Bear Qigong Lesson One

Bear Qigong Lesson One. Part of the Five Animal Frolics, the Bear qigong exercises relate to the Spleen and Stomach energetic system. To understand the qualities and nature of the movements, master qigong teacher James Saper recommends looking at how bears actually move by watching videos of bears in the wild. You don’t need to mimic the bear movements.

Really look at the quality of the bear and how they move. Where does the movement originate from? How do they start a movement? How do they end a movement? Look for that rolling quality.

For the bear, there is the rhythm of action and then rest. When that state is in balance, there’s a special quality of having insight that comes out. For example, the sense of taste is an awareness of the action that happens on your tongue. Having good taste also used to talk about people who can discern things. You can distinguish between the quality of things. When you’re working on this quality in yourself, if you can get it in a balanced state, then you can discern things better. You open your mind and experiences when you rest your mind from the distraction of everything else.

Movement of fascial layers over each other to improve circulation

Slow turning motions with hands while keeping core still. Draw circulation out to the extremities. Stillness of the core to draw the energy back to the center

VIDEO INDEX

Warm-up | 0:00
Bear Scratches its Back | 22:55
Bear Forages | 26:20
Bear Stirs the Pot | 28:35
Flow Through First Three Bear Exercises | 37:35
Discussion | 43:35
Q & A | 52:00