Qi Gong Massage

Qi gong (vereenvoudigd Chinees: 气功; traditioneel Chinees: 氣功; pinyin: qì gōng, Japans 'kiko of ki-ko') (uitspraak: tsjie ghong) is een onderdeel van de Chinese leer, die men zich aanleert om de lichamelijke en geestelijke gezondheid te behouden en te verbeteren.

Qi-gongoefeningen zijn meestal opzichzelfstaande oefeningen waarbij men de lichaamsdelen volgens een voorgeschreven patroon beweegt, en deze bewegingen enige malen herhaalt, alvorens men naar een volgende beweging overstapt. Een qi-gongoefening kan ook statisch zijn, waarbij een staande of zittende houding langere tijd wordt aangehouden. Verder wordt de nadruk gelegd op ademhalingsoefeningen.
Het herhaaldelijk bewegen en correct ademhalen wordt geacht de stroming van qi (levensenergie) in het lichaam positief te beïnvloeden. Elk lichaamsdeel (met de nadruk op interne organen) wordt geacht een zekere mate van qi te hebben. De qi in alle lichaamsdelen is, als ze gezond zijn, in balans. Door het uitvoeren van de qi-gongoefeningen poogt men deze balans te onderhouden of te herstellen.
Meer dan 5000 jaar was Qigong het best bewaarde geheim van China. Beoefend achter gesloten deuren en hoge muren, in oude boeddhistische kloosters en taoïstische tempels of in privé villa’s van rijke Chinezen. Inmiddels zijn vele mensen over de hele wereld bekend met Qigong en de positieve werking ervan op lichaam en geest. Qigong geeft rust en vitaliteit, een gezonde geestelijke en lichamelijke balans. Levensenergie! Vloeiende bewegingen en verbinding met de natuur zorgen voor rust en balans.
- verhoogt de energie
- verbetert het concentratievermogen
- verbetert de bloedsomloop
- versterkt de weerstand, het immuunsysteem
- versterkt het zelfhelende vermogen van het lichaam
- bevordert de bewegelijkheid van het hele lichaam
- houdt de bloeddruk in balans
- zorgt voor innerlijke rust en stress reductie
- maakt je bewust van je lichaam
- zorgt voor een vitaal skelet
- houdt het zenuwstelsel in balans
- activeert het diafragma en ondersteunt daardoor het hart
- beschermt en voedt de longen door langzame ademhaling
- verbetert en ondersteunt de vertering
- houdt het pH-niveau van het bloed en andere lichaamsvloeistoffen in balans
- draagt bij aan innerlijke rust en geluk! Tijdens het oefenen zul je zelf ervaren wat Zhineng Qigong met jou doet.
Qi staat voor het Chinese concept van levensenergie; Gong betekent zoveel als “de kunst” of “vaardigheid”. Qigong kun je dus vertalen als “het beheersen van en werken met levensenergie”.
Qigong is een oude Chinese bewegingsleer waarbij in vloeiende bewegingen de lichaamsenergie die geblokkeerd is, vrijgemaakt wordt. Door Qigong te beoefenen kan je weer controle krijgen over je lichaam en geest. Je leert door middel van lichamelijke beweging (vormen) ademhalingstechnieken, meditatie en aandachttraining om actief aan jezelf te werken. Doordat men mentaal en fysiek sterker wordt is Qigong tevens de basis voor vele krijgskunsten zoals Tai Chi en Tuina Massage en Kung Fu.

 Qigong is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mystical life-force qi.
Qigong practice typically involves moving meditation, coordinating slow-flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a calm meditative state of mind. People practice qigong throughout China and worldwide for recreation, exercise, relaxation, preventive medicine, self-healing, alternative medicine, meditation, self-cultivation, and training for martial arts. 

Qi primarily means air, gas or breath but is often translated as a metaphysical concept of 'vital energy', referring to a supposed energy circulating through the body; though a more general definition is universal energy, including heat, light, and electromagnetic energy; and definitions often involve breath, air, gas, or the relationship between matter, energy, and spirit. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. Gong (or kung) is often translated as cultivation or work, and definitions include practice, skill, mastery, merit, achievement, service, result, or accomplishment, and is often used to mean gongfu (kung fu) in the traditional sense of achievement through great effort. The two words are combined to describe systems to cultivate and balance life energy, especially for health and wellbeing.

