WHAT IS QIGONG, CHI, QI, KI, PRANA, OR SPIRIT? CAN EAST MEET WEST?

Date: 02/08/2008

WHAT IS QIGONG, CHI, QI, KI, PRANA, OR SPIRIT?

CAN EAST AND WEST REALLY MEET?



It is a well known Chinese saying that "Qigong can cure 100 illnesses".

The Chinese dictionary will define "Qigong" as an ancient Taosist breathing exercise. Qi or chi literally means breath, health, steam, air and weather, the flowing of the unseen life force. For a long time, Chinese medicine has put breathing methodology on a pedestal above all other medical practices. Not only is it a cardinal to diagnosis, it is also essential to well-being.

With little outside influence, it is no wonder that Qigong is well-practiced and prescribed in all Chinese communities throughout Asia. It is both a discipline as well as an energy revitalizer.

To understand more about Qigong and Chi, I , a Stress Management and Biofeedback therapist, invited Master Frank Tu and his wife, Nancy to visit me in Seattle . Frank Tu was at that time the Qigong and Kung Fu master of Taiwan. Tu learned this form of "healing?" from his father who learned it from his father, who learned it from his teachers who learned it from their teachers all the way back to the 4th century B.C. on Mt. Hen in mainland China`s south range. Frank Tu earned the title of "Grand Master?"of Qigong at the very young age of 26 at Uoodong Mountain, the Qigong center of China. He has a master`s degree in Chinese medicine from the China Academy of Medicine.

In Taiwan, Tu`s health center is called the "Everlasting Energy Health Research Center". What is the benefit for his pupils? How about more energy, younger looks, motivation, power and sex drive? With a menu like that, I really wanted to understand the essence of this thing called "Chi", "Qigong", "everlasting energy" or whatever it was. I hoped to invite Tu over, interview him and derive the essence of Qigong. I wanted to bridge the understanding between the Chinese concept of chi and my understanding of breathing.

According to Master Tu, there are three components to Qigong: breathing exercises, concentration, and Tan t.`ien Tan t`ien is a TAOIST term referring to a center of energy approximately two inches below the navel or belly-button. Tan means medicine and t`ien means a "field of cinnabar". This is a TAOIST saying that refers to "energies latent in man". When breathing into this field of cinnabar, man can begin to produce the "elixir of immortality": He can begin to "grow the medicine".

When asked more specifically, "why this area", his answer was predictably "Chinese". I began to see I was going to have problems when he said this was the area of "power generation". I asked him to explain. He said, "notice where you kick from or the area where you contract the most to stand up,"this is the tan t`ien. I could see exactly what he was talking about.

Qigong is the oldest, most prestigious form of Chinese medicine. We don`t totally understand it in the West; yet I think there is a craving for this understanding. The concepts of Qigong or Chigong may represent an analogy in the hungering Western soul for "spirit". Part of the problem could be due to differences in language, concepts, upbringing and orientation. Perhaps this is why Chinese medicine and why are Chinese medical techniques to difficult to understand? With poetic terms like "field of cinnabar?" it is hard to bridge to our Western scientific thinking. These names or descriptions would seem to belong more to poetry than medicine. We fail to believe or relate to such analogies.

Talking to and understanding the Chinese mind can be difficult. If you ask the Chinese how they learn to write a composition, they will tell you they learn by reading existing composition over and over. Once they learn it, they recite the composition many times. This becomes their background and basis for future writings. One can see this might foster regeneration rather than creativity. In the West, we learn the structure of good composition through the breakdown of grammar and syntax into rules. We begin with a formula and always seem to be seeking ways to "stretch the rules". We are free to create our own story, limited only by a loose structure.

It seems that both the Chinese and Western culture adheres to these same precepts. This is certainly true of Chinese medicine and healing practices. For thousands of years the same stories, methods and practices have been recited over and over and handed down from one generation to the next. For example, if you ask a Chinese "Why do you use the gallbladder of the bear to cure back problems, the antlers of the buck, or the penis of the tiger marinated in whiskey for one year to cure impotency", he will simply agree, tell you that it works and that it is an old remedy used for thousands of years. Our Western mind looks for the science. For acceptance of this as a prescribed medicine, my mind wants to understand that the buck is hunted and killed in a time of stress when the androgen hormones are intensified in the antlers. Immediately, the antlers are cut off, put in some form of alcohol and now we have a tincture full of male hormones. Yes, I can see that. I can?t accept being told it will work as my mind jumps to conclusions instead about placebo.

