Seven Animal Postures by Jeogun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Information – Sunmudo Daegeumgangmun Foundation

I bought this book in the gift shop of Golgulsa Temple [i.e. Stone Buddha Temple,] in the countryside outside of Gyeongju, South Korea. Golgulsa is a fascinating place. It’s sort of the Shaolin Temple of Korea, teaching martial arts and qigong (energy work) alongside meditation and Buddhist philosophy. The Korean Buddhist martial art is called Sunmudo, and I’d never heard of it before traveling to Korea.

At any rate, this book is a 35-page guide to a set of qigong practices known as the “Seven Animal Postures” (or Yeongdongipgwan.) It’s a set of exercises that are similar to qigong practices like the Eight Pieces Brocade, and not greatly dissimilar to yogasana (i.e. yoga’s postural practices.) [FYI: The animals of these exercises are Tiger, Dragon, Deer, Monkey, Bear, Turtle, and Crane.]

The book offers a little bit of background on Sunmudo and the benefits of it, but is mostly a guide to the movement, breath, and postural details of these seven exercises. It has line drawings to help elaborate upon the text. My only gripe would be that the paper the book is printed on to make it more visually interesting has blocks of darker color that make it a little harder to read than is necessary.

If you are interested in qigong or yogic practices that are a bit more off the beaten path, you may find this one interesting.

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