Qigong is an ancient Chinese health and enlightenment practice. It involves gentle but powerful physical movements and meditation. In fact, when asked what is the one thing he would recommend doing for your health, Dr. Oz said, “If you want to be healthy and live to 100, do qigong. And, qigong reverses the aging process.”
That’s a pretty big endorsement. How come many people in the US aren’t really that familiar with qigong then?
Well, although qigong is just beginning to become more and more prevalent in the US, it is practiced by over 200 million people worldwide every day and has served the test of time for over 5,000 years. It is a central part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). And, some believe that it is the key to understanding how the Chinese are able to live as long as Americans, while they only spend less than 1% of what we do on healthcare!
Can you help me understand the word itself?
The word “qigong” (“chee-gong”) is constructed from two parts. Qi is the Chinese word for the universal energy that makes up, flows through, animates and informs everything in the universe. In our bodies, it is vital life energy. Gong means to work or to cultivate something, as in cultivating energy in a garden, leading to mastery. In short, then, qigong means to cultivate one’s vitality through practice.
Is this something that you practice yourself or a treatment that you receive?
Both. Since this practice originated in the Eastern traditions, it is both a daily personal practice for your own health and enlightenment, and in addition, it is also used as a treatment.
What do you do when you practice qigong?
The version that we teach and practice, Spring Forest Qigong (SFQ) was developed by the 2010 Qigong Master of the Year (awarded at the 12th World Congress on Qigong/TCM in San Francisco, California), Master Chunyi Lin, author of the Amazon.com #1 best seller, Born A Healer. I was born a healer. You were born a healer, too! SFQ is designed to share ancient energetic balancing secrets in a very simple way. The practice of SFQ is very easy to learn and practice. You practice qigong with slow and gentle movements and meditations. We start practicing meditations with guided meditations, so all you have to do is to listen to the instructions and follow along. Over time you go deeper and deeper into your meditations. In introductory classes, many new qigong students are able to begin to feel their qi and some even to see energy. The movements and meditations help build and balance your qi and clear energy blockages inside your body. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that energy blockages are the cause of diseases.
What happens when you have a qigong treatment?
When you have a qigong treatment, you sit or lie down comfortably and the energetic balancing practitioner moves his/her hands over your body without touching you. The energetic balancing practitioner actually works as a channel for high vibration energy from the universe. He/she opens his/her heart and helps to break up energy blockages and provides soothing love and light energy.
The practitioner works as a channel? That sounds a little far out for me to accept.
Yes, it certainly does sound “out there.” But, when you read a lot of the cutting-edge scientists, it is indeed odd the things they’re talking about. Things like quantum mechanics. People like Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., Stanford University’s School of Medicine’s renowned cell biologist and the author of The Biology of Belief(see our Media Experts’ Videos section for a riveting short interview with Dr. Lipton) are now actually explaining that our modern-day science really hasn’t caught up with changes in the fundamental principals that science is based on. When you really understand things like Einstein’s theories and quantum mechanics, some of this “wild” stuff about universal energetic balancing, practitioners working as channels (and even each one of us becoming our own healers as well!) begins to make more and more sense. But, if the theories don’t necessarily resonate with what you’ve been taught about how life works or what you believe, scientific studies are starting to catch up with all this. The Mayo Clinic just published an article that substantiates that qigong is an effective treatment for chronic pain, without side effects!
What does it do for you?
Wow. Qigong balances the energy in your body. So, that basically means that most things that are out of balance can be helped by qigong. It helps tremendously with calming you and helping you react differently to stress. For those who may be searching for deeper meaning in life, although qigong has nothing to do with any religion and can be practiced by anyone, as you experience spiritual things, your own inner “knowingness” about spiritual aspects of life can shift. And, then there are all the physical imbalances. You can lose weight with qigong. Your aches and pains can get cleared up. Your blood pressure can be normalized. You can even return to perfect health after experiencing energetic imbalances such as ones called cancer. You may even find that you’ll feel like you’re actually getting younger and stronger (as Dr. Oz says, you reverse the aging process.) You’ll find that your brain gets sharper. And, when you need to, you may find that you can function at 100% with less sleep and when you travel overseas you may find that you don’t get jet lap.
Phew. Those are awfully big “claims!”
Well it sure does sound that way. But, we’re not trying to claim that miracles will necessarily happen to everyone who practices qigong or who has a qigong energetic balancing, because that isn’t the case. Everyone reacts differently and has a different path to returning to health. Why is that? We believe it’s related to some of the deeper issues that each one of us deals with in our lives. In our minds, often-times, our bodies are actually communicating messages to us about things that maybe we really need to pay attention to, for each of us may need for ourselves in our own personal life passages. So, although our symptoms are physical there may be other dimensions involved with our energy imbalances. That is, how we return to improved health can be related to our openness to the changes that we may need in our lives.
How does it work?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) says that the cause of a “dis-ease” is an energy blockage in the body. There are a variety of causes for energy blockages, but most blockages usually start with spiritual issues which can then be experienced as emotions. Emotions. Okay. What does that mean? Well, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t experience our emotions. It just means that if we want a happy, healthy life we can choose to focus more on thinking about and feeling things like compassionate love, kindness and forgiveness. If we’re angry at someone, we can choose to be angry and stay angry, but if we choose to stay that way for a long time, then ultimately our bodies, our own bodies not the bodies of the people we’re mad at, are going to get some kind of a blockage. And, ultimately those blockages will result in some pain or discomfort, some symptom that our qi isn’t flowing smoothly inside. So, what can we do if we have good cause to be angry? We can practice qigong and physically work on breaking up the energy blockages and we can choose to forgive and release those blockages in our bodies.
What does the participant experience?
Everyone experiences something different. In general, though, at least over time, you will feel a great sense of calmness when you practice. You will learn to “go into the emptiness” in your meditations and you may develop abilities with other senses. You may feel subtle energy shifts around inside you and you may possibly see colors or experience other images. Most people feel calmer and many experience an immediate reduction in their pain from just one session.
What are they doing during the treatment?
During an external qigong treatment, you sit or lie down comfortably with your eyes closed. Depending on your personal preferences, you may be listening to some soothing music and you may be led into a meditation by the healer.
Where does this usually take place? A room, like yoga studio? outdoors, like the beach or a park?
Treatments can be given anywhere. Inside, outside, sitting up or lying down.
Should a person be fit or have any special abilities to try it?
Qigong is for all ages and physical conditions. If you are missing any body parts or if it’s uncomfortable to move any body part, you can just do whatever is comfortable for you or you can even do the exercises in your mind. You can do the exercises standing, sitting or lying down, whatever is best for you. So, qigong is good for anyone and everyone.
Who is this treatment best suited for? How does a person know if they can benefit?
That’s an interesting question. This is our answer. We think anyone who is “drawn” to this should definitely try it and see.