Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin

What is Qi Gong?

Qi Gong is made up of 2 words, Qi and Gong. Qi refers to the life force energy that sustains our body. Gong refers to effort. Together it refers to practices that help to encourage and balance the life force energy within our body.

There are 4 main category of Qi Gong. Health, martial, medical and esoteric. The qi gong that most people practice in a park would probably be health qi gong, whereas something like taichi or bagua would be martial qi gong. Medical qi gong is used mainly for healing and esoteric qi gong is for spiritual progress.

With regular practice, qi gong helps to bring more vitality, balance and strength into our body. This leads to a both better physical and mental health.

The Baduanjin qigong (八段錦) is one of the most common forms of Chinese qigong used as exercise. Variously translated as Eight Pieces of Brocade, Eight-Section Brocade, Eight Silken Movements or Eight Silk Weaving, the name of the form generally refers to how the eight individual movements of the form characterize and impart a silken quality (like that of a piece of brocade) to the body and its energy.

The Baduanjin is primarily designated as a form of medical qigong, meant to improve health. This is in contrast to religious or martial forms of qigong. However, this categorization does not preclude the form’s use by martial artists as a supplementary exercise, and this practice is frequent.

Learn the proper practice of Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin from Alice Ho Soon Kim.

She was an active qigong practitioner who co-founded the Qigong Shi Ba Shi Association Singapore (新加坡气功十八式协会) in 1987, and served as the chairman for 31 years before stepping down from her position in 2021 to serve as a consultant. A chief trainer at the association, Ho led teams to participate in various qigong tournament and exchange programmes organised by the International Health Qigong Federation. She won multiple gold medals in tournaments held by the federation and obtained a Health Qigong Duan 6 Diploma in 2018.