In the August 2007 release of this website, I wrote the first part of a two-part series on \u201cThe Essence of Taijiquan.\u201d\u00a0 That Part 1 article described the \u201cPerspective from Taiji Push Hands.\u201d\u00a0 Part 2 in this release describes the \u201cPerspective from Taiji Qigong.\u201d \u00a0This article will briefly address the following three questions:\u00a0<\/p>\n
This discussion is based on material from several books:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What is Qi?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that there is yet a definitive scientific answer to this question.\u00a0 However, just because we may not yet have a detailed scientific definition of Qi that is universally accepted by scientists, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that Qi doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, to the many people in this world who practice Qigong on a regular basis, Qi is as real to them as their breath, their heartbeat, their conscious mind.\u00a0 They can feel the Qi in their body.\u00a0 They can guide the Qi to circulate to different parts of their body.\u00a0 They can feel sensations in their body, e.g., tingling sensations in their fingers, when they are practicing Qigong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Qi is often defined as an energy, some sort of bioelectrical energy, that exists inside the human body, although many qigong experts may consider that kind of definition to be too simplistic.\u00a0 Furthermore, the effects of Qi is not limited to just inside the body; it can be felt outside of the human body.\u00a0 For example, the strength of the electromagnetic field around the hands of an expert Qigong practitioner could be substantially larger than that of an average person.\u00a0 To some extent, all people have Qi in their body, but the amount may be small, not noticeable, and stagnant.\u00a0 Through appropriate practice, one can increase the amount of Qi in their body and increase the circulation of Qi within their body.\u00a0 It is important to increase the Qi in the body, because Qi is considered to be the essence or vital force of life.\u00a0 However, Qi must also be balanced in the body.\u00a0 There should not be an excessive amount of Qi in one part of the body, while at the same time there is a deficiency of Qi in another part of the body.\u00a0 That is why the ability to circulate Qi is so important; it is the mechanism that can keep a proper Yin-Yang balance of Qi.\u00a0 In modern physiological terminology, balancing the Qi is equivalent to attaining homeostasis.\u00a0 Liang and Wu in the third reference refers the term \u201cgong\u201d to the power to produce an effect, an attainment of, or an accomplishment that is achieved with steady practice.\u00a0 The term \u201cQigong\u201d then can be defined as the practice that increases the Qi and its circulation within the body.<\/p>\n
Before discussing the relationship of Qigong and Taiji, I first digress to discuss some basic concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), because Qi and especially the imbalance of Qi is so intrinsic to TCM.\u00a0 TCM believes that the development of illness is due to the upsetting of the natural balance (or Yin and Yang) of Qi inside the human body from pathogenic influences, such as germs.\u00a0 To treat any illness, one needs to eliminate the pathogenic influences.\u00a0 Both increasing the Qi in the body and balancing the Qi in the body will help to fight against the pathogenic influences.\u00a0 The Qi imbalance may be occurring in non-adjacent parts of the body.\u00a0 TCM stresses that to heal, one should look for the cause of the illness, and one should not treat only the head if the head hurts, or treat only the foot if the foot hurts.<\/p>\n
A natural question one may ask is \u201cdoesn\u2019t continuously increasing Qi in the body lead to any harmful effects to the body?\u201d\u00a0 The answer is no, as long as the Qi is increased in a balanced way.\u00a0 The body can react to the increase in Qi and build itself up so that it can accept the new increase in Qi.\u00a0 An analogy may help to understand this issue.\u00a0 Through exercising with weights, a person can build up his muscles.\u00a0 If the exercises are done properly, the person\u2019s strength in various parts of his body is also increased, thus allowing him to accommodate the increase in weight due to the new muscle mass.\u00a0 As long as he is not increasing his body mass in a major way in only one part of his body, the exercising not only has no harmful effects, but actually makes him healthier.\u00a0 Similarly, increasing the body\u2019s Qi in a balanced way through Qigong exercises results in a healthier body without any harmful effects. \u00a0<\/p>\n
What is the relationship between Qigong and Taiji?\u00a0 Many of the concepts that are important for Qigong are also important for Taiji.\u00a0 For example, many Qigong exercises are done very slowly while undergoing slow and deep breathing, which is also the case for doing Taiji.\u00a0 The slow movement also allows the body to be in a relaxed state, again also the case for Taiji.\u00a0 In Qigong exercises, the mind is supposed to be freed of scattered thoughts, and the mind should focus on the activities at hand, e.g., the body movements and the breathing.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, the mind is supposed to lead (or regulate) both the body movements and breathing, again exactly the case for Taiji.\u00a0 It is important to point out that in both Qigong and Taiji, in an advanced stage, the regulation of the body movements and breathing should become automatic, and the mind is no longer required to do the regulation.\u00a0 Because of the many similarities between Qigong and Taiji, many of the exercises for Qigong and Taiji are similar.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, Taiji Qigong is one of the most popular types of Qigong, although there are many other types of Qigong.<\/p>\n
Qigong plays a key role in Taiji\u2019s two main objectives:\u00a0 To improve health and for self defense as a martial art.\u00a0 We have already explained that the ability to increase Qi and to circulate Qi is key to good health.\u00a0 How does Qigong help Taiji to achieve its second objective as a good martial art?\u00a0 Basically, Qigong can increase the martial artist\u2019s striking power and to train the martial artist\u2019s body to better resist punches and kicks.\u00a0 The theory behind increasing striking power is actually very simple.\u00a0 Dr. Yang in the first reference wrote \u201cthe average person generally uses his muscles at under 40% maximum efficiency.\u201d\u00a0 The martial artist can use the mind to lead the Qi to the muscles to energize them to a higher level, thus increasing the martial artist\u2019s fighting effectiveness.\u00a0 Similarly, leading Qi to the skin and muscles can enable them to better resist a blow without injury.\u00a0 This is clearly demonstrated in those martial arts exhibitions when a martial artist can resist a pointed spear pointed to a spot below his throat (the esophagus area).\u00a0 As a matter of fact, the martial artist not only can avoid the puncture of that area of the body, but can actually bend the spear.<\/p>\n
