Eight Energy Circle Walking

A Qigong routine with eight postures relating to the eight trigrams and the I Ching / the Book of Changes in Taoist philosophy. Each holds a unique energy and physical expression. There are many health benefits of circle walking, from helping to balance emotions, connecting the upper and lower body, increase circulation, help create more energy and harmonise the activities of the brain and heart. The external movements exercise the whole body, coiling and spiralling to help coordination and balance.  The internal movements help calm the mind, drop tension from the organs and open the energy channels.

Each trigram is a natural phenomena: thunder, wind, fire etc. Each trigram in the early heaven set is also a geographical location in China: thunder in the north east, fire in the east where the sun rises, water in the west where rivers originate, metal (ultimate yang) in the south where the hottest weather is, earth (ultimate yin) in the north where the coldest weather is.

Each trigram is a combination of three yin and yang lines.

• Yin = broken line (gap in the middle).
• Yang = unbroken line (solid line).

Double trigrams are known as hexagrams and are the basis of 64 states of change, found in the I Ching, the Book of Changes.