Chi gong, also spelled “qigong” or “chi kung,” means “energy cultivation.” David Sollars, licensed acupuncturist and author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Acupuncture and Acupressure,” states that the meditation and slow-moving exercises of chi gong are designed to gradually open up your body’s meridians, the internal channels along which chi naturally flows. Over your lifetime, stress and injury cause blocks along these pathways. Practitioners of chi gong claim that it can help improve overall health by creating the conditions for healing to occur. The effectiveness of chi gong depends on your frame of mind and what’s going on inside your body as you practice. In order to learn chi gong, you need to find a teacher who can watch to make sure you’re doing it correctly.
How to Learn Qi Gong
Step 1
Inform your doctor that you are interested in studying chi gong. As David Sollars notes in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Acupuncture and Acupressure,” doing chi gong can change your dosage requirements for some medications, including insulin and meds for high blood pressure.
Step 2
Use a computer with an internet connection to do a search for “chi gong classes” plus the name of the nearest town or city. Remember to try all the various spellings of “chi gong.” If “chi gong” yields no results, use “chi kung” or “qigong.”
Step 3
Watch your local parks for people practicing chi gong. Chi gong looks like tai chi, but practitioners tend to remain on one spot. Most practitioners are willing to talk about where they study.
Step 4
Attend as many different classes as you can to observe the teaching style. Any good instructor will be happy to allow you to sit in and ask questions before you decide to join. Chi gong practice involves your whole self, so you need a teacher with a communication style that works for you.
Step 5
Begin attending classes. When you first start learning chi gong, you’ll be more focused on moving your hands and feet in the correct ways. Try to do the different movements to the best of your ability.
Step 6
Focus on the instructions your teacher offers about what to do with your mind and your insides. Although correct movement of the body is important, the essence of chi gong lies in relaxing and focusing the mind and thoroughly relaxing the body.
Step 7
Practice regularly. According to the website A World of Chinese Medicine’s article about chi gong, it takes three to six months of regular practice before you will reliably experience the clarity and sense of peace that arises from chi gong practice.
Tips and Warnings
- Setting aside a specific time—or times—every day to do chi gong will accelerate your results. Peggy La Cerra, director of the Center for Evolutionary Neuroscience, writes in an online article for Spirituality & Health Magazine that meditation practices such as chi gong can literally change your mind for the better. By laying down new memories of peace and calm in the outermost layers of the brain, such practices eventually improve your sense of self. The higher the frequency of your practice, the more quickly and profoundly the transformation occurs.
- While chi gong can appear to be extremely simple, many people experience dizziness, nausea and emotional upset as they deepen their practice. Ask your instructor to help you adjust your technique and make sure you aren’t hurting yourself. Never tighten your muscles or clench inside when doing chi gong. Energy does not flow through tense muscles.
Things You'll Need
- Computer with an internet connection
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