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CHI GONG
Click to learn the 10 section standing yijinjing

Chi - universal energy/life force
Gong - work or working with

History
Chi gong has been a part of the Chinese health and longevity system for over 5,000 years. Its origins are unknown although there is a great deal of speculation about how chi gong came about. Some say that travelers from space gave chi gong to the Chinese people, others say that it was developed by Chinese monks, another report suggests that the Chinese peasants invented chi gong to enable a long disease free life, either way chi gong therapy has a clinically proven track record for a large range of diseases. This data was accumulated over many dynasties by Traditional Chinese physicians.
Chi gong however it came to be has gone through many changes, during the warring states period and spring and autumn period (770-221 BC) the emphasis of chi gong was to change it from simply a set of exercises for fitness into a medical set of documented exercises with specific guidelines about how each exercise should be performed internally and externally and what possible effects the exercise has on the body to aid recovery from illness or to maintain good health along with longevity.

Chigong function
The main function of the chi gong exercise is to stimulate the natural smooth flow of chi and blood, harmonized with a peaceful mind and spirit, and to gain some control over the cerebral cortex through quiet exercise building up a reflex action between the mind and body. This reflex action has been proven to improve the health of the chi gong practitioner. This health improvement is put down to any chi blockages being freed up, for it is believe by traditional Chinese Medical practitioners that illness is simply the symptoms of chi that has become static like a great river that has no movement the river becomes stagnant, poisonous and life of the river and in the river dies because their is no oxygen or nutrient movement , in contrast this event can happen to the human body if the blood or rivers (blood, hormones, electrical impulses, lymphatic movement etc.) of the body do not flow free without any blockage the body becomes stagnant and ill. You may say to yourself that any exercise would improve body function ? this in essence is fact, but the difference that chi gong offers is the building of a deep relationship between the body and the mind to release tension that has built up in the organs and muscles over a period of years. This deep seated tension can be exhibited through just about any illness or disease (excluding virus and bacterial disease) that can block the bodies natural energy to function optimally. Even virus and bacterial disease can be affected once chi energy has become vital enough to increase the bodies immune system.

Research
In China much effort and research has gone into the healing and immunological effects of chi gong mind body programs. I was fortunate to study traditional Chinese medicine in a Chinese professional teaching hospital, all of the patients on the wards where taught chi gong meditation to improve the chance of a good recovery as well as the option of western medical techniques, acupuncture, acupressure, chi gong thermal energy healing (lay on of hands), herbal medicine, cupping and moxibustion. I was pleasantly surprised how many patients opted for the TCM approach and chi gong healing to aid their recovery.

health benefits of tai chi or chi gong

Chi gong exercises are categorized in two styles
Still meditation:
1. Meditation chi gong (Nei gong); Meditation chi gong is stillness chi gong and can be recognized as the body remaining still whilst the mind focus (yi) directs chi internally through the channels, along with either natural breath or diaphragmatic breathing to encourage a free flow of healthy chi energy throughout the bodies natural energy system. Standing still chi gong meditation, part by part meditation and breathing - counting meditation fall into stillness chi gong category.
Moving meditation:
2. Moving meditation chi gong (Dao yin); Moving chi gong is a fusion of emptying the mind energy (yi) into the lower dantian or the meridians, coupled with either natural breath or diaphragmatic breathing combined with movements that stretch and open the meridian system, this ensures that any blockages within the meridians are unblocked and the meridian energy system is dredged of any unbalance between respective yin and yang partnerships.
To receive the health full benefit from each system some understanding of the marriage of movement and coordinated breath is an advantage to the practitioner. Five animal frolics, 8 brocades and 10 section muscle and tendon changing chi gong exercises are moving chi gong forms.

Breath and movement
When the body moves forwards and upwards in motion and the breath is inward; these would be yang movements in nature.
When the body moves back and downwards in motion and the breath is outward; these would be yin movements in nature.
To coordinate and harmonize yin and yang for full benefit the breath is inward (yang) as the body moves down (yin) or backwards (yin); and the breath is outwards (yin) when the body rises (yang) and move forwards (yang) unless otherwise state by a master with an understanding of the way to extend and stretch yin and yang to full benefit. This means that with some chi gong exercises (and tai chi forms) to breathe in as you rise the yang chi is taken to the limit of yang externally, but with the mind focused on either the lower dantian of bubbling well K1, the internal yin energy mind focus (yi) is yin, and internal energy yin is balanced with external yang movement. Some of the chi gong sets also take into consideration that chi gong exercise can be structured in two parts, if the movement upwards (or) forwards is coupled with an in breath, this style of movement is completely yang movement and the movement downwards (or) backwards with breathing out that is the ultimate yin in nature, so if the full up and down forms are smoothly performed coordinate with the correct breathing as one exercise, yin and yang are harmonized.

health benefits of tai chi or chi gong

MUSCLE AND TENDON CHANGING EXERCISES
CLICK HERE TO LEARN THE 10 SECTION MUSCLE AND TENDON CHANGING CHI GONG EXERCISES
The muscle and tendon changing exercises shown here are a well know set of exercises that work on the tendons whilst the muscles are relaxed. The idea is to consciously relax all of your muscles as much as you can whilst performing the exercises, this allows the tendons that connect the muscle to the bone to become toned and strong, this in turn will keep the joints in correct position and alignment reducing any unnatural wear and tear on the joint, thus bringing strength and longevity to skeleton and muscles (it is because the muscles are relaxed and well oxygenated with no lactic acid build up during the exercise that the wear and tear on them is minimal).

CHI GONG HEALING
Chi gong healing is an acquired skill that should not be embarked upon lightly. Chi gong healing can take time and effort to learn and apply. Before I go any further let me tell you about a famous healer that used to treat one of my clients. The healer was a lady who one day discovered that she could relieve peoples pain whether the pain was mental, spiritual or physical just by laying on of hands and focusing her energy with her mind on the illness present. This lady treated so many people that she became ill and died. The chi gong ethics are such that a healer that has not built up an abundant supply of their own chi energy in their body will not be allowed to treat illness in any form. The reason for this is that if you treat disease without developing a abundant supply of chi energy in your body your own chi that keeps you fit and well will become depleted, the healer that I mentioned above had exhausted her natural chi energy so much that she had become sick herself and died.
Tai chi and chi gong exercises have been the way of manipulate healing energy in china for centuries, a part of the Chinese health system to built up positive and eliminate negative chi to promote balance and harmony in the mind, body and spirit, so much so that practiced tai chi and chi gong practitioners that have developed their latent chi energy tend to become healers whether it be through becoming a reflexologist or a acupuncturist or any other healing system that they may have found to relate the positive forces that are a part of them. They can feel that they have the natural resources to deal with disease. It is and has been well documented in Shaolin temples and T.C.M. hospitals that are a part of the Chinese health system that if you do not replenish your chi through mental, spiritual or physical energy developing exercises to replace the chi energy that heals there is a good chance you will develop a diseased because you have given away you own life force (chi), when you should be only giving away chi that is surplus that you have develop holistically.

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