Embracing the Tree - Low [s004m01a]

From the posture of "Preparation" [Session 1 - Module 1] gradually raise your hands in an upward arc to finish with your palms facing your belly, as if "Embracing a Tree".
SHOULDERS RELAXED. ELBOWS DOWN.

If this were a tree that you embrace (or hug!) it would be a very small one - so you just may do better to visualise that you hold an inflated beach ball between your open palms and your belly. SHOULDERS RELAXED. ELBOWS DOWN.

BEGIN: As you breathe in imagine that this breath inflates the ball you hold against your belly or indeed, imagine that this ball is now your belly.
As the ball expands, allow your arms to open up a little to accommodate it.
On this in-breath also straighten your knees a little and raise up or 'expand' your whole body upwards and outwards - but never "lock" your knees.

Imagine then that you remove the air from the ball and you belly by stiffening you fingers a little and 'push' inwards towards your belly with you open palms to deflate the ball.
As you do this, sink at the knees a little and return to your starting position.
Repeat - a minimum of five times.

Embracing the Tree - High [s004m01b]

From the posture of "Embracing the Tree - Low" (as above) gradually raise your hands in an upward arc to finish with your palms facing the centre of your chest - keeping your SHOULDERS RELAXED and ELBOWS DOWN.
Imaging now that you hold the beach-ball in this higher position, breathe in and out at least five times, including the softening of the hands and the expanding of the whole chest and belly and raising up at the knees on the in breath and the hardening of the hands and the sinking at the knees on the out breath.

Internal - Soft - Yin. External - Hard - Yang [s003m02c]

The exercises Embracing the Tree Low and High are formulated to aid 'internal' Chi development. In simple western terms, the idea is this: By taking good full breaths in we take in plenty of Oxygen to our lungs. This oxygen then enters the blood stream ... so we then have well oxygenated blood circulating through our bodies.
INTERNAL: The gentle movements of the Embracing the Tree exercise encourages the circulation of this blood first in to the 'deep' muscles and internal organs. With the two 'internal' exercises described above our hands/fingers are 'soft' or Yin on the in breathe and we make them 'harder' (but never 'stiff') or Yang on the out breathe.
EXTERNAL: The 'Opening Wide' exercise that follows is formulated to encourage Chi (or, well oxygenated breathe) to our extremities or the external and therefore in this instance the hands must begin as 'soft' or Yin (when close to the chest) and then become 'hard' or Yang with the in breath.

Opening Wide [s0043m1d]

Upon completion of the same number "Embracing the Tree - High and Low" (say five of each as above) return your hands and arms to the Embracing the Tree - High start position and now 'soften' your hands completely.
Breathe in as you begin to open your arms wide, as if doing a slow 'star-jump' on the spot. As you open your arms, raise up at the knees and 'expand'. On this occasion, because this is now an exercise for external development, you may 'stretch' your fingers when at full expanse.
As you breathe out, allow your arms to return slowly 'inwards' towards your chest and as you do so sink again at the knees. Repeat at least five times.

Note that this larger movement of the arms takes longer to execute - and therefore to coordinate breathe and movement correctly you will need to 'hold full' and 'hold empty' for longer on the in and out breaths - as described in Session 2 - Module 1.

In the next module I will describe how this set of exercises may be extended so as to add the classic "Connecting Heaven and Earth" set, but for now I shall describe how "Embracing the Tree - High and Low" may be concluded at this point.

Sliding Down the Tree [s0043m1d]

From the Embracing the Tree - High position, simply breathe in, raise up at the knees a little and open up your arms a little. As you then begin to breathe out, slowly lower your arms to the Embracing the Tree - Low position.
With your next breath in, begin to open up your arms, get your elbows behind you a little and bring your hands to alongside your body with thumbs inward and palms facing downwards. Then, (no hurry!) breathe out and push down with both arms. For now, keep both palms facing down with your thumbs close to the side of your body. As your hands pass your waistline, soften your wrists and hands and return them to the 'Preparation' position ... thumbs gently touching your thighs. Remain in this posture for at least three in/out breaths and then, with final in breath and out breath, return to 'Attention'.
Three in/out breaths is the minimum; suitable for the average one hour training sessions because the process will be repeated over and over within that session. However, a training session is just a training session and 'just standing' - and concentrating upon Diaphragmatic Breathing, 'Circle Breath', 'The Three Gates', the 'Silken Thread' and the 'Bubbling Spring' - can itself become the basis of a lifelong practice and as such, "Just Standing" for half an hour or so (with concentration on all of the above) is perhaps the pinnacle of 'Advanced' Chi Kung - or Kung Fu.

Kung Fu

Kung fu or gongfu or gung fu is a well-known Chinese term often used by speakers of the English language to refer to Chinese martial arts. Its original meaning is somewhat different, referring to one's expertise in any skill, not necessarily martial.

The term "kung fu" was not popular until the 20th century, thus the word would be seldom found in any ancient texts. The term was first known to have been reported by a Westerner, French Jesuit missionary Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, in the 18th century and was known little in the mainstream English language until approximately the late 1960s, when it became popular because of the Hong Kong films, especially those by Bruce Lee, and later Kung Fu - the television series. Before that it was referred to primarily as "Chinese boxing".

Translation and Interpretation
It is hard to translate "kung fu" into English as we have no equivalent. In short it means "achievement through great effort" or simply virtue. It combines (kung) [sometimes gong] meaning achievement or merit, and (fu) which translates into man. In Mandarin, when two "first tone" words such as gong and fu are combined, the second word often takes a neutral tone, in this case forming gongfu.

Originally, to practice kung fu did not just mean to practice Chinese martial arts. Instead, it referred to the process of one's training - the strengthening of the body and the mind, the learning and the perfection of one's skills - rather than to what was being trained. It refers to excellence achieved through long practice in any endeavour. You can say that a person's kung fu is good in cooking, or has kung fu calligraphy. saying that a person possesses kung fu in an area implies skill in that area, which they have worked hard to develop. Someone with "bad kung fu" simply has not put enough time and effort into training, or seems to lack the motivation to do so.

For a process to be truly kung fu, Motivation, Self-discipline and Time must be present.