Practicers should grasp the basic points of which mean to relax all the joints in the body, dredge the meridians and strengthen the power of the lower limbs, of the Health Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin including natural relaxation, agility and correctness, combined exercise with rest, being step by step,. After that they can start the stage of applying the mind that means to guide Qi by way of mind and move the body by way of Qi. Or, the more haste, the less speed. Now let’s talk about the four kinds of methods of applying the mind in the exercise of the Health Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin.

The basic meaning of the Health Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin is the mind of points and lines. The transformation of the interior and exterior rotation of points and lines set up the basic movements of the Health Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin. Many points constitutes the parabola (rotating curve) in the course of the exercise and all kinds of running lines of movements and the latter can transform into the circle. And then the circle can gradually turn into the points and lines and rotating curve and the circle itself. The process can go on and on. That is the same for the construction of the body. The acupoints of Jian Yu and Da Zhui are united into one horizontal line. Bai Hui, Ren Zhong, median Dan Tian and Hui Yin are united into the frontal central perpendicular line. Wei Nv, Min Men, Da Zhui, Yu Zhen and Bai Hui are united into the posterior median perpendicular line. The frontal and posterior perpendicular lines of which are the Ren and Du meridian are united into the arc line. The intersection of the horizontal and perpendicular lines constitutes the auto-crossed balancing line. The arc lines can be divided into the four lines including three horizontal lines that are the shoulder line that is in charge of the balance of the body, waist line that is in charge of the rotation of the body and hip line that is in charge of the movement of advancing and retreating and one perpendicular line that is in charge of the exertion of the body. Wherever the position is, the crossed lines should be kept the state of balance.

In the course of the exercise, the joints of fingers, palm, arm, hip, waist and neck are in the movements of the rotating and twisting all the time. The basic styles of rotation are intortion and extortion and other movements are changed out of that.

Firstly, the rotation of fingers and palms and arms occurs in each routines of Ba Duan Jin of which embodies the health action by way of the rotating movement. For example, in the routine 7 of the Health Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin that is thrusting the fists and making the eyes glare to enhance the strength there are three movements of rotating and winding of which are the intortion of left arm and left fist turning into palm( the first rotating movement) and the extortion of the left arm( the second rotating movement) and the mild flection of the elbow joint and the left rotating and winding of the left fist(the third rotating movement) and turning into grasping the fist with palm upward and posterior. In addition, in the routine 3 of the Health QiGong Ba Duan Jin that is holding one arm aloft to regulate the function of the spleen and stomach, the first movement is to slowly straighten the knees and stand straight and raise the left hand and turn the left arm outward(the first rotation) past the face and meanwhile turn the arm inward(the second rotation) to a position above the head on the left side with the elbow slightly bent, let the strength get to the base of the palm that faces upward with the fingers pointing to the right, in the meantime raise the right hand a little and then turn the arm inward (the third rotation) and press it down to the side of the right hip with the elbow slightly bent strength applied at the base of the palm that faces downward and fingers pointing forward, hold this position looking straight ahead. The second movement is to move the body weight slowly down and bend the knees slightly with the waist relaxed and hips down, meanwhile bend and turn the left elbow outward(the fourth rotation) and move the left hand down past the face to a position in front of the abdomen with the palm up and turn the right arm outward(the fifth rotation) with the palm up looking straight ahead.

Secondly, it is about the rotation of the waist, hip, neck and nape. For example, in the movement of routine 5 of the Health QiGong Ba Duan Jin that is swinging the head and lowering the body to relieve the stress, the third section of movement is as follows: raise the body weight slightly, move it to the right and tilt the upper body to the right and forward and fix the gaze on the right foot. The fourth section of movement is as follows: shift the body weight to the left and move the upper body forward and then turn to the left with looking at the right foot. The practicer should shake the head and turn the neck along with swinging the waist and relaxing the hips with the rotation of eyes and coccygeal end in the same time in the third and fourth section of movement. There is rotating in the part of waist, hip, body, coccygeal end, head and eyes in this routine.

Thirdly, it is about the meaning of open and close of which is the key point of guiding movements. Close is certain to ensue after open is done and vice versa. Generally, extending is open and contracting is close. During the course of exercise, the practicer should put mind on the relaxation of all the joints and the mind itself while doing the action of extending, on the contrary, put mind on the contraction of all the body and the mind itself. The inner Qi originates from the waist eyes and congregates in the back through the backbone and gets to the tip of fingers through the upper and lower arms in the course of open and vice versa in the course of close. It is reasonable for the practicers to imagine that there is one flexible rope communicated from the tip of fingers to the backbone and stretch it all the time in the exercise for more effective open and close.

The exercise of the Health Qi Gong is the combination of movements and breath under the direction of the mind that is to closely combine the mind and breath with movements and practise the mind, Qi and body in the same time. During the course of exercise, muscles, bones and joints and internal organs should be taken into action together with the outer movements of body and limbs to make the spirit and energy smooth and all the body integrated and keep the body healthy in the long run.

At last, it is about the spitting that is exhalation and swallowing that is inhalation that should be embodied in the open and close of the movements. Natural breath is mainly applied for the beginners. Reverse abdominal breath should be gradually adopted with the improvement of ability and consciously combined the inhalation and exhalation with the open and close of movements. The mind of spitting should be used in the course of open and exhalation with protruding lower abdomen. The mind of swallowing should be used in the course of close and inhalation with curved lower abdomen. The abdomen is by turns protruded and curved along with the open and close of the movement. The practicer should try his best to harmoniously combine the breath with the movement by the repeated exercise and make the breath deep, fine, regular and long and make the breath and movement concordant at last.

Taking all above-mentioned into consideration, although there are distinctions among four kinds of meanings, there is inseparable correlation among them in the meantime. The practicer should gradually grasp them rather than read without understanding or even stop groping with a little understanding.