QIGONG PRIMER
by Terry Dunn ©1996

"The people of ancient times who knew the Tao, used the concepts of Yin and Yang and methods of Qigong. They had proper food intake, a well-regulated daily life, and did not overwork, so their body and mind remained healthy. They died at age one hundred." --Yellow Emperor's Classic on Internal Medicine (2,690 - 2,590 B.C.)

Qigong (pronounced "chee-gung", also spelled "Ch'i Kung") means "energy exercise," a powerful ancient Chinese healing art that cultivates the intrinsic natural energy within the body that the Chinese call "Qi," or "Chi", meaning vital life force, to impart many profound health benefits-- both curative and preventative. Since time immemorial, Chi Kung has been practiced to provide good health and increase longevity.

Asian cultures--Chinese and Indian in particular--thousands of years ago understood the paramount importance of breath-related energy to health and longevity, and developed yogic techniques to cultivate this breath-energy to heal and strengthen the body. In India, these techniques were collectively called yoga. In China, breath-power cultivation techniques were called Qigong (Chi-Kung), and through the ages, they evolved to become the secret "generator" that has empowered the Chinese martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine, and the meditative vehicle that activated philosophical insight and spiritual awakening.

For more than 5,000 years, Qigong has been practiced for:

• Prevention of disease
• Treatment of chronic disease
• Strengthening the body
• Improving intelligence
• Extending longevity
• Developing latent powers, and
• Spiritual development.

Qigong can impart such a remarkable range of benefits that are so diverse because it is a foremost holistic therapy that brings the body's organic functions under the regulation of the subconscious mind. By conditioning and perfecting the nervous system's regulatory function, Qigong balances the internal energies throughout the body and so enhances every physiological function: respiration, circulation, metabolism, skeletal strength, posture, neuro-muscular function, endocrine function, and most notably, the immune system.

Qi: Internal Energy

In Chinese, the term Qi (Ch'i) means air, breath, power, effervescence, combustion, electricity, energy. It is the fundamental bio-physical energy that sustains life and is associated with breath, blood, and nerve. What the Chinese call qi is the same vital life force that the ancient Indians termed prajna, that the ancient Greeks termed pneuma, and the not-so-ancient French call elan vitale. The ancient Chinese sages saw all of human existence in terms of qi, and human health as a delicate balance of subtle energies conducted throughout the organism through specific channels or meridians. Just as Albert Einstein demonstrated the elegant unity and constant inter-relationship of all matter and energy, the ancient Chinese intuited a correspondingly delicate and interdependent web of energy patterns flowing through and forming the basis of all that exists.

One of the great contributions of ancient Chinese culture was the discovery of precise patterns of qi vital energy within the body--and the means to direct these energy flows in specific ways. This internal energy could be nurtured to prevent disease and premature aging. It could be made to flow from one person to another to heal injuries. It could empower the martial arts to supernormal capabilities. It could also be tempered and purified through ascetic practices and moral devotion to heighten awareness and develop spiritual potential. Qigong is an esoteric practice that induces qi internal energy to manifest in awareness, and then ingeniously focuses the mind-body to strengthen the chi by increasing its circulation throughout the body.

The famous philosopher Mencius wrote long ago:

Our willpower can contgrol the flow of energy.
When we think of a certain organ or area of our body,
energy will flow to that part.Energy is the basic ingredient
of our whole body. All our organs,tissues and cells as well
as all our physiological functions and mental activities are
the products of energy.

Qigong: Exercise of Internal Energy

Qigong is a generic, far-reaching term that represents an enormous range of disciplines that develop ch'i. There are many, many techniques that induce chi flow, each giving rise to a distinct style of Qigong. All methods of qigong involve regulating the mind (consciousness), or "Yi", the body (shape-posture"), and the breathing process, or "Qi". Qigong styles vary greatly from one to another according to esoteric formulas by which they regulate these three processes. Qigong styles are characteristically described as Quiescent, Dynamic, and Quiescent-Dynamic, as they utilize sedentary postures (ching), or movement (tung), or, as in most systems, both static postures and movement.

