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An Introduction to Qigong—The Chinese Art of Being by John Du Cane of Dragon Door Publishing. Transcribed and edited from a talk delivered at a class on the nature, origins and benefits of qigong
(A special note about the spelling of terms: At one time, the most usual way to transliterate Chinese terms was based on the Wade Giles system—which gave us "Chi Kung" and "Tai Chi". More recently, the Pinyin system has dominated—and given us "Qigong" and "Tai Ji". To complicate things, though, many people still prefer to use the old spelling of Tai Chi while adopting the new spelling of Qigong. You will see that same mix of transliteration systems below).
Tai Chi is a martial art and its full name is Tai Chi Chuan, which means, "supreme ultimate boxing". There's often confusion with the Chi word in Tai Chi, because—despite sounding similar—the Chi word in Tai Chi isn't the same as the Qi word in Qigong.
However, Tai Chi martial artists—who punch, kick, block, and take down—appreciated many of the methods taught in Qigong, which means, "working with your Life Energy." The "Qi" here signifies Life Energy, breath, or Life Force. "Gong" means "dedicated practice."
So Qigong's a very generic concept, as generic as yoga, which means, "union," usually union with the human and the Divine, or union of body and spirit.
Where did Qigong come from and how did it develop?
Qigong is generally considered to have been around for 5000 years, but if you think about it...every culture is going to have some form of Qigong, when you define it generically as "working with your Life Energy".
By legend, Qigong had its origins in communal healing dances and shamanic practices, which is something that we find in other indigenous cultures such as Africa, the Americas, and Australia. Many different cultures have employed the idea of getting together and dancing around as a healing practice, of spontaneous movement, or of stylized movement imitating certain animals.
Over time, other systems and dances developed in China and were systematized by Chinese medical practitioners. Around 1800 years ago, a famous Chinese doctor, Hua To, put together "The Five Animal Frolics," which is a system I teach, and which has stood the test of time. He essentially took both folkloric and shamanic healing systems and put it into a lay health regime that anyone could practice.
Over the years, different interest groups saw aspects of what was implied in "cultivating your energy" and started to develop techniques for their own goals. The monastic traditions—Taoist groups, Buddhist groups—started using Qigong practices to enhance their spirituality. Their qigong practices allowed them to go more deeply into meditation.
One of the things that I really like about Qigong is that it helps take you out of your mind, which is one of the essentials to being able to go deep in meditative practices. It kind of seduces you into it stillness.
Martial artists appreciated Qigong because, when you employ Qigong techniques, you learn to master tension and relaxation. Part of the whole skill training in Qigong is know how to be extremely relaxed, but to employ tension when you really need it. And to have that kind of awareness in your body that allows you to be much more fluid and generally mobile with the way you use your energy.
As we get older, we tend to start to stiffen up. We tend to become stagnant. Areas in our body become tense and we lose the buoyant flexibility we had as young kids—and the kind of buoyant flexibility and vitality you see in wild animals.
So Qigong looks to bring that quality back into our lives. Martial artists have found this extremely useful. Internal martial artists found that when they practiced the skill of moving slowly and attentively, they developed a greater skill in the ability to be deeply relaxed, yet also suddenly issue force. They were better for it in their martial art.
Qigong encourages sensitivity. And, it encourages responsiveness, which is another quality valued by martial artists. So, Tai Chi employs breathing and movement practices to enhance that sensitive energy.
The Chinese medical practitioners found that they could prescribe Qigong methods and Qigong techniques to their clients. Chinese medicine is preventative in its overall attitude—it has a perspective that the doctor almost owes it to the patient to keep them well. That, the doctor is going to fail the patient if the patient gets sick.
So, after noting certain imbalances in their patient's system, the Chinese doctor would prescribe particular techniques to keep them well.
Qigong operates almost like a self-acupuncture system. Chinese medicine sees you as a series of electric flows, bio-electric flows. A Chinese medical practitioner will look for areas in that flow that have become stagnant, look for areas that have become excessive and then help balance that out. Chinese herbs will do that, acupuncture will do that, acupressure, and also Qigong practice.
Qigong is not always exactly aligned with acupuncture. There are meridians that you can create for yourself in Qigong practice that do not exist in traditional acupuncture maps. But a lot of the time, you are essentially playing with the meridian flow in the body and helping to balance your own energy. For those areas that are stagnant, you are bringing fresh energy into that area. If there are areas that have become excessive, you are going to drain them and help balance them.
Medical practitioners also developed a type of Qigong practice for healing others. One of the skills that develops out of Qigong practice is the ability to transmit information from you to another person. And, again, it's not peculiar to Qigong, but Qigong has it as a strong skill development.
The first part of the Qigong process is to learn to use your consciousness, breath, posture, and movement to affect the transmission of energy within your system. And energy and information are very close, almost synonymous. As you become more skilled in being able to move information around in your own system, speak to your own internal system, you can also then learn to start transmitting into another person. You can sense what's going on with them—and then help them start enlivening their own flow, their balance, to disperse blockages in their system.
As far as what's really attracted me to Qigong over the years…I had a vision really from my twenties that I wanted to live my life with optimal vitality. I wanted to be very engaged in life. I was frankly looking for enlightenment. I wanted to remain a very sensitive, responsive person.
I was brought up in a fairly analytic culture in boarding school in England, university in England, and I was a film critic and film maker in England. Earlier in my life I had lived in Africa and had been exposed to a very wild and natural style of life. I was looking to get back to that natural enjoyment of life and at the same time be very acute mentally, very alive—to emanate well-being.
Because of my hyper nature, I had trouble with sitting practices. I had trouble with just being still for long periods of time. One of the early appeals of Qigong for me was that I could move around, appear to be doing things, and be seduced into tranquility. At the same time, I'd be feeling very good. I'd have good energy.
I am now in my 50s. Qigong represents about 95 % of my health practice. I do a little bit of weight lifting, and some exercises like pull-ups. But, generally, I've been able to maintain very good strength, endurance and flexibility through Qigong alone. I've managed to maintain a very good immune system. I seem to be able to ward off health conditions or health challenges pretty well. So, I've been very satisfied after practicing Qigong for 25-30 years with the personal results that I have received.
I found that it's also allowed me to be more in the moment, feel more present, be a little gentler with people generally. I do some healing work on the side, almost like a hobby. It's kind of a meditative hobby and I've found that it's really contributed to my ability to help people on that level.
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