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Mr Ho Tse-tong, a retired Chief Superintendent, is a very experienced practitioner of Baduanjin, whose mentees are conducting many courses in Baduanjin in Hong Kong. In fact, at the very beginning, Mr Ho was very resistant to Baduanjin.
"When I was 40, I looked like being just in thirties because I did plenty of physical exercises, running eight kilometres or swimming 2 000 metres every day. I never thought of practising Baduanjin," he recalled. It was after he was plagued by illnesses that Mr Ho started practising Baduanjin and realized that being fit did not mean you were healthy.
In 1993, when he was working in an office in a commercial building, probably due to poor ventilation, Mr Ho frequently suffered from upper respiratory tract infection.
"It was when I was posted to Shatin District as Deputy District Commander in 1995 that I could finally leave that place, but my health became even worse. Mr Choi Kin-cheung, the then Assistant District Commander Crime, encouraged me to practise Baduanjin. In my first lesson of Baduanjin, there were more than 40 classmates, but a few remained until the third lesson. The comparatively difficult postures of Lung Mun Branch of Wudang Baduanjin might have barred the classmates from continuing. Baduanjin has many branches and nowadays, some movements have been simplified to allow the beginners to pick up the exercise more easily," he noted. Mr Ho holds the view that no matter which branch it is, Baduanjin is a good exercise if one could make an effort to practise.
Mr Ho practised Baduanjin every day as far as he could remember the movements. Then his health improved a lot after practising for less than one month and his knee pain was healed too. He pointed out that Baduanjin offers a log of benefits such as "softening" the body and improving the circulatory system.
Besides, one can practise it by oneself.
In the past, I practised the exercise in my office. Seeing my practice, some colleagues asked me to teach them Baduanjin. That was how I started teaching my colleagues and some locals after office hours. A man who had difficulties in moving around following two strokes could move without any restriction after practising Baduanjin for only three months. One year later, he could even work as a village leader and teach his villagers Baduanjin.
Though having passed on the job of promoting Baduanjin to his mentees, Mr Ho still practise it with his friends every day. "Besides making me more healthy, Baduanjin enables me to make more friends. This is joy of exercise," he noted.
Free Baduanjin Play-in session
Starting from April 2, Personnel Services and Staff Relations Branch will organise "Easy Sport, Easy Job - Baduanjin Play-in sessions" on the grass pitch outside the indoor sports hall of Police Sports and Recreation Club on Saturdays from 8:30 am to 9:30 am, with the help of experienced instructor. The session is free of charge and no advance registration is required. All Force members and their families are welcome.