Because Qigong has been practiced by almost every segment of Chinese culture over its 2000+ year history, its development has been influenced by the concerns and perspectives of four major groups: scholars, doctors, religious practitioners and the martial arts.

Scholarly Qigong
Two early major schools of scholarship, one created by Confucius and the other by Lao Zi, stressed maintaining health and preventing disease. They felt that illness was often caused by mental and emotional imbalances and agitation. The focus of the Qigong they developed was on stilling the mind, regulating the breath, and relaxing on a very deep level. In this state the Qi would flow evenly throughout the body, maintaining and supporting the healthy functioning of all the body’s organs and systems.

Medical Qigong
Medical or Healing Qigong focuses on physical health and healing through predominantly physical Qigong exercises. Doctors used their knowledge of Qi circulation to develop exercises that would increase Qi to specific organs to help cure illness as well as to maintain and enhance health. The purpose was to keep Qi circulation in balance and thus prevent illness from developing or to treat the initial stages of an imbalance that has developed before it progresses to disease. Medical Qigong was part of the entire Chinese medical approach that also included acupuncture, acupressure and herbal medicine.

Religious Qigong
Religious Qigong practice focused on attainting enlightenment or Buddhahood and is considered the highest level of Qigong. It developed out of the Daoist and Buddhist traditions. The spiritual goal of this form is to rise above human suffering and to strengthen the spirit to survive death and the cycle of repeated reincarnation in order to gain eternal peace. This type of training was restricted to a few priests who had reached an advanced level of development but has since been practiced by Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Buddhists and Daoists. Religious Qigong developed to include both still meditation and moving Qigong exercises in order to strengthen the body as well as to attain spiritual enlightenment.

Martial Qigong
Since the 6th century when Da Mo wrote the famous treatise Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic, many martial arts styles have been created that are based on Qigong theory. Qigong exercises were found to improve health and to greatly increase the power of martial arts techniques through the ability to direct Qi to various parts of the body. Two major styles developed. In the external style Qi may be generated in the limbs and energized by the mind to increase muscular strength or Qi can be used to energize the skin and muscles in order to resist punches and kicks. In internal Qigong Qi is generated in the body instead of the limbs and is then led to the limbs for increased power. This is considered a soft style as the muscle usage must be kept to a minimum in order to lead Qi to the limbs.

Content last modified on Mar 26, 2003