How to Decide Which Qigong Style to Practice
Jan 19, 2020I receive many emails and messages asking how do I decide which Qigong style to practice? They ask, what is the difference between the 5 Animal Qigong (Module B), 5 Animal Qigong (Module C), 8 Trigram Organ Qigong (Module A) and 5 Element Qigong (Module A).
Let’s look at each type of dynamic Qigong White Tiger Qigong offers.
8 Trigram Organ Qigong is a flowy, continuously moving form. In this Qigong, you are developing the “Dragon body” as you flow in a serpent like manner. It focuses on deep core, rhythmic movements that gently massage all the internal organs. At the same time wringing out the meridians in the body. The breath like the movement is continuous and flowing. It contains 8 individual forms that eventually are put together into a seamless flow.
Estimated Age of this Qigong: 150-500 years old. There is debate and controversy surrounding the age of this Qigong as some say it even dates back thousands of years.
Staccato- 5 Element Qigong
5 Element Qigong is a powerful form that goes dynamically deep like no other Qigong. This is characterized by deep, strong stances, coupled with deep twists, long slow breaths, with special breath holding techniques while in the peak of the posture. After each movement is completed you stand in Qigong Meditation with deep Qigong breathing. After several minutes of this, you go into the next dynamic Qigong movement. There are a total of 5 Animal movements which correlate with the 5 Elements.
5 Elements:
Wood
Fire
Earth
Water
Metal
Each movement is designed to squeeze out a different organ system like a sponge and the related meridian like a towel. Unlike 5 Animal Qigong, these movements are done in place.
Estimated Age of this Qigong: 1,200 years old
Walking- 5 Animal Qigong
The 5 Animal Qigong is the first Medical Qigong form ever created, by Chinese Medicine physician, Hua Tuo. It is the most dynamic of all forms, in that not only are we utilizing various stances and movements, but it is also continuously walking. There are a total of 20 Qigong forms that we teach in two different modules, thus 10 forms in each module. One module is not more difficult than another, thus they can be trained in any sequence. Each form relates to the movements of different animals and the element. You have various different ways to move. Tiger of the metal element is a hard, linear type of movement, while Deer is of the water element and is soft and flowing. Crane is of the fire element and is expanding and rising while Bear is of the earth element and is sinking, contracting and low. Monkey is of the wood element and is elastic. Not only is each animal movement related with the elemental movement, but also the animal characteristics which create an emotional change in the practitioner.
Monkey-Playful and curious to relieve anger
Crane is soaring and flying to relieve excessive desire.
Tiger-Strong and determined for courage and to cut through grief.
Bear is strong and heavy to let go of worry.
Deer is graceful and flowing to relieve fear.
The 5 Animal Qigong was one of the four standardized forms of Qigong by the government, but this form predates the standardized forms which is a rarity, thus this is a gem.
Estimated Age of this Qigong: 2,000+ years old.
Everyone has a different favorite. Many people ask me what is my favorite and I reply that it depends on the day. Some days I need the flowy and rhythmic 8 Trigram Organ Qigong, some days I need the powerful, strong stances and deep stretch of the 5 Element Qigong. Other days I just want to move in many different flows and movement styles with the 5 Animal Qigong which contains some of the elements of the 5 Element Qigong and 8 Trigram Organ Qigong plus more.
The modules can be taken in any order you like, they are not sequential. You can do Module C before Module A and it has no difference in terms of level of difficulty.
Read about the different modules.
If you still are unsure of what form you should study, I highly urge you to check out the ebooks on each Qigong and even take the Qigong online courses. If you are on a shoestring budget then check out the free videos we have to get a feel for the different forms, although they only show a few of the forms.
What I love about all these Qigong forms is that they stimulate healing, ignite self transformation and maximize potential.
I hope this helps you decide which Qigong style to practice.
Still unsure which form is right for you? Watch this video:
Come see me so we can train this Qigong together in person!
