Simple Hand Qigong

Imitate animals using just your hands

Focus your mind and calm your heart with simple hand Qigong. Photos of hands by M.W.

The classic Animal Frolics Qigong form, also known as Wu Qin Xi and Five Animal Play, features different hand positions. I encourage the idea that you can do the complete form just with the hand positions as long as you bring your mind focus, breath and concentration on your body’s reactions to the endeavor. The sincere and undistracted practice of bringing the “Qi” of the animals to mind and attempting to express that energy through the hands is a simple and powerful practice. What awaits you can be surprising. That is to say, the health and strength of your hands are a reflection of the health of your whole body and life. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the fingers (along with the toes) are the location of the “jing wells” or the origin points of the twelve meridians and are frequently used in treatments for wide-ranging ailments. The hands, like the feet and the ears, are microsystems for the whole body, and so treating the points of the hands in particular (through needles of acupuncture or through touch and pressure techniques of acupressure) can be simple and effective. Doing simple hand massaging movements that stretch and strengthen the hands can show where the hands are strong or weak. That is, the movements and massage can show where the life blood and Qi are flowing in the hands and provide evidence of the strength and flexibility of the body. Western science corroborates this idea in that measures of grip strength are considered a biomarker — a measurable sign of the body’s biology — that tells the story of robust or weak cardiological health and mental fitness (see a recent article in Time magazine on the relationship between grip strength and longevity here).

In scientific studies of Qigong, many Qigong forms have shown to improve grip strength after a dose of around of twelve weeks of practice where subjects practiced for an hour at a time several times a week. Animal Frolics Qigong (also known as Wu Qin Xi or Animal Play) is one such form that improves grip strength and provides a range of physical and psychological health improvements (to see the 2018 systematic review of multiple studies on the Animal Frolics Qigong form click here). The premise of the Animal Frolics Qigong practice is to move the entire body and use the hands and fingers to shape the paws, hooves or horns of the animals. I studied the Animal Frolics with multiple teachers, and each encouraged to observe the movement of animals and attempt to imitate animals regularly. Such a practice is a humble reminder that nature provides many examples for how to move the body. The playful movement can keep the mind and body well. The more subtle reminder here is that, in attempting to imitate nature, you can glimpse into the nature of nature. This can be very healing.

Encouragements and Advice

The main advice when you do any Qigong is stay comfortable. That said, as you do any Qigong and the hand movements below, you may discover discomfort, and it is not a mistake but a call to do a bit less. It’s all right to make adjustments. You do these practices as much with your mind as with your body. So, when you start putting your hands into shapes to imitate animals, you may find that it is easy to do one set of movements while others are challenging. It is okay if in the moment, there may be fingers that do not move or do not obey your commands. There could be a stiffness and a feeling of intense stretch that could be painful. You may find that you need the other hand to assist to come in or out of a hand position. Hand and grip strength results from an active lifestyle where the hands are engaged in lifting, squeezing, and articulating small and big gestures. It is all information for you, and it is easy to forget that you use your hands for everything. There are muscles in the hands that can become strong or worn out as a result of activities like gardening, lifting weights, sewing, playing cards, cooking etc (the list does go on). There are also conditions that affect the hands in particular, like repetitive stress issues, arthritis, circulation issues, and the list goes on here, too. Stay comfortable, but do attempt the movements and playfully envision and imagine the life of an animal . See what you find out. Try these simple movements below in the order suggested, which follows the order of the classic Wu Qin Xi Animal Frolics Qigong, which is known to stimulate the meridians (the “energy rivers” are the communication pathways of the organs functioning as one unified system of systems) of the body that start at the hands:

Thumb: Lung

Index finger: Large Intestine

Middle finger: Pericardium (heart protector)

Ring finger: Triple Warmer (said to map to the thyroid and metabolic function)

Little finger: Heart and Small Intestine

Focusing on your hands with your mind and “commanding” your hands to move into shapes can increase the flow of blood and Qi, the energy and information that is passing through the systems of the body, and so improve function of the body. Your hands are a reflection of your whole being, and so consciously moving your hands affects your whole system, your mind and body.

