Qi Vitality from Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

     A major functional concept from traditonal Chinese medicine is qi. A vital essence found in all things, qi has aspects of both matter and energy. We will refer primarily to its expression as energy, keeping in mind that energy and matter are convertible into one another. The theories of modern physics showing matter and energy to be alternate descriptions of one reality are very much in accord with the concept of qi and other facets of Eastern philosophy.
     The qi concept gives us a measure for the vitality of a person, object, or state. If the qi of a certain food is of good quality, then the food will taste better and impart more qi to the individual who consumes it. In a person, good qi is manifested as an ability to accomplish things, lack of obstruction in the body, better functioning of the internal organs, and so on. To further understand qi, which itself is a yang quality, it is helpful to understand its yin counterpart----blood. Blood is yin and the "mother of qi", since the nutrients in blood support and nurture qi. At the same time qi leads and directs the blood. Furthermore, digestive and circulative qi must be sufficient in order for the blood to be formed and to circulate.
     Whatever manifests in a person does so with that type of qi. Someone who is graceful, for instance, has harmonious qi; weak people lack qi; those who are strong have abundant qi; people with pure, clear minds have "refined" as opposed to "confused" qi. Thus qi is not only the energy behind these states of being but the intrinsic energy/substance of these states. The qi concept, then, provides a way to describe every aspect of life.
     From a therapeutic standpoint, there are several functional aspects of qi. It is warming and is the source of all movement; it protects the body, flows through the acupuncture channels, and maintains the activity of the body systems and organs. Sources of qi in the body are three-fold: 1) from food; 2) from the air we breathe; and 3) from the essence of the kidneys, some part of which we are born with.
     How well we utilize qi from these sources depends on how we live and on our attitudes. Qi is also transferred between people in interactions of every kind. The qi of the cfook permeates the food. Exercise, herbal therapy, acupuncture, and awareness practices such as meditation are traditional ways of clearing obstructions and maximizing qi flow.
     Qi that stagnates causes accumulations resulting in obesity, tumors, cysts, cancers, and the multitude of viral and yeast-related diseases that plague those with sedentary lives and refined, rich diets.
     The qi of the body can be accurately measured and regulated by the diagnostic and therapeutic methods of Chinese medicine. In nutritional therapy, improving the "digestive qi" of the spleen-pancreas is a priority to be discussed in the Earth Element chapter. In other chapters we will discuss "protective qi" as an aspect of immunity, qi deficiencies of various organs, qi stagnation of the liver, and the practices that improve or damage qi in food and the body.
    

Qi: One Energy - Two Expressions (1 of 3)

Qi Magazine - September 2007

By Adrian Chan-Whyles, PhD

www.chandao.co.uk

INTRO

Within the field of Chinese medical thought - the philosophical/physical force of "Qi" is not only central, but essential to the entire edifice that is today referred to as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). An underlying, invisible force of one sort or another permeates ancient cultures, from the 'ether' of the Druids, to the 'prana' of ancient India.

Much confusion abounds both in the West and in modern mainland China about what exactly 'Qi' is, how it should be cultivated and developed and what should be done with it once developed. To understand clearly, we must consider the Chinese ideogram for the word pronounced Qi.

Essentially, the character for Qi consists of a cauldron hanging over a fire. In the cauldron there is boiling water and in the water, rice is cooking. There is a lid on the cauldron, which rises gently up and down as the steam in the cauldron builds up pressure and the steam escapes. 

This character denotes in virtually its entirety, the spiritual, medical and martial foundations of the internal arts of ancient China. But the external is still allowed for, although in a subtle way. The cauldron lid, as it rises and falls, serves as an illustration of what it means to perform physical martial movements in an external way. From this, it maybe deduced that the 'external' state is intended to be only transitory and not permanent. The philosophical implications are clear - the internal condition is the highest level and is attainable by the cultivated human being. 

There is only one Qi power in the universe that animates matter and links spirits of the world. The external and internal states are intrinsically linked a their base. What separates the Qi into a predominately external expression on the physical plane is simply that the practitioner has not yet deepened his/her understanding. This natural state of 'un-knowingness' is common to us all. As we get older and become more fully aware of our bodies and minds, our appreciation for Qi deepens and we perceive what it means to express our minds and bodies in an internal manner. 

