A Brief Introduction to Sixiang Exercise

Today's life is filled with pressure and accompanied by worsening environment，therefore health has imperceptibly become a key topic. There is a common awareness of the importance to keep healthy by preventive methods，among which continual physical exercise is the most active one. Currently many different exercise methods play substantial roles：traditional t'ai chi，yoga，modern aerobics，calisthenics，various ball games，swimming，running and mountain- climbing. Mr Zhou Zhongyu，founder of Sixiang Exercise（Sixiangyundong，Four-Symbol Exercise），devotes his entire life to research t'ai chi and qigong. He also is renowned for his rich knowledge in Chinese traditional medicine， especially in Tui'na，Chinese massage. This explains his extreme familiarity with human anatomy，especially the positions and directions of muscle groups and the human vasculature. While relieving troubles of his patients， Mr. Zhou has been seeking a simple exercise method that effectively produces sound results.

Mr. Zhou enjoys exercising t'ai chi and Chinese swordplay. His followers in exercise total to thousands，but only less than one hundred students persisted to the end. This is because it is difficult to learn the style forms of t'ai chi and swordplay. In addition，though they do not require the aids of instruments as the ball games do，they do have certain requirements on a ground and its surroundings，as mountain-climbing and running do.

Starting from the basis of his study and practice in t'ai chi and swordplay，Mr Zhou Zhongyu compared modern exercise methods， viewed Kongfu forms that are useful for physical exercise and read

much about Western scientific findings on modern sports. He created Sixiang Exercise，attempting to combine the advantages of t'ai chi， qigong and yoga so as to achieve the goal of health by a simple exercise manner with fixed patterns.

Sixiang Exercise includes four stretching forms of exercise and three supporting forms of exercise. The former ones，by the round-shaped movements of the arms，drive most muscle groups of the entire body to extend and contract，which triggers a series of physical effects on the human body so as to achieve the goals in health-keeping； the latter ones supplement the exercise of the body parts that are not covered by the stretching forms. Sixiang Exercise is relaxed，extended，even， slow-paced，continuous and uninterrupted. During this exercise，the extending and contracting of corresponding muscles activates the eight vascular passages：the Taiyin，Shaoyin，Taiyang and Shaoyang passages of the arms and of the feet. Taiyin，Shaoyin，Taiyang and Shaoyang are named as Four Symbols（Sixiang）by the Book of Changes（Yijing）. This is where the exercise gets its name. As a health-keeping exercise， it absorbs the even，slow，relaxed and extended features of t'ai chi boxing，the mind guidance and breathing control features of qigong， and the simple，brief，fast，back and forth and cycled features of acrobatics. Sixiang Exercise is characterized by 1）motivating the muscle groups of the entire body by arm stretching. It not only drives the outer muscles，but also the inner muscles. For instance，several sessions of motions can drive the prostate gland and its neighboring muscle groups into rhythmic extending and contracting，massaging them in exercise，

which relieves the spastic muscle groups. The human body has many“dead corners”like the prostate gland that lack exercising，for example， the armpits，the chest hollow，the spine and the groin. These parts are neglected in exercise，but usually these are exactly the parts with im portant physical functions. By“all-direction”muscle movements，Sixiang Exercise effectively works on these“dead corners”. 2）extending as a major feature. In daily life activities we rarely extend our arms and stretch our body upwards. Except in yoga，ballet，acrobatics and swimming， body extension is really seen，but it is of great significance to the human physical health.Its physical effects on the human body include：①Extending can avoid slipshod movements by extending the time and space of exercise， which prolongs the time of exercise effects on the body and increases the depth of exercise stimulation. ②Extending can enlarge the extension length of bone links，especially that of the spine. This type of increase of extension length is very small，even might be only a sort of feeling. Nevertheless，even though only a tiny bit，it benefits the health of body greatly. ③Extending to the limit of one's body. The“limit of one's body”is what one's movements should reach their maximum limit. This kind of limits in exercise help much to maintain the pliability of joints and to delay aging of the body. In fact，the extending and contracting limit of the major joints is only a small part of the movement limits of the human body. For example，by leveling both arms to the shoulders， one have the extension limits of the joints of the shoulders，of the elbows， of the wrists and of the fingers. Even the relaxation and extension of muscles and fascia have maximum limits. Only，these“limits”are easily