So, with a brief introduction to the Chinese mind, I will now tell you of my week long encounter with Frank Tu and my efforts to understand Qigong and Chi.

Master Tu summarized his three month training program as follows:

To preserve energy and learn to use energy conservatively, a student learns:

Movement

body, feet, legs and tummy

concentration

Relaxation

thought focusing

pressure point focusing

concentration on the whole line (meridian) of pressure points

focusing on beautiful scenery?.(visualization)

Breathing

nose, inhaling really slowly, long, evenly, softly and naturally

blowing out, five different ways for different ailments



To absorb outside energy and to dispatch it properly requires:



The importance of the specific location of practice

to increase energy: sun, moon, grass, trees, mountains, streams, waterfalls

placing your belief in God so he can help you



Transfer your inner energy to the outside

Transmit this energy to another for health and illness

To be given this most orderly outline of his Qigong teaching seemed a goldmine. Actually, I felt overtones of my own biofeedback practice, stress management, meditation and spiritual practices. Deriving energy from another source sounded like the Chinese practice of Feng Shui, where location of one`s home is paramount to ones well being and longevity. I thought how much more grounded in nature and essence this formula seemed than our own Western habits of rush, rush living.

I was most interested in the breathing techniques used in Qigong as I have understood them to be the basis of this practice. I also study and teach breathing to athletes, mountain climbers and clients who see me for stress management and biofeedback. I asked Frank Tu how breathing came to be of such importance to health. He explained that the Chinese have learned breathing by observing the baby. Babies breathe deeply into their stomachs (when relaxed). During the gestation period, the baby is attached to the mother by the umbilical cord and placenta. At birth this cord is cut. Instead of being nourished by way of the naval connection, the infant gasps for air and is suddenly taking it`s nourishment through the mouth. It is from this observation that the Chinese believe and say we must use the mouth to absorb the energy. The ancient Chinese texts talk of "swallowing the air". According to Tu, one can stave off the appetite and eat less by using the Qigong breathing exercises. My Western mind thinks of swallowing air, filling the stomach and feeling full.

Qigong teaches various breathing exercises. These exercises involve primarily consciousness about breathing and different methods of exhaling. I asked Frank to explain the different methods of exhaling. He mentioned five: a ?Ha? breath, a hissing breath, a whistle-like exhaling, blowing though slightly pursed lips and breathing with a slightly open mouth. Frank explained that each type of breathing could, according to Chinese traditional medicine, cure a particular organ system of the body. In other words, through consciously practicing a particular technique, specific diseases could be cured. "Ha" breathing was for the heart, "hissing" for the lungs, "blowing]" for the kidneys, "whistling" for the liver, and "exhaling" for the pancreas.

Now my curiosity was truly piqued. I asked Frank how exhaling with a "Ha" sound could "cure" heart disease. He began very matter-of-factly saying the "Ha" sound would release the "heat of the heart". Now what was that supposed to mean? The heat of the heart. When I asked for more explanation he seemed puzzled that I should ask, that was his not a sufficient explanation. After all, the Chinese had been teaching this for thousands of years and it was therefore not to be questioned. I persisted, feeling like I was questioning the Gods, or Mother Nature herself. I simply wanted a more scientific explanation for the "Ha" and "heat of the heart". After thinking very carefully, Master Tu said that dogs don`t sweat when they are hot, instead their tongues hang out and they pant, "ha, ha, ha, ha, ha" to release the heat. I thought how brilliant, novel, right-on and simplistic this was.

The "ha" sound was very similar to the sighing behavior one sees in overly stressed individuals and cardiac patients. I thought maybe we Westerners need to do some successive sighs or "ha`s" to release our heat, to let out our steam. One big sigh might not be enough.

Frank Tu went on to describe the kidney patient, or the one who was trained to blow out his air. Frank said this person was "overly cool". Now this was something different. This person is taught to blow through slightly pursed lips. Frank showed me and encouraged me to notice the cool air that came out when I blew the air out through pursed lips, while hot air came out when I did a "ha" breath. He pointed out (before I questioned the rationale) that when we have a cup of hot soup we blow on it to cool it. Furthermore that the blowing breath was taught in the Winter when it is already too cold outside and having too much cold inside us we can blow off this cold air leaving us warm. "Ha" is also taught in the summer to blow off the heat leaving us cool. "Ha" was also the choice for fevers; simply blow off the heat.

