1. It’s Simple and Empowering
There are thousands of styles of qigong. I practice a style called Spring Forest, developed by Master Chunyi Lin. Spring Forest Qigong (SFQ) is a distillation of many qigong traditions into a simple, yet powerfully efficient set of movements. Master Lin developed SFQ to make qigong and its tremendous health benefits available and accessible to everyone.
Qigong empowers each of us to take on our own healing and consciousness development without years and years of training. Anyone can practice these movements and breathing techniques and achieve results. If you are facing physical challenges the movements can even be visualized instead of acted out, still with great effectiveness. It’s less about the choreography of the movements and much more about the messages you are sending to your mind and body.
2. Physical Health
Unlike many exercises, qigong does not focus on muscle strength or cardiovascular efforts. Qigong gently stretches and moves the fluids of the body, increasing blood flow, lymphatic circulation, and stirring the synovial fluid in the joints. Master Lin credits the complete relief from all arthritis in his body to the exercise we practice each week called “Seven Steps to New Life.” Qigong was originally developed by the Taoists, the same people who developed acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Qigong is seen integral to maintaining optimal health of the body’s organs and tissues.
3. Mental Health
Many people have trouble sitting still and meditating. Qigong movements are designed to assist you in focusing internally and to clear out the chatter of the external world. Also, a large percentage of physical issues have non-beneficial mental programming and emotional wounds as their causal core. Qigong assists you in slowing down so you can observe the morbid thoughts that race through your mind and may otherwise go unnoticed. It then gives you the tools to clear out those thoughts and relieve your distressed mind. The mental practice of observing, accepting, and releasing these troubling thoughts, trains your mind to detect more and more subtle disturbances to your well-being and clear them from your experience of life.
4. Energetic/Spiritual Health
Acquainting yourself with the energies of your body, thoughts and emotions is a practice. One which leads to greater awareness of yourself physically and mentally, and also into higher levels of consciousness. Regular qigong practice will help you cultivate an ever deepening understanding of the energy of pure Love and of the emptiness – that quiet, still space. For those engaged in spiritual development, qigong can be an important component in your greater practice for clearing energy blocks in your physical, mental and emotional bodies, clearing and maintaining the energy meridians in your body, and preparing and conditioning you for higher levels of spiritual awareness.
5. The Power of Regular Group Practice
Practicing qigong with a group brings its own benefits. Restorative energies are amplified by the intentions of the group for love and healing. The group also provides a means of regular support and accountability for continuing your commitment to self-care, self-development, and self-love. During our conscious conversations people share their own insights into the evening’s topic enriching the depth of the exploration for everyone.
