For many of us the word calisthenics brings back memories of middle school jumping jacks, duck walks around the gym, and leg stretches. These days many personal trainers prefer the term “warm-ups.” But most modern warm-ups only focus on the muscles and joints.
The use of calisthenics in China is thousands of years old and, like Tai Chi, the exercises are comprised of physical movements, timed breathing cycles, and visualization. This approach is holistic because it not only warms up your physical body, but also invigorates your intrinsic energy and rejuvenates your spirit.
In today’s video, Herb Borkland introduces you to an ancient Chinese health preservation calisthenic exercise that come from a practice known as Ba Duan Jin, or “Eight Pieces of Brocade.” It can relax your body, stretch your muscles, elongate your spine, and invigorate your energy.
The eight brocades…
The Ba Duan Jin health preservation exercise is an ancient form of calisthenics from China. It is comprised of a set of eight standing exercises and a set of eight seated exercises.
Today we will focus on the first exercise, known as “Two Hands Hold Up the Heavens” or “Two Hands Press the Sky.” This exercise is simple in its movements yet complex in its makeup. In terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it is said to stimulate the San Jiao (“Triple Warmer”), which is known today as the thoracic cavity. That means this simple exercise aids the heart, lungs, and liver, in addition to loosening the joints and elongating the spine.
Prepare to begin…
Before starting this exercise you want to begin the right frame of no-mind and as relaxed as possible. To do this:
- Stand with feet about a shoulder’s width apart.
- Close your eyes and relax with arms by your side.
- Try to quiet your mind by not focusing on any specific thought.
- Relax and take a few natural breaths to “cleanse” yourself of physical tension and mental chatter.
- Once you are able to feel a sense of relaxation, slowly intertwine your fingers, palms up.
(If this is uncomfortable you can place one hand on top of the other, or keep hands apart but with fingers pointing at each other.)
What to do…
- Raise your hands slowly upward together as if scooping up water from the ocean while also pulling the Earth’s energy up from the ground through your feet and legs.
- Inhale as your arms lift
- Keep your head forward but your sight loosely focused on your hands throughout. Your eyes follow your hands but your head remains still.
- When they reach about your sternum height you will slowly rotate them outward to upward.
- Exhale as your arms press
- Continue raising your hands above your head, this time as if pressing the sky upward (thus, the name of the exercise).
- When you reach full extension, rise up off your heels to lengthen the spine upward as you press. The arms should be at about a 20-45 degree angle from the body; not extend directly upward.
- Then relax back down onto your heels as you continue to exhale slowly while lowering your arms out to their respective sides.
- At the starting position take a few more “cleansing breaths” to relax and be present before repeating the sequence again.
- Repeat for a total of 24 repetitions.
Summary
While the sequence of this exercise is rather simple, and the movements are slow and purposeful, the exercise itself is actually quite in-depth. Because it contains physical movement, contraction and relaxation, times cycles of breathing that match specific movements, a calm mind, and visualization it is able to provide you with a complete mind/body experience that feels good and invigorates.
