Is Qigong Right For Me?

Is Qigong Right For Me?

If you have been wondering is Qigong right for me? Let’s consider a few things to help you answer this question for yourself.  First question is: “What are your goals?”  People who are interested in Qigong fall into two broad categories.  The first category is people who are ill, or experiencing pain and wish to heal themselves and relieve their pain.  The second category of people interested in Qigong are looking for an enhancement or improvement in their abilities, or state of being. but who are not actually sick, or in pain.  People in this category include athletes or executives interested in more energy or focus, energy healers such as Reiki practitioners, or alternative therapy healers, and spiritual seekers using Qigong increase their spiritual energy and enter into altered states of consciousness.  In this article I am going to focus primarily on those people who are in the first category and looking for healing, and pain relief, from their Qigong practice.  We’ll look at those seeking an energetic enhancement to their lives in future posts.

Here are several examples of where it may, or may not, be beneficial to use Qigong to improve your health condition and relieve pain.

Treating Stressed Out and Tensed Up With Qigong

In today’s fast paced and high pressure world people are often really stressed out.  Sometimes they are filled with muscular tension because of their anxiety.  Almost all forms of Qigong are helpful for reducing stress and learning how to relax your body.  Slow movements and deep breathing help to relax your mind. Shifting our attention from our thoughts and emotions to the physical experience of our body and breathing helps our mind to calm down. If your mind relaxes then you can relax your body as well.  If your mind is tense you’ll find it very difficult to relax physically.  Sometimes we tense our bodies in response to things happening around us. But when the tension causing situation has passed we forget to relax.  Sometimes after a difficult life passage we might carry tension fo ryears without realizing it. Qigong can definitely help with this.

Treating High Blood Pressure With Qigong

High Blood pressure is often linked to stress and tension.  many types of Qigong specifically focus on blood circulation with gentle movements.  By focusing on improving posture, moving gently, breathing deeply you can reduce your blood pressure.

Treating Conditions Relating to Inflammation With Qigong

Deep breathing and thorough blood circulation are effective in balancing the body and releasing toxins helping to reduce inflammation.  Sitting and Standing Qigong can very effective, especially with good fresh air that is not too hot.

Treating Poor Blood Circulation or Blood Stagnation With Qigong

Almost all types of moving Qigong are highly effective in improving blood circulation and reducing stagnation.  Stagnation often causes people to fear the very movement that is its cure.  People prone stagnant blood are often reluctant to move.  They aren’t sure if moving is even a good idea.  This is the trap of stagnation and it can be difficult to break this cycle.  Qigong often appeals to people in this state because they want to do the minimum amount of movement possible to deal with their problems.  People with stagnant blood are often in very poor health too.  Perhaps they have not exercised or moved much for many years.  So they need to be careful when they begin exercising so they do not injure themselves.  however, it is imperative that they do move.  Qigong can definitely help with stagnant syndromes and people should try to do the most vigorous type of Qigong they can. The Yijinjing or Ba Gua Zhang Core Drills are perfect for these situations.  Walking is a perfect complimentary exercise. The traditional Chinese medical technique of cupping can also be very effective in moving stagnant blood.  Sitting or stationary standing Qigong is not advised, get up and move is the key here.

Treating Spinal Problems and with Qigong

Spinal problems respond well to moving and standing Qigong. But sitting methods are not advised. Acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic can be very helpful.  Find a chiropractor: Qigong and Tai Chi can replace these treatment modalities but if you are in pain and just starting your healing, they can really help you. But in the long run, Qigong will provide a greater benefit.

Treating Weakness or Chronic Fatigue and with Qigong

Weakness or chronic fatigue respond very well to gentle moving methods and Tai Chi or Qigong. Practice in small increments such as 15 or 20 minutes, and practice several times a day. Consult a nutrition specialist, or at least the manager of the local vitamin store, and try Chinese herbs. Seated methods can also help a lot if you have trouble standing, or simply do the arm movements from moving Qigong while seated.

If you have a very serious illness, I recommend that you find a really good spot, one that you can reasonably get to. Practice every day, several times a day, and change your lifestyle. I would also recommend changing your diet, taking supplements, and watching a lot of funny movies. Humor—along with Qigong—can be the best healing agent.

Treating Achy Joints and Arthritis with Qigong

Qigong can be incredibly effective for relieving the pain of aching joints.  This is often one of the first benefits people experience.  Gentle Qigong movements help you relax and move harmoniously.  Increasing the blood flow to your joints and breaking up stagnation and scar tissue often relieves joint problems in only a few weeks. The inflammation of arthritis can often be greatly reduced as well.

Treating Restricted Ranges of Motion caused by Traumatic Injuries with Qigong

Qigong, especially the most vigorous type such as the Yijinjing or Ba Gua Core drills can help you break through scar tissue and improve your ranges of motion.  Stationary standing or seated Qigong methods don’t hurt but they might not help much.

Treating Degeneration of the Joints, Especially the Hip Joint with Qigong

In some cases you might be able to really heal your joints with Qigong.  Sometimes peoples joints are being worn down because of combination of bad posture, poor nutrition, poor circulation and lack of exercise.  These conditions do respond to Qigong if you have a teacher who is skillful in fine tuning your posture and alignment and you are willing to improve your nutrition and life style. If your hip condition is genetic, you probably are not going to fix it, no matter what you do.  However, a good Qigong practice might be able to relieve much of your pain, or slow down the process significantly.  See my notes below on when Western Medicine doesn’t work.

