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Qi Gong
(01)
Qigong (Simplified Chinese: 气功;
Traditional Chinese: 氣功;
pinyin: qìgōng; Wade-Giles: ch'i4 kung1;
Thai: ชี่กง)
or "Energy-Cultivation", is an aspect of Chinese medicine
involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with
various physical postures and motions of the body. Qigong is mostly
taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who
teach it as a therapeutic intervention. Various forms of traditional
qigong are also widely taught in conjunction with Chinese martial arts,
and are especially prevalent in the advanced training of what are
known as the Neijia (Chinese: 內家;
Pinyin: nèi jīa; Wade-Giles: nei4 chia1),
or internal martial arts.
 There
are currently more than 3,300 different styles and schools of qigong.
Qigong relies on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has an
energy field generated and maintained by the natural respiration of
the body, known as qi (this is analogous to Prana and Pranayama in
Yoga). Qi means breath or gas in Mandarin Chinese, and, by
extension, the energy produced by breathing that keeps us alive; gong
means work or technique. Qigong is then "breath work" or the
art of managing the breath to achieve and maintain good health, and
especially in the martial arts, to enhance the energy mobilization and
stamina of the body in coordination with the physical process of
respiration.
Attitudes toward the basis
of qigong vary markedly. Most Western medical practitioners, many
practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the Chinese
government view qigong as a set of breathing and movement exercises,
with possible benefits to health through stress reduction and exercise.
Others see qigong in more metaphysical terms, claiming that breathing
and movement exercises can influence the fundamental forces of the
universe...
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