Qi Gong

Qi Gong

Qi (chi) is transliterated from the Chinese, and is pronounced in a way that distinctly doesn't sound like Q or Ch. Qi(chi) means life force, aka, prana, aka élan vital. It is both significant and tragic that western medicine has no equivalent notion. (A mechanistic medicine wouldn't.). Gong means cultivation. So Qi Gong means life energy cultivation. Qi Gong is a wellspring of healing. One of our mentors worked at the largest Qi Gong hospital in China, which treats medical conditions with Qi Gong. Remember when I said that Karin Locher, founder of Spatial Medicine, reminds us that cancer is a verb? Right, disease is a verb. So it can be modified behaviorally. Qi Gong exercises–sequences of movement designed to work with the human energy system (meridians, etc.)–have been developed to respond to specific disease configurations. In tandem with acupuncture and herbs, Traditional Chinese medicine has developed a robust, extremely effective medical system that arises our of a very different worldview than western medicine.

Qi Gong is a moving meditation, and if you are a student of deep nature awareness you will begin to notice how it, like most martial arts, is derived from close observation of the living world. In this movement, we move our arms like a heron flapping its wings. Then we balance, like a heron standing in water. At some point this becomes codified into a form: Heron form. The animal styles in kung fu are derived like-wise from observation.

I first got interested in Qi Gong several years ago when we were in the middle of a move and beginning our film series. I had so much energy moving through my body, and was working so much that I couldn't sit still to meditate. Qi Gong was a way to channel that energy meditatively in a manner that was grounding, restorative, and centering. I engaged in a 17-minute practice taught by Mington Gu everyday for 100 days. It was transformative. For folks who have difficulty with traditional meditation, as well as those seeking non-pharmaceutical ways of dealing with sympathetic states: particularly anger and anxiety, Qi Gong is an excellent choice of restorative practice. If you search the web, you can locate Qi Gong practices for many specific maladies.