Abundant Zhineng Qigong - Practitioner Notes

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Traditional Practice is Validated by Modern Science

Prepared by K. L. Tan

The use of energy as medicine to cure and prevent human disease and degeneration has been studied and practised for thousands of years in China and other Oriental cultures. Qigong is a recognised branch of traditional Chinese medicine. Today, however, it still remains an anathema to most practitioners of orthodox Western medicine: in Asia as well as the West, because its efficacy is generally superior to chemical drugs and surgery and threatens their lucrative livelihoods. The last thing allopathic doctors want their patients to learn is how to cure and prevent their own diseases by applying mind over matter through the medium of energy. In medicine, without a coherent theory of how complementary forms of healing work and fit into the current model, physicians are very reluctant to recognise their value. Ancient cultures and schools of healing in China, India, Greece, Egypt and Native America have long recognised a life force energy permeating and influencing our physical body and controlling states of health or disease. In China this energy is know as Qi; in India it is prana; in Russia and Eastern Europe it is known as bio-energy.

What is Qi?

Qi is the life energy one senses in nature. The earth itself is moving, transforming, breathing and alive with qi . Modern scientists speak the same language as ancient poets when they call the Earth, Gaia, a living being. When we appreciate animals, fish, birds, flowers, trees, mountains, the deep ocean or floating clouds, we are sensing their qi, and feeling an intuitive unity with them. Humans are part of nature and share qi with the rest of them. Qi therefore refers to both the natural qi in the universe and the internal qi within the human body and they interact with each other.

Qi is invisible and cannot be seen but we can feel it. The word "qi" is simply the Chinese word for "breath", and at this elemental level it is the raw air that we breathe in and out, revitalizing us and keeps us alive. In our context qi means energy. The Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical teachings written about 538 BC calls these energies the astral light. Later on Christian paintings show a halo around the head of Christ and other spiritual leaders. Similarly this halo is seen on statues of Buddha and many of the gods of the Indian sub-continent. In fact there are references to the phenomenon of the human energy field or the aura of the body in 97 different cultures (John White, Future Science ).

What is Qigong?

Qi is vital energy as described, gong means "work" or "benefits through perseverance and practice". Thus, qigong means working with the life energy, learning how to control the flow and distribution of qi to improve health and harmony of mind and body.

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