Any particular style of Chi Kung is distinguished by its unique formula combining breath control, relaxa- tion, mental concentration and bodily movements to achieve powerful synergistic effects. Within this universe of chi kung, there are three general forms: (1) therapeutic or medical Qigong (2) martial Qigong; and (3) spiritual Qigong. The most popular and widely practiced styles of Qigong in China and in the west are medical forms. This is because the martial and spiritual chi kung systems are jealously guarded within China's martial fraternities and spiritual orders--as they have for thousands of years, while medical qigong knowledge has been widely disseminated and its practice strongly encouraged by the Chinese government. As a result, over the last two decades, (medical) qigong has become a mass phenomenon--the exercise rage--throughout China that has spread to many neighboring and foreign countries. Today, it's marvelous benefits to health are being discovered by more and more people in the west.

Taoist Roots

Qigong's wide range of benefits is due to its fundamental principles of natural balance and cyclical polarization: stasis and movement, creation and destruction, death and rebirth, exhaustion and rejuvenation --as expounded in the indigenous Chinese philosphy known as Taoism.

The cosmos is a body of chi. Chi has the properties of yin and yang.
When chi is spread out, it permeates all things; when it coalesces it
becomes nebulous. When this settles into form, it becomes matter.
When it disintegrates it returns to its original state.
-- Zhang Dai, (11th Century)

While innumerable schools of philosophy and natural science were active during China's long history, all forms of Qigong have, to varying degrees, an underpinning of Taoism. The workings of Qigong is thus classically described as developing three aspects of human potential-- Jing, (metabolic essence), Qi or "Ch'i" (energy), and Shen (spirit). The ancient Taoists saw human existence in terms of this triune nature and developed means to nourish and cultivate these essential components of health and longevity. The esoteric processes by which Jing, Chi, and Shen are refined and strengthened (involving the regulation of eyes, mind, movement, breath and shape/posture) are based on natural law and are best described as "alchemy," or "all-chemistry." They utilize and are governed by the same laws of cyclical flux (polarization-depolarization) that determine energy transformations at every level in the universe. Because of this fundamental view of man's nature--his life and health--held in relation to the cosmos, Qigong directly taps into the universal, world-creating power. For this reason, advanced Qigong methods are carefully guarded by its preservers, and transmitted through a private oral tradition between master and apprentice, in the same manner as the Chinese martial and healing arts.

Recent scientific research has shown that Qigong works by conditioning the human respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems to effectively accelerate and increase the supply of oxygen to and the elimination of carbon dioxide from the human system. Specifically Chi Kung's patterns of deep breathing, postures and movements are designed to maximize vital capacity of the lungs and their efficiency in gas exchange; and the circulation of blood throughout the body. The gradual conditioning of daily Qigong exercise permanently expands the vital capacity of each breath (called tidal volume by medical researchers) while decreasing the frequency of breathes over any period of time (measured as breath cycles per minute, or MRC for "minute respiratory cycles"). This increase in respiratory efficiency directly enhances human metabolism --the process by which the body converts nutrients into energy--and does so on the cellular level.

After several decades of long-term medical studies conducted in China and the West, Qigong is now considered "scientific breathing therapy", for it has been found to be effective in curing many chronic and degenerative diseases such as arthritis, rheumatism, insomnia, migraine, asthma, diabetes, neurasthenia, ulcers, hypertension, "chronic fatigue syndrome", lupus, osteoporosis, sexual impotence, tuberculosis, and some forms of cancer in their early stages.

