Training Principles

Summary of Original Yin Exercise Goals

As our name suggests, Original Yin Qi Gong is a style of exercise that focuses on activating the Yin-female instead of the Yang-male energy to balance and restore the body to its youthful state of softness and strength. Since our focus is rejuvenation instead of athletic performance, the overall principle of OY exercises is about helping the body rest and rebuild instead of demanding it to engage in activities beyond its present capacity.  While male school exercises[1] train the body to perform certain intentional activities, OY exercises train the body to let go, disengage and float. 

At the physical level, in contrast with male school exercises, OY exercises do not require a person to tense up intentionally but instead to let go of control of his muscles and connective tissues.  At the mental level, OY exercises do not require a person to focus and perform specific movements.  Instead, they require a person to relax the mind so the body can be soft and stay in poses governed by the machines.  At the spiritual level, OY exercises are not done while a person is fully awake, but instead while a person is in the state of being ‘half asleep half awake.’

OY teaches the body to let go, disengage and float in stages.  The initial stage teaches the body the feeling of letting go, disengaged, and being afloat.  Once this skill is acquired, OY then trains the body to maintain this feeling while under more stressful situations or engaging in more strenuous activities.  Once this is achieved, OY then trains the body to maintain this feeling, even in emergencies.  Our ultimate goal is to train the body to be able to let go, disengage, and float under all circumstances, no matter the type and level of stress.

Our experience is that the OY style of exercises trains the most useful body parts and tissues because it trains the body’s natural reactions to various situations and with different stress levels.  The muscles and the stimulated connective tissues[2] are the same ones most needed in similar situations in real life.  For instance, male schools and OY train a person’s core (abdomen obliques and lower back). OY’s unique methods strengthen and invigorate the person’s core in a natural way.

Because OY exercises focus on rejuvenation, it is not in competition with male school exercises, which focus on athletic performance of various kinds.  OY exercises can enhance and complement male school exercises and help people who engage in male school exercises to recover faster and improve performance.

[1] male school exercises include weight training, aerobics, pilates, or even most forms of yoga.

[2]  Bones, nerves, and even internal organs are being trained as well.