Qigong: China's 3000 year old system of self healing
The effectiveness of qigong has been proven in China by its beneficial impact on
the health of millions of people over thousands of years. Developing the life
force, or chi, is the focus of Taoism, China's original religion/philosophy. The
Taoists are the same people who brought acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine,
bone setting, and the yin/yang concept to the world.
Unfortunately, most of the specifics of these valuable contributions have until
just recently been blocked from Western awareness by immense cultural and
language barriers.
These barriers are beginning to break down to an extent in acupuncture, but with
regard to qigong they are still very much in place.
For most people, the first and foremost benefit of qigong lies in the relief or
prevention of chronic health problems. The range of maladies that have been
helped by qigong in China include cancer, internal organ ailments, poor
circulation, nerve pain, back and joint problems and general physical disease.
Many physical problems are at least partially due to, or aggravated by, mental
or emotional stress, so the importance of the inner tranquility developed
through chi gung cannot be overestimated. The practice of qigong helps manage
the stress, anger, depression, morbid thoughts, and general confusion that prey
on your mind when your chi is not regulated and balanced. Strengthening and
balancing the energy of your mind enhances your ability to detect subtle nuances
and to perceive the world and its patterns at ever-increasing levels of
complexity. People who do not practice some form of energy development many
never acquire these abilities.
Qigong is also useful on the spiritual level. The ultimate aim of all inner
Taoist practices is the alchemical transformation of the body, mind, and spirit,
leading to union with the Tao. Feeling the energy of your body makes it possible
for you to understand the energy of your thoughts and emotions, and this leads
to comprehending the energy of the spirit. From here it is possible to fully
understand the energy of meditation or emptiness, and through emptiness it is
possible to become one with the Tao.
According to Taoism, every human being contains "the three treasures"�jing
(sperm/ovary energy, or the essence of the physical body), chi (energy,
including the thoughts and emotions), and shen (spirit or spiritual power). Wu
(emptiness) gives birth to and integrates the three treasures.
The Taoists use the all-pervasive life energy as the basis of spiritual
investigation. The ultimate goal, becoming one with the Tao, has been called
many things, such as "enlightenment," "meeting with the Father in Heaven,"
"reaching Nirvana," and "ultimate understanding." Taoists feel that it is best
for one to begin with the energy of the body, then progress through emotions and
thoughts to spiritual power, before going for the ultimate.
Popular opinion has it that once you have reached a state of emptiness, you stay
there, but this idea is false. You merely become increasingly familiar with this
state and learn how to spend more and more time there. As long as you live in a
physical body, physical needs continue to exert demands, and dwelling completely
in emptiness is not possible. Taoism has developed advanced techniques to work
with the energy of wu.
Qigong can be practiced by individuals who only want to become physically
healthy and do not care about psychological or spiritual matters. For
generations, qigong has been used by martial artists, many of whom remained
unconcerned with spiritual development. Nonetheless, all Taoist spiritual
practice begins with qigong practice, no matter what level of attainment one
wishes to finally achieve.
Many people involved with spiritual disciplines focus their attention on
enlightenment, and in the process injure their bodies and agitate their minds.
They attempt to train in the higher spiritual disciplines without first clearing
the energy blocks in their physical and emotional bodies. This way of proceeding
can cause the equivalent of a short circuit in their systems, as spiritual
practices may generate more power than their bodies or minds can handle.
Many monks from different Buddhist sects in China have had to seek out Taoist
masters to repair the damage to their systems caused by overly forceful
meditation techniques.
That is why qigong is only a preparatory practice for Taoist meditation. qigong
can help calm an agitated mind and your negative emotions, strengthen the
nerves, clear energy blocks and make you healthy.
However, qigong alone is normally insufficient to resolve and clear serious and
traumatic emotional and spiritual blockages within the deeper layers of your
consciousness. This more encompassing skill primarily belongs in the realm of
Taoist meditation.
Qigong represents a total system of energy work and personal development system.
The exercises presented the Energy Arts Qigong Exercise Program are all that are
necessary to maintain high-level health and increase overall awareness. This set
of exercises can also serve as warm-up exercises for internal martial artists
and energetic healers. These will give the average person at least as much
internal benefit as they would most likely obtain from the practice of tai chi
with the vast majority of the tai chi teachers in the West, as most teachers
either do not know or do not share information regarding the internal energy
work of tai chi.
Qigong was primarily develope as an exercise to keep people healthy and reduce
tension. Qigong is practiced by people of all spiritual and religious
persuasions. Although the basis of qigong is Taoism, one of the primary Eastern
religions, there is no necessity to learn or believe its philosophy to practice
qigong.
For five thousand years, Taoists have practiced techniques for developing chi.
Most modern Taoists are reluctant to publicly declare that they do qigong and
other energy work, preferring to quietly practice in private.
