The Healing Effects of Qigong

Why do we study and practice Qigong?  The standard answers are that qigong strengthens our immune system, helps develop internal energy (qi) for martial arts and generally improves our health and stamina.

In 1981 I started studying with professor Peng Si Yu, who came to the United States from Shanghai, China. A full professor oat the University of Shanghai’s medical school, Yu was also renown throughout china as a great qigong teacher. He came to the United States as a participant in a research project at Stanford University, where students wanted to study his remarkable ability to project his qi (chi) energy over a distance, affecting other people without touching them. As I became a close student of professor Yu and his wife, Min Ou-Yang, I discovered that he was diabetic and had controlled his illness throughout his 80-plus years with proper diet and qigong practice alone. Unfortunately, in 1983 professor Yu died from complications from a blood clot within his brain, not diagnosed by our Western doctors, who thought that, with the heart and circulatory system of a 25-year-old, he had only an inner ear infection.

I continued my studies with his wife, who after 60 years of marriage to professor Yu, was almost the level of her famous husband.  Peng Si Yu’s qigong style was yiquan, sometimes known as daquan, qigong It was originally a form of xingyu (hsing-I), developed by his own teacher, Wang, Xian Zhai. Wang who was one of the most famous qigong master in China’s recent history, lived for a time with his top student in Shanghai – professor Yu.

Professor Yu combined the extensive information about yiquan, learned from Wang, with his own medical background and broadened yiquan into a healing qigong, as awell as a potent martial arts complement, He is directly responsible for teaching many of the doctors at the Shanghai Qigong Hospital.

There are two facets of yiquan qigong, One is the standing medication (zhang zhuan) and the other is the many qigong exercises that characterize yiquan. Standing meditation is the backbone of yiquan practice. It teaches you to relax your mind and muscles, allowing qi energy to flow uninhibited throughout your body. It also develops deep, even breathing patterns, letting more oxygen reach all parts of the body.

Peng Si Yu compared qi energy to being very close to the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. That’s why breathing patterns play an important role. However, that extra oxygen can go nowhere if your muscles are tense and prohibit smooth, even blood flow. Simply put, standing mediation develops more qi energy and promotes better health by removing qi blockages and poor circulation caused by stressed and tensed muscles.

Qigong exercises have a different purpose. They are designed to teach students how to move all of this qi anywhere they want in their bodies. For instance, knowing how to collect and move your qi into your hands and out through your fingertips may be very useful for healing someone else’s illness or injury. Knowing how to move it into the lumbar region of your own back can help heal low back illness, such as arthritis or disk problems. You can also facilitate quicker healing of connective tissue injuries, such as strained or sprained muscles, with qigong healing practices.

Combine the two with a balanced regimen of standing meditation and qigong exercises, and you have the recipe for a healthy life.

Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong is a columnist for Inside Kung Fu.