The 15 Taiji Movements Qigong of Master Jiao Guorui
I (KS) have had the wonderful opportunity to become familiar with the written works of Master Jiao Guorui. I have been able to access copies of several of his books in Chinese and am slowly having them translated into English. One of those works was Master Jiao’s 1992 book titled “A Pictorial Guide to Jiao Guorui’s Fifteen Postures of Taiji Qigong”.
I first learned of this qigong form years earlier when I purchased an English translation of his 1988 book “Qigong Essentials for Health Promotion”. This text contains a wealth of qigong techniques. One of the forms described in the book was the 15 Taiji Movements Qigong form. I worked through the instructions until I was able to practice the whole form. I reviewed my practice with my Qigong/Taiji teacher to ensure that I had understood the instructions.
After practicing the form for over a year, I began teaching the movements to my students. The form was very well received.
I then came across Master Jiao’s 1992 book on this qigong form. After having it translated, I was able to compare the original version with the updated version. After four years Master Jiao added polish to the form. The transitions from movement to movement are smoother. Plus he added three opening movements and five closing movements.
In practicing the new version I am impressed with the simplicity and the depth of the movements and the balance of external and internal movement. My students are enjoying the revised form.
I have several purposes in writing this book. One is to provide my students with a reference document to support their practice and progress. To that end, in preparing the descriptions of the movements, I modernized the language and phrasing. I have tried to stay true to Master Jiao’s teaching. I have modified some of the movements to make them more accessible to people new to exercising. There are a few movements to which I have made more involved modifications. These changes will be noted in the Annotation section.
Another purpose is to share this enjoyable form with other new and established practitioners who may not have come across Master Jiao’s work.
A third purpose is to simply share the wonderful work of Master Jiao Guorui, an outstanding practitioner and teacher.
I first learned of this qigong form years earlier when I purchased an English translation of his 1988 book “Qigong Essentials for Health Promotion”. This text contains a wealth of qigong techniques. One of the forms described in the book was the 15 Taiji Movements Qigong form. I worked through the instructions until I was able to practice the whole form. I reviewed my practice with my Qigong/Taiji teacher to ensure that I had understood the instructions.
After practicing the form for over a year, I began teaching the movements to my students. The form was very well received.
I then came across Master Jiao’s 1992 book on this qigong form. After having it translated, I was able to compare the original version with the updated version. After four years Master Jiao added polish to the form. The transitions from movement to movement are smoother. Plus he added three opening movements and five closing movements.
In practicing the new version I am impressed with the simplicity and the depth of the movements and the balance of external and internal movement. My students are enjoying the revised form.
I have several purposes in writing this book. One is to provide my students with a reference document to support their practice and progress. To that end, in preparing the descriptions of the movements, I modernized the language and phrasing. I have tried to stay true to Master Jiao’s teaching. I have modified some of the movements to make them more accessible to people new to exercising. There are a few movements to which I have made more involved modifications. These changes will be noted in the Annotation section.
Another purpose is to share this enjoyable form with other new and established practitioners who may not have come across Master Jiao’s work.
A third purpose is to simply share the wonderful work of Master Jiao Guorui, an outstanding practitioner and teacher.