Qi, being universal in nature, has a physical component and a psychological (i.e. spiritual) component. When we are young, we tend to focus only on the physical and can not see beyond our own physical structure. Eventually, with the appropriate training, we can focus and develop our minds so that our awareness can expand beyond our bodies. We exist as if we are in a three-dimensional sphere of awareness which can permeate far beyond the arbitrary boundaries set by our physical limitations. In this heightened state, we move freely in any direction and there is nothing that cannot be achieved. 

What is Qi? Part Three

By Ken Rose

Excerpt from: Qi The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness Volume 17, No.2, Summer 2007

Communication

     It is not enough to notice that we are interconnected with all things, all spaces, all times, all other people, spirits, animals, plants, and inanimate objects in the whole universe. Perhaps this sounds like a grandiose overstatement, but it is the essential truth, and as I suggest, it is not enough even to notice and remark on this remarkable connectivity: qi.

     We must also point out that through this inter-connectivity we communicate...at least we have the potential to communicate with everything that is. Just as in the English word "universe" whose roots mean "one turn" or "turning to one", the Chinese word qi implies that all things seek to express their common origin and destiny with all other things.

     Moreover, all things must engage in this communication of their common urges in order for living systems to exist and survive. In the human body, the lungs and the heart must intercommunicate or they die...along with the whole body and the person, of course. The same is true naturally for all the other primary internal organs, the liver, the kidney, the spleen and stomach, etc. And the intercommunication of fluids and functions of all these organs is described in terms of their coursing qi in Chinese medical terms.

     This pattern of observation and description of the structures and operations of the body and mind is refined further in the texts and teachings of qi gong. And qi is the primary concern here as well. What is the proper use of the body? The mind commands, the muscles and bones obey. How do we move the body therefore in qi gong? The mind moves the qi, the qi moves the body. And this communication of body, mind and qi is governed by and results in the vitality of the spirit.

Change

The most basic notion in ancient Chinese thought is change. The oldest of the old Chinese books is the Book of Changes. The book of changes records the blueprint for a universe constructed on these few principles:

Everything always changes, and change is therefore the only universal constant. This change manifests in and from a fundamental pattern of vibration, back and forth, between yin and yang, the two primordial powers. The word that describes this basic pattern of change is qi.

Qi is change. It is the subject and predicate in ancient Chinese sentence that tells us that the world in which we live is the never-ending dance of yin and yang. This wonderful sentence contains just one word. Qi.

Movement

     Scientists in the West examining the nature of the universe began to calculate the pressure and temperature of gasses some 300 years ago. They came to recognize, among a wide array of other properties, that one of the primary characteristics of the physical universe is that nothing ever stops moving. To do so would result in that thing, whatever it might be, having a temperature of absolute zero. Apparently no place in the physical universe has this temperature. Mathematicians speculate about and even calculate tempratures below absolute zero. But no one comes to this point experimentally so far, although a few physicists have come close.

     In our meditations we can do even better, and as in the meditative practice of Yiquan, we seek and even achieve stillness in movement. How? It is all a matter of qi. For what is moving that keeps any and everything in the world and in the universe in which the world exists about absolute zero? It is qi. Physicists speak of Brownian movement as the result of instantaneous imbalance of forces in underlying molecular structures. The ancient Chinese classic of astronomy (in which we find the earliest recorded Chinese discussions of cosmology) mentions that the universe comes into existence when the void begins to vibrate. This most fundamental movement is conserved until the present and is known by just one word: qi.

What is Qi?

     So what is qi?
     Qi is that which...it is the fact that...all things, events, phenomena interconnect, intercommunicate, interchange and move. It is the medium of change from the most fundamental, proto-typical aspects of the universe to the whole throbbing mass of universal emptiness. That the world is constructed from the ceaseless dance of yin and yang is described in this single Chinese word: qi.

