What is Qigong - August 14, 2010

"Qigong is the art of deliberately managing your vital energy. Vital energy is the force that enables you and everyone else to be alive. It is easier to learn than Tai Chi and less strenuous than Yoga. It usually combines simple external body movements with gentle breathing methods and is performed in a meditative state of mind. It is the oldest of the 5 branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), practiced by millions of people daily worldwide and has a written record going back 5000 years. It requires zero athleticism or investment in equipment. If you can spare 10-15 minutes a day, you can practice this art.

In TCM, there is only one illness and that is Yin Yang disharmony. Or put another way, it means our body has failed in its natural ability to respond appropriately to disease causing agents. Fortunately Good Health Is Your Birthright and Yin Yang disharmony is unnatural. The great news is that: From the TCM view of medicine there is no such thing as an incurable disease! If we can restore the balance between Yin and Yang we will restore health."

from Marcus Santer (check out his great website: http://qigong365.com/ ) 

A word about the PRACTICE of Qigong - August 8, 2010

Source: Hilda Wei Williams http://www.chikung-unlimited.com/Benefits.html

Without Qi energy there is no qigong. It is integral to why we practice qigong in the first place. And it is difficult for most people to conceptualize. To put it simply, it is a vital force or healing energy that is responsible for not just life, vitality, and health, but also personal development.

And it is the same life force that we employ when we transcend the physical plane to the higher levels of consciousness. At the highest level, we use only the yinian , mind power, also known as the yi consciousness to channel the life force.

Traditional qigong practices rely heavily on the cultivation of the Qi energy because of the many benefits that this healing energy produces.

It is the healing Qi that TCM doctors stimulate with acupuncture needles, acupressure massage and moxibustion. It is also healing energy tapped from the environment that the healer channels and transfers onto the person being healed.

Beginning students often tell me they feel tingling in their fingertips and attribute it to the beginning manifestations of this vital force. That is only a superficial experience. There are many different sensations, just as there are many different types of Qi energy and many of these sensations are far greater or subtler, and much more difficult to describe in words.


Instead of just physical well-being or specifically focused aspects of health, traditional qigong views health at a much deeper, holistic level, focusing the Qi energy for whole mind, body and spiritual health, longevity and healing.

And instead of merely increasing relaxation and concentration, traditional practices also seek to transcend the here and now, to attain a higher consciousness and to develop psychic power and abilities beyond what most can only imagine.

About Qigong - August 1 , 2010

 Source: Hilda Wei Williams http://www.chikung-unlimited.com/Benefits.html 

• Qigong develops tremendous mind power. Few people outside of qigong circles have ever heard of the powers of yinian or the yi consciousness.
  
  It is the rudder or the steering wheel that channels the chi energy for healing, self-defense, will power and concentration, health and longevity, spiritual development, and so much more! When the yi consciousness is harnessed properly, the qigong practitioner is capable of unbelievably great power that far surpasses physical brute strength. A practitioner channels chi even further by extending it beyond the body, so that one is able to change how things are happening around you! This allows you to release blockages from past events to heal yourself, and also to change the energy so that you can manifest all that you desire (for the good of all). You became natural at doing things for the highest good, the more you give to more you get.
  
• How is this possible? Because qigong accesses the yi consciousness . Therein lies the mind power to harness and manipulate the chi life-force for self-defense, healing and personal development. Therein also lies the potential for developing unbelievable mind power.
  
  
• Qigong develops psychic ability. Some of the abilities manifested by qigong masters include psychic healing using qi or chi energy, distance healing, clairvoyance, telepathy, telekinesis, out-of-body experience (OBE), and soul travel.

Qigong Breathing - July 18, 2010

Source: Francisco Gomes - http://holybreathspiritualqigong.com/

When you took your first breath of air as an infant you began to mix the original essence from our Kidneys with the energy from the air and food you absorbed from your mother to create life force energy and you were born. You used your lower abdominal muscles to deep breathe (belly breathe) with and stored the life force energy in our Lower Tan-Tien (dan-dee-en). Your Tan Tien is located 1.3 inches below the navel and 1/3 inside of your body and it's also called the Well of Water in Christianity, Hara in Japanese, Na'au in Hawaiian, Tewa in Tibetan, and Hypogastrium in Western Medicine.

