Ask the awkward ones

Qi Gong is a form of moving meditation that originates in China and has developed over millennia to address a broad range of needs. There are a vast number of schools, each using the practice for the benefits appropriate to that school — broadly martial, medical and spiritual, and most schools are a mixture of all three.

Qi Gong is a blanket term for a wide range of practices, and Taiji is one of them. Taiji points clearly to its origins as one of the three main internal martial arts of China; in a modern Western setting it is often presented as a health practice, but its underlying principles were designed for martial application.

Imagine a river that has been blocked, with a lot of water held back. Release the blockage and the excess rushes through, causing some disruption until a new balance is reached. A qi reaction works the same way — physical, mental or emotional, and always a process of rebalancing that passes. A skilled teacher will support you through a challenging one.

No. Sessions are led so that a complete beginner and a teacher of twenty years can practise in the same room. Much of the practice can be done seated, and our teachers are used to adapting for bodies that do not cooperate on a given day.

No. Practise as though qi were a useful description of what you notice, and see what happens. Plenty of our members hold the concept lightly and get everything out of the practice anyway.