Qi Kong (QiGong)

This is an exercise video with a Master instructor focused on Qi Gong (Qi Kong) exercises which help people cope with Hepatitis C. Filmed during the Caring Ambassadors Program retreat to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.

That Yin and Yang are present in all life is expressed in chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching:
Tao gave birth to One,
One gave birth to Two,
Two gave birth to Three,
Three gave birth to all the myriad things
All the myriad things carry the Yin on their backs and hold the Yang in their embrace, Deriving their vital harmony from the proper blending of the two vital Breaths. (Wu,trans. 1989)
Yin and Yang represent the unification of opposites and the on-going cycle of creation and destruction ordering the universe and the life of each individual being. Synthetic or dialectical logic is a western point of correspondence for this theory that recognizes patterns and change by seeing the part in relation to the whole. Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. recalls how this similarity captured her imagination:
The relational, interactive, process-oriented thinking of Chinese medicine resembles Hegelian dialectics. This was not altogether coincidence since many European philosophers were affected by Eastern thought. It was this similarity that charmed me from the start. Because Chinese medicine was about interwoven relationships and continuous processes of decaying and becoming rather than a reductionist examination of things in and of themselves, I had eagerly anticipated studying it. Read more…

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Respiration-qi kong(qigong) breathing
The breath is one of the most influential aspects of qi kong(qigong), both for the extensive health benefits of qi kong(qigong) breathing as well as its central role in meditative practice. Awareness of the breath serves to bridge body and mind and as a sensory focus assisting the mind in guiding the qi.
In Chinese medicine the breath is qi in its most tangible and accessible form. Spiritual and healing traditions of China and India teach awareness of, and to varying, degrees, control of the breath, as a natural starting place for calming the mind and regulating the body.
A silk scroll entitled “Dao Y ill illustrations” was discovered in an archeological excavation of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 8 CE) tomb at Mawangdui. The scroll depicts 44 figures in various qi kong(qigong) postures. One of the few captions still legible instructs: “look skyward and exhale.”
Returning to the soft, full abdominal breathing pattern of a baby is key to qi kong(qigong). This natural breath can be regained by developing awareness of one’s current breathing pattern and gradually shifting to a smoother, more relaxed, deeper way of breathing. Abdominal breathing is also called natural or diaphragmatic breathing or dan tian
breathing.
By becoming increasingly aware of body and breath, the qi kong(qigong) practitioner learns to relax muscular tension and allow the low abdomen, low back and sides to gently expand and contract with each inhalation and exhalation.
The natural movement of the breath also engages the rise and fall of the dome shaped muscle of the diaphragm above the viscera. Movement of the low back stimulates the mingmen or “gate of life” an important acupoint between the kidneys, responsible for kidney function and overall vitality of the body. The mingmen is comparable to the lower dan tian (Sea of Qi) in the low abdomen. This way of breathing provides the internal organs and parasympathetic nerves in the low back with a gentle massage and increases the circulation of oxygen rich blood and qi.
The nourishing and toning effect of this massage is maximized by the fact that qi kong(qigong) movements are done in a relaxed manner, which allows the viscera to be well supplied with blood; this is in contrast to strenuous exercise during which the limbs demand more blood at the expense of the viscera.
With deep breathing, oxygen is drawn to the lower portion of the lungs, where due to gravity, more blood is present, making the transfer of oxygen to blood more efficient and enhancing oxygen availability; the cells are nourished and waste products transported. During qi kong(qigong) the rate of respiration decreases as the depth and volume of respiration increase.
Many people have adopted shallow, chest breathing as an unconscious habit. qi kong(qigong) instructor and author Wong Kit Kew estimates that most people use less than one third of their lung capacity. qi kong(qigong) enhances lung capacity, increasing the intake of air from 500cc to 1500cc per breath. (Wong, 1993: 57)
Ken Sancier, Ph.D. has reviewed and summarized much of the significant Chinese research on qi kong(qigong). In one study conducted to learn if qi kong(qigong) exercise would help prevent altitude sickness in pilots flying rapidly from low into high altitudes, the following was found regarding lung function:
