With these exercises its important to remember not to lift the shoulders, even when the hands are raised above the head, be sure the arms are still resting on the shoulder sockets rather than being lifted up from them, unless otherwise indicated and when the arms are raised to shoulder height the arms should form a circular stance such as opens the shoulder joints this enables the chi to flow out from the shoulders into the arms without impediment. Relaxation in the movements is important too, except in specific points of some of the movements where indicated. At first as we learn the movements there is a tendency to be tense but as we become confident in the moves we will find we are more relaxed .
The real key to effective use of these is in regular practice, morning and evening....Chen Man Ching said of his practice, it was the first thing he did of a morning and the last thing he would do at night, he was in fact referring to his tai chi practice but the same is true of chi kung, the only real obstacle to this is your own mind, we are such creatures of habit and the mind has become addicted to the ways of the body ,or as the Chinese might say the Po spirit, or earth spirit, that even though these habituations may be the very cause of our problems, it is reluctant to change its ways. We in fact have to change our habits and connect to a different program so instead of starting with a cup of coffee or whatever we should stimulate our being with chi exercises to get fired up for the day. thus we can connect with our higher self which then aligns us with higher energies which then lead our earth spirit rather than the earth spirit leading our minds. When these exercises really start to kick in they seep into our everyday life in various subtle ways physically mentally and spiritually.
It is connected with the lungs and kidneys and helps to balance the body chi as well as body heat. The exercise is good for shoulder joints wrists elbows and vertebrae....the kidney aspect relates to bone growth and joints of bones...also in Chinese medicine the kidney malfunction .relates to anxiety arthritic problems sexual dysfunction and bladder problems this exercise is remedial in these matters, in Chinese medicine kidneys are strongly related with the ovaries and in men the genitals.
The Archer Exercises
Stand in horse posture
On the in breath bring hands to chest level.
On the out breath bring hands in towards chest, with right hand bend fingers as though you are catching hold of a bow string whilst keeping hand to right of centre of chest...the left had moves in towards chest whilst circling upwards the lower three fingers fold inwards whilst index finger points and left thumb points upwards
The right arm then pulls outwards as though drawing a bow string and the left hand circles on outwards and then pushes out as though it is an arrow releasing
The right hand stops at the height and point of the right nipple and is about two inches from chest with arm straight, such as the elbow and back of hand are in the same plane as the extended pointed left hand there will be a natural tension in this move but it should not feel forced.
On in breath bring hands back to holding ball in front of the chest...for this relax the right hand allow it to open as left hand comes into half circular position until both hands are at chest level fingers facing each other and relaxed
On the out breath bring hands back to side breath in then out then do the exercise to the opposite side this pattern is repeated another 3 times to each side.
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