Shaolin Warrior The Way Of Qi Gong

Possibly the most popular Qi Gong exercise in the world, the Eight Treasures (or Ba Duan Jin as it is known in China) has an ancient tradition which stretches back to the founder of Zen Buddhism; Bodhidharma. Seeing that his monks were tired from extensive meditation, Bodhidharma composed a set of exercises to give them energy and strengthen their bodies.
Hundreds of years later, a Shaolin monk took the eight most effective moves, and these are the exercises demonstrated on this DVD.

Shifu Yan Lei, a 34th generation fighting disciple, takes you step by step through this dynamic Qi Gong form, explaining each movement in detail. Once you have understood the moves, you can practice in real time with Shifu Yan Lei. The whole form is simple, easy to learn, and takes about twenty minutes.

By practicing this form on a daily basis, you can expect to see significant changes in health and vitality. Suitable for adults of all ages.

I'd never done Qi Gong before but have recently heard of the health and mental benefits so was determined to give this a go. Its basically a series of movements synchronised with breathing. The DVD starts with an outdoor scene showing Shifu doing Qi Gong while a voice-over covers the history and benefits of the art. The next section is a full demonstration of Qi Gong followed by a section on zen meditation and massage to do afterwards. Then it moves on to the 8 sections where Shifu gives commentary while he does the movements. The commentary gives continuous instructions on breathing telling you when to inhale and exhale as synchronisation of breathing is an essential part of the art. Shifu also gives additional tips now and then such as "push elbows back as far as possible".