In a lung function study 120 young men were divided into three groups of 40 each. Group one practiced Qiyuan qi kong(qigong) for four weeks prior to entering the highlands; group two, the control group, exercised to radio music for four weeks prior to entering the highlands; and group three was composed of residents living at high altitudes. The results showed that the integral value of symptoms of acute mountain sickness was lower in the
qi kong(qigong) group than in the control group (P<.05-.01). Pulmonary ventilation of the qi kong(qigong) group was significantly improved compared with that of the control group (P<.05-.01), and nearly equal to that of the resident group.
(Sancier, 1996: Vol. 2, No.1)
Diaphragmatic breathing promotes physical relaxation and mental tranquillity by balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic functions of the autonomic nervous system. The restorative parasympathetic function of the ANS is associated with the “relaxation response” and is qualitatively yin in relation to the sympathetic, yang activity which in excess represents stress or “the fight or flight response.” Tzu Kui Shih explains this balancing effect of the breath:
Clinical and physiological experiments have demonstrated that inhalation in Qi Gong breathing promotes the excitation of the sympathetic while exhalation increases excitement of the parasympathetic nervous systems.
Based on these findings, it is clear that people can regulate and balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems through strengthening their inspiration and expiration.
(Shih, 1994:81)
Many chronic and degenerative diseases are exacerbated by or in some part due to oxygen deficiency or disturbances of the autonomic nervous system. Changing a limited breathing pattern can be a fundamental step toward regaining health. Shallow breathing is associated with anxiety while the opposite is true of natural breathing. Practitioners of meditation, yoga and qi kong(qigong) often find the value of relaxed breathing integrated into their daily lives. Learning to work with the breath can be a source of relief for someone coping with pain or the stress of a threatening medical condition. (Kabat-Zinn, 1990:292, 50)
Dr. Yang Iwing-Ming emphasizes the primacy of the breath throughout the development of the practitioner:
In Chi Kung practice, regulating the breath is the most important training. The first step toward maintaining your health involves increasing your oxygen supply. You must resume breathing deep down in your abdomen like a baby does … Once you have a sufficient supply of oxygen, you are able to relax, clear your mind and circulate the chi. (Yang, 1989:113)
Deeply relaxed movement and breathing support oxygen metabolism and energy
generation. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the fuel of cellular activity generated by the metabolic process. A study presented at the 1988 World Conference on the Academic Exchange of Medical qi kong(qigong) made the comparison between ATP and the zheng qi of the
body. Blood ATP content was found to increase after internal qi cultivation exercises done by a group of qi kong(qigong) masters. After emitting qi, blood ATP content of the qi kong(qigong) masters decreased, to be recovered after rest. (Liu, Tehfu et all, 1988: 60)
Meditative awareness of the breath was recommended by the early Taoist philosopher poets Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi as a way of attaining the Tao or transcendental wisdom. All techniques are abandoned, however, at the highest stage of spiritual insight,
liberation or enlightenment. Returning full circle to the naturalness of a child after comprehending the spirit through discipline is a frequent theme. An attitude of open expectancy seems to guide the practice of “listening with the breath.” Lao Tzu discusses breathing exercises in connection with meditation:
Can you concentrate on your breathing to reach harmony And become as an innocent babe? Can you clean the Dark Mirror within yourself And make it of perfect purity? ..
To achieve inner harmony Lao Tzu himself recommends breathing exercises for concentration and purification. The idea of the exercises for concentration and purification. The idea of adoption of breathing exercises in order to attain to transcendental wisdom is referred to by Chuang Tzu as hsin chai or fasting mind. He describes it in Chapter IV of his work as follows:
Concentrate on the goal of meditation.
Do not listen with your ear but with your mind; Not with your mind but with your breath. Let hearing stop with your ear,Let the mind stop with its images. Breathing means to empty oneself and to wait for Tao. Tao abides only in emptiness. Look at the void! In its chamber light is produced. Lo! Joy is here to stay.
(Chang, 1963:129)
The “Dark :Mirror” to be cleaned is the mind. A clear mind, like a mirror reflects things without retaining them. Meditation and breathing exercises are meant to bring about the spontaneous remembering of this lost clarity.