     Where there is qi there is life. Where the qi does not penetrate, life ceases. How do we come to know these things? Only through direct personal experience. Perhaps beyond the great importance of knowing what qi is lies an even more essential question: what do you do with qi? In fact, the discovery and understanding of qi opens up a whole world of exploration and investigation. This is the path of self-cultivation that has been followed for thousands of years. Perhaps reading these few words about qi, you can decide whether or not it is a suitable path for you.

     But why dos it matter that we know what qi is? For the practitioner of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, etc. done according to ancient Chinese models and theories, the proper understanding of qi is central. If we think of qi as energy, for example, then when a patient has the signs of qi deficiency, we should fill him or her up with energy. But what does that mean? Practically speaking ,there is little anyone can do to accomplish this. But if we look at the same individual as having a lack or absence of connectivity, suffering from disrupted communications, obstructed changes, and inhibited movement, then the door to effective intervention opens widely.

     Need more qi? Find the disconnted parts that need and want to be connected and reconnect them. Discover what one part of the body needs to communicate with the others and do what you can to facilitate the exchange. See What needs to change, find what has ceased to change and restore its capacity to change. Feel the restricted movement and move it. The qi will flourish.

You will be on your way.

What is Qi? - Part Two

By Ken Rose

Excerpt from: Qi The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness Volume 17, No.2, Summer 2007

Connectivity

     The implications of this one remark are considerable. For if old Zhuang Zi was right, if one qi permeates the entire universe, then everything in the universe is interconnected by this single qi. In other words, a single unifying qi connects everything that is or was or will be. It is in recognition of the primacy of this character of qi that I have chosen the English word connectivity as the first equivalent for qi. That there is a connection between any and all objects, artifacts, phenomena, and interactions between them in the whole universe is expressed in the ancient Chinese word qi.

     When we speak of points lying along channel pathways on the surface of the body that bear names and associates with internal organ systems, we exemplify this connective potential of qi. The points, the channels, the organs are all interconnected by qi. If the large intestine is sluggish, for example, we can stimulate its activity by stimulating a point on the hand that lies on the associated channel pathway.

     This kind of physiological relationship can be described in many ways. The Chinese selected this word qi to serve as the descriptor of all such phenomena and functions, within the body as well as without. This selection reveals an underlying sense of the way the word is. Everything is interconnected, and thus the proper study of the human mind is the discovery and mapping of the interconnections as well as the patterns and meta-patterns of these interconnections.

     Thus we get the often seen yet little understood charts of the body that depict the depots and stations, the mountains and valleys, the markets and the meeting places to and through and about which the qi courses it particular travels through the body each day as it busies itself with its cosmic task of connecting each and every place in the body to each and every other place.

     Quite simply, the fundamental treatment strategy in Chinese medicine could be described as discovering where the body's patterns of interconnection have been disrupted and acting (as through acupuncture, massage, medicinal herbs or other means) to reestablish normative connections and patterns of connectivity. This connectivity begins and ends with breathing.

     Before proceeding to a brief discussion of the other three English words chosen to round out the meaning of qi, namely, communication, change, and movement, I want to make note of the importance of this very common definition of qi that pertains to gaining a full comprehension of what qi is. In Chinese qi means many things, among them, air and breath. The atmosphere is known simply as the big qi.

     Therefore qi is all about breathing and the breath that, while passing in and out of our lungs, connects us with the great qi in which we exist. One of the most potent curative aspects of qi gong, that catchall phrase used to describe a wide variety of breathing and yogic/meditative practices intended to develop, accumulate and cultivate an individuals qi, is simply the concentration and strengthening of the capacity for breathing. The breath of life: qi. And when you can no longer draw it in or let it pass without, life has ceased to be in that small sector of the universe known as your body.

     Breath, then, might be considered as the first and last definition of qi, except for the fact that this one English word, "breath", tells us rather little about the other implications and innuendos that have become associated with this word over the millennia since it was first coined and used in ancient China. To get at this fuller understanding of what we mean when we say, for example, sink your qi to your dan tian, as we often say in the study and practice of qi gong and other related arts (not the least of which certainly is the art of medicine), we have to turn to additional English words. Turning from page to page in the dictionary, we find these three words that taken together and summed up with connectivity all serve to construct an aggregate of sense that comes close to the ancient essence of the word, qi.

