What is Qigong
Qi (pronounced chee) An ancient Asian word for the energetic life force that flows through your body and the universe.
Gong The term meaning work or gather, denoting the skills acquired through effort, intention, and perseverance
Qigong -the true skill comes from practise
Qigong is an ancient evolving Chinese practise, some say over 5000 years old, preventing disease and prolonging life, that includes healing postures, gentle flow of movements, self-massage, breathing techniques, visualisation and meditation with intention and mindfulness.
Learning how to follow and guide the Qi, we promote the flow of this vital energy throughout the body. By aligning with the Tao, we explore the art of healing and the resilience that emerges with awakened presence.
The benefits from practising Qigong are many. Here are just a few:
- increases the supply and flow of Qi, (energy), blood and oxygen throughout the body
- improves functioning of all internal organs and bodily systems; circulatory, digestive, gynaecological, hormonal, nervous, respiratory, & skeleton-muscular
- boosts your immune system
- soothes inflammation
- increases elimination of toxins, clearing blockages from the inner organs of the body
- improves posture and alignment
- unifies seeming opposites, yin yang; fire water; heaven earth; above below
- increases longevity
- generates calm mental and emotional states
- invokes self-awareness & empathy
- builds resilience
- increases your awareness through a felt sensation of Qi flowing around your meridians and into your muscles and organs
- can be adapted, from the most fit to people confined to wheelchairs or recovering from surgery
- easy to learn & gratifying to do
- leads to improved health and a state of profound well-being
“When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance“
Lao Tzu
Renewal in Qigong
Primordial (Hun Yuan) Qigong is a system of twelve meditative exercises, generally attributed to the famous Daoist priest Hu Yaozhen (1879-1973) and his disciple, Chen Style Taiji Quan Master Feng Zhiqiang.
HUN YUAN: Hun is equivalent to inner silence, and Yuan means origin. By cultivating inner silence, we can rediscover our original state of being free from the burdens of everyday life and we are consequently re-born.
Qigong seeks to cleanse the body, ‘emptying’ the stagnant qi, releasing toxins and blockages, and then replenishes the vital force, guiding us back to a state of natural harmony. This state is sometimes described as returning to the state of Pu, it is described by Lau as “the uncarved block of wood in a state as yet untouched by the artificial interference of human ingenuity.”