All Is Mind

While modern science can observe, measure, and explain some of the physiological effects of Qigong-- primarily the increased efficiency of respiration, circulation and metabolism--it cannot fully explain how Qigong imparts such a remarkably wide range of health benefits. It is also at a loss to accept--let alone explain--the super-normal capabilities consistently demonstrated by some high-level masters of the art. Some of the most commonly demonstrated energy skills include numerous types of spontaneous healing, healing-at-a-distance, hei-gung (martial dexterity), nei-gung (internal kung-fu), telepathy, psychokinesis, levitation, astro-projection, geomancy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, aurory, psychometry, mind control, lucid dreaming, exorcism and other spiritual operations.

These latent powers can be understood if we recognize the alchemical nature of Qigong. Alchemy, be it Asian, Middle Eastern, European, African, Australian or Native American, operates on the premise that the form of energy--and therefore matter--can be determined by the mind. In other words, the principles of physics are on the plane of mental control, and can be used to regulate the energy system of the body or that of any life form to improve health and longevity.

Unlike the western (Aristotelian) philosophy of science that semantically distorts man's actual relation to the universe by creating an artificial duality based on the supposed struggle of mind over matter, the art of Qigong--and all the world's (esoteric) yogic doctrines and hermetic philosophies--start from the basic premise of mind and form. For example, cardinal principle of Tai Chi Qigong as expounded in the Tai Chi Classics is: "The mind moves the qi (energy) and the qi moves the body." This maxim is applicable to all forms of Qigong as well as Tai Chi Qigong. Adepts and masters of Qigong are able to move not only move their bodies naturally with Qi, but also can affect the quality of energy and regulate the mental and bodily functions of other people for the purpose of healing.

The Universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.
Mind no longer appears as an accidental intruder into the world of matter;
we are beginning to suspect that we ought rather to hail it as the creator and
governor of the world of matter."
-- Sir James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe, 1937

All Qigong systems thus begin and end with regulation of the mind's power ("Yi"), for it is the mind that can regulate the two other principal human modalities: bodily posture ("Xing," or shape), and the vital energy from breathing ("Qi"). For the intrinsic energy to flow unimpeded through the human body, certain natural postures must be relearned and perfected over a long course of training. Breathing must be regulated according to natural rhythms in order to muster and strengthen the chi flow. Most importantly, the mind must be quiet and calm and yet focussed, in order to perceive the subtle flows of internal energy, and to direct their movement.

Qigong and Spiritualism

Qigong is pre-eminent in training the mind, and its practitioners develop mental clarity and concentrative powers far beyond the norm. People lacking in concentration and the ability to focus have untrained minds, which the Chinese say are like "monkeys and wild horses--running everywhere." Qigong calms the mind through discipline, integrates it with the body, and thereby cleanses the nervous system so that erroneous thinking is reformed, obscuring passions are subdued, and common sense, ancestral memory, higher intelligence, and spiritual wisdom come into consciousness and pervade one's life. This heightened and deepened awareness--or supra-mundane consciousness--is a natural function of the integrated mind-body, which Qigong develops and refines. Universal consciousness can come gradually or instantly, depending upon the nature, karma, and spiritual attainment of the person, and enables one to realize--or rather, "remember"--the totality of oneself, which reaches profoundly far beyond the common idea of oneself as a skin-encapsulated ego (i.e., the misidentification of oneself with one's idea of oneself) to an ineffable state of being unified with the Universal Power, Creator, Godhead, the Tao, Supreme Being, Ultimate Reality--or whatever one chooses to call the Ever-Conscious.

Throughout thousands of years of practical spiritual exploration, yogic traditions in China such as Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism, as well as those great spiritual traditions in India, Tibet, Syria and Persia, learned that calmness (mental quiescence) and wisdom are like a lamp and its light. Along with its great health benefits, the deep, meditative practice of Qigong is a proven means of achieving essential calmness throughout one's total being, which in turn fosters both inner awareness and outer awareness, which ultimately activates man's intuitive genius and enables him to perceive the highest natural laws, the Universe's laws of form, which transcend the constructs of space and time. Qigong practice develops a structural sensitivity--an integrated mind-body-- that experiences one's Self as a conscious energy process continuous with all life, and this universal or cosmic consciousness perceives and discerns reality from the celestial to the cellular levels. This experience of continuity as at the heart of Chinese philosophy and culture. It awakens one to the fact that indeed, "No man is an island, entire of itself..." and enables man to realize his highest potential as a spiritual being within the material world by enabling him to experience union within form--or love. By learning and adhering to universal laws, which one Taoist named Lao Tzu codified in a text called the Tao Te Ching ("The Way and Its Power") one can attain true personal power and mastery over one's fate.