What is Qi? - Part One

By Ken Rose

Excerpt from: Qi The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness Volume 17, No.2, Summer 2007


     In Qi gong and Chinese Medicine there is no more fundamental question than, what is qi? Virtually all of the theories and methodologies employed in the course of Chinese medical interventions, from acupuncture to herbal medicine to massage and qigong, focus on manipulating and influencing an individual's qi. In qi gong we practice accumulating qi and refining qi. So what is it? The question is an obvious and important one, but straightforward answers are seldom easy to come by. This brief description is intended to be a start, a finger pointing a direction for the exploring mind to travel. The meaningful answers come to those who actually make the journey. And as with the mythic journey of Ulysses, when we set out on a voyage to discover the meaning of qi, we should pray that our journey be a long one.

     Qi has been frequently translated into English as "energy." But this is a poor choice to be nominated as an equivalent for qi. For one thing, the meanings of energy in English are too varied and often vague to serve as a translation for the similarly varied and value meanings of the usages of qi in Chinese. This fact might at first seem to recommend the equivalence of qi and energy, but in practice the juxtaposition of so many vague and varied meanings on both sides of the translational divide results in sheer confusion. When some one says that qi is energy, what does that mean? One vague and poorly defined word is the same as another? But what do they mean? Discussions concerning qi often bog down in just this kind of quagmire, and this is largely owning to the reliance upon energy as an equivalent term for qi.

     Rather than dwell on this aspect of the situation with respect to understanding what qi is, we should advance towards as clear a statement as possible of what qi does, in fact mean. If it doesn't mean energy, what does it mean?

The Meaning and Usage of Qi

     In a book entitled A Brief History of Qi, I tried to sum up some 3,000 years of this word's documented history. Its use as a key term in Chinese thinking probably extends many more millennia into China's shadowy periods of pre-history. This brief essay is a beginning of a follow up volume to that one. Here I will present four English words that, taken together, do a fair job of conveying the gist of the ancient Chinese sensibility about the world that is wrapped up in the word qi.

     The core meanings of qi can be conveyed by these four English words: connectivity, communication, change, and movement. Note that each of these is an abstract noun, i.e., the name of something that does not exist except as a property of concrete things. This suggests that qi is not primarily a concrete thing but an abstract quality of concrete things. And this is largely accurate as an overall description of qi, as it is often used in Chinese language and literature. Whatever qi is, whatever those who coined and who have used the word have meant to say with it for the past several thousand years, it is accurate to say that there is widespread consensus that it is not an essential material, concrete thing but is rather a property or aspect or consequence of behavior dynamics of material, concrete things.

     Qi is therefore essentially a philosophical term, although its origins certainly predate the emergence of any recognizable body of philosophical thought. But it emerges from the same roots as does philosophy in China's past, namely the observation and consideration of natural phenomena. Put in its own philosophical context, qi is a consequence of the ever-changing dance of yin and yang. Qi is another way of saying that the world is constructed of yin and yang. In the most ancient of the ancient Chinese books, the Book of Changes, it is written that one yin and one yang result in the Dao, where Dao is understood as the overarching and all-embracing flux of the natural world.

     Ancient Chinese philosophers and proto-philosophers yearned to find a way to express a deep sense of connection that they felt with the world in which they lived. They peered deeply into the processes of nature and of their own minds in examining their natural surroundings, and they formulated eloquent statements concerning subtle aspects of the interface between mankind and the natural world.

     They coined the words yin and yang to describe the phenomena associated with the appearance of light and shadow in the world and to suggest the implications and paradoxes with which these phenomena appear to present us. They used this word Dao, which literally means pathway or road, to serve as a kind of catchall term to signify the awareness and recognition that all things share a common origin, which is why paradoxically enough that they diverge in shape and name and position in time and space and thus appear as a multiplicity to our eyes and other senses.

