RELAXED MOVEMENT
& MEDITATION
Movement & Meditation
Qigong 氣功 (sometimes spelt Chi Kung) is a system of health exercises that originated in China over 3000 years ago. Qi means Vital Energy, it is the energy that sustains us and it comes from the air and the environment around us. The more Qi we have the healthier we become, however if our Qi becomes blocked and stagnant, then we will become, tired, sick and ill. Gong means work or exercise. So Qigong are exercises that work with our Qi to make us healthy.
The essential element of Qigong is relaxation and Qigong consists of movement and meditation. With its gentle, relaxed and graceful movements, Qigong is sometimes confused with Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) 太極拳. Whilst there is a connection, Taijiquan is a Martial Art and so the movements of Taijiquan are defeined by its martial arts application. Being purley for health, Qigong covers a wider range of movement and a greater depth of relaxation.
We practise Qigong to be healthy. From the Chinese perspective health and fitness are not the same thing. It is important to be healthy as when you are healthy you can live your life the way you want. No matter if you want to be fit, develop another skill (like martial arts), travel the world etc, you need to be healthy. If you are not healthy, then you can only do what your health permits. This is why the Chinese way is health comes first – health is number one.
Classes
Origins
Kunlun Shan is a mountain range in Western China, almost on the edges of Tibet and it is here that the Kunlun Dayan Qigong skill was developed during the Jin Dynasty. The skill was developed by Daoist monks who had made this area their home. The monks often observed the wild geese who lived there. Da (Big) Yan (Wild Geese) are considered birds of longevity in China and so they would have been a special animal symbol to a Daoist monk who was cultivating himself to live longer in order that he could achieve immortality. Dayan are also symbols of unity as they always fly together as a flock.
Wild Goose Qigong (also called Dayan Qigong) began to be developed based upon the movements that the monks observed in these beautiful birds. They also combined the skill with their knowledge of Chinese medicine theory which included knowledge about the channels and acupoints in the body. Wild Goose Qigong is the foundation form of this Qigong system but many other forms followed until eventually there were at least 72 forms and methods. Daoism uses a lot of numbers and each number has a special meaning and connection. Some relate to the Yijing (Book of Changes), some to the stars and constellations in the sky and some to the Bagua.
Not all of the Kunlun Dayan Qigong forms are long forms like the Wild Goose Qigong. Some are shorter forms, like Eight Pulling Waist Gong or Seven Star Opening Gong. Some of the skills are different meditations and some are healing skills. In addition, Master Tse has continued to develop other Qigong forms, such as Balancing Gong and Healthy Living Gong, based upon the principles of the Kunlun Dayan System.
Grandmaster Tse began his studies in China in 1984 with the late Great Grandmaster Yang Meijun who was the 27th generation inheritor of the Kunlun Dayan Qigong skill. Every year he would travel to China to study with her, developing his Qigong and Qigong healing skill. Although Grandmaster Yang Meijun passed away in 2002, she lived to the age of 104 years old and her name is known throughout the world as one of the most famous Qigong masters who lived in this century.
Many of her stories, including how she came to learn the Wild Goose Qigong skill from her grandfather and some of the extraordinary events in her life are related in Wild Goose Qigong book series books by Grandmaster Tse.
Although a very tiny lady, her presence was much larger and she was a very strong person who gave a great gift to the world by opening the Kunlun Dayan skill to the public. For over 1800 years the Kunlun Dayan Qigong skill was practised in secret, until she herself opened the skill in the 1980’s. She did this because she had seen so many people die during the Cultural Revolution and she was afraid that if she passed the skill on to only one person, then the skill might be lost. She made the Wild Goose name famous in China, travelling throughout China and Hong Kong to help promote the Dayan Qigong skill.
Master Moy has been studying with Grandmaster Tse since 1989 and is his most senior student.