Qigong – A technique that has its roots in China and was practiced over 5000 years ago in private and practiced within families with each style being passed on to the next generation, many forms and styles have been lost due to oppression and discouragement of Qigong. However only 50 years ago China once again encouraged it’s people to practice Qigong for it has many benefits for the body, mind and spirit.
Qigong is about movement, breathing and meditation that encourages the energy to flow around and in the body to strengthen and heal; these are a few of the reasons why I continue to learn and practice this fun calming way or Dao.
Here are a list of people and books that inspired me in learning more about Qigong, enjoy Brian
Marisa Cranfill is the founder of YOQI yoga+qigong.
Marisa Cranfill is the founder of YOQI yoga+qigong. Frequent trips to Asia as a child inspired Marisa to study academically and work there for over 15 years. While living in China and Thailand she received direct transmission from Qigong masters, nuns and healers in both the Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Marisa developed YOQI over years of teaching Yoga and Qigong at meditation retreats. She found that both practices contained key principles and techniques that enhanced the student’s stamina and sensitivity to energy during the long seated meditation sessions. The routines reduced physical pain and gave them more focus and quality of awareness. This became the catalyst to extract a clear and effective program of mindful movement, accessible to everyone, that maintains the integrity of the ancient Yoga and Qigong traditions.
My first ever Qigong practice was this by Marisa Cranfill is the founder of YOQI yoga+qigong, “Qigong for Beginners” very effective at raising your energy levels and learning to breathe correctly, enjoy Brian 😀
This is your portal to experience the transformative and healing practice of YOQI (pronounced yo chee). Over fifteen years ago I discovered qigong as a student in China. Soon after, I combined it with a yoga practice and received amazing results; more sensitivity to energy, deep self-healing and access to nature’s unlimited potential. I call this integration of yoga and qigong YOQI. Whether you are a beginner at learning both yoga and qigong, a yoga teacher wanting to bring more energetic dimensions into your classes, or you are specifically interested in the self-healing and spiritual aspects of qigong, there is YOQI for you. Are you ready to move some qi?
Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis: Nourishing Practices for Body, Mind and Spirit
From reducing stress and improving posture to balance and general mobility, the many physical and mental benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi are widely celebrated. In this accessible book, Mimi Kuo-Deemer offers practices, insights and wisdom on these arts, and shows us how to support our natural capacity for energy, balance and wellbeing.
Qigong’s approach is based on the Chinese Five Elements or Phases of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each natural element relates to an organ and meridian system in the body, and Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis will explore each of these elements as they relate to our physical, mental and emotional health. It also will include popular and widely practiced sequences and forms such as the 8 Brocades, Five Animal Frolics, Tai Chi Qigong 18 Forms and Five Element Qigong practices and explore how these lead to wholeness, nourishment and health.
Part I: Wood Element: Nourishing our Roots.
Part 2: Fire Element: Nourishing the Heart.
Part 3 Earth Element: Nourishing the Mind.
Part 4: Metal Element: Nourishing the Spirit.
Part 5: Water Element: Nourishing our Deepest Wisdom
About Mimi
Mimi has been a lover of the movement arts since a young age, when her mother put her in ballet school for walking with turned-in toes. An author and teacher of both students and other teachers for over 20 years, she champions the balance of playfulness and precision as the best way forward in life, and never underestimates how sitting, breathing and conscious movement can provide the clearest and most compassionate perspective on the messy, complex and often unpredictable job of being human.
Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Mimi lived in China for over 14 years. In 2002, she co-founded Yoga Yard, Beijing’s first and leading yoga studio, which she co-directed for seven years before moving to the UK. She now lives in the British countryside, and teaches workshops, immersions and retreats as well as online via Zoom and movementformodernlife.com.
Mimi is a graduate of Stanford University and SOAS, University of London, where she earned a masters with distinction in 2016 in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. She has published a number of yoga and qigong DVDs/videos with New Shoot Pictures and is represented by the literary agency, Madeleine Milburn. She published her first book, Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis in December, 2018 (Orion Spring), and her second, Xiu Yang: Self-Cultivation for a Happier, Healthier and Balanced Life(Orion Spring), in June, 2019. In addition to teaching and writing, Mimi also helps run the Glow Fund charitable trust – a charity she and her husband established that helps disadvantaged Chinese and ethnically Tibetan children with severe orthopaedic conditions receive life-changing operations.
This was the first introduction to 8 brocades Qigong practice by Mimi Kuo-Deemer that I watched then practiced too.
The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing. By Kenneth “Bear Hawk” Cohen
Qigong, which literally means “working with the energy of life, ” is an integrated mind-body healing method that has been practiced with remarkable results in China for thousands of years. The Chinese have long treasured qigong for its effectiveness both in healing and in preventing disease, and more recently they have used it in conjunction with modern medicine to cure cancer, immune system disorders, and other life-threatening conditions. Now in this fascinating, comprehensive volume, renowned qigong master and China scholar Kennneth S, Cohen brings the ancient healing power of qigong to Western readers.
The essence of qigong can be understood by comparing the body to a battery: stress and bad health habits act to dissipate the battery’s charge, its “qi, ” while self-care and self-awareness help to maintain and improve qi. Qigong is a gentle yet rigorous program for working with our life energy through breathing and relaxation exercises, massage, visualization, meditation, and other natural methods. Using qigong, each one of us can learn to improve health and enhance vitality by cleansing, gathering, releasing, and circulating qi so that it reaches all the body’s cells. It’s rather like acupuncture without needles–it’s pleasurable to do, it costs nothing, and it’s wonderfully life-enhancing.
This accessible, beautifully written book provides a step-by-step program detailing how we can all integrate qigong into our busy lives. Ken Cohen explores every aspect of this Chinese healing art and science. The benefits of qigong are obvious in those who practice it correctly–these exuberant individuals sleep more soundly, their skin glows with vitality, they feel increased strength andheightened sexuality, and their minds and bodies achieve the harmony of true health. These benefits have been analyzed and calibrated by contemporary medical researchers who confirm resoundingly that qigong really does work. As a result, leading medical schools around the country are now incorporating qigong into “complementary medicine” programs that combine the wisdom of alternative medical modalities with the technological expertise of modern medicine. Now with The Way of Qigong, the power and clarity of qigong is finally available to all of us. This is truly a volume that will enlighten, instruct, enliven, and delight
all who use it.
Kenneth “Bear Hawk” Cohen, is an internationally renowned health educator dedicated to the community of All Relations. He has trained with elder healers from all over the world and followed the path of indigenous wisdom for more than 30 years. Author of The Way of Qigong The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing and more than 200 journal articles on spirituality and complementary medicine, he lives with his family in the Colorado Rockies.
A better way 