QIGONG: Ancient Principles for Modern Times

By Francesco Garri Garripoli

It is an endearing human trait to look back to our past for answers to questions in the present. When current trends and attitudes lead to imbalance and confusion, it seems some part of our intuitive wisdom kicks in and we seek a simpler time… we reach back into our history for something that we may have missed, something that we may have forgotten. It is as if we hope to find a treasure chest that we can open and within it, find the Rosetta Stone, the correct string of information that can bridge our question with a solution.

The past doesn’t always hold the answers to the present, but many times we find that in simpler times—when man and nature coexisted in a more balanced way—a certain ‘common sense’ helped to create a lifestyle that was harmonious with the world around us.

For me, Qigong (sometimes spelled ‘chi kung’ and pronounced ‘chee gung’) is one of those ‘treasure chests’. No, it isn’t a universal panacea. It won’t ‘cure’ disease. It doesn’t ‘work’ flawlessly. What it is though is a set of principles that, when applied, can lead you to a more centered and healthy life. This may explain why an estimated 80 million people practice this healthcare system worldwide.

At first glance, Qigong looks a bit like Tai Chi, with its slow movement forms. In fact, history shows us that Tai Chi Chuan emerged out of Qigong principles. Around 1,000 years ago in China, what we now know as Qigong was referred to as “shiu lian,” “dao yen,” ‘nei gong,’ or other terms that referred to the principles of working with Qi for better health, balanced living, or deepening our connection to spirit, to our true nature.

Balancing Our Life Force Energy

“Qi” (sometimes spelled ‘chi’ and pronounced ‘chee’) is a Mandarin Chinese word that can be translated into “energy”, but in fact, there is no single word in the English language that adequately describes it. This points to a fundamental difference in the Eastern and Western philosophical views on healing and existence in general.

Qi is thought of as ‘life-force energy’, bio-vitality, or that which keeps living things healthy. The Hindu culture refers to this as ‘prana’, the Japanese culture uses the character ‘ki’, the Hawaiian culture calls it ‘mana. Virtually every culture has some name for this energy. Yet somewhere after 500 B.C. with the demise of the Greek culture, who seemed to still hold the view that man was more than just a physical being, European-based cultures no longer maintained a word that contained the concept of Qi.

The Chinese character for Qi appears here, painted by my friend and renowned calligrapher Zhao Ai Qin. She, like all traditional artists from China, paints in the exact style of a famous calligrapher that may have lived hundreds of years ago. The intention is to honor that style and carry forward the “Qi” of that Master. This beautiful character is the ‘written’ representation of ‘Qi’ in the Chinese language. It is composed of two ‘radicals’ or calligraphy elements representing a meaning by themselves. The first (the three ‘dashes’ on top and the shape that looks like the number 7) is the radical for ‘vapor’ or ‘steam’. The second (the part that looks like a ‘plus’ sign with four little marks around it) is the radical depicting ‘uncooked rice.’ Together these combine to create the concept of “Qi.” This ancient wisdom was that uncooked rice (representing the ‘yin’ [feminine] aspect of life) was useless unless it was ‘steamed’ (representing the ‘yang’ [masculine]) aspect of life. Cooked rice is useful, and only then can it be eaten to create energy for the body. This is symbolic of the conjoining of yin and yang. Though Qi is ‘energy’ by itself, it is at once a dynamic process that needs to be cultivated within us…

It is thought that Qi exists all around us.and within every cell in our body. We can cultivate and enhance the quality of our Qi through the food we eat, the air we breathe and even the thoughts we think. The ancient Chinese believe that the better Qi flowed through the body, the better health we would enjoy, and thus, all pain and disease came from blocked or stagnant Qi.

A Beautiful Healthcare System

Qigong therefore is an ‘exercise’ system that helps to move and/or activate Qi potential in the body. Qigong can be done standing (when it looks like Tai Chi), it can be done sitting (when it looks like meditation), or it can be done lying down. When I went to live in China years ago to study Qigong, I believed I was going to discover a Master teacher who would teach me “the” Qigong System. Much to my surprise, there were literally thousands of teachers across China teaching thousands of different styles. This actually made me feel excited once I accepted the richness of what Qigong represented. Each form had its own uniqueness. The ones that emerged from the Buddhist tradition put their emphasis on an inner, more ‘spiritual’ development—believing that a healthy body would emerge from this practice. The systems that emerged from the Taoist schools emphasized a more physical style, sometimes having a martial arts flavor with deep stretching and strengthening. Together, these ‘pillars’ of Chinese philosophy combined to help create a balanced perspective on living and healing, so my study became more and more energized as a complete picture of this beautiful healthcare system emerged for me.

Sharing Qigong with the World

On one trip back to America to get my Visa renewed, I made the decision to sell what little I had and use up my savings to purchase a professional video camera and start documenting my adventures. This is what became the PBS television documentary called “Qigong—Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century.” When I was in villages that didn’t have television and barely had enough electricity for me to recharge my video equipment batteries, you can imagine what a Qigong Master might have thought when I pulled out this high-tech Sony camera. When I learned to say in Mandarin Chinese, “This is the eyes of students in North America,” the camera became transparent and I would begin to capture the ‘gems’ of these Master teacher’s instruction. For this I am honored and most grateful. PBS tells us that some 86 million people have seen this documentary to date. The curious fact is that this documentary has aired more times in Michigan than anywhere else in the US.

Although Qigong is very easy to learn, and most people find that they start feeling results early on in their practice, it is a system that goes deeper and deeper as you stay with it. Although my wife Daisy and I have two different instructional videos that we offer to help people learn Qigong, I have come to practice only one or two of those moves that seem to be right for me at a given time. I never ‘grow out’ of them. There really isn’t any ‘beginner’ moves or ‘advanced’ moves. I’ve studied with Masters who were in their 90’s and they were still practicing the same moves they had learned when they were young.

In my workshops, I tell people that Qigong is a “sensitivity training” exercise—the more you practice, the more you discover, about your self, about the world, and about the subtle energy we call Qi. Qigong is about regaining your sense of who you are, and with that, your health begins to improve on a body, mind and spirit level.

This year’s National Qigong Association annual conference is going to be in the Midwest for the first time at Aurora University in Lake Geneva, WI., late August. As Chairman of that non-profit organization, I’m pleased to have pushed for that location. If Michigan people have requested to see our Qigong documentary that much, I think that it’s time people realize the energy and spirit of the Midwesterners who create community here and are committed to learning and improving the world we live in.

Peace…

Francesco Garri Garripoli is the president of the Qigong Institute, Chairman of the National Qigong Association, and enjoys being an author, television producer, Qigong practitioner and wellness advocate. His documentary “Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century,” airs on PBS Television, where he has produced programs for 20 years. With his wife Daisy, Francesco teaches Qigong workshops around the world and through www.wujiproductions.com. Author of Qigong—Essence of the Healing Dance and Tao of the Ride, Francesco currently resides on Kauai, Hawaii with Daisy at their non-profit Kahuna Valley Retreat facility www.kahunavalley.com.