Shuai Shou 甩 手 - Swing Arms

The characters above are pronounced "shuai shuo".  They are both pronounced with the third tone.  The character "shuai" represents moving back-and-forth, or swinging.  The character "shou" represents the hands or arms.  So, this combined character means "swinging arms".

Shuai-shou is a very simple, low impact exercise that is useful as a nice morning wake-up, an evening wind-down, a warm-up before something more strenuous or a warm-down after your exercise.  There are a couple of versions of shuai-shou so I am goingto describe the simplest and most straightforward for now. I will get into the other versions at some point in the future.

Stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart. Arms relaxed at your side.  Keep your feet are flat on the ground and facing straight forward (not pointed outward).  Lean forward very slightly until you feel a bit of pressure on the balls of your feet.  Turn your waist from side to side and.let your arms swing loosely as your turn.  Turn as slowly as you like and as far as is comfortable. Nice and smooth.  Don't worry about where your hands go, just let them swing.

This will give your entire body a nice gentle work-out.  This is not an Olympic event so just do it as much as feels comfortable. BUT...here's the key...do it every day! Even if it is for 1 minute...do it 1 minute every day.  Everyday for 6 months, 1 year, the rest of your life. I do this exercise constantly, just to help me relax - it really is like meditation in motion.

I try to avoid giving too many instructions because it tends to make people think too much about what should be a natural movement..BUT...I cannot resist giving the following advice.

Keep your feet planted on the ground.  Don't lift your heels off the ground and try not to sway back and forth when you do this exercise.  Don't worry about how far to left and right you are turning.  Turn to the extent you are able and let nature take care of the rest.  Just stand and turn...everyday..

Enjoy.