The name Moving Tiger means many things to us:

* A "moving tiger" embodies many qualities that our exercise system provides, including all-day energy, balance, flexibility, and effortless power.

Hence our name serves as a constant reminder for our teachers and students of the qualities toward which we aspire.

* The name Moving Tiger provides a clear link to and honors the name used in China for our exercise system - Dragon and Tiger.

We chose not to use the name Dragon and Tiger because we wished to use a new name to represent our unique blending of the Dragon and Tiger system with our particular teaching approach. Yet we still wanted a name that would link to and honor the original.

To maintain this link we chose to focus on the tiger part of the original name because Chinese and U.S. conceptions of dragons differ. The Chinese dragon is not the fire-breathing monster commonly portrayed in U.S. and European folklore. Instead Chinese dragons usually are presented as noble and benevolent.

In contrast, Chinese conceptions of the tiger are more closely aligned with those held in the U.S. One Chinese view of the tiger is of a powerful, ferocious, and regal animal - the king of the mountain. This view sees the tiger as a manifestation of the yang forces of nature - hard, expansive, and full of light. Yet in another Chinese view the tiger is associated with the yin forces of nature - soft, yielding, and dark.

In the U.S. we share this complexity of ideas about the tiger. In our common cultural view we acknowledge the powerful, regal nature of the tiger and at the same time give it other attributes from wisdom to playfulness.

The Moving Tiger name thus focuses on the tiger rather than the dragon as the symbol of our method. However, to honor the system's original name and to root our students in the Chinese tradition of the system we make frequent references to the name Dragon and Tiger in our teaching and our materials.

* The name Moving Tiger also is evocative of the process of cultural transference in which we are involved. This powerful exercise system from China - this jewel of ancient wisdom, this "tiger" - is moving into the U.S. with our help.

* Despite the powerful positive associations that cultures worldwide have with the tiger, this magnificent animal is in danger of extinction. According to the World Wildlife Fund, less than 6,000 or so exist in the wild today. In the past century three of world's eight tiger subspecies - the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers - have become extinct, and the South China tiger is on the brink of the same fate.

We hope that our name and work can contribute to public awareness of this problem and that we can help promote tiger conservation and tiger habitat conservation.

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