The eight movements of the Ba Duan Jin are famously captured in a song with eight rhyming lines, each succinctly describing the movement and its benefits.

When Song Dynasty writers first talked about Ba Duan Jin (1150’s) they already included verses but they never gave the routine a name. (Read about the evolution and tributaries of the Ba Duan Jin form). It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that a text (1890) presented the movements with illustrations, accompanied by the song, and named them the Ba Duan Jin. One century later, in 1989, another author rewrote the song, changing few words but transposed the sixth and eighth lines and hence the order of the movements and there we have version we practice today.

The rhyming lyrics of the song are a great mnemonic device but help little if one doesn’t speak Chinese. Here I will present the original illustrations with a breakdown of the meaning of the lines. These are just snapshots but it’s good to get acquainted with them. Then when you come to class you can let your body learn the movements. Afterwards you can go back to these notes and they will make a lot more sense.

Notice that there are eight different ordered movements addressing all the organs: San Jiao (Triple Heater), Lungs, Spleen, Heart, Kidneys & Liver.

The Action part includes many Chinese medical terms. The organ names are capitalized because they have physiological, psychological and spiritual meanings far beyond their commonly known organic functions. We will talk more about them in class.