Associated with acupuncture, we know that the body has many vital acupuncture cavities.\u00a0 An acupuncturist uses needles inserted into these acupuncture cavities to remove Qi blockages or regulate the flow of Qi.\u00a0 Conversely, a martial artist can exert pointed pressure on these acupuncture cavities to disturb the enemy\u2019s Qi flow and create Qi imbalances that can cause injury or even death.\u00a0 However, this requires very sophisticated techniques involving understanding the route and timing of the Qi circulation in the human body and the ability to strike the cavities accurately and to the correct depth.<\/p>\n
At an advanced level, almost all Chinese martial arts involve Qigong training.\u00a0 Chinese martial arts are loosely classified into two different general categories:\u00a0 External martial arts such as Shaolinquan, and internal martial arts such as Taijiquan.\u00a0 Sometimes people think that only internal martial arts involve Qigong training, which is not true.\u00a0 Both types involve Qigong training, although there is a difference in emphasis.\u00a0 External martial arts focus on building Qi directly in the limbs and then move the Qi from the limbs to the body.\u00a0 Internal martial arts focus on building Qi in the body (where the vital organs are) and then lead the Qi from the body to the limbs.\u00a0 In TCM, the human body has 12 major Qi channels (like rivers) through which the Qi circulates, and has eight vessels (like reservoirs) which store the Qi and also regulate the distribution and circulation of Qi in the body.\u00a0 External martial arts focus on the Qi channels, and internal martial arts focus on the Qi vessels.<\/p>\n
I now briefly discuss some general principles and steps in doing Taiji Qigong exercises.\u00a0 This article does not discuss specific Qigong exercises.\u00a0 If interested in that topic, the reader can consult any of the four references.\u00a0 The first step is to regulate your body.\u00a0 Your body should be completely relaxed.\u00a0 If you feel certain tension in a particular part of your body, then focus on and relax that body part.\u00a0 Your body should be centered and well supported.\u00a0 You should not be leaning forward or backward, or to one side or another, so that the weight of your body is firmly supported by your legs.\u00a0 Keeping the upper body straight also allows the Qi to flow more easily between the upper part and lower part of the body.\u00a0 That is why in Taiji, we always emphasize that your upper body should be straight, as though there is a string attached to the top of your head and tied straight up to the ceiling.\u00a0 Since the power of any strike originates from the feet (although may be controlled by the waist and manifested in the hands), a body centered also means that the feet (either both or at least one) are firmly rooted on the ground, thus allowing you to generate more power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next step is to regulate your breathing, using abdominal breathing instead of the usual breathing method of using your chest muscles to expand and contract your lungs.\u00a0 Abdominal breathing uses your abdomen and diaphragm muscles to help expand and contract your lungs, and is crucial to Qi circulation.\u00a0 Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, you may use Normal Abdominal Breathing or Reverse Abdominal Breathing.\u00a0 For more description of the different types of breathing in Taiji, see my article “Breathing and Taijiquan”<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next step is to regulate your mind, i.e., use your mind to lead your body movements and your breathing.\u00a0 You need to be consciously knowing what and why you are doing.\u00a0 As previously mentioned, when you get to an advanced level, the regulation of your body and breathing becomes automatic, and you no longer need to use your mind to do that regulation.<\/p>\n The next step is to regulate your Qi, again with the mind leading the regulation.\u00a0 You want to circulate the Qi to different parts of your body, including to the skin, to the bone marrow (where blood cells are formed), and especially to your brain.\u00a0 If you have certain discomforts in a particular part of your body, then you especially want to circulate the Qi to that part of your body.<\/p>\n There are other more advanced steps to Qigong, but that kind of discussion is beyond the scope of this introductory article.<\/p>\n I like to end this article with a personal observation.\u00a0 I find it very difficult to understand large portions of every book that I have read on Qigong.\u00a0 This is of course due partially to my lack of expertise in Qigong.\u00a0 But I think it is deeper than that.\u00a0 It seems to me that in trying to explain Qigong, modern writers still often have a tendency to use terminologies and descriptions exactly as they were written or explained hundreds and sometimes even thousands of years ago.\u00a0 I understand that there are a lot of wisdom and truths from the old sages.\u00a0 They were the ones who invented and developed these skills, and we have a great deal to learn from what they wrote or said.\u00a0 However, I often feel that I am in a situation as though someone is trying to explain chemistry to me using pre-Periodic Table terminologies and descriptions, or explain astrophysics to me using pre-Copernicus\/Newton terminologies and descriptions.\u00a0 If anyone knows of any Qigong books that do not have this problem, I would appreciate knowing about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the August 2007 release of this website, I wrote the first part of a two-part series on \u201cThe Essence of Taijiquan.\u201d\u00a0 That Part 1 article described the \u201cPerspective from Taiji Push Hands.\u201d\u00a0 Part 2 in this release describes the \u201cPerspective from Taiji Qigong.\u201d \u00a0This article will briefly address the following three questions:\u00a0 What is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}