Chinese hospitals have recognized Qigong as a form of medical treatment for various ailments since 1989, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that practicing Qigong has a long list of benefits. By integrating slow, gentle movement with meditative, diaphragmatic breathing, Qigong creates a calmness of mind and strength of body that helps balance your health, mental health, and your body’s self-healing abilities.
How Qigong Affects Your Body
When practicing Qigong, you set the pace. Pushing yourself into movements that make you uncomfortable or put you in pain is never the goal.
In traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong is based on the idea that qi (energy) flows through our bodies and follows channels known as meridians. When you are healthy, it’s because the energy is strong and able to access all parts of your body. Breaking or disrupting this flow of energy leads to disease and pain. Long-term stress, both big and small, slowly depletes the body’s supply of qi. The gentle movements and slow, purposeful breathing of Qigong helps restore a balanced, steady flow of qi. This improves your health, mental, and emotional state.
Builds Muscles and Power
Internal exercises such as Qigong focus on obtaining a feeling of “relaxed power,” where muscles will open up and allow energy to flow through them in order to do something, rather than straining as with regular exercise. Other forms of exercise will form strength and flexibility within the body, whereas Qigong builds looseness and power. The energized feeling that one gets after working out is actually caused by muscular contraction, which happens to disrupt the flow of qi, even if it results in a gain of flexibility or strength.
Improves Cardio-Pulmonary Function
Surprising to most people is the fact that you don’t necessarily need aerobic exercise to strengthen your heart and lungs. The deep, slow breathing of Qigong, as well as the movement of energy, work together to send oxygen deeper into your body’s tissues than during regular exercise. The journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice contained a study which discovered that Qigong helped slow the heart rates and blood pressure of people with busy, computer-intense jobs. This combination puts you at lower risk for developing heart disease.
Your risk for illness and disease is increased when you’re under chronic stress, so managing it in a healthy way is important. One of the biggest causes of stress is the inability to properly handle emotions. Qigong is beneficial here because the clearing process can help process both repressed and over-expressed emotions. Converting the negative (and often destructive) energy caused by ill-managed emotions is a critical step in helping manage stress and reduce any side effects that may follow.
You can structure your Qigong practice in such a way as to target specific areas across your body where you feel you carry your stress; which could stem from depression, frustration, anxiety, irritability, or grief. Regular practice will result in lower stress hormone concentrations in the blood, as well as enhanced nervous system activity.
Strengthen Your Nerves
Qi flows along your body’s nerves, so your nerves act as an intermediary between the mind and body. The initial work done in any Qigong practice focuses on clearing out energy blockages and getting in touch with the body, and so involves the nervous system.
Stronger qi results in strengthened nerves and better body awareness. This, in turn, leads to better hand-eye coordination and other motor skills. Qigong’s ability to boost your nervous system makes it highly effective for relieving short-term stress as well as helping the body recover from prolonged stress exposure.
Accessible – Even When Very Ill
Most forms of exercise require you to be healthy to perform them, excluding any who are very ill or bedridden. Qigong caters to all levels and stages of life by having techniques designed specifically for anyone weak or immobile. These techniques won’t require much movement at all but will increase your physical capacities with consistent practice.
Regular Qigong techniques can often be altered to be accessible to the bedridden by simply doing them lying down until you’ve built up enough strength to practice sitting up or standing again. Again – you set the pace. Qigong is never about pushing your body or putting it under unnecessary strain.
Shortens Recovery Time
Every movement involved in Qigong is extremely low-impact, meaning that you can practice Qigong immediately after an injury or operation. Uninjured body parts can be moved and exercised gently, which increases circulation and flow of energy throughout the body. This energizes the lymph system, which keeps the immune system in top shape. Ensuring the flow of energy is uninterrupted in your body allows the body’s natural healing abilities to accelerate.
Another way Qigong aids in healing is that it relaxes the mind and the body. Injuries leave the body and mind very tense. Your qi will be ‘sucked up’ by uninjured but tense parts of the body, leaving the injured parts with less energy they need in order to heal. By relaxing the uninjured parts, Qigong allows the body to heal faster by removing tension that prevents healing.
Practicing Qigong leaves you with a stronger mind and body – one able to heal efficiently and stay balanced. Choose which of our three Qigong packages will suit you best and begin your journey to relaxed power today.