Taoist temple exercise helps city workers relieve stress

Serene place of worship eases burden on body, mind

Young white-collar workers in Beijing can easily find themselves frazzled by the pressure of their day-today jobs and the fast pace of city life.

A Taoist temple located in the Chinese capital's downtown Xicheng district, however, is providing an oasis of serenity for young residents to relieve their aches and pains, ease their nerves, and find inner calm.

The courtyards of Baiyun Temple are shaded by towering trees and filled with the aroma of burning incense. Priests can be encountered everywhere at the temple — a living reminder of the historical significance of Taoism in China and its importance to believers.

An exercise known as baduanjin, a form of Taoist qigongthat combines a set of eight traditional Chinese fitness movements with meditation and breathing, has been taught on weekends by priests for many years, attracting enthusiastic trainees.

Deng Jiayi, 30, is one of the instructors, and has been teaching baduanjinsince 2017.

"We have found that the physical condition of people today is different from that of the past. Many people now are unable to learn martial arts or tai chi because their physical health is poor," Deng said. "Therefore, our master suggested using some health preservation exercises for the public to learn and improve, andbaduanjinbecame the exercise offered as a public welfare class at the temple.

"Our master's wish is to promote our traditional Chinese culture, to let more people know about the profound culture so that they can benefit from it," said Deng.

Thebaduanjinexercise classes, held from 9:30 am to 11:00 am every Saturday and Sunday, offer two courses. They are taught by Taoist instructors who have studied martial arts from an early age at the country's most-sacred site of Taoism, Wudang Mountain in Hubei province.

Initially a set of qigongexercises practiced by Chinese folk groups, baduanjinhas evolved since ancient times. Inferior elements of the exercise were discarded while the remaining ones were refined, leading to the practice of baduanjinin its current form.

Different schools and styles of martial arts, as well as qigong, have incorporated these techniques into their own systems, further boosting the spread of baduanjin.

Deng said the Sanfeng branch of Wudangbaduanjinfocuses on breathing and health preservation, while the Shaolin sect practices a more forceful and externalized style, which emphasizes muscle and internal strength.

Baiyun Temple teaches a style of the exercise derived from the Huashan branch of the Taoist Quanzhen sect, with a focus on the regulation and flow of qi, a vital life energy, and blood.