My mind was really beginning to enjoy this wonderfully, simplistic logic, obviously based on animal observations. Was there truth to this? I loved how the Chinese logic would have us exorcise a malady by elimination through subtraction, while in the West we would try to exorcise a malady though addition of drugs. They do that too, but we don?t usually take responsibility for our illness and take an active part by changing our behavior.

My physiological mind searches for an explanation to justify all that I have just heard. Blowing through slightly pursed lips causes an increase in partial pressure of oxygen, a slowing of the exhaled air-stream, a subsequent rise in the body?s carbon dioxide level, a shift in the Bohr curve to the left and a subsequent change in respiratory pH. As the inhaled air becomes more acid and as carbon dioxide levels increase in the blood, more oxygen is released from the hemoglobin molecule to be available to the tissues. The change in carbon dioxide would lead to a peripheral, surface, and cerebral vaso-dilatation response. The result of this would be a feeling of warming up as hands, feet and surface blood vessels relaxed, allowing more blood to pass through them. Blowing out in the "Ha" (sighing) fashion would cause a blowing out of excessive carbon dioxide very quickly sending a message to the blood vessels of the hands, feet and skin surface to constrict and thereby cause a feeling of cooling. I was beginning to appreciate that the Chinese could come to the conclusions they had from such wonderful observations of nature.

I eagerly asked Master Tu form more information. He delved into the basis of Chinese medical philosophy. Tu talked of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. He said there were also five metaphysical or physical powers with creative as well as subduing properties. (From my study of martial arts I knew that "subdue" could also mean "neutralize"). Master Tu explained that, in Qigong heart belongs to fire or anger. One must get rid of the hot, angry air and bring in cool air. The result would be a balancing of the yin/yang or neutrality.

Again, I could see the parallel derived on one hand through observation and on the other through "science". Study upon study in the West have shown a direct connection between the hostility/anger factor of the cardiac patient and his inability to free his heart of these most damaging emotions, his need to "open his heart".

Tu then explained, "when hot and dehydrated, don`t drink water, especially cold water. Use the`ha` breath to blow off the heat". He said, this would lead to a natural self-adjustment.

I wondered about this as I had noted the very behavior amongst the porters and Sherpas of Nepal while in transit to altitude. We Westerners had all been advised to drink at least four quarts of water a day to prevent the symptoms of altitude sickness and dehydration (from the over-breathing we were doing). We had been told that quarts of breathing are lost with altitude breathing (hyperventilation). The Sherpas and porters would refuse our offers of nice cool filtered water. Instead they would only drink occasionally and if they did it was always hot tea. I noted that they also breathed differently. They breathed diaphragmatically and through pursed lips making a little whistle with each breath. We were told they refused our water for religious reasons but that does not account for their drinking of hot tea.

Master Tu went on to describe a magnetic air-field that must be respected in learning and practicing breathing exercises. He said that the practitioner must face the sun or a window in absence of the sun. He said, "you must face the light, as the light is further energizing. We draw chi from the sun`s magnetic field."

We sun worshippers would certainly agree to the energizing, nourishing effects of the sun. Those with Seasonal Attitudinal Depression (SAD`s) would also concur with the positive effects of the sun, but never did we think to just face the sun and breathe to become energized. Many do sun worship when home building. The Western exposure is most decidedly a selling point when buying a home. It is not for the purpose of connecting with the heavens or to obtain flow. With the practice of Feng Shui, the Chinese have almost taken this to the sublime. Feng Shui is the artful practice of finding a site with the proper Chi on it to build a house, tomb or city. In the practice two aspects of site are sought after: a site where Chi flows or a site that resonates with Heaven. A proper arrangement of mountains, water and wind can lead to the proper flow of Chi through the land. Heaven is often a resonated in the analog of different shapes of hills. Urban planning Western style seems rather sterile and mainly pragmatic and cost effective.

The Chinese believe a proper balance of Chi in the body places one in harmony with the earth and the universe. Similarly, the proper balance of chi in the living environment places it in harmony with the universe. To the Chinese, longevity, health, wealth, high position and numerous descendants are the goals of their life. They believe these can all be accomplished by the proper balance of chi within one`s living environment and in one`s body.

