What is Qigong?

The Meaning of Qigong

The ‘qi’ in ‘qigong’ means ‘life force’, ‘energy’ or even ‘cosmic breath’. ‘Gong’ means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of skill, so ‘qigong’ is thus ‘breath work’ or ‘energy work’. Qigong is an ancient healing art that combines movement, breath and meditation to become one of the most popular forms of therapeutic exercise. It involves relaxation techniques to calm the mind and smooth out the body’s energy. It looks similar to tai chi.

Qigong helps strengthen the internal organ systems, strengthens, tones and stretches neglected muscle systems. By learning how to cultivate your inner energy, you will increase your body’s healing power and energy levels, develop the skills necessary to prevent disease, improve concentration, reduce stress and increase resistance to injury.

Some of qigong’s side effects include, a greater sense of peace, joy inner harmony and connection with the universe as well as anti aging, increased self-awareness, mindfulness, extrasensory perceptions and spiritual well being.

Stephanie offers easy to start programs that are appropriate for people of all fitness levels and abilities.

What are the benefits of Qigong?

• Without being strenuous or high impact qigong provides the body with complete cardiovascular workout. It also tends to massage the internal organs, develops internal pressure of 14.7 psi (per square inch), stretches and tones the fascia muscles from the inside out, just by combining breathing with internal isometric exercise and visualization.
• It forms a protective sheath around our delicate cellular and neural circuitry, like a surge protector that safeguards a computer from shorting out during a thunderstorm.
• Qigong is designed to fine tune our own electromagnetic field, more closely with those of the earth, sun, moon, stars and planets. This fine tuning helps balance and invigorates the nervous and immune system.

In the initial phase, it will: 

Stimulate : It will relax the muscles and stimulate the circulation of the energy, working from head to toe, using a combination of self-massage, stretches and balance exercises with aided visualization.
Detoxify: When the blood and Qi flow are stimulated, oxygen can easily reach the muscles, and stimulate the meridians — increasing the circulation and removing all blockages in the pathway of the meridians, which will lead to total detoxification.
Nourish: Once total detoxification is completed, the body will be nourished for mind expansion and finally to connect the body with the energy of the universe and beyond.

How does Qigong help circulate the energy in the body? 

The idea of Qigong is to fill the body with energy from the outer surface of the skin to deep within the marrow — down to the cells. The energy is like a train — the railway lines are the meridians, channels, pathways or nadis, and the stations are the acupuncture points or the marma points. The energy always moves through the meridians and in case if it is excess or depleted, it will be at the acupuncture point. If the energy moves in a smooth path, then one experiences a perfect state of health.

The Qi is collected at the three energy storage centers in the body. They are also called a dan or cauldron — lower dan tien (below the navel or the womb centre), the middle dan tien (solar plexus) and the upper dan tien (third eye). As the energy consolidates, it rises up through the top of the head through these dan tiens. These dan tiens also act as switches, which allow energy to be directed through the many channels.

As we all know magnetism of the earth runs between the North and the South poles, if we align with this energy, with the working of our body, then we can have maximum benefits. The Yin energy flows in front of the body and the Yang energy flows at the back of the body, and when the flow of Yin and Yang is united within the body, one can begin to achieve a greater harmony with the Yin and Yang of the universe — called as the microcosmic orbit.

I hope you can join us at a class.

Qigong exercise and meditation programs exist for: