Courses.

The practice of qigong rebalances the yin-yang aspect in the body, harmonizes qi and blood, cleanses the meridian system, accumulates internal qi and strengthens life. The old and the weak become strong, while the sick recover. All of this has been proven by millions of practitioners and even by medical science.

In the early years of the 2000s, Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin in the city of Madison used “brain imaging”1 techniques to show that meditation shifts the activity of the brain in the prefrontal cortex (right behind the forehead) from the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere. His research suggests that through regular meditation the brain turns from a mode of stress to one of acceptance, a change that increases fulfilment. People who have a negative disposition have brain activity in the right prefrontal area, while people with brain activity in the left prefrontal area have more enthusiasm, more interests, are more relaxed and tend to be happier.2

The practice of qigong improves the blood circulation of the heart, the vessels and the capillaries by lowering the level of estradiol in the blood: a sign of an anti-ageing effect.

During practice the consumption of oxygen and the expulsion of carbon dioxide both decrease. This reduces respiratory cycles per minute and significantly improves lung function. In 1967 Dr. Herbert Benson, professor at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study on 36 practitioners of transcendental meditation, discovering that when they were in meditation these people consumed 17% less oxygen and their hearts slowed their beat. And with a lesser use of oxygen there was also a lesser production of carbon dioxide. Qigong is ecological!

The production of saliva and gastric juices increases. Intestinal motility increases. Digestive function is thereby improved.

The pituitary gland and all the endocrine glandular tissue are regulated. For example the metabolic levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline are lowered, the levels of growth hormone are reduced and the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol LDL is also lowered, etc. There are many clinical reports of patients with diabetes, hyperthyroidism, amenorrhea and other endocrine disorders cured with the practice of qigong.

All these clinical reports and these experiments show the positive effect of qigong.

With Zhineng Qigong one not only recovers from illnesses and regains health, but there is a proven effectiveness in shaping the body. We have witnessed a practitioner who lost six kg in a month, and another who gained three kg in a month, and both regulated their body weight without the use of particular diets. Many have experienced the disappearance of skin blemishes or the regrowth of hair.

Qigong is the core of TCM and has a longer history than Chinese medicine itself. Although the word qigong has a long history it did not, however, become popular until the 1950s of the last century when doctors and scientists began to research its effectiveness in maintaining health. At that time, the word qigong acquired a more favourable status compared to more abstruse descriptions such as daoyin (conduction), tuna (expelling stagnant energy and absorbing fresh energy), yangsheng (maintaining and improving health). References to qigong can be found in a mass of texts and writings over a period exceeding 3000 years of history.

The mechanism by which qigong produces benefits for health is still the subject of scientific research. Different types of qigong give different explanations about the ways in which qigong works. Throughout its history, qigong has been used and developed as a method to cure illnesses and strengthen mind and body. The main therapeutic property might lie in the capacity to regulate the respiratory system, the metabolism, the activity of the cerebral cortex, the central nervous system, the cardiocirculatory system as well as the correction of abnormal reactions of the organs, the massaging effect on the organs of the abdominal cavity and the self-control effect of the physical functions of the body. However there are not sufficient data and research to document all of this. According to TCM and according to the articles of the scientific literature in Chinese available, qigong might work according to the criteria listed here below.

Although there are many different elements that characterize the various types of qigong, there are however the so-called three methods or three regulations that are common to almost all traditions. They will be briefly described here and subsequently the characteristics of Zhineng qigong will be illustrated, the system that has been chosen to use in the seminar proposed to the students of the conservatory.

Zhineng Qigong, since its creation, has always followed a rapid, healthy and correct development. And it has not only attracted attention for the diffusion of theories and methods, but also for the positive results obtained in the medical and scientific field.

3. The standing position (Zhan zhuang) 三心并站庄

This is a static form of qigong that has the task of freeing the flow of qi in the body and of relaxing the lumbo-sacral area.

In Zhineng Qigong there are nine great characteristics that indicate the points that differentiate it from the other systems of practice. These are:

2.Its own system of practices. These include three types of exercises: dynamic, static and spontaneous movement. