Ba-Duan-Jin (History and Benefits)

Ba-Duan-Jin, or the Eight Section Brocade, is an ancient practice spread across different cultures in various diverse forms due to cultural exchanges between India, Tibet and China. Writings that feature movements similar to the Eight Section Brocade can be traced back almost 2,150 years ago.

When archeologists excavated the tomb of a noble who lived around 160 BCE, they discovered a silk scroll featuring 44 drawings of humans in different poses, each of which was followed by a caption giving the name of the disease that the pose might help cure. These poses closely resemble poses in the Eight Section Brocade.

In 527 CE Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma introduced the Eighteen Movements of the Lohan to monks at the Shaolin Temple when he saw that other exercises left the monks weak and sleepy during meditation. The first eight of these steps are the same as the Eight Section Brocade.

Variations of the seated Eight Section Brocade, created by Tao Hong-jing in the fifth century, were performed in Wudang Mountain Daoist Temples around 800-1200 CE as a light workout for Shaolin Temple monks engaged in hard style martial arts. They were also used for health and meditation, which would lead to various Chinese professionals recommending specific exercises as a complementary health benefit along with the use of traditional Chinese medicine.

During the Southern Song Dynasty in China (1177-1279 A.D.), General Yeuh Fei created a set of twelve exercises to train his soldiers. Eight of these 12 exercises were later practiced at a slower speed and became known as the Eight Section Brocade.

In general, all Qigong exercises practiced regularly can "improve health, increase energy, revitalize the body and mind, prevent or control disease, tone the internal organs, improve balance, reduce stress, boost the immune system, remove toxins, tone the muscles and tendons, uplift mood, [and] contribute to longevity," according to Roger Jahnke, author of The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi.

Master Shi Young Yao, a 33rd generation monk of Shaolin Temple made an excellent DVD of Shaolin Ba-Duan Jin Qigong in three languages: English, Chinese, and Spanish. The movements are clearly explained and easy to follow. The DVD (pictured above) is now available at the PCMC Herb Store.