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Dear Dao Bums, I would like to ask you: 1) What has been the most physically strengthening and stretching qigong form you've experienced? 2) Which qigong forms would you recommend solely based on the physical strengthening and stretching aspect? 3) Which qigong forms would you recommend especially for physically strengthening and stretching the whole hip & groin area, as well the low back and kidneys? I look forward to hear from you guys! All the best

After couple months of good, general stretching, I figured out, well it's kind of easier to move around and throw some kicks in the air, but that Padmasana probly ain't gonna happen so easily, and since one day I hope to dig real deep into meditation, it would be nice to start a routine that is going to prepare my hips and all for that. So in short: who can recommend a simple, day to day thing that is not too hard to perform and that kind of forgives mistakes? Not looking for something dramatic, just safe and effective in the long term. For example, will this do the trick? I should add I'm currently doing first few of these every morning. Thanks for help!

So...I'm very interested in the Daobum take on this. As there are a lot of traditional martial arts practitioners here -- as well as the qigong / internal stuff and a few who lift weights, run, etc -- I'm curious to know how flexible we are and what our current preferred methods of increasing flexibility and mobility are. I know of various methods, and have tried all I've learnt of, but I'd be interested to know if there are others, or better ways of performing them, and what has worked for you. As for me: I've been working on my flexibility for a while now. I was incredibly inflexible to begin with, unable to touch my toes with straight legs by about 30cm; unable to think about getting into the splits; unable to do a back bridge; terrible scapular mobility, etc. Now, I can not only touch my toes but grab my foot; getting closer to the splits; decent back bridge (spinal mobility needs a lot of work); vastly improved scapular mobility; etc. In the last 12-18 months I've tried various stretching methods -- static, dynamic, ballistic, loaded, sinew -- and have decided that, though different people and different muscles require different approaches, ballistic stretching has an undeservedly bad reputation. It has gotten me as far in the last 2-3 months as all the other methods did in almost a year. One has to be careful, to be sure, and I'm sure it's not for everyone, nor for every muscle, but for my hamstring and hip adductor muscles it has helped enormously. I'll share more if anyone's interested but really I'd like to hear your experience, so... please...

I've been meaning to post this up but kept forgetting. The link was originally posted on YouTube during a 'debate' on Tim Cartmell's video of these exercises. I've no intention of going into who is right or wrong or whatever (one can practice exercises in more than one way, depending on ones mood alone). I do think the video is useful and interesting for anyone doing these exercises, and the source does seem to be authentic and direct. http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/39441868-1117945852.html For anyone with the book it will be helpful in showing the exercises actually being performed.