Introduction

Practicing Qigong - The Three Intentful Corrections

Flowing Motion
Rolling the Ball
Inner Rivers Flowing
Push and Pick Up the Wheel
Flying Wild Goose
Wave Hands in Clouds
Double Helix
Rejuvination
Tuoa
Drawing the Taoist Symbol

A Very Simple Qigong Practice Example

More Qigong Videos

Introduction

Qigong (“chee-gong”) is a 5000 year-old Chinese health method that combines slow graceful movements with mental concentration and breathing to increase and balance a person’s vital energy. It has been popularly referred to as Chinese yoga. Qigong is an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, along with acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal medicine. Literally millions of people practice Qigong in China and around the world each day to successfully treat diseases ranging from osteoarthritis to cancer and to improve their overall health. Qigong is especially effective in reducing stress, enhancing the immune system, and preventing illness. As such, it is a proven way to implement anti-aging. Qigong shows people how to take more responsibility for their own health care and achieve benefits for their body, mind, and spirit. This is vitally important in our society in the face of declining health care services and options. Qigong is not just a physical exercise system or a healing technique; it is a way of being.

Qigong can be done sitting, lying down, standing, or moving. The Qigong shown below is standing and moving Qigong. The main psyiological differences between the moving and non-moving forms of Qigong are additional oxygen intake and the exercise of additional parts of the body. There are thousands of different forms and movements of Qigong. Shown below are repeated movements. There are other forms of Qigong that are similar to Tai Chi in that they take some amount of time to complete, e.g. Wild Goose IV can take eight minutes or more, depending upon how slow the form is done. Another example of a Qigong form that involves many individual movements is Wild Goose 5 demonstrated by Medical Qigong Master Bingkun Hu. Thus, the term "form" can refer to individual movements repeated, as shown below, or a form like a Tai Chi form, that can take years to learn and up to forty minutes or more to repeat once. By contrast, the forms shown below are repeated movements. The easier ones can be learned very quickly. Qigong requires no special clothing or place to practice, is free, and can be done anytime.

As with the rest of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the main focus of Qigong is eliminating deficiency (associated with chronic illness) and stagnation (indicated by pain) of your qi (energy) through a combination of movement, breathing, and awareness. At first, the dynamic adjustment of posture, breath, and mind is only done during the time you set aside to do Qigong. With more practice, you’ll begin doing these adjustments throughout the day as Qigong becomes a natural part of your life and personal healthcare program.

Practicing Qigong - The Three Intentful Corrections

The first intentful correction (i.e. mindful adjustment) involves body posture. Incorrect posture results in decreased or blocked energy flow, the unnecessary expenditure of energy, a decrease in stamina, and greater susceptibility to injury or illness. Doing moving forms of Qigong is a particularly appropriate way to train for climbing because you must adjust and be totally aware of your weight distribution, balance, and posture as you make each move.

The second intentful correction involves breathing. In spite of years or decades of practice, most of us breathe in a non-optimal way: On the in-breath, our chest fills up with air and little air gets into the abdomen. Interestingly, we all came into the world knowing and practicing the right way to breathe; we had to learn the wrong way through the experience and conditioning of growing up. The form of breathing most used with Qigong is abdominal breathing, where on inhale the lower abdomen expands and fills with air before the chest, and the abdomen contracts on exhale.

The final intentful correction involves mental state or awareness. Regulating your mind is a practice designed to reduce stress and increase your awareness of the moment, helping you to achieve a state of pure consciousness by stripping away thoughts and emotions that keep you unnecessarily immersed in the complexity of your daily life. Qigong meditative techniques, such as mindfulness meditation, are combined with slow, deep breathing and gentle movement. Start your Qigong practice using any meditative technique with which you are familiar. More information on the Three Intentful Corrections may be found in Jahnke's The Healing Promise of Qi.

It is Qigong’s gentle movement that demands more oxygen in the system and helps regulate the body's critical oxygen/carbon dioxide balance. Slow, deep breathing dilates the blood vessels so that the heart doesn’t have to work as hard. Besides muscle contraction, the main way to enhance the functioning of your lymph system is through breathing. The lungs have been called the heart for the lymph system, which is key to your body’s immune function as well as removal of toxic metabolic by-products from your cells. Your body goes into a waking regeneration mode during Qigong practice as your nervous system switches from the overactive sympathetic mode to the restorative parasympathetic mode, with an immediate calming effect and an astonishing increase in focused awareness and effective performance. Note that when you are dreaming, even though you are not awake, your nervous system is still engaged and not in the restorative state.

