What is Qigong?

Vapors emerging from trees

Translation

In Mandarin, Qi means energy and Gong means skill or work, thus Qi Gong means energy work or skill with energy. This is a very broad term, which is appropriate as it is a very big field of study. When you study how energy works, you study how everything works. Everything is energy (e=mc2).

Life force energy

To be more specific, the Qi that we work with in Qi Gong is the life force energy that animates the human body. What is it that differentiates between a living human and a corpse? It is Qi, the life force energy. It is something very subtle, that we really don’t know how to define, but that all of us recognize. This, even more than our body, is who and what we are.

Cultivating Qi

Daoist masters recognized long ago that humans are born with different amounts of Qi. This level of Qi makes a great difference in how we experience life. Those with abundant Qi enjoy a healthier body and have more energy to fully experience life. Another thing that these Daoist masters came to recognize is that it is possible to cultivate Qi, to increase the amount of life force energy in the body. Just as a singer can improve the quality of their voice, or an athlete can cultivate their physical strength and agility, so can a practitioner cultivate the quality and quantity of their life force energy. One aspect of the practice is the exercising of the Qi “muscles”, strengthening the life force energy within the human body.

History

Ancient Roots

The first written records pertaining to Qi Gong are over five thousand years old, and these reference a tradition that was ancient at that time. The roots of Qi Gong and the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine go back to the tribal Shamans. This world view is foundational. Shamanistic practices are remarkably similar throughout the different traditional cultures of this world. Modern Qi Gong represents the pinnacle of development of these practices in one of the most sophisticated “traditional” cultures on earth, that of Ancient China.

Modern Era

In the early days of Communist rule, there was a mandate in China to bring to light the ancient secrets of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners. Up until that time, TCM healing lineages were passed down through families, each having their own signature practices, techniques and traditions. This is why there are so many different styles of Qi Gong, over 3000 in the subset of Taoist QiGong alone. These lineages were compelled to exchange their secrets and an overview of the different systems started to come together. Again, the practices were remarkably similar though the details vary. This combination of practices resulted in modern Qi Gong.

Medical Qi Gong Exercise

The bagua harmonized with 5 elements

The bagua harmonized with 5 elements

Self Care

Medical Qi Gong is not just a therapeutic modality, it is also a complete preventative self care system, . one of the four pillars of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) along with acupuncture, herbalism, and massage, and has been practiced for thousands of years. Medical Qi Gong provides a system for self-healing, preventative medicine, longevity, and wellness. Through postures, breathing exercises and meditations, your body begins to regulate and improve its natural ability to heal. In TCM theory it is believed that chronic disease is caused by an imbalance in our energy system.

 

Increasing Our Vitality

Through this practice, we strengthen our ability to feel this Qi in our bodies. We use breath, visualization and meditation to disperse stagnant or toxic energy that accumulates in our bodies. We build up the Qi and strengthen the energetic structure of the body, enabling us to handle more Qi. We move the Qi through the energetic channels of the body, bringing balance.

Activating the Parasympathetic

Frequently Western Medicine is unable to provide holistic solutions for chronic conditions and can only provide a pharmaceutical solution that simply addresses symptoms. Practicing Qi Gong activates our parasympathetic nervous system’s ability to heal the body. Our modern world pushes our adrenal glands into a constant low level fight or flight sympathetic nervous system response. This sympathetic response is necessary for our survival in a fight or flight situation, but is not meant to be under the constant stress that our modern lifestyles tends to put us under. Under this stress the hormone cortisol is constantly dumping into our system which inhibits our ability to relax and turns off our immune system’s ability to self-heal. Regular Qi Gong practice improves our bodies ability to heal and gives us an understanding of how to harmonize with our environment.

Purifying the Internal Organs

Working with the five internal (or Yin) organs is a major emphasis in Medical Qi Gong. Each of the five major organs (or more accurately organ systems) is a center for the body’s physiological activities on the physical plane, a center for feeling and emotion on the energetic plane and a source of light and divine virtue on the spiritual plane. In the course of our lives, we accumulate traumatic experiences which are stored in the organs and their associated energetic systems, blocking, diminishing and diverting the smooth flow of Qi within the body and meridian systems. This is often a cause of chronic disease.

Shamanic Qi Gong


TCM has its roots in traditional healing and shamanistic practices that were refined over thousands of years within the Chinese culture. An unbroken chain of knowledge was passed from master to student through the generations. From this grew the Chinese system of energy work, one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive systems for describing and working with Life force energy (Qi).

The Three Bodies

One of the fundamental principles is that there are three bodies or the three planes of existence. The physical body, flesh and blood, that which has substance; the energetic body, a subtler level of existence, the realm of emotion and feeling; and the spiritual body, the light body, thought, imagination, vision. All three of these bodies coexist in the same place at the same time, each body reflecting and mirroring the others. What affects one, affects the others. Thus we find that physical disease is often a manifestation of disharmony in the emotional or spiritual body, and it is here that we will set to work. Indeed it is understood that one of the main internal sources of disease is emotional imbalance.

We also work on the spiritual/mental plane, clearing ancestral patterns, spiritual oppression, destructive ideologies and thought patterns, unconsciously held patterns of destructive behaviour, lack of will, lack of meaning, lack of connection with the Divine. The absence of connection between spirit and body is also a cause of disease. A great part of our work involves settling and harmonizing the three bodies, so that they are in tune with each other. When there is harmony of intention between the body, mind and spirit, we find ourselves in accordance with Divine Will.

“Jacob, Thank you so much sharing your knowledge with us” – Rosemary

Comments are closed.