Extensive Health Benefits of Qigong

Qigong/chi kung health benefits are so many that qigong/chi kung has been made a part of the Chinese national health care system, and more and more, people from other parts of the world are also beginning to recognize the wisdom of practicing qigong/chi kung. The following are just some of the health benefits that qigong/chi kung has to offer:

• Practicing qigong/chi kung is an excellent way to keep fit. Sometimes you see martial artists and performers doing an intricate or difficult move and students think wow, that must be difficult. However, you can tailor qigong/chi kung to suit your physical abilities.

There are well over a thousand different qigong/chi kung styles ranging from standing, sitting or lying down meditation to very complex movements.

The dynamic qigong/chi kung, where movement is required, can also range from simple non-strenuous movements to long sets of very complex movements that may put you through a very thorough workout. The benefit is that you can choose the style that best suits your body and your needs.

Regardless of how fit or unfit you are, you don’t have to sweat or do a heavy workout to stay fit. With qigong/chi kung, you can still achieve many of its health benefits without a lot of physical activity. Just do only as much as you feel your body can accomplish, is what I usually tell my students.

• Practicing qigong/chi kung is also a good way to lose weight. Qigong/chi kung offers many health benefits in managing weight: not only is qigong/chi kung ideal for treating diabetes and other problems in obesity, but there are also many types of medical qigong/chi kung that are designed specifically for managing weight.

Because qigong/chi kung combines yogic breathing with exercise, it makes efficient use of oxygen for digestion and balancing the metabolism.(See Abdominal Breathing, Alternate Nostril Breathing and Other Breathing Techniques).

When my master was very young, he once studied under one martial arts master who practiced a secret qigong/chi kung martial art. He wasn’t fat but he would eat enough literally for ten people: every meal, he ate one barrel of meat and vegetables and another large cask of rice, then wash it all down with a barrel of soup!

I once knew a physician in western medicine who weighed over two hundred pounds. She was able to benefit from the healthy balanced diet that I recommended combined with regular practice of tai chi chuan.

By the following year, she had lost all the excess weight and maintained a very attractive figure. Not only did she appear in excellent health, but she said she never felt more energetic!

• It’s very relaxing. Studies conducted both in United States and China, as well as in other countries have shown qigong/chi kung to be an excellent stress buster.

Patients suffering from stress-related illnesses are among the first to benefit from long-term relief within weeks of practicing qigong/chi kung. In fact, most of my beginning students feel relaxed within minutes of practicing qigong/chi kung. Try the free lessons on this website to experience this benefit first-hand.

• Qigong heals both the practitioner and the person to whom the healing is directed. Ever heard of qigong energy healing? Many Chinese doctors and healers also practice qigong because of the health benefits of this gift of healing.

The higher levels of training enables the practitioner to transform their vital chi energy into healing energy to be used in treating all kinds of ailments, pain, and chronic conditions. Not only do the people being healed benefit, but even the healers benefit from the channeling as well!

• The greatest health benefits of qigong/chi kung are long-term health and longevity. Regular practice of qigong/chi kung will prevent and even cure allergies, asthma, migraines and headaches, arthritis, and a host of other ailments. It builds the immune system, prolongs life and prevents aging.

Research studies have shown qigong/chi kung to be especially helpful in the treatment of stress-related ailments, cancer, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis (MS), diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Other qigong/chi kung health benefits include treatment of respiratory ailments and longevity. My uncle contracted tuberculosis when he was young and was able to recover through regular practice of tai chi. When he was diagnosed with incurable Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the physicians gave him a maximum of five years to live.

My uncle lived for twelve more very active years, jogging every morning and practicing tai chi and qigong/chi kung meditation every day. When he died he was seventy-six years old, but looked no older than someone in his fifties.

I have known my master for more than thirty years, and though he has grown heavier in recent years, he has not aged at all in other respects!

Additional health benefits that I have personally witnessed through tai chi qigong are in the treatment of colitis, lupus, arthritis, HIV infection, chronic back pain, scoliosis, neuralgia, compromised immune system, obesity, stress, panic attacks, enlarged prostate, tendonitis, stress, deteriorating bone disease, bronchitis, and legal blindness.

• Speaking of legal blindness, better eyesight is another added health benefit: in qigong/chi kung there are eye exercises specifically designed to promote better vision.

As a child I suffered from a mild case of myopia (nearsightedness) and later had to wear glasses in order to drive.