• Practices

Qigong comprises a diverse set of practices that coordinate body (調身), breath (調息), and mind (調心) based on Chinese philosophy. Practices include moving and still meditation, massage, chanting, sound meditation, and non-contact treatments, performed in a broad array of body postures.
As moving meditation, qigong practice typically coordinates slow stylized movement, deep diaphragmatic breathing, and calm mental focus, with visualization of guiding qi through the body. While implementation details vary, generally qigong forms can be characterized as a mix of four types of practice: dynamic, static, meditative, and activities requiring external aids.
Dynamic practice
involves fluid movement, usually carefully choreographed, coordinated with breath and awareness. Examples include the slow stylized movements of tai chi, baguazhang, and xingyiquan. Other examples include graceful movement that mimics the motion of animals in Five Animals (Wu Qin Xi qigong)  White Crane, and Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong. As a form of gentle exercise, qigong is composed of movements that are typically repeated, strengthening and stretching the body, increasing fluid movement (blood, synovial, and lymph), enhancing balance and proprioception, and improving the awareness of how the body moves through space.
Static practice
involves holding postures for sustained periods of time. In some cases this bears resemblance to the practice of Yoga and its continuation in the Buddhist tradition. For example Yiquan, a Chinese martial art derived from xingyiquan, emphasizes static stance training. In another example, the healing form Eight Pieces of Brocade (Baduanjin qigong) is based on a series of static postures.
Meditative practice
utilizes breath awareness, visualization, mantra, chanting, sound, and focus on philosophical concepts such as qi circulation, aesthetics, or moral values. In traditional Chinese medicine and Daoist practice, the meditative focus is commonly on cultivating qi in dantian energy centers and balancing qi flow in meridian and other pathways. In various Buddhist traditions, the aim is to still the mind, either through outward focus, for example on a place, or through inward focus on the breath, a mantra, a koan, emptiness, or the idea of the eternal. In the Confucius scholar tradition, meditation is focused on humanity and virtue, with the aim of self-enlightenment.
Use of external agents
Many systems of qigong practice include the use of external agents such as ingestion of herbs, massage, physical manipulation, or interaction with other living organisms. For example, specialized food and drinks are used in some medical and Daoist forms, whereas massage and body manipulation are sometimes used in martial arts forms. In some medical systems a qigong master uses non-contact treatment, purportedly guiding qi through his or her own body into the body of another person.

• Techniques

Whether viewed from the perspective of exercise, health, philosophy, or martial arts training, several main principles emerge concerning the practice of qigong:
Intentional movement: careful, flowing balanced style
Rhythmic breathing: slow, deep, coordinated with fluid movement
Awareness: calm, focused meditative state
Visualization: of qi flow, philosophical tenets, aesthetics
Chanting/Sound: use of sound as a focal point
Additional principles:
Softness: soft gaze, expressionless face
Solid Stance: firm footing, erect spine
Relaxation: relaxed muscles, slightly bent joints
Balance and Counterbalance: motion over the center of gravity
Advanced goals:
Equanimity: more fluid, more relaxed
Tranquility: empty mind, high awareness
Stillness: smaller and smaller movements, eventually to complete stillness
The most advanced practice is generally considered to be with little or no motion.

• Chinese medicine and qigong

The theories of ancient Chinese qigong include the yin and yang and Five Elements Theory, the Three Treasures Theory, Zang-Xiang Theory, Meridians, and the qi-Blood Theory, which have been synthesized as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  TCM aims to identify and correct underlying disharmony, addressing deficiency and excess by utilizing the complementary and opposing forces of yin and yang, to create a balanced flow of qi. Qi is believed to be cultivated and stored in three main dantian energy centers and to travel through the body along twelve main meridians, with numerous smaller branches and tributaries. The main meridians correspond to twelve main organs. Qi is balanced in terms of yin and yang in the context of the traditional system of Five Elements. It is understood that illness and disease emerge when qi becomes diminished, unbalanced, or stagnant. Health is believed to be returned and maintained by rebuilding qi, eliminating qi blockages, and correcting qi imbalances. Although not all TCM concepts align with modern science and medicine, they are widely adopted by practitioners throughout East Asia and are increasingly used in the West to treat patients.