     They coined and used these terms yin and yang, qi, and Dao to describe the design and operation of the system in which they understood themselves to be living and breathing components. And particularly in the school of thinking that came to be known as Daoism, they used these words to refine and clarify their understanding of this universal process (Dao) that provided both the field and the individual, specific points of focus in that field that serve as the matrix of life and meaning. In doing so they often pointed out that the overriding importance in observing and studying the phenomena and patterns of nature was to see and experience their interconnectedness.

     In other words, yin and yang, qi and Dao all share and ultimately refer to a single meaning. This is not to say that each term does not have its own special meaning and particular usages. Each certainly does. But each essentially means the same thing. The only universal constant is change, and change takes place as a result of and through the most fundamental medium of yin and yang. The force and fact of this pattern is qi. The sum total of the activities of qi is called Dao. The manifest oneness of these is a compelling feature of the whole approach to knowledge that we know as Chinese native philosophy, especially Daoism.

     Yet there is another aspect of qi that is even more compelling. The word began its long life as a pictographic representation of steam rising above a field. Its form altered over centuries to reflect the needs and the predilections of scribes and scholars who were busy with the work of creating one of the world's most curious and long lived systems of writing. Little is more challenging or more rewarding for those with a bent for words and language and literature than the study of the Chinese written language and its long history of literary traditions.

     From this tradition of scholars and intellectuals there emerged a set of sensibilities that placed a high value on cultivating the capacity to see the relationships between things and phenomena. This millennia-long initiative to study and sort existence in organic categories in order to facilitate understanding the interactive dynamics and potentials of living systems beings with a quest for cosmological comprehension. In other words, qi is a term that emerges from the ancient quest to understand the origins of the universe and it was made manifest over thousands of years in that part of the world and by those people we know now as China and the Chinese.

     In the terms of Chines folklore, the world comes from a giant egg that contained two things. One was a giant named Pan Gu, the other was a substance named "original qi." This "substance" is best described as yin and yang in an undifferentiated state of existence.

     Shown above in the illustration is an early version of the Taiji diagram, the chart of yin and yang. Imagine how it would appear if the black and the white were merged into a single graphic form and substance. The resuilt would be a drawing of original qi.

     One day the giant breaks the egg and the original qi leaks out. The clear, light aspect is thus freed to rise and form heaven, while the heavy, turbid characteristics descend and congeal to form the earth. The giant steps out onto the newly formed earth and where he steps, valleys are shaped beneath his feet. The mountains rise up with his every step. His sweat drips down and fills rivers and seas. Even humans have a point of origin in this old folk tale. We are the maggots that drop from Pan Gu's body as he traverses his new universe.

     From these humble folk beginnings thinkers and writers cultivated the concept of qi for countless centuries until the extraordinary period know as The Warring States, China was then a battlefield on which the armies of seven principal kingdoms fought internecine war for nearly five centuries. The great kingdom of the Zou court was in ruins, and philosophers pondered the path towards civil harmony, as the kings in whose employ they inevitably found themselves ensured that peace would never come.

     In this atmosphere of endless struggle and conflict, some of the world's most pacific philosophy emerged. The Daoists promulgated a strategy of non-action, and from this perspective one of the most famous Daoists of the Warring States Period, Zhuang Zi, contemplated qi. His conclusion: in all the world is there but one qi.

Daoist Wisdom for Healthy Living

Qi Magazine || Issue 60 || April 2002

By Adam Wallace

Qigong training not only encompasses breathing, movement, and meditation but should also include basic knowledge of Chinese medical theory and philosophy. ‘Dao De Jing’, written by Laozi over 2,400 years ago, is a source of wisdom, which when applied becomes high level Qigong skill.

 The following is merely a sampling together with some personal comments for clarification. 

“When a person is born he is soft and supple. 

When he dies he is stiff and hard. 

All things are soft and tender at birth and at death they are withered and dry”.  

When the body and mind are relaxed and soft the Qi flows properly which is essential to health. A stiff body is caused by straining while working or exercising and a stressful mental state. Gentle movement and remaining mentally flexible aids longevity. 

“In concentrating the Qi to achieve flexibility can you be like a baby?”

In the womb babies breathe from the Dantian, which stores Qi. Breathing with the lungs uses Qi. Dantian breathing saves much biophysical energy, which is then converted to True Qi, and serves as an internal massage for the vital organs. 

