What Is Qigong Exercises

Originating in China, Qigong is a general name for the systems of hardening and improvement of body and mind, treatment, and health enhancement.
They are primarily based on controlling your consciousness, mentality, and physiological processes.
Qigong practitioners have displayed stunning results that even modern science has had difficulty explaining.

There are three main categories of Qigong: Health-Improving, Fighting, and Mystical.

Health-Improving Qigong

Chinese physicians developed and evolved the Health-Improving Qigong during many centuries. They created special exercises aimed to preserve and promote health and cure various diseases.

Fighting (or Hard) Qigong

Fighting Qigong was developed by those practitioners of Qigong who, at the same time, were masters of martial arts.
These exercises enhance the energy concentration in muscles and other parts of the body. Increasing bodily strength, and resistance against the attempts to cause a physical injury.

Mystical Qigong

Mystical Qigong is a child of Buddhist monks and Taoist anchorites.
In Mystical Qigong, the goal is to achieve the so-called Enlightenment – a unique psychophysical state of the human being.
Taoist anchorites also developed methods of anti-aging based on Mystical Qigong. Mystical Qigong is considered the most difficult to master.

Qigong is not only the art of Qi energy control; it also trains the mind and helps to work out the ability to control your volitional impulse. Qigong techniques include a wide variety of exercises and consist of three main parts. Control of position, control of breath, and control of the mind.

 

Controlling

Controlling position, we can acquire optimal body posture. Allowing Qi to flow without delays or blockages, not causing any disturbing feelings, and removing diseases.
Exercises are primarily performed in common stances, for example, in the Rider’s Stance or Horse Stance.

You need to control your breath to let the external Qi (from the air) pass mechanically into the internal state and spread along energy channels, entirely feeding all the organs.

 

Consciousness

Consciousness is crucial in breath control; it distributes Qi along the body. At the highest stage, breath is controlled subconsciously and does not require too much of your attention.
Step by step, learning to control energy resources, a practitioner will pass from using the physical strength (Li) to the internal burst of effort (Tsin). As Chinese masters believe, this internal effort is produced not by muscles but in tendons and marrow.

This is why most Kung Fu exercises aimed not to increase the mass of muscles but to strengthen tendons and bones. While muscles tend to lose their strength as we grow older, masters preserve their internal effort (Tsin) until great age.
That’s why Chinese masters of Kung Fu say, “If you do not practice Fighting Qigong but train only your physical strength, you’ll be left with nothing when you grow old enough.”

 

Internal Qi

Qigong exercises advance the “internal Qi” our body contains. “Internal Qi” is also called “true Qi”.
The “true Qi” state depends on many factors: regular Fighting Qigong exercises, nutrition, mental state, environment, etc. Every human being has internal Qi, but only a few can use it properly and develop it.

Qi in the vast majority of people is destabilized. The goal of Fighting Qigong is to fill the organism with “true Qi,” calm it, make Qi flow along channels freely without obstructions.

So What Is Qi After All?

It is an energetic substance representing the foundation of all, i. e., the energetic foundation of the Universe.
Our body can be compared to an electric appliance. It works if it is supplied with electric power, but the device operation stops if the power supply is cut off.
Likewise, with our bodies, if the Qi supply to our body is insufficient or stagnant, we can get sick or even die.

To have a healthy, vigorous body, one needs to learn how to keep the Qi circulation smooth to accumulate a sufficient amount of Qi. It is necessary to understand the circulation and storage of Qi in your body to do so.

 

Meridians

Humans have twelve primary channels (meridians) along which Qi is spread across the entire body.
There also exist eight “miraculous” vessels serving as a kind of reservoirs storing and regulating Qi. One end of each channel is attached to one of the twelve internal organs. While the other end is connected to one of our fingers or toes.

These twelve channels supply Qi energy with twelve internal organs. These channels also take the excess energy away from internal organs allowing us to throw it out of the body.
Due to blockage or disease, Qi’s circulation along the channels is interrupted. One or several organs cannot get enough Qi, which leads to their functional disturbance.
To be healthy, you need to learn how to keep the circulation of Qi in the twelve channels smooth and constantly replenish the “miraculous vessels” with energy.

 

Qi And Martial Arts

If you understand Qi circulation in the human body, you will also understand how Qi relates to martial arts.
Remember, your body is not simply a machine it is an organism able to improve itself.
The more vigorous Qi is, the stronger the human body gets.

Fighting Qigong practice sessions serve to enhance the capabilities of your body. We know that we can control various parts of our bodies using our minds.
The process of control is simple. Our mind generates a thought, leading Qi to the corresponding parts of the body that perform the requested action.
The critical thing about Fighting Qigong is learning to lead your Qi as efficiently as possible. In this case, you can increase your strength very much.

Martial artists can learn to focus their minds through meditation or other kinds of training practice to make Qi obey them. Qigong exercises can substantially enhance the strength of a fighter and increase the efficiency of his technique.