Your questions answered

Qigong is a form of moving meditation that originates in China and has developed over millennia in order to address a broad range of needs.

There are a vast number of Qigong schools, each using the practice for the benefits that are appropriate for the school. These benefits fall broadly into the categories of Martial, Medical and Spiritual and most schools will be a mixture of these three main areas.

Qigong is a blanket term for a wide range of practices that include the practice of Taiji.

Taiji, or Tài jí quán to give it it’s full name in pinyin, translates approximately to “grand ultimate boxing” and points clearly to the origins of this practice as one of the three main internal martial arts of China (the others being Xíng yì quán and Bā guà zhǎng). In the modern western setting, Taiji can often be presented as a health and wellbeing practice, but the underlying principles and practices have been designed more for the martial application.

Qigong on the other hand is a broad term for a wide range of practices that have been specifically designed for Martial, Medical and Spiritual benefits. Each style of qigong will combine these three aspects in different proportions and, as a result, draw from a broader range of underlying principles based in the practices origins in Chinese Medicine and Chinese philosophies such as Daoism and Buddhism.

Within the practice of Qigong we perceive the invisible force known as qi travelling through the body and mind. Our life experience will mean that some parts of the body and mind may not allow qi to pass through easily while other sections may be very open and result in qi moving through too quickly. This results in excesses and deficiencies of qi in different aspects of the body and mind.

A qi reaction occurs when we change the flow of qi within the body, and there is a knock on effect. If you can imagine a river that has been blocked and there is a lot of water being held back, when you release the blockage, the excess water will tend to rush through and cause a degree of disruption until the new balance is achieved. This is one way to view a qi reaction.

While qi reactions can occur on a physical, mental or emotional level, they are a process of rebalancing which will pass. Working with a skilled teacher will ensure that you are well supported should you experience a challenging reaction, and the teacher will also understand how to create a suitable practice space for the individuals and the scenarios that you are in (i.e. Within an regular class, the practice should be done in a way that allows for small, manageable reactions to occur, while workshop and retreat scenarios allow for more significant change to occur in a more supportive environment).

Qigong and Yoga may well be far more closely linked than we think. Looking back at the earliest recorded forms of both practices seems to show that the early Daoyin forms that form the foundation of modern day Qigong and very similar to the earliest recorded versions of Yoga, but they predate them by around 400 years. This is not to say that Yoga has its roots in China, it’s more about there being a common origin and the question of who was first is broadly irrelevant.

From their origins, the development of the two systems have been through very different cultures and addressed different needs at different times resulting in apparently different systems.

In there modern format, Yoga tends to be a more demanding physical practice than Qigong, and Qigong tends to offer a greater sense of flow.

Yes!

The ability for the practice to be adapted for standing or seated postures makes Qigong very adaptable, but beyond this, we can utilise a range of other approaches that draw on the breath to direct qi making it possible to practice without obvious movement.

Having said that, the nature of some practices will be more suitable for those with a good range of movement or an established meditation practice, so you should aways talk to the instructor if you have any questions in this regard.

There are a plethora of styles of Qigong and while the majority of them will draw from the same source, there are some styles that have different underlying principles and may appear to be contradictory.

While the styles of Qigong that we are able to directly support through the Qigong Academy are representative of the teachers who we are currently working with, each one of our key teachers will have dedicated themselves to their chosen style.

While we don’t agree with the idea of there being an “ultimate” or “best” form of Qigong, we do acknowledge that the perfect form of Qigong probably already exists for each of us at any given time.

A final thought on this: it’s easier to go on a journey with one bicycle… If you are practicing multiple systems simultaneously, they can hold each other back. It’s better to spend time with a single system while remaining aware of other your options: there is nothing to stop you moving to a more suitable system of Qigong if one turns up.