Qigong Energy Cultivation for Healing

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Featured in Montana Free Press, February, 2000

The fascination with the Orient has been woven like a silk thread throughout the history of the western world. We've all read about Marco Polo's fabulous adventures to the Orient, and most know that the search for a sailing passage to China and India resulted in much of the discovery of this continent. The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries also experienced Oriental influences in art, religion and philosophy. Now, as we beginning a new century and millennium of growth and exploration, we westerners are again enjoying a resurgence of interest in Oriental culture. An additional focus this time is health & healing. And, while there has been some resentment about us "stealing" long guarded secrets of health, longevity and spiritual connection, for the most part, the practices and teachings have arrived in the West with great enthusiasm and cooperation by all. In the last 25 years, teachings and practices from Taoist China have been trickling into the United States and Western Europe. Now a whole new vocabulary of words, such as Taoism, Qigong, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Acupuncture, Feng Shui, I-Ching, Tao Te Ching, and Mah Jong, is appearing everywhere. If you are connected to the internet, enter any of these words into your search engine and you will be amazed at the mass of information available.

This article can't hope to cover all of these concepts at once, so I will begin with Taoism and Qigong which are the roots of most of the others. In the sixth century B.C., Lao-Tse began his classic writing, the Tao Te Ching, with this enigmatic statement: "The Tao which can be spoken of, is not the Tao." Loosely translated, "Tao" means "the Way" (as in the Way, the Truth and the Light) or "the Force" (as in May the Force be with You.) In early Chinese philosophy, the Tao implied an understanding of life which stressed individual harmony with the forces of nature. The Taoist sages often became hermits that lived in the mountains and disdained offers of power from admiring emperors. They preferred the "Ruler of Nature" to the transitory "Ruler of Society." Taoism is one of the many "Earth Centered" philosophies that has suffered at the hands of our modern industrial and technological world. Yet, it prevails even in Communist China today. The Tao Te Ching, the most important writing of Taoism, is the second most published book in the world next to the Christian Bible.

In the same tradition, Qigong is rooted in the processes of Nature and it's relation to our bodily nature. Causing a bit of confusion, Qigong is also spelled Chi Kung or Qi Gong. All are correctly pronounced "Chee Kung". The closest translation of the word is "Energy Cultivation". The Tao Te Ching says, "All things are held in yin and carry yang; and they are held together in the Chi of teeming energy". This energy takes a variety of forms and has several names in Chinese medicine. Collectively, it is a subtle but verifiable experience of life force energy or "Qi/Chi" flowing through the body in specific patterns. It was discovered by practical-minded Chinese sages and is available to any person of any age who cares to train themselves to observe and use it.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Qigong is the key principal behind all the fascinating and remarkable achievements in fitness, sports, martial arts, health and healing, longevity, heightened abilities and spiritual development, associated with Chinese culture. It is the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which includes acupuncture, acupressure, Tui Na (massage) and Chinese Herbal Medicine. The martial arts such as Kung Fu and the more gentle Tai Chi, are commonly known practices based on Qigong. The understanding of Qi has been the inspiration for a vast treasure of poetry and philosophy, the two most well known are the I Ching Book of Changes and the Tao Te Ching mentioned earlier. Feng Shui, the art of harmoniously aligning our homes, offices, etc. to the Qi inherent in all of nature, is another Taoist philosophy enjoying renewed interest, and the complex Taoist game of Mah Jong is being played in clubs, private groups and on the internet world-wide. It could be argued that the increased health and creative intelligence of the Taoist cultivators of Qi helped stimulate the impressive early Chinese advances in technology and government, as well as art and medicine, that the western world was so anxious to explore. Confucius was well versed in Taoist philosophy and expressed great admiration for it; he may well have been a practitioner of Qigong as well.

Qigong practices range from the simple to the complex and can combine calisthenics with breath coordination and visualization, collectively called Wei Dan practices, or more static seated meditation practices involving breath coordination and mental visualizations of energy movement throughout the body, known as Inner Alchemy or Nei Dan. The intentional alteration of brain wave frequency, heart rate and other organ functions by practitioners has been scientifically observed. Improved blood circulation and an enhanced immune function have resulted from Qigong practice. When "cultivated" or practiced regularly, as we would remove toxic weeds from our garden, so too can we reduce stress, enhance energy, improve strength and flexibility, reverse damage caused by previous injury and disease, and promote relaxation, awareness, and healing, in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies.

That the healing power of Qigong is compatible with different individual beliefs or religions is apparent in the fact that millions of people all over the world are now practicing one or more of over 5,000 forms of Qigong. I began my study of Qigong in the late 1980's with James MacRitchie, Dipl. Ac., author of two books on Qigong, and his wife Damaris Jarboux, R.N. at the Body Energy Center in Boulder, CO. Jim's teacher, master Mantak Chia, the author of many books on Qigong, or Taoist Yoga, is a Christian man of Chinese/Vietnamese heritage who could be most credited with first bringing Qigong to the United States. In fact, he risked his life and reputation to do so, as most of the practices had been secretly guarded in families and societies for centuries.

Once the "energy was released", so to speak, it has taken the U.S. by storm, and now there are a variety of organizations, newsletters, magazines (Qi and The Empty Vessel are two of the best, both available at Barnes & Noble) hundreds of books and an equal number of teachers, both Oriental and Occidental, some Masters, in the United States alone. Each year there are several national and international Qigong Conferences. In China, Qigong is an integral part of the health care system which includes hospitals dedicated solely to the practice of Qigong. An estimated 80 million people can be observed daily in parks and squares all over China practicing some form of Qigong. Because Qigong can be used by both the healthy and the infirm, it is one of the most broadly applicable systems of self-care in the world. Gradually, Qigong is making inroads into Western medicine and is taught in some medical schools. It is offered by hospitals and clinics, along with more well known yoga and meditation, for a variety of complaints including our most common malady, "stress". When Newsweek Magazine ran a short article on Qigong in it's July, 1997 issue, thousands of phone calls were received at the headquarters of the newly created National Qigong Association - USA, inquiring about Qigong. Why all the fuss? Simply put….IT WORKS, and can be easily applied to daily life.

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