As with all Qigong, use slow deep abdominal breathing, a relaxed posture, and alert but focused on nothing in the mind. No thoughts. This has been described as "cheerful indifference". All of these movements can be modified for practice sitting in a chair, lying on the floor, or in a hospital bed. Remember, with Qigong, “Pain is no gain”. Note that there are thousands of different types of Qigong. Enjoy, experiment with, and discover new forms and adapt them to your personal practice. Figure out what works best for you. Remember to breathe.

Sample Qigong Movements

Click on the image or the name of the form to see a short demonstration of the movement. Movements are often done slower than shown. Videos may take a few moments to load.

	One of the easiest forms of Qigong is Flowing Motion, from Enhance Vitality Method, shown in the DVD Qigong Chi Kung by Dr. Roger Jahnke. Breathe in as you go up and out as you go down. For more exercise, go up onto your toes. (Back to List)		The Rolling the Ball movement is used to feel the qi between your hands and get out of your normal way of thinking. Imagine you have a ball between your hands and you can move it anywhere, but your hands cannot move through the imagined ball, just like they couldn't go through a real ball. Many different types of Qigong have a movement like Rolling the Ball. (Back to List)
	A little more energetic movement is Inner Rivers Flowing which is described in The Healing Promise of Qi.		A fun Qigong form similar to Inner Rivers Flowing is called Push and Pick Up the Wheel from the DVD Creating Flexibility through Qigong, by Medical Qigong Master Dr. Bingkun Hu.
	This one is called Flying Wild Goose, and comes from a form of Qigong called Tai Chi Qigong. (Back to List)		There are hundreds of different versions of Wave Hands in Clouds. This movement is usually done as part of a much longer T'ai Chi form, but it can also be done by itself. T'ai Chi is a moving form of Qigong. (Back to List)
	The Double Helix movement has its origin in Hua Shan Qigong and can be found in the DVD Creating Flexibility through Qigong, by Medical Qigong Master Bingkun Hu. See if you can discover the figure-8 pattern (infinity symbol) made by the arcs described by your hands. When the hands pass each other, palms are facing so that energy flows between the Lao Gong points (Pericardium 8 acupuncture point) located roughly in the middle of each palm.		A little more challenging practice is called Rejuvination, from the DVD Creating Flexibility through Qigong, by Medical Qigong Master Bingkun Hu. Be sure that your arms describe circles both in front and in back of your body as you go through the range of motion.
The next set of movements are a little more vigorous and difficult. They are shown standing with little movement, but are normally done moving around, especially Drawing the Taoist Symbol.
	Tuoa is the signature move from Wuji Hundun Qigong, featured in the PBS Qigong documentary "Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century" (Click to preview the documentary). Traditionally, rocks were held in the hands to make sure that the palms were facing up throughout the range of motion. Imagine you are a waiter carrying a tray with a glass on it, and the glass cannot fall. See if you can spot where the two-armed pattern changes. There are at least two more remaining variations on arm movement patterns that are not shown. (Back to List)		This is a very challenging but rewarding form called Drawing the Taoist Symbol from the DVD Creating Flexibility through Qigong, by Medical Qigong Master Bingkun Hu. (Back to List)

About the music: Initially created for use in a Taiji intervention study at the University of Illinois, Elixir: Music for Moving and Still Meditation is a music CD for moving and still meditation practices. This CD is unique in that it was composed and performed in entirety by both a master traditional Chinese musician and longtime practitioner of qigong meditation. For more information, visit  www.yangying-music.com .

A Very Simple Qigong Practice Example

This is one of the most simple Qigong practices. This practice is taken from the Crane form of Hua Tou’s Five Animal Frolics, one of the oldest and most revered forms of Qigong. Hua Tou was a famous physician during the Eastern Han Dynasty (circa 200 A.D.). He is famous in the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine as the first doctor to successfully practice abdominal surgery and for creating the Five Animal Frolics. The Five Animal Frolics are movements designed to mimic the energies and strengths of five different animals: the crane, bear, tiger, monkey, and snake. The five animals also correspond to the five elemental energies as well as the five seasons, with the fifth season being late summer. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine history, the Qigong exercises developed by Hua Tou have been proven to be some of the most effective for restoring health and promoting vitality. This particular exercise is the most basic one in the Crane form: Develop Qi Sensitivity and Restore Balance to the “Three Jiaos” with a Powerful Exercise from Master Hua Tou.

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