What is Qigong?

The Tai Chi for Beginners programme includes four simple yet powerful qigong breathing exercises. If you have attended my classes before you will already have learned how to perform these exercises. But what is qigong all about and where does it come from? The Chinese word qigong (気功) is made up of two characters, qi (気) and gong (功). Qi is a central concept in Chinese philosophy and can have a range of meanings. In its simplest form, qi refers to the air we breathe but in qigong it refers to the life energy that is thought to circulate inside our bodies. The term gong means an exercise or method of cultivation requiring effort. So qigong is a means of cultivating life energy through persistent practice. Qigong exercises typically incorporate breathing and gentle physical movements that help to train the mind and body, improve breath control, enhance relaxation, give you more energy and cultivate your life energy.

Tai chi and qigong are based on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). According to Chinese medical theory, the free circulation of qi throughout the body is essential to good health. In modern medical terms, qi can be thought of as our ability to resist disease, adapt to the external environmental, overcome internal imbalances and return good health. There are three sources of qi: the air we breath, the qi we have within us when we are born and the qi we absorb through our digestive system when we eat and drink. Qigong exercises help us to absorb qi from the air around us and to improve the circulation of qi within our bodies.

Although the term qigong is relatively recent in origin, hundreds or even thousands of similar sets of exercises have been developed in China over more than 2,000 years. Records of breathing exercises have been found in the ‘jin wen’ writings on bronzes from the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1100–221 BCE). At the Mawangdui Tombs in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, 44 pieces of coloured silk were found among many medical treatises and books dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206BCE–24AD). The silks were painted male and female figures conducting different movements, including movements imitating the behaviour of the tiger, deer, bear, ape and bird. These exercises are known today as the ‘five-animal play’ (wuqinxi).

The various styles of qigong can be classified into five major schools including medical, Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist and martial arts qigong. Each school takes a different approach, with medical qigong aiming to improve health while Buddhist qigong is intended to cultivate the mind. Tai chi originated as a form of martial qigong. It incorporates the cultivation of qi with physical movement for the purpose of self-defence. Today we practice it primarily for health so we might think of tai chi as a form of moving medical qigong.

All of the qigong styles share common practices such as regulation of the body (posture), regulation of the mind, regulation of the breath, self-massage and movements of the limbs. Today, many classical qigong exercises have been standardized and simplified to make them easier to learn and suitable for practice in everyday life.

You can enjoy practising the four qigong exercises you will learn in Tai Chi for Beginners at any time during the day. However, you might want to avoid practising just before bed as the exercises can be stimulating and may interfere with getting off to sleep.

You can also incorporate these exercises into your tai chi practice. Start with the warm-up exercises and then choose one or more of the qigong exercises for the day. In the beginning, you can hold the posture for ten or twenty seconds. Over time, you might like to lengthen this to a couple of minutes. Whenever you feel tired, just stand up and have a shake to release the posture.

If you practice consistently, you will find you develop increased strength in the lower body, better posture and greater clarity of mind.

Enjoy your practice!