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By Root 270 0

Chi Kung was one of the first forms of practice, used as a means of strengthening the body to prepare for combat. In volatile times, when troops invaded temples and bandits stole from cities, martial arts training was used as a means of self-defense to protect the welfare of the family, temple, and town. The Shaolin monks are a great example of the balance between martial training and spiritual cultivation. As practitioners trained in martial styles of Chi Kung, they became extremely healthy and full of vitality.

Iron Shirt Chi Kung is a perfect example of this blend between martial arts training and physical health. As the martial need for this training faded away, the practice transformed into a Chi Kung set that builds energy and vitality for health, wellness, and inner balance.1

MEDICAL CHI KUNG

Medical Chi Kung activates the innate healing power within the body. Whether you are practicing Chi Kung movements, stretches, or meditation, medical Chi Kung is designed to heal imbalances that currently exist and to prevent disease from ever occurring. There are two distinct styles of medical Chi Kung practiced today. One involves performing Chi Kung exercises to strengthen the body and cultivate healing energy. These exercises are used like prescriptions, offered by a Chi Kung doctor to cure a client’s specific ailments. So if you have low back pain, for instance, then the Chi Kung teacher would give you exercises to increase circulation in your lower back and strengthen your kidney energy. Or if you have digestive problems, you would be given exercises to help you strengthen your internal organs.

The other style of medical Chi Kung is practiced by the doctor on the patient. In this form, the Chi Kung doctor uses his or her healing capabilities to direct chi into and through the patient’s body. Here the patient is passive and receives treatment. Like in acupuncture, the Chi Kung practitioner looks for imbalance and blockage and uses his/her energy to facilitate the healing process of the patient.

Medical Chi Kung practitioners go through years of training to become skilled at manipulating the subtle energy of their clients and at maintaining their own energy at a high level. This way they don’t take on the sick energy of the person being worked on. Also, these Chi Kung doctors are able to tap into the unlimited energy of nature and the universe so that they don’t become depleted of their own life-force energy.2

SPIRITUAL CHI KUNG

Spiritual Chi Kung enhances compassionate, virtuous energy to support a life of love and kindness. It is usually practiced in meditation, with the practitioner sitting still and using the mind to move and circulate internal energy. This is a process of Internal Alchemy, whereby energy is transformed into a higher and more refined vibration. In this practice, practitioners also often draw energy from the universe into the body. This cultivates a sense of unity with nature, with the Tao, and with each other.

The Microcosmic Orbit is a spiritual Chi Kung practice that opens the body and meridian pathways (Govenor and Functional channels) to cultivate higher frequencies of energy. By bringing energy through these particular channels, the practitioner distills energy from the lower centers to the higher centers, expanding consciousness and spiritual awareness.

It’s difficult to discern, sometimes, a single category for a specific Chi Kung exercise. For example, the Microcosmic Orbit could be used for medical and health purposes as well as for spiritual purposes. As energy opens in the body, it’s natural for physical vitality to increase along with spiritual insight.

MOVING FORMS AND STILL FORMS

The many styles of Chi Kung blend movement, flow, stretches, and stillness. Tai Chi, for example, is a flowing, martial arts form of Chi Kung that blends soft, gentle movements of the body with a calm, expanded state of mind.

Still practice (Jing Gong) and moving practice (Dung Gong) are the yin and yang of Chi Kung, the two complementary poles of practice in all styles. Movement and activity are