How Eight Pieces Brocade builds bone density

This is my Creative Health Tip for this week posted to the Believing Is Seeing blog, and since it describes one of the moves in the Eight Pieces of Brocade, it fits well here, too!





I say this without any hint of sarcasm, honest, but I really love it when science catches up with three-thousand year old Chinese medicine. That can be a great motivator to people who want to try a holistic health modality but aren't sure if it works.

I have here a pamphlet sent out as an invitation to subscribe to "Prevention," a magazine dedicated to health and wellness.

One of the articles is titled "The 60-Second Bone Builder." The article does not mention Chinese medicine, but the advice given in how to build bone density is the very essence of one of the movement positions in Eight Pieces of Brocade Qigong, a practice proven to increase bone density!

The article Says, "…..high impact exercises put strain on your bones, stimulating new bone growth." A little further down it says, "You need to subject your bones to more impact than what they're used to," agrees an MD at Stanford University. So if you're inactive, start walking. And if you're already walking, add a simple 60-second jog."

The reason for jogging is that bones, because they are so dense, need the additional impact as resistance. Just as you build muscles with resistance training by lifting weights, you build bone density with resistance of high-impact exercises.

In the Eight Pieces of Brocade Qigong, there is a position that includes exactly this type of high-impact training. (See the end of the article for results of a study of qigong on bone density.)

The practice is this: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, letting your arms hang loosely and naturally at your sides. Rise up on your toes for a count of three and then drop so that your heels hit the ground with a thud. Do this for one minute. When done, stand still and breathe deeply for about a minute.

There you have it: a high-impact, bone-building practice that is so simple you can do it any time and any where.