This Abstract comes from www.sciencedirect.com.

Mattias Johanssona, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Peter Hassménb, c and John Joupera

a Department of Health Sciences, ?rebro University, Sweden

b Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden

c University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Available online 11 July 2008.

Psychosocial stress may lead to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Aerobic exercise and mind-body therapies are frequently described as having positive effects on psychological well-being by enhancing mood and reducing anxiety. Few studies, however, have investigated the acute psychological effects of qigong exercise. Fifty-nine regular qigong exercisers (mean age 50.8 years) were randomized to a Qigong or Control group. Pre- and postmeasurements were then compared. POMS-Depression, Anger, and Fatigue, and STAI-State Anxiety scores decreased significantly in the Qigong group but not in the Control group. Results thereby suggest that qigong exercise can produce desirable psychological effects, and Qigong exercise may therefore be included among other activities performed to boost resistance to daily stressors.

Author Keywords: qigong exercise. ; Qi-training; anxiety; mood; emotion

The present study was supported by Sparbankenstiftelsen Nya, Sweden. We also would like to thank T?res Theorell for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Corresponding Author Contact InformationDepartment of Health Sciences, ?rebro University, SE-701 82 rebro, Sweden.

According to classical Chinese medical thought, fluids and energies constitute the body and are especially stored in the bones and internal organs. The mind permeates the body and is contained in the blood and qi that are circulated throughout. Although body and mind possess their distinct functions, they are understood to be a fluid continuum.

The following paragraph from the Guanzi, a syncretic text composed between the first and fourth centuries B. C., equates the circulation of energy with that of the mind:
When the mind opens up and energy expands we speak: of the circulation of energy. This movement of the mind is as ceaseless as the continuous revolution of the cosmos.(in Ishida, Kohn, Ed., 1989:49)

Not only the mind, but the spirit (Shen) accompanies the blood and qi through the body. This can be explained in part by defining Xin and Xue. Xue is often translated as “blood.” Misha Cohen provides a more thorough definition:
The Chinese word Xue (sch-whey) is a much more precise description of this bodily substance than blood, which is the common English translation. Zue is not confined to the blood vessels, nor does it contain only plasma and red and white blood cells. The Shen or spirit, which courses through the blood vessels, is carried by Xue. Xue also moves along the channels in the body where Qi flows. (Cohen, 1996:14)

Xin means heart, heart/mind or emotional mind. The heart is closely allied with intention and the will, in the sense of will-to-life and a deep and vital inner knowing. “It comes from the guts and lower belly but resonates perfectly with the Intent and with the Heart.” (Larre & Rochat de la Vallee, 1995)
Claude Larre, S.I. & Elizabeth Rochat de la Vallee have translated and commented on chapter eight of the Lingshu portion of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. This section of the ancient Chinese medical classic explores the metaphysical context of TCM. Deemed “superstitious,” this important work has been omitted from many post-cultural revolution translations with a more materialistic bias.

Rochat & Larre attribute the following attributes and responsibilities to the heart:
Heart, spirit, intimacy, intelligence, thought, mentality, moral conscious, feeling, emotion, humor, intention and attention.

