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February 28, 2005
Qigong's greatest contribution to health
If you put a gun to my head and asked me what I thought was qigong's greatest contribution to health, I would say 'the art and science of flow.' The human impulse toward life and health is the impulse to express through flow and movement. So, yes life at its best is a playful dance. Dance is the lifeblood of our health. Nature is unforgiving. Forget to flow, stop dancing and you’re on the road to decline.
From its origins in shamanic and folkloric healing systems, qigong developed a magnificently rich repertoire of methods to regulate and energize flow. The more you practice qigong the more sensitive you become to the importance of flow, as it expresses through movement, posture, breath and consciousness.
Whenever you feel stuck, or low you’re receiving a signal warning you to change your ways. We live to grow. We live to correct ourselves. We start dying when we give up, when we refuse to change, refuse to make adjustments, refuse to learn from our mistakes. Health is our birthright, but it’s a birthright that we need to claim anew every day.
Set the pattern right away by engaging in flow-enhancing movement first thing in the morning. You can shake, vibrate, spiral, circle, pump, extend and contract in all manner of ways, but get moving!
One exceptional way to jump start your day is with Qigong Whole Body Shaking: shake out and vibrate every part of your body, concentrating on particularly tight areas while maintaining a generalized shaking throughout the whole body. Five minutes is good, but when you can make the time, do it for up to twenty minutes. Qigong practitioners swear by this practice not only for loosening up and energizing the whole body, but for cleansing and clearing all the meridians.
Check out John Du Cane’s Qigong resources here.
Posted by John Du Cane at February 28, 2005 5:25 PM