With the current pandemic we have moved our classes to an online format. For those who are new to Qigong, here is some basic information to help make sense of what we are doing!

Qigong is a Chinese term made up of two smaller words: Qi (vital force 氣) and Gong (skill 功).  As we can see from knowing the meaning of the word, Qigong refers to practices (i.e., skills) that allow us to self-regulate our vitality so as to prevent disease, improve health, and, in some cases, treat disease. While the word Qigong is a modern one, the different exercises, meditations and many other practices that are now considered ‘Qigong’ have been practiced in Asia for close to 2000 years.

One thing that most Qigong exercises have in common is the Three Regulations (三調). They are:

  • Regulating the Body 調身

  • Regulating the Breath 調息

  • Regulating the Heart-Mind 調心

Put together this means that every Qigong practice has some sort of movement or posture (sometimes postures are still rather than moving) that is coordinated with breathing and visualization.

For people newly joining our Qigong classes here are some other terms you’ll hear frequently:

  • Dantian (丹田) – Think of the Dantian as the location of our core vitality in our body. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the main location of this vitality is the abdomen, midway between the bellybutton and the spine. This is the Dantian, a word that literally translates to the ‘Field of the Elixir.’ Very poetic! When practicing Qigong we frequently focus our attention at the Dantian. Technically, there are two other Dantian. The upper Dantian is in the head, and the lower Dantian is at the base of the trunk above the perineum. The main Dantian we usually focus on is called the middle Dantian.

  • Mingmen (命門) – Mingmen means ‘Gate of Vitality.’ It is an area of the body closely related to the Dantian, and it is located on the spine opposite and at the same height as the bellybutton. This is another area we focus on frequently in Qigong practice.

  • Yongquan / Bubbling Spring (湧泉) – The Bubbling Spring is the bottom of the foot. When we are practicing some postures we visualize the Bubbling Spring.

  • Laogong / Labor’s Palace (勞宮) – The Labor’s Palace is the center of the palm. Like Bubbling Spring, it is an area of focus during practice.

The Basic Sequence of Class

Most of our Qigong classes follow a basic sequence.

Part I: Clear out the garbage

  • We usually start class with a little shaking exercise to loosen the body up a bit. Then we always do ‘Descending the Qi and Washing the Organs’ (降氣洗臟). During this posture we visualize all of the pain, tension, disease, etc… in the body dissolving and draining down to exit the body through the Bubbling Spring (bottom of the feet). We can also visualize that we are standing in a shower, and all of the vitality of the universe is washing through the body, clearing out any areas of blockage or disease, allowing them to be washed down into the ground.

Part II – Recharge the Battery

  • After loosening the body and clearing out what we no longer need, then we practice exercises that recharge the Dantian, our vital core. During these exercises we visualize that we are drawing in the pure Qi of nature into our Dantian. Typically we have three different exercises here:

  1. Drawing in the Qi of Nature

  2. Drawing in the Yang of the Sky

  3. Drawing in the Yin of the Earth

Yang is vitality/energy that is warming, enlivening, drying and invigorating. Yin is vitality/energy that is cooling, calming, moistening, and relaxing.

Part III – Strengthen the Battery

  • After we practice the drawing in the Qi exercises we typically (although not always) do one or two postures that help strengthen the Dantian. These also have the function of calming down the mind and relaxing the body. One of the most common exercises here is simply a standing meditation on the abdomen called ‘Standing Post’ (站樁).

Part IV – Getting things moving

  • The last step of practice and class is to do various exercises that move the body or that work on specific organs or channels (meridians). Sometimes the exercises help open joints or work on the limbs, and sometimes they work on specific areas. For example, lately we’ve been doing exercises and meditations for the Lungs because of the COVID pandemic.

Silk Reeling – Qigong’s Second Cousin

Another one of our classes (and sometimes part of the Qigong class) focuses on Silk Reeling exercises. These were originally a part of Taiji (Tai Chi). They use gentle spiraling movements to open joints, stretch connective tissue, and relax the muscles. Silk reeling can be used to rehabilitate joints, and were that I used myself to fix my joints several years ago after a very bad case of Lyme disease.

I hope this is a good overview of some essential aspects of our Qigong class. I’ll look forward to “seeing” you online!