Qigong is practised in different forms. There is martial qigong and there is healing qigong. A person skilled in the martial form may not be so adept at healing qigong and vice versa.

There is no one style or school of qigong. We follow in the steps of the qigong as is practised in the world's largest "Medicineless" hospital in China. This hospital treats patients using only qigong techniques. Patients on arrival are diagnosed with modern medical equipment for best precision in diagnosis. Patients are not considered as patients but as "students" because they are there to learn how to heal themselves through the practice of qigong. It is self help to learn self-healing.

Traditionally qigong is learnt with the practitioner apprenticed to his master and learning its secrets a little at a time over years. However in a hospital environment with many who are dying, there is no time to follow traditional practice. Zhineng Qigong's founder, Dr Pang a physician trained in western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and a qigong grandmaster had to devise qigong methods suitable to persons who have little time. It had to be simple and to the point and could be learnt in just a few hours. Benefits can be derived immediately from the first workout. It had to consist of the best of the movements taken from the various qigong disciplines. Dr Pang has revealed his secrets, and it is up to you to take them seriously or not.

Dr Pang set up the Huaxia Zhineng Qigong Clinic & Training Centre in the city of Zigachong in 1988. It relocated to the city of Shijiazhuang in 1992 and expanded to its present location in an old army hospital in the city of Fengrun, two hours from Beijing. It is a non-profit organisation and is recognised by the Chinese government as a legitimate clinic. Over the years, the centre has treated more than one hundred and eighty different diseases with an overall success rate of 94.96% based on 1991 published data on 7,936 patients. Among the documented diseases cured are: cancer, diabetes, arthritis, deafness, coronary disease, hypertension, paralysis, and systemic lupus. This underlines qigong's reputation of being especially effective with the chronic forms of diseases as against allopathic medicine's record.

Most hospitals in China have departments of Qigong. However the Centre utilises qigong as the only curative modality. The Centre avoids medicines and special diets in favour of exercise, love, and life energy, qi. Dr Pang He Ming, states that group practice produces a "field" effect (as in magnetic or electrical field) that has a beneficial effect on each individual. This Qigong institute is famous for its work with victims of paralysis. When paralysed patients first attend the institute they just sit in the "Qi field", eventually they can move about and help to generate the qi field for others.

There are many types of qi, Dr Pang considers the finest is the universal qi (huanyuan qi), the colourless, shapeless energy which fills the whole universe. Our body is made up of this qi, called the Inner qi, and the immediate space around our body is the Outer qi (or aura, the subtle emanation, visible as spheres of white or coloured light surrounding the body of a living creature in the spiritualistic sense). There is a constant interchange of inner qi and outer qi through our pores and the pressure points along our meridian systems. In practising qigong, we amplify this natural exchange process by directing our thoughts first to infinity and then back to our body.

By opening our body to the universe we are dissolving the blockages so that qi can flow vigorously throughout the body bringing life energy to every cell. Without blockages, we become healthy, happy, and full of energy and vitality, not just free of illnesses.

The Components of Zhineng Qigong

A strong belief is a prerequisite that qi or life energy, can heal all ailments, including one's own. Students build belief by listening to testimonials of recovered patients and learning about qi and its healing effects.

Group healing. The group leader verbally synchronises the thinking of the members of the group to bring down qi from the universe into a healing energy field, shrouding everyone in the group including the teacher himself. The healing effect is enhanced because the group is acting as one.

Qi healing. Facilitating qi healing by teachers bringing healing energy from the universe to each individual for healing.

Practice. Students learn easy to follow movements and practice them over and over again. This is practising self-healing.