What Is Qigong?

Does anyone know of any good articles on qigong?

What Is Qigong?
Qigong (Simplified Chinese: 气功; Traditional Chinese: 氣功; pinyin: qìgōng; Wade-Giles: ch'i4 kung1; Thai: ชี่กง) or "Energy-Cultivation", is an aspect of Chinese medicine involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. Qigong is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it as a therapeutic intervention. Various forms of traditional qigong are also widely taught in conjunction with Chinese martial arts, and are especially prevalent in the advanced training of what are known as the Neijia (Chinese: 內家; pinyin: nèi jīa; Wade-Giles: nei4 chia1), or internal martial arts.





There are currently more than 3,300 different styles and schools of qigong.[citation needed] Qigong relies on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has an energy field generated and maintained by the natural respiration of the body, known as qi (this is analogous to Prana and Pranayama in Yoga). Qi means breath or gas in Mandarin Chinese, and, by extension, the energy produced by breathing that keeps us alive; gong means work or technique. Qigong is then "breath work" or the art of managing the breath to achieve and maintain good health, and especially in the martial arts, to enhance the energy mobilization and stamina of the body in coordination with the physical process of respiration.





Attitudes toward the basis of qigong vary markedly. Most Western medical practitioners, many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the Chinese government view qigong as a set of breathing and movement exercises, with possible benefits to health through stress reduction and exercise. Others see qigong in more metaphysical terms, claiming that breathing and movement exercises can influence the fundamental forces of the universe.
Reply:The short answer is:





Qigong, or Chi Kung focuses on the body's energy. There are basically two types of Qigong; hard and soft. Soft style Qigong deals with channeling the body's energy for healing purposes. Hard style Qigong uses the energy for combat. Westerners call it Iron Hand or Iron Body. Iron Hand focuses the body's energy in the fist to help deliver a powerful blow. Iron Body focuses the body's energy at a specific point so that it can't be harmed by a strike. These techniques require extreme concentration and while soft style Qigong can be used to prolong life, using hard style Qigong can actually shorten your life because the amount of energy used is difficult to recover.





Good luck!
Reply:I recommend a book, "The Healing Power of Qi" by Roger Jahnke.


It summarizes all the good info one (beginner) needs to know about Qigong.


Then, one can go on, as qigong is a never ended discipline.


A Master is better then any article or book, and the practice does the magic.
Reply:Go to the link within this website WW_WCKF, and look under documents there are good articles on this subject.








http://www.pacificwingchunassociation.co...
Reply:Qi Gong (meaning energy cultivation) is a discipline that is associated with the Internal Martial Arts studies, it has most of it's association with Tai Chi Chuan, it's mostly used as a health maintanence or prevention exercise.





it uses the natural respiration of the body, known as qi (this is analogous to Prana and Pranayama in Yoga). Qi means "breath" or "gas" in Mandarin Chinese, and, by extension, the energy produced by breathing that keeps us alive; gong means work or technique. Qigong thereby means "breath work" or the art of managing the breath to achieve and maintain good health, and especially in the martial arts, to enhance the energy mobilization and stamina of the body in coordination with the physical process of respiration.





The Chinese has used it as part of their alternative medicines practices since the late 1980's since it has some stress reduction capabilities.





Qigong helps practitioners to learn Diaphragmatic breathing, an important component of the relaxation response, which is important in combatting stress.





Taijiquan (or better known as Tai Chi), is a martial art based on the principles of internal qigong, and it appears to be a potent intervention to prevent falls in elders, maintain joint mobility, and improve balance, which is why you see many elderly people practicing Tai Chi though it can be a very effective Martial Art as a Self Defense component as well.





I've read a few articles about it some library books during some studies into the "internal" practices of Martial Arts, but I've also seen some articles in Black Belt magazine, but unfortunately I can't remember the exact issues (lost many of the issues I had in my last move to my apartment) they may still have some in their articles section on their website: blackbeltmag.com





you may be able to find what you're looking for there.