“Do not swerve from your innate nature and return to the state of infancy”. 

The newly born are pure of mind, without passions or ambitions, etc, and can let go of their emotions. They cry and quickly forget. As adults we internalise our problems, which affects our Qi and health. Meditation is the tool to enable us to return to the peaceful state of infancy and transcend our emotions. 

“A tall tree grows from a tiny sprout. 

A tower begins from the earth up. 

A journey starts with a single step”.

Everything grows from small to big. This is the way of nature. It is a mistake to rush the natural process. Businesses collapse because owners miss this principle and expand too quickly. Qigong practice is no exception - to rush or take short cuts can be disastrous. With regards to illness, listen to your body and catch any problem when it is still small and has not become too big to control. Better still, practise Qigong and prevent disease altogether. 

“If your hallis filled with gold and jade, it cannot be protected. 

If you are wealthy and honoured, pride follows, which can attract mistakes and misfortune. 

When the work is done retire; this is the Dao of heaven”. 

Many people are obsessed with collecting valuables. The more belongings you acquire, the more responsibilities and worries you have. In the end, you no longer possess the valuables, they possess you. Throughout life, we need to let go of our attachments so that we can truly be free. This includes our emotional baggage. 

“No disaster is greater than not knowing what is sufficient. 

No crime is greater than avarice. 

One who knows sufficiency will always have enough and avoid danger”. 

Desire is a disease. The more you accumulate the more you want. ‘What is a rich person? Someone who has everything he or she needs. If your needs are few and you have everything you could want, then you are richer than the person who has has financial wealth but is never satisfied. 

“The five colours cause blindness. 

The five tones cause deafness. 

The five flavours cause the inability to taste. 

Racing about on horseback and hunting cause madness”. 

Overexposure to visual stimulation i.e television, computers etc. expends Qi and damages eyesight. When the eyes are tired rest them or meditate. Constantly listening to loud music impairs the hearing. Those who move to the countryside from the city and find the quietude disturbing have already lost their balance with nature. Choose specific times in the day for silent contemplation. Perpetually eating rich or spicy food damages the palate’s ability to distinguish flavours. Those addicted to high-speed thrills and dangerous situations who only feel ‘alive’ when adrenaline is pumping have also lost balance. 

“Rare commodities cause mankind to do wrong, 

so the Sage concerns himself with his abdomen and not his eyes”.

Gold and rare jewels may seem substantial and worthwhile possessions but you cannot take them with you after you die so they are ultimately worthless. Dantian Qi, on the other hand, may appear intangible but it is more real and valuable as it cultivates your health and spirit, and bestows longevity. The eyes generally look outwards and we are tempted by what we see. Hence, it is beneficial to routinely shut the eyes and look inwards. Sometimes the blind perceive more than the sighted. 

“What is dearer, fame or health? 

What is more valuable, health or wealth?”

Everyone should ask themselves this question. You cannot enjoy your wealth or fame in sickness. Health is also the only factor over which you have complete control.

Demystifying Qi Gong

By Joseph Davis, LAc
Acupuncture Today
December, 2011, Vol. 12, Issue 12


Qi Gong is broadly recognized for its therapeutic effects in the Chinese medical community, and increasingly in the modern medical community as well, yet it remains a practice shrouded in unnecessary mystery.


What will it take to bring Qi Gong to the place yoga is now, where one can find regular classes at most fitness centers across the country? The question can't be answered in one short article, but our first priority must be in clarifying what makes real Qi Gong different than other methods of health cultivation. After successfully building aQi Gong class in the strange environs of a modern gym, I have a few basic insights to share about how to bring our methods to the mainstream.

Unfortunately, we are starting at a significant disadvantage, as the phrase "Qi Gong" is a long way from having one commonly accepted meaning. For some people it evokes images of exotic people in silk pajamas, moving slowly on a clifftop by the ocean. For others it might be a practitioner laying hands on someone else, using their breath, intention, and energy to heal. And for others it might mean a solo practice of meditation, hard training and creative visualization to build martial and psychic power, or to foster spiritual growth. Frankly, for most Americans, it probably doesn't mean anything.