Take emptiness to the limit; Maintain tranquility in the center.
the ten thousand things-side-by-side they arise; And by this I see their return.
Things come forth in great numbers; each one returns to is root
This is called tranquility. "Tranquility"-this means to return to your fate.
To return to your fate is to be constant; To know the constant is to be wise.
Not to know the constant is to be reckless and wild;
If you're reckless and wild, your actions will lead to misfortune.
To Know the constant is to be all-embracing;
To be all-embracing is to be impartial;
To be impartial is to be kingly;
To be kingly is to be like Heaven;
To be like Heaven is to be one with the Tao.
If you are one with the Tao, to the end of your days you'll suffer no harm.
-- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching


∞ Symbolism of Taoist Immortal: The fruit of diligent Qigong training and life-long meditative works and is the unified mind-body-spirit, the fully actualized, creative totality of oneself, and is symbolized in Chinese culture as the "peach of immortality".

Bad Yoga in the Morning

March 17, 2007. At our regular 10:30 a.m. Tai Chi class, we took 90 minutes to complete three rounds of the Yang Style Long Form--two slow rounds during which we held postures in standing meditations and then one round done at fast speed with complete relaxation and and "melting" the 108-posture form into one movement. We finished the class with a qigong meditation from the Flying Phoenix system.

During our practice I noticed a yoga class sitting nearby where the practitioners pretty much talked for 90 minutes. The practitioners all looked young, fit, intelligent and at least superficially self-aware. But I could sense from my periodic glances from a distance that no yogic cultivation was going on the whole time, although they did sit in meditation for a few minutes at a time. This was confirmed when the yoga group disbanded after my class completed the second round of the Long Form and we moved over to our usual practice ground that they had been occupying. There was a palpable cloud of dis-eased energy over the grass which one of my students immediately absorbed and experienced as sharp pain within this body. Thus I took time to teach him and the rest of the class five yogic methods of dispelling foreign energy from the body ranging from purely mechanical to purely telepathic--without the use of reflective surfaces since we were out of doors. If the dis-eased group had been practicing any form of yoga correctly, tangible negative residue would not have been left in their locale. Thus I instructed the class to perform the third round of the Long Form at 3x normal speed in order to (1) safeguard the students so that they wouldn't absorb (through slow-moving meditation) the effluvium lingering over the grass and (2) to dissipate the effluvium and thoroughly exorcise the space.

I have great respect for all yogic traditions when they are well-practiced and effectively healing and empowering the participants--and all traditions have a karmic trajectory that moves forward and upward ratchet-like--i.e., with periodic minor set-backs and digressions. But what we witnessed was a self-indulgent talk-fest without any noticeable practice, which resulted in observable false pride, vain worship and mental masturbation that left the same (albeit weaker) psychic pollution as physical masturbation. I personally detested having to subject my students to cleaning up other beings' psychic ejaculation.

