Review of Care for Your Qi Webinar 29th April

“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary
to which you can retreat at anytime and be​ yourself.”

― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Some people say they experience certain sensations in their body, that they feel more grounded, or that they feel deep connection to all things around them. All are valid experiences and indicate that qi is at work, yet these experiences are not Qi itself.

Let's take wind as an analogy. So we only know that wind is blowing by the experiencing it on our face for instance, or through the rustling of the leaves - or the power of a storm! So these physical phenomena are not wind itself but indicate that wind is stirring.

What's most pertinent is that Qi can be cultivated for tangible benefits, particularly for health and wellbeing, through the practice of Qigong.


What is Qigong?

The gong part of Qigong means to cultivate or develop the skills - for working with Qi.

It’s often referred to as energy cultivation, Chinese calisthenics, Chinese yoga.

There are many types or styles of qigong in practice these days. To reflect their intended purpose they are traditionally categorised into three :

Medical, Martial, and Spiritual

I classify these three categories of qigong as applied to human :

​Health, Performance, and Evolution

Since health is the foundation of the other two, then we can say that all qigong practice has the purpose of improving our health. In my clinical practice this is the main emphasis.


Why do we practice Qigong?

A quote from a famous master of Tai Qi & Qigong, Cheng Man Ch'ing, sums it up :

“So that when you get to know life there will be some health left to enjoy it.”
- Cheng Man Ch’ing


What are the key skills that we develop through practicing Qi?

There are many skills that are developed through the practice of qigong.
​
However there are three foundation skills that we need to develop in order to fully reap the benefits. These are :

• Discover qi

• Gather qi

• Circulate qi

This week we looked at how to Discover Qi

I was trained the ‘old’ way, as an apprentice to a master of these arts, for about ten years. During this time he would show the forms and I followed, with the odd alignment here and there. This was how things were done, and it was how I learned for a long time. During this time I had to discover and understand what I was experiencing through deeper practice, study and research.

However I don’t think we need to wait for years to experience Qi and I discovered that I could show my patients how to experience and activate Qi in a fraction of the time. 


Why is it so important to discover Qi?

Well if qigong practice is to be differentiated from just a good physical exercise - which it definitely is - we need to be able to sense and activate Qi.

In developing the skill (gong) of discovering Qi, we can activate it within us. We can then learn to use it for improving our health and wellbeing.


How do we discover Qi?

The energy of the universe is all around us so we don’t actually have to go looking for it. It’s simply a matter of being aware. This mean here and now we can begin to discover it.

We can do so by being still.

A posture to help us discover this is “Child Pays Homage to Buddha."

• ​Stand or sit with feet together, knees touching, feet on group

• Palms in prayer position, level with the Heart Chakra / CV17 point in midline

• Relax jaw, tongue gently touching upper palate

• Relax all the way from head to toe - feel the weight dropping into the earth

• Can hold this posture for between 30seconds to maximum 15 minutes. Please gently build up over time.

• Key is to note areas of tension and to relax them.