You were a Spiritual being and from that moment on we began to constantly generate and store an abundance of life force in our Lower Tan Tien by lower abdominal deep breathing (Tan Tien Breathing) 24 hours  day. The act of 24 hour abdominal (a Spiritual Holy Breath) breathing also increased the OHM vibration in your DNA which turned Matter into Spirit to purify you and this gave you a strong Spiritual connection with the One True Source (the Dao or Tao).

As you got older, more and more life force energy (living water) was stored in your Lower Tan-Tien. We had an abundance of life force energy stored in your Lower Tan Tien (living water well) in your youth. But, when you got older (4-14 years old) you reached a certain point when your 24 hour abdominal breathing (Tan Tien Breathing) (belly breathing) capabilities switched over to 16 hour or so a day shallow chest breathing due to eating and talking.

Let's take a breathing test: While standing up put one hand on your chest and the other on your lower abdomen just below your navel and inhale in through your nose. The hand on your chest moves. Lay down and put one hand on your chest and the other on your lower abdomen just below your navel, relax for a moment and inhale in through your nose. The hand on your lower abdomen will move (this is Lower Abdominal Deep Breathing, Tan Tien Breathing ). Stand up and you will begin to shallow chest breathe again when you inhale.

When this happened you began to lose 2/3's of your Life Force supply to our Lower Tan Tien and the Spirit of the One True Source within began to weaken due to lack of life force inside your body. Qigong work re-awakens us to breathe as we originally did when we were infants, and thus this deep abdominal breathing (from the sides, to the back, to the front, to the top) opens our bodies and fills us with healing and purifying oxygen and removes stagnation and blockages, allowing us to live not only longer but healthier lives. This opening method begins the process of healing from the physical (integrating the mind and body), to the emotional (peace of mind), and finally to the spiritual (self transformation).

The forte of Qigong is two fold - July 11, 2010

This concise and clear quote about the purpose of Qigong is from Marcus Santer (check out his great website: http://qigong365.com/ )

1) It removes blockages to the harmonious flow of energy through the meridians (channels) of your body thus restoring Yin Yang Harmony. 

Whether these blockages are physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual in origin makes little difference to the effectiveness of Qigong.

2) Once energy blockages are removed, Qigong can then increase the flow of energy through the meridians promoting vitality and longevity.

Learning Qigong - Here's a note about progressing in the internal arts from one of my masters - June 27, 2010

Only when you observe and feel with heart, carefully comparing, you can make it elegant and spirited. If you do not compare with others, you will never know. You will be surprised by the comparison . The enjoyment of learning comes from feeling the progress that you have made, from the differences between today and yesterday, from the changes that you never had before, from the principles that you never knew before. Mastering one is much better than knowing thousands. By comparing with yesterday, the day before yesterday, last week, and the first day, you will have more confidence and enjoyment.

Benefits of Qigong - June 20, 2010

What benefits you can expect to gain if you practice Qigong (also spelled 'chi kong'. Qi is pronounced as "chee". Qigong means "Energy in Motion"):

1. Health and Vitality – improve health by removing blockages to harmonious Qi (chi) /energy flow through the meridians of the body and then increase the flow of Qi resulting in vitality.

2. Longevity – Qigong starts by promoting smooth Qi flow = health, then vigorous Qi flow = vitality and then an abundance of Qi = Longevity.

3. Internal Force – Energy inside your body, it helps you keep going all day long without feeling tired or fatigued.

4. Mind Expansion – clarity of thinking, enhanced problem solving, blissful state, inner calm, etc

5. Spiritual Cultivation – for those who wish to, the practice of Qigong can help you to see and experience spiritual truths great spiritual masters have spoken about.

from Marcus Santer (check out his great website: http://qigong365.com/ )