A little about Qigong and how it relates to Tai Chi:
Qigong (Chi Kung) is an ancient Chinese system of body and mind healing through working with energy (Qi/Chi). It combines breathing techniques, gentle body movement and focused intention to strengthen the body, to cleanse it and to support smooth flow of energy and good blood circulating all around.
Qigong is known to be at least 2,500 years old, but there is evidence that indicates its roots as far back as 5,000 years ago.
The word Qigong is made up of two words;
Qi is pronounced chee and means life force or vital-energy (that flows through all things in the universe). Gong – pronounced kung, means accomplishment, or skill that is cultivated through practice. Thus Qigong means Cultivating Life Force. It is a system that is practiced for health maintenance, healing and increasing vitality. As a practice it consists of a combination of movement, self-massage, meditation, and breathing.
Qigong is looked at, and indeed is being called by some as Nurturing Life (Yang Sheng). Under the term Yang Sheng comes all that contributes to physical, emotional and spiritual balance, not only within ourselves as humans but between ourselves and all that’s around us; plants, animals, nature-the whole universe.
Qigong practice per se provides the energetic foundation of Tai Chi.
Tai Chi works as a whole-body whole-mind exercise, whereas Qigong, in part, works more specifically on different systems or parts/organs of the body, such as the digestive system, the respiratory system, kidneys, lungs etc’. But, there is no doubt that Tai Chi and Qigong are closely related, and many Tai Chi teachers combine Qigong sequences into their lessons.
Tai Chi and Qigong both work with the breath, intention, and focus. Tai Chi and most forms of Qigong add movement, which creates additional health benefits.
Tai Chi consists of learning and then practicing a specific form. Each form is a set of postures and movements that take months to learn, and a lifetime to perfect. By contrast, the majority of Qigong forms can be learned quickly because they involve repeating a single movement or small number of movements. Taking individual movements or postures from a Tai Chi form and practicing them by themselves is basically turning each of them into a Qigong form (often referred to as “Tai Chi Qigong”). Such is, for example, the Shibashi sequences.
Qigong develops both inner and outer body awareness. Through focused attention we become aware of our body – where we are relaxed, where there is tension or discomfort, or according to Chinese medicine –where our body’s energy is imbalanced, stagnant or blocked. With the help of focused intention, gentle breathing and movement we can then begin directing qi/chi into these places and thus open the congested passages. We learn to communicate with our own body by sensing it correctly, listening to its needs and responding to them.
Qigong can contribute to the healing of our emotions as much as to our physical healing. According to Chinese medicine there is no separation between body, heart and mind, (or between the physical, the emotional and the spiritual) which are merely three different aspects of the human being. As such, experiencing fear, anger, sadness, frustration or jealousy can cause rigidity of body, exhaustion and pain, if unattended.
Barbara Brown, a therapist and a Qigong teacher, says: “(when practicing Qigong) We do not need to analyse these states (of fear, frustration etc’) but to bear witness to their presence in the body, breathing into them, bringing to them a state of balance, gentleness, and grounding “
Some of you have already experienced alleviating or dissipating pain by using gentle Qigong exercises, by breathing into the centre of the pain, or just through focusing on breathing paths, which enables a shift of focus and attention away from the pain.
In the past year I have received feedback from at least 6-7 students who used different Qigong breathing exercises as preparation for and during a complicated dental appointment, cataract operation or other surgeries. The feedback is always the same:
“Wow, it really works!”.
Of course it does! Otherwise the Chinese would not have bothered to practice it for thousands of years and to integrate it into their rehabilitation programme in many of their hospitals.
In his book ‘The Way of Qigong’ Kenneth Cohen writes:
”Is Qigong an art or a science? The Chinese have always said, unequivocally, ‘both’.
Qigong is an art because it is a conscious arrangement of posture, movement and breath that creates beauty in the human mind and body. It is also an art in the sense of being a skill achieved by diligent practice. Qigong is a science because it includes the testing and investigation of healing techniques through centuries of trial and error and careful observation.
The Chinese philosophy of energy storage and flow provides a theoretical explanation of how Qigong works. Qigong has also been rigorously tested according to the standards of Western science, producing measurable, statistically significant, and replicable results. (Both Chinese and Western scientists conclude) that practicing Qigong causes specific healing effects, with a high degree of reliability”
We can conclude with a smile, that it is within the power of each one of us to experience brief moments of being both an artist and a scientist as he or she practices Qigong.