The United States and Europe are presently besieged by cults. Generally
speaking, people involved in qigong do their best to avoid cultish
identification. Qigong is something you do, something that benefits your life. It
is not you, you are not it. However, qigong can have potent effects and some
cult groups have incorporated chi gung techniques into their practices to draw
in adherents. The phenomenon of cults is something China has seen many times and
has deemed to be nonessential in terms of human evolution and the development of
consciousness.
The Taoists used chi gung to make the body healthier, the mind more clear and
balanced, the emotions calmer and to increase spiritual capacities. They did not
believe in making the practice of qigong yet another wedge to divide people into
groups of those who do and those who do not.
The science of qigong is based on the axiom that the mind has the ability to
direct chi, which this book can teach you how to accomplish. You can qigong can
begin to feel their nerves, and this ability increases with time. You can
literally learn to go inside your body with your mind, feel what is there, and
direct your chi where it needs to go. This is not a mysterious process, but a
natural one that can be acquired with time and effort.
It is possible to get 50 to 60 percent of the potential health benefits of tai
chi just by doing these exercises, which are probably only one-tenth as difficult
to learn as tai chi. In addition, there are higher level techniques in tai chi,
which are accessible only after mastering all the internal material of these
qigong exercises.
In the West, most systems of tai chi or other internal martial arts are taught
from the viewpoint of movement, with principles such as softness, relaxation,
and body alignment thrown in. However, most of the internal components of tai
chi that bring about health are commonly overlooked. Whether this lack of
information is due to the reticence of teachers or the language and cultural
barriers between China and the West, a large vacuum of knowledge does exist for
Westerners.
The traditional and complete internal martial arts of tai chi, hsing-i, and ba
gua are extremely subtle and advanced forms of qigong. Authentic material on
these arts is rarely found in the West and, where it is found, the transmissions
tend to be clouded.
People practice qigong for many different reasons, including for recreation,
exercise and relaxation, preventive medicine and self-healing, meditation and
self-cultivation, and training for martial arts. In recent years a large number
of books and videos have been published that focus primarily on qigong as
exercise and associated health benefits. Practitioners range from athletes to
the physically challenged. Because it is low impact and can be done lying,
sitting, or standing, qigong is accessible for disabled persons, seniors, and
people recovering from injuries.
Therapeutic use of qigong is directed by TCM, CAM, integrative medicine, and
other health practitioners. In China, where it is considered a "standard medical
technique", qigong is commonly prescribed to treat a wide variety of conditions,
and clinical applications include hypertension, coronary artery disease, peptic
ulcers, chronic liver diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity, menopause syndrome,
chronic fatigue syndrome, insomnia, tumors and cancer, lower back and leg pain,
cervical spondylosis, and myopia. Outside China qigong is used in integrative
medicine to complement or supplement accepted medical treatments, including for
relaxation, fitness, rehabilitation, and treatment of specific conditions.
Qigong is practiced for meditation and self-cultivation as part of various
philosophical and spiritual traditions. As meditation, qigong is a means to
still the mind and enter a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity,
and bliss. Many practitioners find qigong, with its gentle focused movement, to
be more accessible than seated meditation.
Qigong for self-cultivation can be classified in terms of traditional Chinese
philosophy: Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian. The practice of qigong is an
important component in both internal and external style Chinese martial arts.
Focus on qi is considered to be a source of power as well as the foundation of
the internal style of martial arts (Neijia). T'ai chi ch'uan, Xing yi, and
Baguazhang are representative of the types of Chinese martial arts that rely on
the concept of qi as the foundation. Extraordinary feats of martial arts
prowess, such as the ability to withstand heavy strikes (Iron Shirt)and the
ability to break hard objects (Iron Palm) are abilities attributed to qigong
training.
T'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan) is a widely practiced Chinese internal martial style
based on the theory of taiji ("grand ultimate"), closely associated with qigong,
and typically involving more complex choreographed movement coordinated with
breath, done slowly for health and training, or quickly for self-defense. Many
scholars consider t'ai chi ch'uan to be a type of qigong, traced back to an
origin in the 17th century. In modern practice, qigong typically focuses more on
health and meditation rather than martial applications, and plays an important
role in training for t'ai chi ch'uan, in particular used to build strength,
develop breath control, and increase vitality ("life energy").
Hope this resource on Qigong shall help our readers to seek a healthy body and a
healthy mind.
The effectiveness of qigong has been proven in China by its beneficial impact on
the health of millions of people over thousands of years. Developing the life
force, or chi, is the focus of Taoism, China's original religion/philosophy. The
Taoists are the same people who brought acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine,
bone setting, and the yin/yang concept to the world.
It is possible to get 50 to 60 percent of the potential health benefits of tai
chi just by doing these exercises, which are probably only one-tenth as difficult
to learn as tai chi. In addition, there are higher level techniques in tai chi,
which are accessible only after mastering all the internal material of these
qigong exercises.