A Starting Place for Qigong
Think movement, not exercise
The image shows a simple GIF animation of the moving arms in circles practice, which you can do with focus and intent to engage your body and mind simultaneously. Arm circling movement is part of the Waidan Qigong vitality set of exercises.
I teach the Qigong exercises known as Waidan exercises or vitality exercises and simplified Tai Chi. My philosophy is that simplicity speaks to the heart of Qigong practice and illustrates a teaching: if you let it, practice can be simple. The key is consciously allowing practice to be simple and recognizing simple opportunities to practice. The Waidan Qigong exercises are great exercises for everyone, master and beginner alike, because they build and strengthen a good foundation for using your mind and body.
During the Waidan exercises, you use your muscles to make gestures and intentional movements that follow the natural movement of the human body, which usually means moving the spine in its possible directions (forward, back, left, right, and twisting right and left) and also moving joints and muscles in their natural range of movement. You use and move your bones and muscles as you sense and guide your effort and attention, thus engaging your mind and body together.
As a starting place for Qigong, Waidan Qigong and vitality Qigong illustrate important concepts that are common to the many varieties of Qigong and Tai Chi: these important concepts are known as The Three Intentions, The Three Regulations or The Three Adjustments. These are:
Awareness of body
Awareness of mind
Awareness of breath
Focusing on any one or all of these things during practice leads to the development of your skills for managing your own energy and finding a sense of ease and flow. The ancients taught that the “flow” or the “flowing” is a mysterious substance called Qi.
Finding the flowing
Qi has many definitions, but my favorite modern definition comes from Dr. Peter Wayne, PhD, a scientist and researcher of Tai Chi and Qigong who teaches Tai Chi and who also authored the Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi. Dr. Wayne says that Qi is information, and information is constantly flowing and being exchanged among all things. So, the key purpose of Qigong practice is getting the Qi to flow within you. As information and energy move within you, important exchanges occur within your body and your mind, and also within your environment.
As you practice consistently, the Qi is nurtured, information flows where it needs to, and then several promises may await you:
Awareness of body gives rise to control and command of the body. As you develop motor skills and refine the relationship between mind and body, you create the conditions in your body to resist getting sick or to heal yourself if you are ill.
Awareness of mind leads to peace of mind and clarity of intention. Thus, you may become clearer about what matters to you. You may become more considerate of others and improve your relationships as you more consciously act in accordance with your deepest and most important values. You also develop other mind skills like concentration and the ability to focus and handle distractions.
Awareness of breath leads to control of emotions and ability to direct focus and the flow of energy. Thus, you may develop dedication to achieve your goals and help others.
With regular and consistent practice, you may begin to notice you are also doing other things both during the times you practice and as you live your ordinary life:
You practice making small decisions for yourself, and you may recognize that making conscious decisions is powerful.
You improve your powers of observation.
You develop kinesthetic and visual memory.
You develop self-command and self-control (self-honesty, self-confidence, self-esteem).
You find a sense of ease and flow that might feel graceful.
You do your best and develop patience with yourself as you learn and grow.
You use your imagination to expand your understanding and influence your own future.
Consistency is victory
Repetition is the great re-enforcer of these things. A friend of mine who also teaches these things says, “Get it into muscle-memory! Let it be natural and automatic.” This is a modern illustration of a teaching of Zhuangzi, an influential Daoist text that says you need to become mindless and spontaneous in your actions (as you meditate and practice and live your life), which I take as an encouragement not to think too much about being natural and peaceful, because being natural and peaceful is not only about thinking.
Practice also has a feeling. Returning and returning to practice again and again is often how practice feels. You keep choosing to come back. It can be tempting to say there is not enough time to build your skills and become more patient. This is a form of resistance, and it is understandable if you encounter it. Life is complex, and external forces can be powerful and influential. However, it has been my experience that you will keep being called. You may hear it, sense it, feel it, long for it before you make a move toward harmony and peace. Finding peace and flow, feeling Qi, becoming stronger and more skilled are rewarding, and deep down they seem to be the right thing to do in life. Finding a way to practice these things consistently (every day, every week) is often a good sign the flow is indeed happening.
Being open and staying open to finding flow is a true victory!