• Daoist Qigong

In Daoism, various practices now known as Daoist qigong are claimed to provide a way to achieve longevity and spiritual realization, as well as a closer connection with the natural world. Daoist Qigong found it philosophical roots in the Dao De Jing. Its featured techniques of internal elixir emerged in the Eastern Han dynasty and reached a level of maturity in the Ming and Qing dynasty. The Ming dynasty compendium Chifeng sui, written by a Daoist ascetic, lists various qigong-based "longevity methods".

• Buddhism

Meditative practices are part of a spiritual path that leads to enlightenment or Buddhahood. They are considered by some as Buddhist qigong.

• Confucianism

In Confucianism practices now known as Confucian qigong provide a means to become a Junzi (君子) through awareness of morality. Confucian qigong can include dynamic exercise or static meditation, as well as cultivation of the mind to achieve "noble spirit".

Contemporary qigong
In contemporary China, the emphasis of qigong practice has shifted away from traditional philosophy, spiritual attainment, and folklore, and increasingly to health benefits, traditional medicine and martial arts applications, and a scientific perspective. Qigong is now practiced by millions worldwide, primarily for its health benefits, though many practitioners have also adopted traditional philosophical, medical, or martial arts perspectives, and even use the long history of qigong as evidence of its effectiveness.
Contemporary Chinese medical qigong
Qigong has been recognized as a "standard medical technique" in China since 1989, and is sometimes included in the medical curriculum of major universities in China.The 2013 English translation of the official Chinese medical gigong textbook used in China。 defines CMQ as "the skill of body-mind exercise that integrates body, breath, and mind adjustments into one" and emphasizes that qigong is based on "adjustment" (tiao 调, also translated as "regulation", "tuning", or "alignment") of body, breath, and mind。  As such, qigong is viewed by practitioners as being more than common physical exercise, because qigong combines postural, breathing, and mental training in one to produce a particular psychophysiological state of being. While CMQ is still based on traditional and classical theory, modern practitioners also emphasize the importance of a strong scientific basis. According to the 2013 CMQ textbook, physiological effects of qigong are numerous, and include improvement of respiratory and cardiovascular function, and possibly neurophysiological function。

Tai chi and qigong
Tai chi is a widely practiced Chinese internal martial style based on the theory of taiji, closely associated with qigong, and typically involving more complex choreographed movement coordinated with breath, done slowly for health and training, or quickly for self-defense. Many scholars consider tai chi to be a type of qigong, traced back to an origin in the seventeenth century. In modern practice, qigong typically focuses more on health and meditation rather than martial applications, and plays an important role in training for tai chi, in particular used to build strength, develop breath control, and increase vitality ("life energy").

• Therapeutic use

Qigong has shown therapeutic benefits in various health conditions. Research suggests in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Qigong has been found to improve lung function, exercise capacity, and quality of life. Qigong exercise shows therapeutic efficacy in alleviating fibromyalgia symptoms including pain, sleep quality, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and fibromyalgia impact, as per a pilot randomized clinical trial. Moreover, studies have indicated Qigong-based exercises may be effective for alleviating depression symptoms in individuals with major depressive disorder and future well-designed, randomized controlled trials with large sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.

• Safety and cost

Qigong is generally viewed as safe. No adverse effects have been observed in clinical trials, such that qigong is considered safe for use across diverse populations. Cost for self-care is minimal, and cost efficiencies are high for group delivered care. Typically the cautions associated with qigong are the same as those associated with any physical activity, including risk of muscle strains or sprains, advisability of stretching to prevent injury, general safety for use alongside conventional medical treatments, and consulting with a physician when combining with conventional treatment.

• Mental health

Many claims have been made that qigong can benefit or ameliorate mental health conditions, including improved mood, decreased stress reaction, and decreased anxiety and depression. Most medical studies have only examined psychological factors as secondary goals, although various studies have shown decreases in cortisol levels, a chemical hormone produced by the body in response to stress.