QiGong, also spelled Chi Kung, literally means energy work. It is an ancient Chinese practice using breath, soft movements and intention to balance the energy flows of the body. QiGong is a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and it is commonly used in China to treat illness and disease.

 

A regular practice promotes healing, reducing pains and aches, and enhances homeostasis and overall health by regulating all body functions.

 

QIGONG AND THE 5 ELEMENTS

 

According to Taoist cosmology, the primordial energies of Yin and Yang produce Wuxing (五行), often translated as 5 phases or 5 elements. The combination of the 5 elements create Nature and the world as we know it.

 

The 5 elements are not static, quite the contrary, they describe different ways of movement, of transformation. The 5 phases describe the fundamental directions and qualities of the energy flows that interact with each other to create the world of manifestation.

 

Water is the downward flow of qi. It is cleansing, removes blockages and stagnation, and always finds the path of least resistance in its way to the lowest point.

 

Fire element is the upward flow of energy. It amplifies whatever it finds in its way.

 

Wood combines the downward and upward flows of qi. It’s about expansion and growth.

 

Metal is the inward flow of qi. It’s about condensing and compressing.

 

Earth is a spherical flow of qi. It balances and unifies all other elements or energy flows into a whole.

 

The Taoist Nei Gong programme uses Water and Wood elements QiGong to build the foundations. That is the safest way to start from zero, cleaning up the body and creating space before moving forward.

 

DRAGON AND TIGER MEDICAL QIGONG

 

Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong is a 1500 years old set that works on the acupuncture meridians of the body, unblocking stagnated qi and greatly improving the immune system. It is composed by a set of seven movements that, linked to specific breath patterns, balances the qi of the mayor meridians, enhancing the practitioners health and vitality.

 

Dragon and Tiger QiGong works with energy from the outside in. The focus is placed in contacting, mobilising, removing stagnations and balancing the energy of the etheric field (the energetic interface between the human body and the world around), which in turn influences the qi running in the body.

 

Because of this, Dragon and Tiger QiGong could be a perfect starting point for beginners, as affecting the energy from the outside-in can be easier to learn than the direct processes of NeiGong, where the work is more direct from the inside out.