While eyeglasses help you to see better, they are only a crutch and do not usually improve your eye health. In fact, most people have to switch to stronger and stronger prescription glasses over time. However, because I practice qigong/chi kung eye exercises, I have worn the same eyeglasses for over twenty years!

If you suffer from less than perfect vision or you wish to maintain perfect vision, you can take the free lessons that I offer on qigong/chi kung eye exercises.

If you suffer from nearsightedness or astigmatism there is another solution that is also relatively inexpensive and easy to treat. This method is called Orthoculogy therapy or Ortho C.

Both the eye exercises and Ortho C will enable you to see better almost immediately.

• Another health benefit of qigong/chi kung is that it builds invigorating energy. Practicing qigong/chi kung promotes mental alertness and provides physical energy that will last throughout the day. Some exercises are strenuous enough that they can build physical stamina and strength.

However, even the stationary qigong/chi kung that is primarily meditative will provide mental acuity and physical energy. The reason for this is the qigong/chi kung breathing techniques. Qigong/chi kung breathing makes such efficient use of oxygen and circulation of oxygen in the blood that the practitioner becomes invigorated with physical energy.

Since the brain consumes more than eighty percent of all the oxygen in the body, with efficient breathing techniques, it is little wonder that qigong/chi kung will promote mental alertness and mental health.(See Abdominal Breathing, Alternate Nostril Breathing and Other Breathing Techniques).

• It gives an overall sense of well-being. Most students report feeling comfortable and relaxed within minutes, but more importantly, they come away feeling good mentally and physically.
• Other health benefits include improved coordination and balance. With practice, you become more aware of what is happening to your body and you learn to adjust accordingly. You learn where your center of gravity is and coordination and balance invariably improve.

A former middle-aged student of mine had fallen out of a three-storey building when he was a baby. He survived, but his one leg was shorter than the other, he had to use a cane to help him walk, and he had to undergo regular physiotherapy.

But he experienced more health benefits in four months of qigong/chi kung than he did in his entire 54 years without. Within four months of practicing tai chi he not only could walk without his cane, but he was also able to balance on his one “bad” leg without any support.

• Qigong/chi kung builds confidence and self-esteem. It is almost inevitable that when you start reaping all the other health benefits, your confidence and self-esteem will go up.

When I was a young child, as the only two Asians in an all-white school in eastern Canada, my brother and I were discriminated by teachers and students alike and bullied every day. We were not allowed to speak Chinese even at home, not to mention in public places.

As pariahs in the community, we were constantly harassed, and both teachers and parents would turn a blind eye. My petite size also prompted bullies to take advantage, and my little brother and I would come home almost every day with bleeding noses and torn clothing. Classmates were even told by parents not to associate with the “yellow slant-eyed Chinks”.

When my parents complained, they were told by the bullies’ parents that we were second-class citizens and should look at the color of our skin before we dared to complain.

Can you imagine how that would affect the confidence and self-esteem of a young child?

Thankfully, society no longer condones such behavior, and there are now programs and legislation to discourage such occurrences. Thankfully too, tai chi qigong has given me the confidence I need to not only protect myself but to stand up for my rights and to forgive my childhood tormentors who I now know are victims themselves.

Whether you encounter bullying in school or in the workplace, or any other form of abuse, qigong can provide a measure of emotional and psychological sense of security and self-healing, as well as in the form of physical self-defense. Qigong teaches compassion and moral conduct. The self-defense aspects of qigong, such as tai chi chuan, builds discipline, confidence and self-esteem.

• Qigong/chi kung teaches pain management. Practicing qigong/chi kung and qigong/chi kung meditation helps not only to reduce pain to a manageable level but also teaches you how to cope with it.

My uncle suffered greatly from chemotherapy and I suggested that he practice qigong/chi kung meditation to reduce the pain. Even painkillers could not eliminate the pain he suffered from his cancer, but qigong/chi kung meditation allowed him to remove himself from the pain he was suffering even in his greatly weakened state of health.

• Yet another health benefit is that it balances right- and left-hemispheric brain activity. Because qigong/chi kung movements require coordination of physical activity between left and right limbs, regular practice helps to balance right- and left-brain activity.

Studies have shown that simple meditation will also help to balance brain activity. Since qigong/chi kung is also a meditation exercise, practitioners reap mental health benefits on both levels.

There are probably many other health benefits that I have neglected to mention and I have no doubt, my students can think of many more to fill additional pages. However, just these alone should convince anyone the good that qigong/chi kung can do.