Eight-Sectioned Brocade may be the most popularly practiced form of Qigong. It courses Qi in all the channels and benefits all the organs. You do not need to know anything about Qi: this practice will lead you to that understanding.

IF YOUR PREVIOUS EXPOSURE TO THE EIGHT-SECTION BROCADE WAS LIMITED TO YOUTUBE VIDEOS YOU WILL FIND THE CLASS VERY DIFFERENT AND EXCITING!

Ba Duan Jin has a long history. It was popularly practiced and already documented in texts as early as the Song Dynasty (1150’s). There are two main styles of practice: Sitting Ba Duan and Standing Ba Duan. Sitting Ba Duan is also called the Wen (文) style and Standing Ba Duan the Wu (武) style. Wen means scholarly, Wu means martial. Here Wen Wu don’t have anything to do with creating literature or fighting: Wen and Wu are stand-in terms for Yin and Yang. Yin is more internal with less body movements. Yang is more external with more body movements.

Standing Ba Duan is further differentiated into a Southern School and a Northern School. Southern School Ba Duan Jin has simpler movements and lower degree of difficulty. Northern School has more complex movements and higher degree of difficulty.

Videos found on the internet are mostly Southern School Wu style, with rather simple movements and lots of repetitions. The style that I teach is Northern School Wu style. There is more use of the horse stance and movements are more intricate with a higher degree of difficulty. There are also no repetitions. To me it serves the purpose of Ba Duan Jin very well: a complete system of movements for renewing and strengthening both the physical and energetic body, benefitting all the organs, promoting balance and coordination, and uniting the three realms of heaven, earth, and human.