01. What is Qigong?

What is Qigong 氣功?

This is a question we are often asked as teachers, and at times it can be difficult not to leave people scratching their heads with a glazed-over expression on their face. Many people know that it is a practice with many supposed mental, emotional & physical benefits but why is it so difficult to describe succinctly? The short answer is summed up nicely by the title of the film ‘Lost In Translation’. So, to help further clarify what qigong is, a good starting point is to look at the definition and etymology of the word.

The most common explanation of what qigong is comes from translating it directly from Chinese into the English language. When we do this we end up with Qi 氣- energy, breath or life force; and Gong 功- work or effort. Together these two can be interpreted as working with the breath/energy/life force. This is a fairly succinct, nicely packaged explanation and is usually what we tell our qigong students when we need to convey its meaning in a short space of time. This however still doesn’t fully capture what qigong is.

Next we must understand the Chinese characters themselves. As we have seen the word Qigong 氣功, is made up of two characters. Let’s take a closer look at the first character Qi 氣. This character is itself made up of two characters, the first Qi 气 meaning breath, wind, air or even spirit and the second Mi 米 meaning rice or in a broader sense food. So, when we put these characters together, we get a sense of the air/spirit rising off the food or even the essence of the food. Therefore the character Qi 氣 carries with it a strong sense of distilled essence and nourishment. As we’ll see shortly this idea extends far beyond just food and air. Older symbols for this character used only the character 气while some other variations also(from roughly 2700 years ago) used the character for fire, Huo 火, instead of Mi 米, rice. So now in addition to this sense of nourishment there is a stronger sense of heat, energy and transformation.

The second character, Gong 功 is also made up of two separate characters. Gong 工 means work and Li 力, means energy or power. So if we bring these two characters together we end up with what can be described as work done with energy or effort. This notion of effort also carries with it a sense of intention, focus and purpose, all of which are important elements of practicing qigong. As we bring all of these elements together we arrive at a definition that is far more subtle and complex. But it doesn’t stop there.

Continuing our exploration of the Chinese language, we start to see that the character for Qi 氣 pops up in many places, places that to the untrained eye may seem at first glance to be unrelated. Here are some examples:

吸氣，呼氣 (xiqi, huqi) - to breathe in, to breathe out.

生氣 （shengqi) - To become angry - literally ‘to give birth’ and qi.

天氣 (tianqi) - Weather - literally heaven/sky qi.

空氣 (kongqi) - Air - literally empty qi.

氣氛 (qifen) - Atmosphere - qi + the second character which is also made up of two characters, 分(fen)- distinguishable and 气(qi) air/space.

脾氣 (piqi) - Temperament, disposition - literally ‘spleen qi’ (here we can see how even the organs of the body have their own types of qi all with their own qualities and characteristics).

The list goes on and on. From this we can start to gain a sense of how qi as a concept permeates all things on all levels within Chinese culture.

So now we are starting to arrive at a far more complete definition of what qigong is. Thus qigong is not only learning to work with our own intrinsic qualities but also understanding how these qualities interact with the qualities of all that surrounds us. This brings us to one final explanation of qigong to help fully tie this concept together.

As in many facets of traditional Eastern thought, complex understandings are often brought back to a very simple idea, truth or essence. This is very true in the case of qi. It is summed up beautifully in the book ‘The Web That Has No Weaver’ by Ted J. Kaptchuk 1983(read full review here). Ted J. Kaptchuk describes qi as an inherent inclination which manifests once evoked through resonance; resonance with other forms of qi in the cosmic web. Character, inclination, resonance and expression are all captured in one simple word Qi.

To help illustrate this idea, think of a seed. A seed has its own inherent tendencies and qualities. When the qi of the seed resonates with sun qi, wind qi, rain qi and earth qi the innate qualities and tendencies of the seed (seed qi) are evoked, bringing about growth. When viewed in this way we begin to shift away from viewing the parts as separate from the whole, and instead move towards a view of reality as an uninterrupted spectrum of vibration and resonance, a reality that shifts effortlessly between energy and matter, between being and non-being.

The ancient Daoist philosopher, Lao Tsu wrote “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”… so before we start dancing with the stars, matter and energy of the universe let’s be grounded, take some deep breaths, reconnect with our bodies, calm our minds and get to know ourselves a little better.

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