Meditation Option: Qigong

I'd never practiced qigong before last week, but I think it's my new favorite hobby. I lived in China for a brief period a few years ago, and all over the place I use to see these random older people standing very very still, staring at a tree with their arms spread. It looked pretty cool actually. Like they were just playing tree for a little while.

Anyway, Netflix sent me a DVD the other week with six seated qigong meditations, so I gave it a try. I really liked it! It had some movement to it, so it was easier for me to focus my mind. But more about the DVD later. For now I just want to share what I've learned in the last 72 or so about qigong.

Qigong (also spelled chi kung) is frequently associated with meditation, tai chi or kung fu, but what I didn't realize it that it is also considered a type of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). That is, while most consider it a subset of meditation, some also believe that the practice works with your chi in a much more profound way. For example, it works to permit the chi (life force, breath, or energy) to flow more freely if there is a block, or to release if there is too much in one location.

It's this latter possibility that interests me. I'm counting on my body to send some lovin' to my talus to build some cartilage down there, and if increased chi flow will help make that happen, I'm all for it. And at the worst, it's a form of meditation and those benefits are well documented. And from what I've gathered, the practice of chi kung, which can be done yourself or can be practiced on another person, seems similar in essence to other energy healing practices, like reiki. Reiki is still pretty far-out by most doctors' measure, but it is increasingly being offered by western hospitals. (See, e.g. Hartford Hospital)

Iron Ankle?

Since it's my new favorite hobby, I'm sure I'll learn much more about it. But there's one thing I gotta know now. You know all those tricks that Shaolin monks do, breaking steel rods with their foreheads and laying on top of the points of spears and stuff? (Also called the irons: iron fist, iron throat, iron crotch, etc.) That's a chi practice too, but I wondered if it was also qigong. If so, that would be cool, since if a 92-pound 11 year old boy can break a steal rod with his forehead, I should be able to get my ankle to take me down the stairs.

Well, it's similar. That practice is called "hard" chi gong, and from what I've garnered, its more about directing the chi outward, whereas "soft" qigong is about the internal flow of qi. Well, my ankle is on the inside, so I'll stick with soft qigong for now, but eventually, I'm totally gonna perfect iron ankle.