Qigong Pathway to Health and Healing

By Leanora Winters, MS, RMT/SSR

Qigong, which means to cultivate or refine one's vitality or life force through practice, is the basis of Chinese medicine. Qigong is believed to address the root cause of sickness, and heal the body physically, mentally and spiritually. The goal is to enhance the quality of life by teaching us ways to open our energy channels and maintain balance.

It is a completely safe and non-invasive form of energy healing that is very relaxing, vitalizing and can be used in conjunction with both “modern” and alternative healing modalities.

Understanding Qigong

Qigong comes from two words Qi is the universal energy that makes up everything and flows through everything in the universe. Qi means vitality or life force. Gong means to practice, cultivate or refine, leading to mastery. Thus Qigong means to cultivate or refine one's vitality or life force through practice. Qigong covers all energy in the universe. However, the emphasis here is on medical Qigong, which is the basis of Chinese medicine.

Practiced in China for over 5,000 years Qigong is believed to be effective in the prevention and cure of many maladies. Millions of Chinese people practice Qigong. There are thousands of kinds of Qigong techniques. Some are very complex to learn and practice and some are simple yet powerful. The ease, rapidity and totality of the removal of energetic blockages can vary widely depending upon the technique used. However, all are designed to help “awaken the healing power” within each of us.

How It Works

Breathing technique, mental concentration, body movements and sound are united to activate and cultivate one's Qi or “vital energy” as it flows through the invisible channels of the body. These components of Qigong healing address the initial blockages that start with a variety of causes including imbalances in the emotions, poor nutrition, environmental imbalances (chemicals, electromagnetic energies etc.), seasonal/weather changes, wrong medications or injuries.

“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed,” but it can always be transformed. Qigong helps us to heal in this way.