Treating Liver Disease with Qigong

I have seen people make significant progress on liver disease.  There are some Qigong methods specifically designed to help the Liver that seem to work remarkably well.  However, if your liver condition is caused by constantly drinking strong liquor you’ll need to change your habit to survive.  In Chinese medicine, there is well established relationship between Liver and Anger.  Liver imbalance or disease can cause people to have a hard time controlling their anger.  More often we might think that constantly being angry, expressing your anger or suppressing it might be the cause of the liver issues.  In these cases learn to manage your anger and resolve the sources of conflict in your life you judge to be causing your anger will be necessary. See my notes below on when Western Medicine doesn’t work.

Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s

I have taught a number of people with MS.  Gosh, its an awful disease.  Qigong is not going to cure it.  But Qigong can really slow it down and perhaps nearly halt its progression.  From my experience it is well worth investing the time if you MS.  Parkinson’s patients seem to get quite a bit fo relief or aid.  Can Qigong cure Parkinson’s? I don’t know.  But it does seem to help. See my notes below on when Western Medicine doesn’t work.

Achieving Balance with Qigong

Because Qigong can help you balance the function of your body, you can argue that Qigong will help any medical condition regardless of severity.  Certainly, if your organs are imbalanced and you use Qigong to improve the function and mutual support of the organs and endocrine system you can have some miraculous healing results.  As a practical matter, this is much easier to say, than to do.

Qigong is strongest as a preventative exercise method.  The effectiveness of Qigong as a treatment method decreases in proportion to how acute, or urgent your condition is.  Qigong is more of a tortoise healing method, it is effective, but it is slow.  Western medicine is much better at treating acute, emergency, and life threatening illnesses.  In my experience, of practicing Qigong to heal myself, and teaching to many people for decades, I have seen some great results. However, I have also come to the conclusion, based on experience, that the following conditions do not respond well to Qigong.

If you’re crazy and you know it!

Mental illness or emotional problems do not respond well to Qigong. Qigong adds energy, and if you have an unstable system this can be problematic. It could actually make things worse. Adding energy just makes it spin out of control faster. Instead of Qigong, find a very experienced herbalist, take herbs every week, and don’t stop. Find a fun way to sweat a couple of times a week regularly. Take aerobics, swimming, or dancing. Exercise is great for emotional balance. Also, practice smiling! Watch a lot of funny movies and enjoy a good laugh. And please try not annoy everyone else in your life!

Overweight

Qigong can be great for people who have not been very active and need to start exercise slowly and carefully so they don’t hurt themselves.  But, realistically, you don’t burn that many calories during Qigong.  If you are very overweight, you will need to change the amount and quality of food you eat to loose weight.  Tai Chi and Qigong will help you build muscle. Building muscle helps you loose weight because muscles burn more calories all day long than fat which can help.  However, other exercise method might help you build muscle faster. But if you are the quart of ice cream at a time person, Qigong won’t be enough.  You’ll need to practice something like Northern Shaolin that burns massive amounts of calories! And maybe downshift to a pint of ice cream at a time.

Treating HIV and serious immune deficiency illnesses with Qigong

If you have HIV, or other serious immune deficiency diseases, you should view Qigong as an adjunct, or supplementary, treatment only.  Qigong might help you, but, I would not bet your life on it.  Your best chance is to rely on western modalities, and use Qigong for additional benefits, but not as a primary method. Herbs and acupuncture can help, but I have seen skillful, veteran acupuncturists cry in frustration watching their patients die of HIV, or AIDS. Fortunately there has been great progress in treatment methods!

Treating Cancer with Qigong

I would love to think you can cure your cancer with Qigong, and perhaps their are types it can really help with.  However, again Iwould say your best chances are with western medicine supplemented by Acupuncture, herbs and Qigong.  The best approach is to practice your Qigong faithfully everyday, and perhaps your body will prevent, or overcome, the cancer while it is tiny, preventing the cancer from become larger, malignant, and life threatening.

If Western Medicine Isn’t Working

If Western medicine simply isn’t working, then Qigong might save your life.  But, to use Qigong to save your life under these circumstances you need to do Qigong like your life depends on it.  This means your life focuses around your Qigong practice.  You plan each day around when, where and how you will practice.  You’ll want to find the most ideal location you can and focus on really doing Qigong to the best of your ability.  A few minutes a day of half hearted practice won’t cut it.  You’ll need to become a master of Qigong to cure yourself.

I once heard a master acupuncturist Jeffrey Yuen say “There are no illness that cannot be treated, only patients that can’t be treated.”  He cited an example of a patient that came to him with a serious cancer condition who was expected to die in the near term.  15 years later he was still alive.  He still had the cancer, it was much smaller, and he was still in treatment.  And yes he did follow, faithfully, every single instruction Dr. Yuen gave him like the voice of God was speaking….

Learn to Catch Your Own Fish!

I teach Qigong Classes in Berkeley, and San Rafael. I also teach private lessons.  I like to teach people to catch their own fish, not sell fish.  Hopefully, we can fine tune your daily personal practice into a profound healing method that transforms your life.

 

 

 

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