The Basic Hand Qigong Movements

Here are the basic Qigong movements for your hands.

Tiger Paws: Spread the fingers of both hands wide apart and bend the first two joints of each finger (the middle joint and the joint closest to the fingernail). Stretch the palm as well. Every point in the hands will respond to the stretch, which is a way of “turning” on the flow of Qi and blood (the blood is a “sister” of the Qi, which is the exchange of substances that happens in the blood). Turn the palms to face out as if you are pushing a wall in front of you, and then press the palms down. Relax the hands for a moment and then repeat. Do this at least three times relaxing in between to give yourself a chance to feel what is happening in your mind and hands as you do this. Do your hands tire easily? Is it hard to get your fingers to spread out?

Deer Antlers and Hooves: The Deer has two hand gestures representing the antlers and the hooves. Hold the antlers by folding the ring finger and middle finger so that the tips of those fingers touch the palm of each hand. Try your best to touch the palm with the tips of the fingers while keeping the hand relaxed. This is hard one for a lot of people. The ring finger is known for moving with the little finger. The horn gesture is held in each hand and is said to calm the spirit with the touching of the tip of the middle finger (the Pericardium or heart protector) to the palm, which is a gesture of self-nurturing or listening to your own heart.

The hooves of the Deer are made with what is known as the non-aggressive fist: bring your thumb to the base of your ring finger, then lightly wrap the other fingers around the thumb.

The exercise is to alternate the hand positions going from antlers to hooves. Using both hands to do the exercise repeat alternating from antlers to hooves at least three times to notice what happens. Can you do this quickly? Is the movement smooth or hesitant?

Bear Paws: Touch the tip of the middle finger to the thumb so that you make a little circle in each hand with the other fingers lightly bent. Leave a little space at the center of the palm and concentrate on that space as you relax your wrists. The palms are empty and focusing on this empty space of your palms can be a way to center your attention and ground yourself. Bend your elbows slightly to hold your bear-paw hands at your sides, and then right in front of your belly and a few inches apart from one another. The bear is a rest pose in the form. Rest here until you feel your shoulders go down or when you notice a slight shift in your breath. Then, still holding the bear paws, let your arms be long at your sides. Be here for about three breaths or as long as you want. The Bear can feel like coming home.

Monkey Paws: The Monkey is like a flickering flame that is always moving and dancing. The hand gesture is like holding a little piece of fruit between your thumb and fingers, which represents letting your attention rest on a single little thing that you can enjoy (look at the fruit or eat it!). There is so much to pay attention to! The Monkey form celebrates this fact of life. To to the move, bring the tips of your fingers together with the thumb as if you are holding a small piece of fruit you are about to eat. Bend your wrists slightly as you do this. The exercise is to quickly alternate opening and closing the fingers as if your hands are snatching little fruits just in front of your chest. The Monkey is about speed and seizing opportunity, not missing anything. Do this rapid opening and closing snatching gesture with both hands and imagine you are picking fruit quickly or slowly.

Bird Wings: With all fingers straight and extended and wrists straight, bring the middle and ring fingers together and forward toward the palm while the other fingers stretch backwards (towards the back of the hand) and away from the middle and ring fingers. This hand position creates space in the fingers so that the little finger, index finger and thumb are flying away from the middle and ring fingers. This gesture stretches all the fingers and the palm of each hand. While maintaining the this hand position with each hand as best you can, you can explore rotating your palms down, up and to the sides. Try holding the hands in this position while stretching the arms long, like bird wings, and bending and straightening the elbows with arms held out the sides, out in front and to the back. Explore this hand and arm movement and notice the thoughts, sensations, and observations. Breathe gently and deeply.

