wild goose qigong
Wild goose qigong, also known as dayan qigong, is a traditional qigong form
said to be over 1800 years old and created by daoist monks living in the
sacred mountains of Kunlun on the border of northern Tibet.
The monks are said to have combined the movements of the wild goose, famed for its grace, strength and longevity, with their knowledge of the energy pathways in the body to create a form which is highly valued for its health benefits.
In 1980 Grandmaster Yang Meijun (based in China) decided that the time for secrecy was past and that everyone should be able to experience the health benefits of dayan qigong for themselves.
On her 80th birthday she announced her decision and since then the Chinese government has promoted wild goose qigong as a safe and healthy exercise for all. It has become one of the most popular qigong forms in China.
The form has a wide variety of movements ranging from slow, fluid and gentle to quick and strong emulating the soaring, flapping, fluttering and spiralling graceful movements of the beautiful geese.
Dayan qigong is a comprehensive system with many individual gongs (patterns) - the last time I saw a list it had 23 separate gongs on it. Of these the first 2 wild goose sets seem to be the most well known and easy to fit into a busy schedule taking about 10-15 minutes for each set.
The first set is designed to work on the energies created, and blocked, by your current lifestyle (post-natal) and the second set works on the factors and tendencies that you inherited from your parents (pre-natal).