As Traditional Chinese Medicine providers, it is incumbent on us to approach Qi Gong with an understanding that is not mystical, foreign, or other-worldly. So what is the essence of Qi Gong for TCM practitioners? It is a method of fostering basic awareness of body and breath, coordinated with simple movements, with the aim of cultivating smooth flow of qi to promote health. It is critical to communicate to our patients and students that the gateway to Qi Gong is not through some portal bedecked with dragons and tigers in some far-off land. It doesn't demand faith, special uniforms, ineffable transmissions, or beautiful landscapes. Foremost, it is vital to explain that qi isn't some magical force that emerges once we've purified the body, silenced the mind, and harmonized the emotions. Qi Gong begins with connecting with how your body, breath, and mind feel, exactly in this moment.

If we want people to follow us through the gate of Qi Gong practice, we have to keep it incredibly simple. So, let's try a basic exercise together. Take a deep breath in, then release. No really, do it! What's there? The pressure of your weight on your seat, if you are sitting. The space inside your body changing as the breath moves in and out. Perhaps some tension in some muscle groups. The patter of thoughts, up in the brain. Our mind will naturally come up with names for these experiences. For our purposes, we are just trying to connect with the quality of feeling awareness that is before these names - that, which experiences these different levels of our being. It's critical that we do not try and change anything at this point. Rather, we start with what is actually here right now.

With just a little bit of attention, we begin to see that these sensations, feelings, and thoughts occur in a spectrum - from the very dense sensation of embodiment in gravity (down/earth/yin), to the rarified realm of ideas (up/sky/yang), and the subtler nuance of breath and emotions that happens between these two poles. And here's the real transmission - it is this whole collection of experiences that is actually our qi. This recognition is the portal to real Qi Gong, and it certainly does not require some Qi Gong "master" to point out. Yin, Yang, and qi are experiences that we all have, all day long.

Instead of introducing our patients and students to qi as something distant and mysterious, we start right where we are. As I noted above, I find the phrase feeling-awareness, or aliveness are often better to use than something from a different language. What we are looking to get our patients and students to recognize is this basic subjective sense of being alive, which is the most immediate and concrete thing in the universe. Without trying to define or capture it too tightly in thought, we can then begin working with it in the context of simple movements, coordinated with the breath.

Most everyone agrees that the breath is a great way to bring more awareness to the mind-body connection. Breath is the great mediator between the denser "body" and the lighter "mind" ends of our mind-body spectrum. Respiration is unique because it will conveniently take care of itself if we don't pay attention to it (involuntary/body), but will also obey our commands if we choose to give it a specific task (voluntary/mind). It impacts our emotions, as taking a few deep breaths to calm down clearly demonstrates. Breath is also affected by emotions, as the shortened breaths of someone anxious or stressed shows us. So if we move the body in a simple pattern while coordinating the breath, and pay attention to what's happening, we begin to "fill in the blanks" between the mind and the body, and see that there actually never was a separation.

For many this may seem rudimentary, but then the people reading this periodical are steeped in the sophisticated language of meridians, elements, and different kinds of qi. Our patients, students, and friends may come from a very different place, where it may be a radical idea that doing an activity while actually paying attention to it differs from doing the exact same activity while listening to headphones, reading a newspaper, and watching a television out of the corner of your eye. It often seems like the job of the modern fitness center is to distract you from your body any way possible while you get your time in and your calories off! One day the cable TV was out at my gym, and there was practically a riot.

As non-specific as the phrase "Qi Gong" may be, the key is that we recognize that it is this quality of making the effort to be with your sensations (a practice called "mindfulness" in some communities), which makes it different from other activities. We can do any manner of convoluted visualisations and complicated techniques, but if we aren't starting from basic feeling-awareness, we are just playing mental games. We can push our bodies to the limit, but if we aren't with our sensations, we are also still standing outside of the gate. We spend so much time embroiled in fantasies about places we aren't, planning for the future or stewing over the past, looking to embellish or mask what our basic existence feels like right now. The simple act of coming into our own present-tense can be a profound therapy to address the many ills that result from this preoccupation. We may very well find that in cultivating this habit of presence, a sense of space and ease reveals itself to have always been right here all along.

