Ping Shuai Gong (Swing Hands Exercise [2020-04-06]

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2020-04-06: This standing qigong exercise was created in China since the Communist take-over but is based on traditional methods going back much longer than that [how long back depends on who you want to believe as there are a variety of intelligent opinions on that topic].

In China it is called Ping Shuai Gong (Swing Hands Exercise) 平甩功. I have been practising my variation of this simple set for about 20 years. In many ways, this exercise [except for the number of repetitions] reminds me of the opening posture of almost every taiji solo set that I have seen or learned.

At the beginning, you can see that my body rises and "throws" my hands upwards and forwards. As my body settles into the hips, then knees, then feet that draws the hands back and down. And repeat...

What could be simpler, you ask and why would I want to watch or copy some old guy swinging his arms? The answer is "It's not as easy as it looks" and it can be quite relaxing [once you have been training the exercise for a few months]. As with many aspects of qigong for health as well as taijiquan solo forms; one of the hardest things is to co-ordinate the unity of the body in action. N.B. I am not just standing still and swinging my arms -- I am letting the subtle movement of my torso direct my arms in certain directions.

In this clip, I did a 100 repetitions and then let my body come to a gradual halt. It's a great warm-up or cool-down to more vigorous activity and can be very good for the shoulders and wrists. Some Chinese sources get carried away and suggest a wider range of healing benefits for those who do this every day but sometimes enthusiasm. For this old cynic, most of those claims smack of wishful thinking at best!

Still, I've done it for 20 years and still enjoy and benefit from it. So enjoy, ignore or analyze as you see fit. Speaking of analyzing, for those with a good eye... I varied the tempo somewhat to show off and I also reversed the arm and torso direction for a while in the last half of the performance [my arms went up as my body went down instead of the somewhat easier "my arms go up when my body rises and drop when my body drops'.

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