The authors describe the heart’s establishment of order that is maintained with the help of the blood:
The circulation of the blood under the heart’s authority carries regularly, everywhere, the double maintenance of life, which is both nutritive and spiritual. It reconstitutes vitality while also permitting sensitivity and the going and coming of information between the inside and outside. The quality of the blood and its governance by proportioned breaths are judged by the pulsations of the network of animation, which are the pulses, and by the color of the face (complexion).(Rochat & Larre, 1995:174)

Reaching an enhanced quality of stable awareness in which the energy of the mind fills the entire body is called the “complete mind” which manifests on the outside of the body as a radiance:

The complete mind cannot stay hidden in the body. Rather, it takes shape and appears on the outside. It can be known from the complexion of the face. When people meet someone whose appearance and mind are full of positive energy, they will feel happier than if they had met their own brother.

On the other hand, when people meet someone with negative energy, they will feel more hurt than if they had been confronted with arms. His words without words (his radiance) will sound better and farther than an eightsided drum. When the complete mind appears on the outside, it shines brighter than the sun, and people recognize such a person easier than their own children. (in Ishida, Kohn, Ed., 1989:57)

As the flowing complete mind infuses the body with spiritual sustenance, so does energy fill the world. Mencius wrote:
Such is energy. It is exceedingly great, and exceedingly strong. Nourishing it straightforwardly without harming it, it will fill up
everything between heaven and earth. (in Ishida, Kohn, Ed., 1989:58)

According to the Taoist transformational practices on which Qi Kong (QiGong) is founded, the humble task of working with what we are given, beginning with the body, has a healing purpose that transcends the body. Although this alchemical route to individuation and spiritual realization is beautifully mapped, by nature, such a profound path includes circuitous detours, set backs and blind spots as part of the terrain.

Thomas Cleary has translated The Book of Balance and Harmony, a 13th century anthology of Taoist writings. In these classic teachings, the alchemical process of “gathering medicine” is seen to potentially mature beyond technique and linear progress:
Gathering medicine means gathering the true sense of the essence of consciousness within oneself. This is done by first quieting the mind to still the impulses of arbitrary feelings; when stillness is perfected, there is a movement of unconditioned energy. This is the energy of true sense, and its first movement arising from stillness is called the return of yang. This is to be fostered until sense and essence, energy and spirit are united. After that, withdraw into watchful passivity, because if you persist in intensive concentration after the point of sufficiency, your work will be wasted. (Cleary, 1989)

“Watchful passivity” implies activity and passivity at the same time, an on-going theme of Qi Kong (QiGong) and Taoism. The text cautions against the imbalance of compulsive, selfdefeating, over-work, and respects a natural spiritual rhythm.

In the same collection, Cleary defines the completion of Outer and Inner Medicines:
The outer medicine can be used to cure illness and prolong life. The inner medicine can be used to transcend being and enter into nonbeing.

Learning the Tao usually should start from the outer medicine; after that you come to know the inner medicine on your own. Advanced people who have already developed basic worthy qualities know it spontaneously, so they cultivate the inner medicine without cultivating the outer medicine. (Cleary, 1989:21)

The “outer medicine” is a system and a map for promoting health and potentially as preparation for spiritual development as consciousness brings the unconscious to light. Cultivating the “inner medicine” is the search for the Truth, the “ever changing changeless,” a path that depends on faith.

Qi Kong (QiGong) often looks and feels like floating or swimming in water. The gentle flow of movement and breath as well as the more vigorous forms of Qi Kong (QiGong) influence the fluid environment of the body. Blood and lymph, cerebro-spinal fluid and the synovial fluid of the joints are effected in terms of quality, quantity, content and rhythmic pulse. Read more…

The idea of a universal life energy similar to qi is found in the healing and spiritual traditions of many cultures, such as prana of the Indians; pneuma (Greece); ki (Japan); mach (Hebrew) and mana of the Polynesians. In the eighteenth century, Mesmer’s “animal magnetism” and more recently, Wilhelm Reich’s orgone energy and Henri Bergson’s “vital impulse” or elan vital describe life energy. The breath as a manifestation of spirit is our intimate connection to this vital source. Read more…