Qigong

What is Qigong?

Qi is the Chinese word for “life energy”. It is the animating power that flows through all living things. It can also be defined as the life energy one senses in nature.

Gong means “work” or “benefits acquired through perseverance and practice”. Qigong therefore means working with the life energy, learning how to control the flow and distribution of qi to improve the health and harmony of mind and body.

Why do Qigong?

It’s considered a self-healing meditation and exercise. It fits into the categories of healing posture, breathing techniques, meditation, movement, and self-massage. By doing Qigong, participants are able to accumulate qi and store it in the body, kind of like filling up a reservoir. Impure, or polluted qi, considered the essence of dis-ease and disharmony, can be cleansed, and refined into healing qi. Similar to breathing, where oxygen is inhaled to replace carbon dioxide, via Qigong and the breathing techniques that go along with it, participants can bring healing qi into the body.

What is the goal of Qigong?

A goal of Qigong is for it to become a practice, like yoga. It’s not something that is perfected immediately but something that can add into a daily routine to help quiet the minds, and bring peace and rest to the body. With Qigong participants breathe in the gift of life, health, and the things that are needed, while they can exhale the things that are no longer serving them.

Types of Qigong?

There are many different types of Qigong and many different teachers. You may have heard of Tai chi. This is actually a form of Qigong. Other forms include medical Qigong, martial arts Qigong, and Spiritual Qigong.

A couple teachers of Qigong that you may want to check out are Damo Mitchell and Lee Holden. In addition, and if interested, The Way of Qigong by Kenneth S. Cohen is a great book to get you started. Also consider searching for Qigong on Youtube and several practitioner videos will come up. Enjoy!