While I along with the rest of the community of Tai Chi instructors have extolled the virtues and benefits of all forms of yoga practice for decades (for I have rented space and given workshops in every yoga studio in Los Angeles since the mid-1980's), Saturday morning's experience has caused me to stand up against the popular tide and yell to my Indian yoga brethen, calling for a return to the strictest discipline in enforcing the highest of standards of instruction. With the MacDonalds-ization of yoga training in the United States over the past 15 years, where today yoga instructors are "certified" after as little as 18 months of training, I vote that yoga should roll up its faddish rubbery mat of commerce and revert back to being a totally esoteric art the way it was up until the 60's--open only to select initiates of authentic Indian spiritual traditions actively presided over by a bona fide guru/master of yoga, who has spent a life-time in training and actually has something to teach. While I pray that what we experienced Saturday morning was not indicative of how this country is practicing yoga, I'm afraid that it was a sign of the times. Because of its over-commercialization in the great American tradition, the quality of yoga instruction has degenerated through dilution and perversion to the point of being served up as weak cups of "tea" to go along with this or that new age teacher's "sympathy"--or worse, as we saw on Saturday.

To practice any form of Eastern yogic exercise without the supervision of a qualified master or guru makes one prone to many errors and pitfalls--and I quote from W.Y. Evan-Wentz's classic translation of "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines":

1) "Cessation of thought-processes may be mistaken for the quiescence of infinite mind, which is the true goal." 2) "Meditation without sufficient preparation is apt to lead to the error of losing oneself in the darkness of the unconsciousness." 3) "Sense perceptions [or phenomena] may be mistaken for revelations [or glimpses] of Reality. 4) "A mere glimpse of Reality may be mistaken for complete realization." 5) "Weakness of faith combined with strength of intellect are apt to lead to the error of talkativeness." 6) "Strength of faith combined with weakness of intellect are apt to lead to the error of narrow-minded dogmatism."

Similarly, Carlos Castaneda's teacher don Juan corrected him when he thought he was at a level of "not doing" when in fact he still had a life-time of "doing" still ahead of them.

Gasan once wrote:
"The poor student uses his teacher's influence. The average student admires his teacher's kindness. The good student grows strong under his/her teacher's guidance."

Tai Chi Master Cheng Man-Ching, the last disciple of Yang Cheng-fu, when asked what are the most important factors in mastering Tai Chi Chuan, answered: Of the three things--natural talent, hard work, and correct teaching--"correct teaching" is the most essential. Lack of natural talent can be made up for with hard work; but both hard work and natural talent without correct teaching, will gain a student absolutely nothing--even after a lifetime of practice."
--as related by Master Benjamin Lo

Without proper yogic instruction and without practical and adequate understanding of the (spiritual) Doctrine that is activated by the yoga, one is liable to appropriate the exoteric philosophies and religious trappings of the East in service of one's ego and fall into the error of religious self-conceit. Without correct yogic teachings there can be no proper yogic practice; and without proper yogic practice, all Eastern religions and philosophies stay exoteric, dormant and ineffectual, as the great scholar-yogin-initiate W.Y. Evans-Wentz reminded us:

"Simply to believe a religion to be true, and to give intellectual assent to its creed and dogmatic theology, and not to know it to be true through having tested it by the scientific methods of yoga, results in the blind leading the blind, as both the Buddha and the Great Syrian Sage have declared."

Thus I pray that the Yoga industry goes bankrupt so that the practice of Yoga can be taken out of the hands of the money-changers and put back into the temple, where it belongs, and everyone else goes back to aerobic forms of exercise, the "Thigh-Master" and Tae-Bo. For partaking in the commercial exploitation of a spiritual art (yoga) is not only a hindrance but also a regression on the path to spiritual liberation. I also hope that the so-called "New Age" phenomenon will finally disappear with all its loony, burlesque, indolent, and debauched forms of spiritual practice. Twenty-five years is enough.

"There is no such thing as the new consciousness. There is only the old one remembered." -- Swami Satchinanda

--And it takes devoted hard work--not talk--to remember it. --t.d.

All that moves well moves without will. All skilfulness, all strain, all intention is contrary to ease. Practice a thousand times, and it becomes difficult; a thousand thousand, and it becomes easy; a thousand thousand times a thousand thousand, and it is no longer Thou that doeth it, but It that doeth itself through thee. Not until then is that which is done well done.

-- Aleister Crowley