Taking Your Place
Leading one’s life on the basis of philosophy, Taijiquan and Qigong
By Alexandra Gusetti
When we practice Qigong or Taijiquan regularly for a longer period, these arts become reliable companions on our life path. Alexandra Gusetti describes how she has increasingly learned to let go and to reorientate herself, to utilise key elements from Daoist meditative practice, and also to overcome limitations of tradition. Here she has taken guidance from philosophical questions relating to a meaningful and healthy way of life – a way of life that is coherent and beneficial not only for oneself but also for the world as a whole.
Fangsong – the art of letting go in Chen style Taijiquan
By Barbara Nowak
Fangsong is regarded as a key term in Taijiquan, as a precondition for the art’s wide-ranging effect on body and mind and for its effectiveness as a martial art. Barbara Nowak explains this Chinese term and, referencing the training approach in Chen style according to Chen Xiaowang, shows how letting go at the physical, mental and emotional levels influence each other and, over time, lead to emotional stability and mental calm.
Dancing the Deer, Squiggling the Snake – »Xiang Xing Dong Gong«
Moving Qigong with the manifestations of deer, snake, buffalo and crane
By Karin Zhang
Exercises that imitate the qualities of animals have a very long tradition in Qigong. In Dragon Gate Qigong of the Inner Pearl these animals are the deer, the snake, the water buffalo and the crane; it is through these animals that practitioners learn to open their energy channels and to connect with both their internal and external levels. Karin Zhang gives an insight into Xiang Xing Dong Gong, putting her main emphasis on why these animals were selected for the energy-related work and why they are trained in the order described here.
Daoism – The mental and spiritual background to Taijiquan and Qigong
Part 2: Daoist meditative methods
By Klemens J. P. Speer
After Klemens Speer presented the basics of the Daoist traditions in the previous issue, in the second part of his article he now examines various Daoist methods of meditation. Even if these pursue similar goals, they still have different emphases in their approaches to practice. In addition he summarises the seven stages of meditation described by Sima Chengzhen in »Sitting Forgetting«; these stages represent a life path that culminates in oneness with the Dao.
Training the Body in Qigong
By Lie Foen Tjoeng
Qigong is far more than a type of physical exercise, and nonetheless our body forms the foun- dation for practice. Lie Foen Tjoeng sets out five basic criteria for regulating and training the body: criteria that are essential for meaningful practice of Qigong exercises and for opening the way to further-reaching benefits. Prompted by the difficulty of letting the pelvis hang and also the requirement to harmoniously coordinate the left and right and also the lower and upper halves of the body, he cites errors that frequently occur and explains how these can be avoided.