Qi Gong practice has a long way to go before it becomes as mainstream as other traditional methods of health cultivation. It will have to adapt, just as yoga has, to meet some of the expectations of our fitness-oriented culture. I'm confident that if we can lead our students and patients to the gateway of feeling-awareness, we can preserve what is unique to these time-tested methods. As the baby-boomers age and the gym-going culture realizes that peak fitness is not a viable (or even desirable) goal, Qi Gongwill become an increasingly attractive alternative.

Over the past couple years, I've built a class of very dedicated students in a traditional gym, without turning my class into "Power Qi Gong," or "Qi Gong for a Great Butt." As long as we keep it simple, focus on the present moment sensations of qi, and not lose ourselves in esoterica, Qi Gong's future in the West is promising.

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Joseph Davis is an enthusiastic practitioner and instructor of Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong. He teaches at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences, and at several gyms in the Oakland area. He is also a co-founder and Licensed Acupuncturist at Octagon Community Acupuncture Clinic, where he holds periodic introductory Qi Gong courses for patients and practitioners alike.

Making Yourself at Home with Acupuncture by Ken Rosen

Acupuncture is both clinical and mysterious. It has a long lineage practiced differently around the world by different schools of practice – five-element, Chinese, Korean hand, and Japanese Toyohari to name but a few. I recently found out that there are 30 different schools of acupuncture in Japan alone. And, of course, acupuncture is practiced differently still by individuals. The big point here is that people are getting relief; no matter what style of acupuncture or what individual. 

Acupuncture is rooted in a larger system of medicine which is known globally as Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM. Traditional Chinese Medicine comprises five distinct branches of medicine to help people govern their health. The five branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine are exercise, nutrition, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and structural medicine like massage. Acupuncture, as a branch, has grown globally as well. I have met TCM practitioners from far-away places like Norway, England, India, America, Germany, Israel, Iceland and Thailand, to name a few. People from all over the world are finding relief from serious physical and mental illnesses with this ancient therapy. Acupuncture treatment most likely started with people poking each other in places that hurt with tools in a form of crude massage, or as way to lance boils. Eventually, the Chinese mapped rivers of energy called meridians, or channels, on the body. Much the way energy flows down a river, the same is true in the body. Energy moves quickly in some places, deeply in others, and also stagnates in common acu-point locations. As time passed, the ancients refined specific points on these meridians that created a broad range of action on both physical and emotional conditions. Needles used to be made from bones, then eventually metal. Today, they are made from stainless steel, making them also sterile and disposable. What Happens During an Acupuncture Treatment? After a series of questions, a practitioner of Chinese Medicine will look at your tongue, feel your pulse, and reach a diagnosis. Then an acupuncture prescription will be matched to your diagnosis. The combination of acupoints are needled and heat therapy (moxibustion) or mild electrical stimulation may be added to the needles. Needles are retained in the body for a period of 20 to 30 minutes. During that time, the nervous energy of the whole body tries to push these needles out and tunes into itself for healing. When the needles come to equilibrium with the body and mind, a healing message has been received. Unlike a needle that takes blood out of your body, an acupuncture needle is solid. It is not designed to cut through flesh. It is like putting a chopstick into a bowl of noodles. Instead of cutting into your body, it pushes tissue aside, letting your body’s nervous system grab it, reject it, accept it, and thereby reboot your whole system. This is how acupuncture is able to treat such a wide range of conditions. Needles vibrate within your body to help bring you into balance. The needles vent out built-up qi, which could be manifested in muscular pain, emotional tension, or a chest cold. Ultimately an acupuncture treatment should catapult your whole being into a deep state of ease so your body and mind can overcome energy imbalances, pain and disease.

The soft overcomes the hard – Tao Te Ching

These words from this ancient classic remind me of the tremendous power of acupuncture. Hard needles go into tight or hard acu-points or muscles, but it is the power of your soft body rejecting and then accepting these needles that makes the treatment effective. Your body has to become soft in the reaction to the hard needles. It is only natural.