A fun exercise to try is to make each animal hand movement with both hands and rapidly change animals from one to another as you walk or wait in line.

When you have tried all the hand positions, shake out your hands, and then rub them. Massage and squeeze the palms, the fingers, the outside of the fingers and back of the hand. Then rest for a few moments with your hands in your lap for a few moments before you go on to the next activity.

Hands change over time

Years back in during Tai Chi class, our Tai Chi teacher would walk around and suggest corrections. The unspoken agreement between teacher and students was that if we were practicing our forms and attending class, we were interested in improving our practice and willing to accept feedback. Observing my form, several times when I first started learning Tai Chi and doing the movements the best way I knew how, my teacher would point to my hands and slowly shake his head in what felt like a quiet disapproval. Something was not quite right with my hands, but there were no constructive words from my teacher. The feedback, though well-intended, was vague, so I was not quite sure how to address it. What the feedback finally did make me do was observe my hands as I practiced, and it made me regularly “imagine” that I was sending fresh blood and circulation to my hands. At the time, my hands would be very cold whenever I practiced. Cold hands are a sign that blood is not circulating to the hands, and it can be a common thing that happens when you practice, whether you are practicing indoors or outdoors. Ah! This was a useful observation. Circulation is the key to good health, because fresh blood moving throughout the body is a sign that nutrients are being delivered and gases are being exchanged through the medium of the blood. Good circulation can also account for color in the face and the hands and feet. Healthy circulation can feel like health and vitality to the mind, which means energy to think clearly and do things effectively. This is all about gaining skills and mastery.

At the time of my Tai Chi beginnings, I also saw a videotape of me practicing the forms, and I noticed my hand movements as clearly and dispassionately as I could. Wow. It was humbling. What I saw in the video was that my hands were stiff and lifeless, almost as if they were separate from the rest of my body. Seeing myself in the video and being both humbled and horrified by what I saw made me practice my Tai Chi more. The clear intent to get the energy to flow through my hands and to flow through my entire body served me well. After that, I just wanted to infuse my practice with Qi and energy, which is actually a worthwhile goal for anyone pursuing mindbody arts. Finally, in this story of my hands, the years passed by. I kind of forgot about my hands and just practiced the forms and lived my life. But one day, about seven years after those first days of practice, my teacher observed me holding my arms in a Zhan Zhuang posture (informally called “Hugging the Tree”), and he pointed to my fingers and said, “This is good.” Basically, it took a several years of practice for my hands to be better integrated into my Tai Chi movement and “obey” my commands.

Remember: Every Part of You is You

I like to remind people in my classes that “every part of you is you” which means that any part of your body can tell a story about what life has been like for you. The sensations of the body are like a snapshot of your current state of health and your current state of mind. Your body is in constant communication with itself, and that communication can get tuned up through healthful living. Things we do habitually also train and condition the body in subtle ways that may be hard to observe. For example, if you feel anxious and afraid, your body starts acting and being in a way that expresses the anxiety: your breaths might shorten and your muscles might tense up while your mind is racing with “automatic” thoughts. Stress can show up as circulation problems in the body and maybe make your hands cold or affect your digestion. It can be tricky to observe these things while you are going through them. In the great din of the world, the things going on in your body may go unnoticed until they become a problem. The state of health is a state of clear and accurate communication within and across systems of your body. Health has a rhythm and a feeling. During practice, there is an opportunity to simplify the relationship between your body and the world and notice what the body does when the movements are simple. Are the signals between individual cells coming across clearly and at the right time? Do the limbs and body “obey” your wishes and commands while the mind and body stay relaxed?

The slow movement done with awake attention is a way to observe the body’s communication systems in real-time. Repeated over time, the experience of doing slow movements will change in quality and feeling as the training effects get integrated. The mind may become quieter as the movements become more smooth and integrated into the whole expression of the practice. This is when the moving meditation becomes an art.