During the Wuhan Coronavirus lock-down I began practicing my Baduanjin Qigong exercises outside in the fresh air and sunshine for some stress reducing meditation and COVID stress relief. In these troubled times being stuck at home due to COVID-19, and now civil unrest, it is more important than ever to find an outlet for stress. Ba Duan Jin can be just such an outlet for stress reduction.
In addition to simple COVID stress relief, Ba Duan Jin and other forms of Qigong have been used to help treat COVID patients and may even prove beneficial for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of COVID in older adults.
Baduanjin is an easy set of Qigong exercises for beginners. Ba Duan Jin means eight pieces of brocade or eight strands of brocade. The set consists of eight simple stretches. Each stretch is done while slowly breathing out about three seconds during the stretch and then slowly breathing in about three seconds while releasing the stretch. Each stretch is repeated eight times. Completing the whole set only takes about eight minutes.
These Baduanjin exercises helped me manage the stress of the seemingly endless COVID lock-downs. I figured others might find these simple Qigong exercises useful while in lock-down and beyond as well. So I created and posted a series of videos for easy reference. The video above goes through the full set of 8 Baduanjin exercises and the videos below show each of the individual stretches in order to make it easier to learn them one by one.
There are many different versions of Ba Duan Jin being practiced all over the world. I chose this particular version because it was the closest documented version I could find that was similar to the version I first learned as part of my karate training. I sought out a documented version so that I could dive below the surface stretching exercises and delve deeper into the Qigong (Internal Energy Work) aspects. This version of Ba Duan Jin is based on the version described in the book The Way of Energy by Master Lam Kam Chuen as part of a larger Zhan Zhuang (Standing Meditation) training regimen. I have also videoed the first set of Zhan Zhuang exercises and will post those soon. Stay tuned!
Once you learn Ba Duan Jin for COVID stress relief you may continue to practice it for life-long stress reduction.
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These videos are based on exercises described in the book – The Way of Energy
