you must do some exercise. However, the elderly are not suitable for doing some strenuous exercise. Therefore, the Health-preserving Qigong Five Animal Exercises is a very suitable method for the elderly to exercise.

Practice Explanation

The spine is the backbone of the human body and the main support of the torso. The upper part of the spine is connected to the upper limbs through the shoulder joint, and the lower part is connected to the pelvis through the lumbar sacral joint. The pelvis is connected to the lower limbs through the hip joints formed by the two thickest femurs of the human body. Therefore, "when the spine moves, the whole body moves." It can be seen that paying attention to spinal movement is of great significance to improving fitness effects. This article intends to analyze the movements of Health Qigong Wu Qin Xi from the perspective of spinal movement, so that practitioners can better understand the connotation of the exercises.

1. Start with breathing exercises

The purpose of practicing the starting position and regulating breathing movements is to adjust the breathing, relax the body, and prepare for practicing the exercises. The key point of this movement is to be relaxed and sink. After standing with the feet apart and before raising the hands, the body has a downward and relaxing movement. The essence of relaxation and sinking is the slight flexion of the spine and the slight forward tilt of the pelvis, while the two knees are slightly bent. The key to achieving relaxation and sinking is to pay attention to relaxing the shoulder joints, that is, "sinking shoulders and dropping elbows". The second is flexibility. When starting to regulate your breathing, lift and press your hands up and down. Avoid moving them straight up and down. Make sure you do it smoothly and naturally. When lifting up, on the basis of relaxation and sinking, slightly extend the knees and hips to tilt the pelvis slightly backward; when the hands are lifted up and close to the chest height, extend the waist and chest, expand the thorax slightly, and at the same time, lift the hands up and bring them inward, so that the hands naturally draw an arc at the "turning point" of lifting and bringing them inward.

2. Tiger Play

1. Tiger Lift

The "Tiger Raise" exercise is the process of the spine moving from flexion to extension, and then from extension to flexion. "The alternation of tension and relaxation in civil and military affairs" and "first suppress before promoting" are all traditional Chinese philosophies of contradiction. In order to achieve the spine extension movement of "lifting the chest and tightening the abdomen" when raising both hands, you must first have the spine flexion movement of "holding the chest and relaxing the waist". Therefore, the posture of "Tiger Raise" after grasping with both hands should be "slightly flexing the spine, retracting the hips (i.e. tilting the pelvis forward), and looking down at the hands", which is a spinal flexion movement. Raise both fists, and then change them into palms in front of the chest, and lift both palms upward. The whole movement process is the process of gradually straightening the spine from flexion to extension.

2. Hupu

The forward lunging movement in "Tiger Pounce" is a spinal extension movement with maximum capacity while the body is bent forward. The movement requires you to raise your head, bend your waist, lift your tailbone, and push your hands forward as far as possible. Imagine that you are standing upright and doing the torso movement of "tiger pounce", then the movement of extending the spine is easy to understand - head and chest out, stretch your waist and hips (posterior pelvic tilt), and raise your hands. This movement involves bending the trunk forward and then extending it, which increases the load on the waist and back muscles and exercises the muscles of the waist and back.

3. Deer Play

1. Deer

"Deer Butt" imitates the action of deer using their "antlers" to rub against each other in play. The essence of the action is the lateral flexion and rotation of the spine, while the opposite side of the pelvis tilts forward and adducts. When the center of gravity moves forward into a lunge, the knee joints are pushed forward to fix the pelvis in a forward-tilted and adducted position. Then the waist and head are turned, and the spine is flexed laterally, which massages the internal organs on one side and stretches and lengthens the spine on the opposite side.

2. Deer Run

The entire movement of "Deer Run" is a process in which the spine goes from extension to flexion, and then from flexion to extension. When you do a lunge and bend your wrists, the spine is in a naturally relaxed state; when the center of gravity moves backward and the spine arches backward, the whole body extends the knees, buckles the hips (tilts the pelvis forward as much as possible), arches the waist (flexes the lumbar spine), tucks the chest (flexes the thoracic spine), buckles the shoulders, and then rotates the arms inward to transfer the strength of the waist and back to the fingertips, allowing the spine to be fully stretched and lengthened.

The above is an introduction to the health-preserving Qigong Five Animal Exercises. I believe many people will be very interested in this exercise after reading it. If young people have time, they can also learn this aerobics, because this aerobics can help the body to practice qi, which can help young people stay calm.