About these ancient Daoist health exercises
On this page we provide an introduction to sets of ancient Chinese daoist health and longetivity exercises, that will improve both your mental wellbeing and physical health. The first set of exercises is called 长寿功 (cháng shòu gōng) and can be used to improve your overall health and longetivity by tapping in to your body's Qi energy. This is an excellent choice of exercise routine for people looking to improve their overall health and wellbeing. The second set of exercises that we introduce is 金刚功, which translates as exercises for indestructibility. These exercise routines have been used for hundreds - if not thousands - of years by taoist monks to manage their bodies and minds. In all this time these exercises remained hidden from the general public and were a secret source of strength and power for just a select few. However, in recent years there has been an opening up, and these powerful exercise routines have been made accessible to the general public. However, these powerful and ancient health practices have, in recent years, been made available to the general public in China. What's more, with our translations and commentary, we aim to make these practices accessible to the world.
➡️ Continue to Lesson 1: 长寿功 (cháng shòu gōng)
Meet the teacher - 许理慧
The teacher of these exercises is a female daoist nun 许理慧 who comes from a 22 generation lineage of Daoist practices, including exercise. Like many daoist and buddhist orders, the branch to which she belongs gives a new name to people when they formally join the order. This is a symbol of rebirth and the Daoist name she practices under is 文极子. She became a daoist nun in 1992 and she began to practice, learn and then teach traditional taoist exercise practices such as Exercises for health and longetivity 长寿功 (cháng shòu gōng), and Exercices for indestructibility 金刚功, under the tutelage of master 张至顺.
Meet the Master - 张至顺
The daoist nun 许理慧 Xu Li Hui (Daoist name 文极子) joined the 明元宫 Daoist monastery in 明元宫, under master 张至顺. Born in 1912 张至顺 was a senior daoist priest who devoted his life to realising the Dao and its practices including health exercises, until his death in 2015, at the age of 104. In his later years he set up the Huangzhong Palace in Zhangjiajie, Hunan. This is now a thriving Daoist monastery, from where these classes are taught.
Where are these classes taught from?
These daoist exercise classes for health are taught from a beautiful scenic spot called Zhangjiajie (张家界) in Hunan Province. This beautiful scenic part of China is famous as the location for many Chinese movies such as which boasts mountains, and a national forest. This provides the perfect backdrop to these classes which focus on spirituality, inner peace and connection to nature. When she joined in 1992 she taught at the temple Ming Yuan Gong 明元宫, under master 张至顺. Now she has been appointed as a president of the temple 黄中宫, from where she teaches these daoist exercises.
