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Introduction to Medical Qigong
By Henry D Wu, MD, MS, Dipl.Ac, Dipl.CH
Oriental Art of
Healing Acupuncture Denver Clinic
1400 E Hampden
Ave, Suite 130, Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113
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Overview
Qigong (or Chi-Kung) refers an ancient health
care art coordinating physical postures (stationary or moving), breathing
techniques, and mental focus.
It is generally thought that Qigong has been practiced in China at least for
over 3,500~5,000 years and has become a branch of Traditional Chinese medical
care system.
While Qi, as we know, is usually translated to mean the universal and
essential life force or vital energy flow, "Gong" can be
interpreted as "exercise", "work", and "art or skill gained through steady
practice". To be brief, Qigong is "vital energy cultivating"
to enhance the life-force preserve and circulation
in an aware, harmonious and manageable manner and thus, to heal or
prevent diseases, promote health and achieve longevity.
Qigong practices can be classified as medical, spiritual and martial. All
styles share three essential elements, i.e., posture, breathing manipulation,
and mental focus. While medical Qigong is to improve health and promote
longevity and the spiritual Qigong, to enrich the communications among the
body-mind-spirit dimensions, the martial Qigong usually results in a
dramatically enhanced stability and balancing of physical movements as well as
an intensive muscular force.
There are two modules in Medical Qigong practice: (1) self-practice to
improve health and, (2) emitting Qi to treat patients. The self-practice is
suitable to almost any person of any age. Commonly, in order to be
able to release Qi to treat others, one may need years of self-practice to build
the adequate Qi preserve and the ability of Qi control.
Qigong Mechanism
Qigong shares the same philosophical foundation as Traditional Chinese Medicine,
including the theories of
Yin-Yang, Five-Elements, Qi-Blood, Zang-Fu Organs, Meridians, and the pathogenesis.
Among these, Qi is technically focused the most in Qigong practice.
Qi is the primary force that drives, regulates, guards and maintains the
structural and functional integrity of living things and the organic
universe. In healthy individuals, Qi profoundly
resides in the body and circulates along the meridians that irrigate the
Zhang-Fu organs and tissues. It is said in Chinese classical of medicine
that "Qi leads the Blood; the Blood moves only if the Qi moves". Therefore,
Qi should keep flowing in a dynamically balanced manor in order to a
maintain healthy life. A diseased condition may develop when Qi becomes deficient,
stagnant or disturbed in certain parts of meridian, organ or tissues. This
is because the weakened Qi is unable to
guard pathogenic factors, and the blocked and disturbed Qi, unable to
conduct different functional levels and coordinate a harmonious
body-mind-spiritual activities.
To ensure an efficient and smooth Qi circulations, one should have a
proficient Qi preserve or storage, and an intact fluent meridian network.
Qigong practice is known addresses these issues.
Qi preserve
When doing Qi-gong exercise, the particular breathing techniques are applied
so that the essence of Qi from the universe is taken up and transformed into
our internal life-force Qi; the latter is stored into lower Dan Tian. The
lower Dan Tian is an area located below the navel and is considered as the
anatomic center of balance as well as the home where the primary life-Qi
dwells and potentially crystallizes into a new life. Dan in Chinese means
"elixir" and, Tian, the field. Therefore, Dan Tian serves as a "depot"
that supplies the Qi-elixir to promote longevity or to heal its own body
whenever and wherever there is a need.
Like a gardener is taking care of the plants in the garden, practicing Qigong
is a course of action to cultivate the Qi in the Dan Tian (elixir field) so
that the Qi may be growing to a higher storage and functional level. The
change occurs gradually and continuously, and so does the benefits, from the
time when a daily-based practicing starts and through the time, the more the
practice the more beneficial feedback will be experienced. The
manifestations of the benefits may include the following: you may feel more
relaxed, more energetic, more confident and happier; you may also start to
enjoy a better quality sleep and your body weight is changing to the optimal
direction as you hope; you may find that some previously existing illness
diminished or disappeared and your general wellbeing is improving, and so
on.
Qi circulation
During Qigong practice, some particular postures are used to warrant the
optimal conductivity of meridians. When Qi is growing in Dan Tian to some
points, the the threshold of "gate" to an advanced scale of meridian
conductivity opens to allow the Qi to "overflow" from Dan Tian to irrigate
the entire body. The condition as such with a advanced Qi preserve and
enhanced meridian conductivity is known as so called "Qigong state", in
which the body functions in an optimally harmonious module with highly
efficient energy usage and minimum metabolic toxin production.
Just like a deep river flows steadily, smoothly, and holds a huge
potential of power, the Qi that fulfils the meridians is necessary to
maintain a smooth, turbulence-free and powerful Qi circulation flow; this is
not only necessary for a proficient irrigation of the organ and
tissues, but also crucial avoid the Qi and Blood stagnant and overcome the
meridian obstacles and other pathogenic forces.
On the other hand, Qi-gong state significantly enhances your awareness
of the Qi existing and movement, facilitates the insights and control of Qi
the entire body including the body-mind coordination. This is
particularly important for gaining a maximal ability of self-healing, and an
ability to emit and manipulate the Qi to treat other person.