neglected. Working on these limits，however，has greater importance for health of the body than working on the limits of big joints. 3）even and slow even-speed motion. The manner of life activities in the human body is also continuous even-speed motion，such as even-speed breathing，even-speed blood travelling and even-speed metabolizing. It is this continuous and unceasing manner of even-speed motion of nature and of life that lays the key foundation to Sixiang Exercise. Being one of the basic features of life，the very characteristic of even-speed motion corresponds to that of the time structure of living beings. At respective levels of life，whether it is the duplicating of deoxyribonucleic acid （DNA，the human inheritance gene），or the growing and repairing of cells，tissues and organs，or the human physical activities，without ex ception each level obviously presents a life rhythm with periodic changes. This rhythm is usually seen in even-speed motion. 4）an ex ercise that unifies motion and stillness. It is a unique Oriental health-keeping method to unify motion with stillness，which obtains in creasing popularity both home and aboard. 5）a full-scale exercise with an erect posture. The erect posture is most frequently used，compared with the sitting posture，the lying posture and other postures. Sixiang Exercise absorbs certain characteristics of t'ai chi，qigong and acrobatics. The erect posture is precisely best for these three exercises. It is also the best posture for daily life，whether thinking，eating or drinking. Al though frequently standing too long easily leads to the problem of varicose veins in lower limbs，in contrast，Sixiang Exercise helps the blood in the veins of lower limbs travel back to the heart. Its arm

movements create the extending and contracting movements in lower limbs，which presses rhythmically the veins between muscles，speeding the blood travelling in said limbs. Good stretching exercises can motivate most muscle groups of the body：from the toe tendons to the muscle groups of the shoulders. Sixiang Exercise is truly among them. 6）its primary framing feature lies in“simplicity”：simple structure and simple motions. According to contemporary scientific research findings，simple exercises are good at building up exercise traces. Exercise traces are the positive stimuli that exercises contribute to the body. A simple exercise can be repeated many times in a short period，producing deep exercise traces，the chain of which is close，solid and firm. As a result，it strengthens the effects of exercise. Simple，even-speed and slow movements are convenient for amplifying the feelings in each single aspect of exercise，e.g.，the extending and contracting of muscles，the guiding of fingertips，the rhythm of breathing and the pulling of muscles. In other words，it prolongs the process of movements and specifies the shape changes of limbs so as to create time and space conditions for further exercises.

The Sixiang Exercise theory itself is based on exercise science. It improves physical health significantly by a most simple exercise method. Therefore，its advantage lies in its easy motions，which are quick to learn well. Besides that，learners shall not risk deviation if they cannot meet the high-level requirements of the Sixiang Exercise because their motions are not fully accurate. Taking this exercise will not lead to tiredness，in stead it makes one's entire body very free and very comfortable.

It requires little on surroundings，no matter indoor or outdoor，one can take this exercise alike，if only there is fresh air and space of about four square meters. It has no peculiar requirement on time：a break between working hours，a period before an early morning rise or one before a late sleep can be good. Meanwhile，it co-works well with other exercises. It answers to many demands：a healthy person may strengthen his body and improve his physical health； a weak person with illness may regain his health by practicing each form for three weeks，or by practicing only one of the four forms. For instance，a person with weak lungs may practice Taiyin Lung Book， （Taiyinfeijing）-the Arms-stretching Form（Zhenbishi）. Additionally，it particularly suits the ed ucated group that work by a desk and the busy white-collar group.

Sixiang Exercise has gained popularity in several districts in Shang hai，in the city of Wenzhou and in several other counties， bene fiting most of its participants greatly. All his life Mr. Zhou Zhongyu，nevertheless，restrains himself in modesty. It is in response to the repeated requests from those who practice it that this book is written for publication，in the hope that more groups might benefit from it.