Nourishing oneself in the mystery – Yin-oriented Qigong practice
By Stefanie Champa Lanz
Although we generally aim for a harmonious relationship between yin and yang in Qigong, it is usually the yang aspect, the active doing, that holds the upper hand. For many, giving oneself over fully to the passive yin forces is strange and disturbing. Stefanie Champa Lanz presents a yin-oriented form of practice on the basis of sample exercises and encourages the reader to open himself/herself to this new and very profound experience. In a process of not-doing, pure being moves into the foreground, identifications can be dissolved and the connection with one’s own deep life impulse is strengthened.

Taiji can be practiced everywhere – even when training in a tness studio
By Dietlind Zimmermann, with Heidi Grissmer
Taijiquan as a martial art and movement art is the physical expression of certain principles that can be found in all areas of life. Consequently these can also be practiced and deepened outside one’s actual Taiji training. Dietlind Zimmermann regards this as a promising way of counteracting the widespread attitude that unfortunately one can’t nd enough time to practice by oneself. With the right kind of mindfulness, situations such as periods of waiting or the moments when we have to lift or carry something can also serve as training time. Heidi Grissmer describes how she shapes her fitness-studio training in line with Taiji principles and thus bene ts in many different ways.

Fire and water – the essence of heart and kidneys
By Claudius Loga
Working on the basis of yin and yang and on the model of the five elemental phases, Claudius Loga describes the properties of fire and water as universal primal forces that manifest in various ways in the human body. At the level of the organs they are represented by the heart and the kidneys, whereby the latter as water organs ensure a basic yin force for the body, while the heart functions as a fiery generator of rhythm.

Awakening pleasure in practice – Qigong with the elderly
By Gisela Binde
Qigong training with elderly persons has now become a theme of its own. Gisela Binde, who has been teaching groups for the elderly for around eight years, draws on her own experience in this article to present several points that she sees as particularly important when teaching such groups. However, most of these points can also be applied to work with other groups. They include a patient, encouraging and appreciative attitude on the part of the teacher as well as communicating the individual exercises in a manner that fits the target group. Gisela Binde stresses that, given appropriate teaching, people of an advanced age, too, can learn complex movement sequences.

»Before you begin the Taiji form, you have to learn to dance«
Interview with Chungliang Al Huang
In April Chungliang Al Huang, who as a Taiji teacher and »Taiji dancer« has in uenced the development of Taijiquan in German-speaking regions for almost 40 years, celebrated his 80th birthday during a workshop in the Swiss town of Winterthur. On this occasion, Christel Sperlich talked to him about his understanding of Taijiquan, which he regards as a »dance of life« with nature as the master. He sees practicing the form as a necessary basis, but also emphasises the importance of moving beyond this and nding a way to free expression of one’s own nature.