The Chinese believe "good health follows the proper flow of Chi". So, what exactly is chi? Some describe chi as "matter on the verge of becoming energy, or energy at the point of materializing", or "body electricity", or "vital breath". Some describe chi as proper breathing or air pressure, i.e. the ability to control the process of breathing, to distribute oxygen to all parts of the body, to concentrate and release the power supply at will. We simply do not have a comparable concept in the West, unless of course it is "spirit" and what the Indians call "prana". Chi, spirit and prana all have the components of breath and life. The Chinese say that Chi comes from three sources: our parents at conception, from the air that is breathed and from the food that is ingested. For the most part Western medicine assumes if you are breathing you must be breathing properly. The assumption is, breathing is automatic and we don`t need to worry about it. To be aware of breathing, intentionally practicing proper breathing is very foreign to Western living. "Sprit", another possible interpretation of Chi is considered ?"New Age". Once I was accused by a medical doctor of doing some kind of "spiritual" work with one of my patients, as if it were something bad. Ah, to be "in..spired "by God! Are Westerners so scientific that we have lost all touch with spirit? Are we preoccupied with our affluence, the externals that we have forgotten? The Chinese in believing in the concept of Chi have kept the internal focus. With little affluence, internal survival becomes a focus and Chi can be everything. In the West, while proper breathing is something we are born with, we loose it in our affluence, our conditioning, our stress and our external focus.

The Chinese have long been observers of nature. They have existed through observation of nature and natural systems of operation. Very few have been scientifically educated. Nature was and is the teacher, the teacher in the school of survival. In watching the praying mantis fighting with the grasshopper, it was observed that the praying mantis, although smaller and wary, delivers exacting blows, artfully executed, attacking and retreating at exactly the right moment until the grasshopper dies. From this and other similar observations martial arts came to fruition, imitating the movements of the animals.

As keen observers of animal behavior, controlled breathing was noted in times of extreme physical effort to be of most importance. The animal model was one of efficient movements, proper breathing and concentration of energy. This was later developed into skills such as being able to deliver a deadly punch with a fist while holding a bird?s egg in the hollow of that same lethal punch. Concentration of energy was paramount to such feats. The Chinese learned to breathe deeply, tighten the stomach muscles to unbelievable levels (for visceral protection this was their armor), remain centered and relax with the rest of the body. They claimed breathing training or the practice of chi was the method.

Master Tu has his students begin to learn "everlasting energy" by first getting conscious of air movement. This makes them aware of the power in breathing. He says to "adjust the chi by breathing deep into the abdomen (Most Westerners breathe deeply by lifting the chest), activate the tan t`ien, letting the Chi circulate throughout the entire body without hindrance, making all movements active and alert". Breathing control is the most important aspect of Qigong. The importance of inhaling and exhaling correctly cannot be over-stressed. By breathing deeply into the abdomen, focusing approximately 2 inches below the navel (tan t`ien), the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, telling the brain there is no stress, thereby relaxing the muscles, dilating peripheral, surface and cerebral blood vessels in particular allowing oxygen rich blood to flow (chi) to all parts of the body nourishing the entire being. For Chi to move naturally, correct breathing in vital. With practice one only needs to breathe 4-5 times a minute, instead of the average 15 - 20 times. With correct breathing, harmony can occur between concentration and motion.

Correct breathing is the basis of all exercises recommended in China for longevity, as well as for curing disease. According to the philosopher, Chuang-tzu, men of wisdom draw their breath from deep inside and below, while ordinary men breathe with their larynx alone. The percentage of civilized men who breathe properly is very small. The Chinese in their wisdom of observation of the ways of nature (the Tao) show that physical health and mental well-being depends upon correct breathing. The ability to properly distribute Oxygen to all parts of the body, to control and release this supply of vital energy at will is what the Masters call Chi.

"In the beginning to learn the proper use of breath, one should inhale a breath through the nose. Stop up the nose and mentally count one`s heart beats. The breath should be exhaled through the mouth. In this method of breathing, everyone should make it his aim that his own ears might not hear the sound of either inhalation of exhalation. The rule is to inhale generously and exhale sparingly. One should suspend the feather of a wild goose in front of the nose and mouth that the feather might not stir while the breath is being e expelled should be one`s aim. With gradual practice, One should increase correspondingly the count of the heart beats during which the breath is held. After a very long period of time, one should be able to count a thousand heart beats. When an old man has arrived at that stage, then he will be transformed into a young man , each day adding to the transformation." Pao Po Tzu.

Dr. Ko Hung 470 B.C.


By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa

506 2786 5300



http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com

Rosemary MacGregor