Yi Jin Jing · Tendon and Muscle Classic

Yi Jin Jing is one of the three classical daoyin systems: a treatise that joins martial practice with daoyin. It has an inward-strengthening stage and an outward-strengthening stage, and works in detail on the inner environment of the spine. An old saying runs: strong tendons, a strong person; supple tendons, a long life; firm tendons, a steadfast person; harmonious tendons, a well person. Regular practice can turn weak tendons strong and soft tendons firm, and so supports staying well, staying vigorous with the years, and looking after the spine.

Yi Jin Jing is a health-cultivation method handed down from earlier China, and it has had a large place in traditional practice and in the country's ethnic sport. The earliest twelve-form version still in circulation appears in the Inner Skill Illustrated Sayings compiled by Pan Wei in the eighth year of Xianfeng in the Qing dynasty. Health Qigong Yi Jin Jing keeps the essentials of that twelve-form set. It is one of the new Health Qigong sets compiled by the Health Qigong Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China. The forms make one continuous whole. They stretch tendon and bone, move in a long, open line, and mix hard and soft. Breath stays natural and moves with the form; the form leads the qi, and intent follows the form. It is straightforward to learn, and the effect on fitness is clear.

On this site the set is taught on camera by Associate Professor Zhuang Yongchang, deputy director of the Daoyin Health-Cultivation Centre at Beijing Sport University. He sits on the Chinese Health Qigong Association of the General Administration of Sport, coaches the national Health Qigong team, took first place in Health Qigong Ba Duan Jin at the 13th National Games, and has often judged major events at home and abroad. This does not replace a doctor's advice.