Health & Longevity

The Black Crane Kung Fu Schools strive to promote health and longevity to its students and instructors. The training methods are designed to strengthen the whole body and tame the undisciplined mind, creating harmony within mind, body and spirit. Through training, both the mind and body can achieve a state of balance, improving functions of the skeletal, muscular and digestive systems, allowing the circulation of the blood and lymphatic systems to go unobstructed. The spirit is awakened when the mind and body are in balance and relaxed, effectively improving the ability to coordinate the functions of the various organ systems of the body. By using deep, natural breathing methods the chi is cultivated in the Dan Tien then conveyed to the extremities in a shooting pulse. This helps the practitioner to stay fit and healthy even in old age. It strengthens the internal organs and increases the chi flow within the body and is quite suitable for both martial arts training and general physical fitness.

This school teaches The Eight Pieces of Brocade a set of Wai Dan chi kung exercises created by General Yeuh Fei in the twelfth century during the Southern Sung dynasty. These exercises were designed to improve the health of his soldiers and since that time these exercises have become one of the most widely practiced chi kung exercises in China. The original set of exercises consisted of 12 forms but over time this has been shortened to 8 forms. There are two sets of The Eight Pieces of Brocade a sitting set and a standing set. The sitting set focuses on exercising the upper limbs and benefits the six organs which are connected to the six chi channels in the arms, whereas the standing set works with all of the channels. The Eight Pieces of Brocade training methods are simple to execute and easy to comprehend, giving you a good understanding of basic chi kung theories.

This school also draws on knowledge and studies from other chi kung training methods used in other internal styles of chinese martial arts. This school incorporates in its chi kung training practices: Da Mo’s Wai Dan set and Open Palm form from the Yi Gin Ching (Book of Muscle Development). These exercises used to be kept secret, only taught to the monks of the Shaolin Temple, but now in the twentieth century it is becoming popularly known and practiced by the Chinese people. These exercises are easy to perform and their benefits are experienced in a short time. The Shaolin monks have practiced these exercises diligently for more than 1400 years, not just to circulate their chi and improve their health, but also to build their internal powers by focusing chi to affect the appropriate muscle groups.

As well as the above chi kung exercises mentioned this school also teaches some of the lesser known sets of Wai Dan chi kung exercises:

Five Element Form
Five Directional Chi Kung Form
Eight Precious Sets of Exercises
Five Animal Form

All these forms are easy to execute and have a profound effect on the body, circulating and strengthening the chi in the internal organs and increasing the chi flow within the body, improving health and vitality.