This essay is drawn from published discussion. It cites classical Chinese books, the words of others, or academic argument, and is meant as cultural reading on the traditional cultivation of life. What it says about the body, and about what practice may do, belongs to the sources quoted or to the original speaker. It is not a medical promise or clinical advice from the people who operate this website.
Yi Jin Jing (Sinew-Transforming Classic) is a method of strengthening the body and cultivating life handed down from antiquity, with great influence in traditional practices and national sports. The earliest version of the twelve forms still seen and transmitted today is recorded in Neigong Tushuo, compiled by Pan Wei in the eighth year of Xianfeng of the Qing. The character 霨 in Pan Wei is read wèi.
Today’s “Health Qigong · Yi Jin Jing” inherits the essentials of the traditional twelve forms, and is one of the new practices organized and created by the Health Qigong Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China. The forms link into a whole; they emphasize stretching the sinews and bones, opening and continuous movement, hard and soft aiding each other. Breathing should be natural; movement and breath merge; form leads qi, intention follows form. The original text says it is easy to learn and easy to practice, and sums up the overall effects as: improve flexibility, promote stability, improve constitution; strengthen muscle, reduce fat, fortify the heart, regulate the spirit; strengthen immunity, ease anxiety; fortify the brain and benefit intelligence, benefit longevity and extend the years.
Below are the uses of the twelve forms as stated in the original. The counts of the movements are not in this essay.
First Form Weituo Presents the Pestle, First Posture
Settle lung qi, strengthen “the lungs govern qi and manage breathing,” and thereby regulate breathing and calm the mood.
Second Form Weituo Presents the Pestle, Second Posture
Arrange qi and blood in the meridians of the upper limbs, improve breathing, promote the free flow of qi and blood. Seal yin and open yang, open and close to move qi, open the three yang meridians. Improve the movement of the shoulder joints, arrange the waist and back.
Third Form Weituo Presents the Pestle, Third Posture
By regulating the sanjiao, arouse the qi of the five zang and six fu. The original text says it has an intervening effect on heart and lung disease and on weakness of spleen and stomach; and raises the range of motion and corresponding muscle strength of shoulder and neck, promotes qi and blood circulation through the whole body, and has rehabilitating and health-preserving effects on discomfort of the waist, shoulders, and the like.
Fourth Form Plucking the Stars and Changing the Dipper
Raise kidney water, lower heart fire, strengthen the waist and fortify the kidneys, delay aging; regulate the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae.
Fifth Form Pulling Nine Oxen by the Tail Backward
Stimulate Jiaji (translator’s note: the pass along the spine between the shoulder blades), Feishu, Xinshu, and other points on the back; open Jiaji, regulate and train heart and lungs, strengthen the resilience of the spine; promote qi and blood through the whole body, raise the muscle strength of the four limbs and the movement of each joint.
Sixth Form Showing the Claws and Spreading the Wings
Repeatedly open and close Yunmen (translator’s note: a point below the outer end of the collarbone), Zhongfu (translator’s note: a point near Yunmen on the upper chest), and other points; promote the meeting of the clear qi of nature with the true qi of the human body, improve breathing, promote qi and blood through the whole body. Drain liver qi, cultivate and replenish kidney qi. Regulate heart and lungs, improve discomfort of shoulder and neck.
Seventh Form Nine Ghosts Drawing the Sabre
Strengthen the function of the spleen, stomach, kidneys, and other organs; open the qi mechanism of Weilu (translator’s note: the pass at the tailbone), Jiaji, and Yuzhen (translator’s note: the pass at the base of the skull). Raise the contractile capacity of the spinal muscles, strengthen the muscle force of neck, shoulders, waist, and back, improve the movement of the spine.
Eighth Form Three Dishes Landing
Heart and kidneys join, water and fire already aid each other; strengthen the qi of the Dantian, fortify the waist and firm the kidneys.
Ninth Form Azure Dragon Probes with Its Claws
Soothe the liver and regulate qi, ease the emotions; fortify the waist and strengthen the kidneys, train the spine, improve the elasticity of the muscles of neck, shoulders, waist, and lower limbs, and the movement of the joints.
Tenth Form Crouching Tiger Pounces on Its Prey
Open and nourish Ren Mai, harmonize the qi of the three yin meridians of hand and foot. Stretch the lumbar spine, raise the flexibility and extension of the spine, fortify the waist and strengthen the kidneys, generate yin and firm qi.
Eleventh Form Bowing
Open Du Mai on the back, arouse meridian qi through the whole body, and let yang qi rise and issue. The original text says it can wake the brain, sharpen the ears, clear fatigue of the cerebrum, arouse true qi to run along Ren and Du, fortify the waist and firm the kidneys, cultivate and replenish yuan qi, clear tension in the spine and back, and improve the movement of the lower back and lower limbs.
Twelfth Form Swinging the Tail
Strengthen stimulation of Ren Mai, Du Mai, and the qi vessels of the whole body. Strengthen the muscle force of the lower back, improve spinal movement, enhance the flexibility, stability, and mobility of the ligaments of the lower limbs. The character 掉 takes the sense of swaying.