Questions and answers about Chi Kung training

Here is a sample of questions and answers about my Chi Kung practice as a Chinese Medicine practitioner:

• What have you noticed that creating a regular Chi Kung practice has done for you personally?

Chi Kung has allowed me to stay well and healthy as a Chinese Medicine practitioner, it rejuvenates me between long days in the clinic. Helping to ensure that you do not take any unhealthy energy from the dynamics of the client/therapist situation. He has improved my understanding of other people and has given me new ideas about life. Most of all, he gives me space to be alone with myself and work on improving my own mental health. He has helped me moderate my emotions so that they are less extreme in their movements. My internal digestion has improved a lot and so has my sexual health and vitality.

• What is your attitude towards the practice of Chi Kung?

It varies; sometimes it can be a challenge. In general, I look forward to the time it gives me to settle my energies, once I start I can really get into the flow. I put on a minimum time of 20 minutes and a maximum of one hour and that generally helps me. However, some days I will do 2 or 3 sessions a day divided between different free spaces. I try not to be too critical if I have periods of days when I don’t practice. What I enjoy the most is practicing in a quiet place.

• How regularly and for how long each session do you think you have to do Chi Kung to get something tangible out of it?

I have gained the most when I practice 5 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I only gain something tangible when my practice is consistent over a period of days.

• Would you recommend it to others and, if so, why?

I recommend it to all my clients and students, since once learned it is the easiest way to cultivate energy for free. It costs nothing to access the Tao.

Section 2 Chi Kung Theory

• What do you understand by prenatal Chi?

This is the Chi that we inherit from conception. It is the map for the basic components of the body. It determines our development and our constitution.

• How does the health of your diaphragm affect Chi?

The diaphragm is a part of the body that is controlled both unconsciously and consciously. A healthy diaphragm promotes healthy breathing. Therefore, a person can acquire Chi with less effort than a person with a tight or collapsed diaphragm. It is said that the chi enters the lungs and is transformed into chest chi that mixes with the primordial chi and the chi from food. The restrictions of the diaphragm mean a bad distribution of this vital energy around the body. The Chinese also have a saying that “children breathe from the womb”, the adult breathes from the chest, and the dead breathe from above the neck. The diaphragm is also the separation between fire and water (+ and -) its descent and ascent creates a current of energy like a relay switch.

• Why does the spine play an important role in the movement of Chi?

The spine houses the penetrating vessel, which is an important energy control meridian linked to the CNS. It joins the conception and governing vessels to create an energy circuit that ensures that the body’s yin and yang channels are adequately supplied, and that additional meridians are replenished in emergencies. Its alignment and integration allows the joints and tendons to relax more deeply to allow chi to flow smoothly throughout the body. Also, the spinal column contains cerebrospinal fluid, which is essentially an important form of chi and jing that circulates through the cerebral spinal pump. Any impediment in the spine will slow down or dampen the flow and therefore the circulation of chi.

• What is so important about heart function and Chi?

The heart is said to be the seat of the mind and dominates the blood vessels. The heart is the driving force for the circulation of blood around the vessels, and poor circulation to the heart means that blood and chi cannot nourish mental activities. Also, because blood is the mother of chi and chi commands blood, without the driving force of the heart there is a lack of chi throughout the body, as well as problems associated with lack of chi.

• Why is the concept of Wu Wei so important to the art of Chi Kung?

Wu Wei is an important concept that has its roots in Taoist philosophy. In Chi Kung, the concept of Wu Wei is used as a state of non-action, from which action has potential, but no need for attachment to that potential. It is often translated as “effortless action.” This concept allows the practitioner to detach from the result and work in the moment.