Qigong for Health

I borrowed this DVD from the library to get a feel for Qigong. That's exactly what it provides: a taste. The DVD is laced with testimonials from older adults as to the benefits and wonders of qigong. Unfortunately, it doesn't make the best use of DVD features and could have been better chaptered. There is a section of warmup exercises led by an Australian woman. Then each of the "Five Elements" movements are taught separately and slowly. At the end of this instruction (and alas, not in a separate chapter), the exercises are demonstrated in a continuous flow without instruction, accompanied by soothing Asian music. Finally come the winding down exercises--one of which is washing the chi, a sort of self-massage which seems odd at first glance (to the uninitiated).

It is a bare bones production, with clear audio and visuals but very austere.

When I finished trying this Qigong practice, I really did feel an amazing surge of energy, so I will probably look further into this form of exercise.