Scientific studies
For near three decades, intensive scientific studies on the clinical and
bio-physiological effects of Qigong have been carried world widely.
More than 3,500 citations have been collected in Qigong and Energy Medicine
Database Online collected by Dr. Sancier and the Qigong Institute over the
past 20 years.
A "Qi-gong status" induced by Qi-gong practice is thought to
provide a favorable condition for the optimal body-mind communication and
systemic physiological functions including the self healing abilities.
Researches have showed that Qigong practice produces the effects on
nervous systems, neurotransmitters and hormones, which may responsible for a
decrease of blood
pressure and oxygen consumption, increase of respiratory efficiency and
cardiovascular functioning, alteration and integration of brain wave
patterns, decrease of stress hormone levels, and improvement of immune
functioning.
Qi detection and measurement has been one of the main
research topics. Seto et al. measured an extraordinarily large magnetic
field (10-3 gauss) emanating from the palms of three individuals emitting Qi.
This is 1000 times stronger than the naturally occurring human bio-magnetic
field (10-6 gauss). It was found that human infrasonic frequencies leaped from 60 MHz to
400,000 MHz during Qi emission. The Emitted Qi was observed to significantly change in
infrasound, electromagnetic, static electricity, infrared radiation, gamma
rays, particle and wave flows , organic ion flows, and light.
Qi manipulated by Qigong practice was also found to
influence DNA synthesis and structure, protein synthesis, artificial cell
membranes, chemical reactions, and polarized light beams, which could be one
of the scientific clues of how Qigong promotes self-balancing and
self-healing, prevents diseases and enhances health and longevity.
As the growing awareness of the convinced effectiveness and safety
profiles (both evidence and science based) of "alternative and
complementary" medical care approaches such as acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Qigong, and Yoga,
the rapidly extensive researches, especially on Qi and Qi-meridians, are
expected. This may not only potentially defies our current understanding of
physical laws, but also places a significant challenge to the conventional
medical foundation and thinking, which could result in the formation
of new revolutionary medical care concepts and modalities that integrates
ancient wisdom and modern science to better serve human beings.
Qigong Benefits and
Applications
Qigong exercises are
practiced by an estimated over 100 million people in China and
in growing numbers throughout the world. People can enrich their lives by adding Qigong to their
daily routine,
regardless of ability, age, belief system or life circumstances.
As we know, self-practice and Qi emission Qigong are the
two broad divisions. Self-practiced Qigong is practiced by individuals to
grow and regulate their own Qi to promote health and longevity; external Qigong
is performed by a trained Qigong practitioner to assess and correct the
impaired Qi circulation or treat diseases in another person.
Most older children and adults can learn to practice
Qigong and receive a number of benefits, such as to increase their sense of
well being, decrease stress, improve health, prevent illness, and especially
to treat chronic and difficult conditions. According to the previous
data, the
typical profile of a client seeking Qi healing is: woman, professional,
higher education, between age of 30 and 50.
Some common reasons for
seeking Qigong instruction or therapy include:
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Chronic illness, including cancers management
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Longevity & wellness promotion / Disease preventative
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Stress management / Energy and life quality enhancement
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Patient requests for natural treatment options
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Symptoms/conditions that do not conform to any known Western pattern
of disease or do not respond to standard medical treatment
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Unacceptable risk or side-effects of proposed medical interventions
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Terminal illness: palliative or therapeutic stages
In addition, Qigong works very well with Western medicine and does not
interfere with medications and can be a valuable adjunct to Western medication
to enhance the latter therapeutic efficacy. Numerous studies in China show patients on chemotherapy and
radiation recover faster and survive longer when Qigong is practiced.
Qigong is considered a natural treatment of choice for the following clinical
conditions: hypertension, asthma, allergy, stress and stress-related
symptoms, sexual dysfunction, cancer, immune diseases (autoimmune or immune
deficiency), diabetes, overweight, GI disorders, chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia,
musculoskeletal pains and sports injuries, etc. Generally speaking,
Qigong therapy alone is not appropriate for most acute or emergency situations.
What to expect with Qigong practice/therapy?
Percentage of patients who respond to Qigong vary according to the level of
experience and skill of the practitioner. The rate of beneficial
response ranges
from 85 to 90 %. Efficacy enhances if people commit more to practice on a
daily basis for an extended period of time.
Most clients experience significant changes and report a
pleasant sense of relaxation, warmth, and lightness after a session. Some
patients may experience certain degrees of shift in their symptoms, or the improvement in their
life quality with greater insight and self-discovery within 10~12 visits. Others may take months or years to heal,
especially those with chronic and severe conditions. Home self practice and
lifestyle modification are also important to support their Qi
cultivation process. The
interval between therapeutic visits is usually lengthened as Qi preserve and
circulation has been restored and the system remains balanced, which finally
leads to long-term healing and wellbeing.
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The information provided in this article should not be a substitute for
the medical advice from your physician. © All Rights Reserved)
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References
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Chien CH, Tsuei JJ, Lee SC, et al. Effects of emitted bio-energy on
biochemical functions of cells. American Journal of Chinese Medicine.
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He Q, Zhang J, Li J. The effects of long-term Qi Gong exercise on brain
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The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy
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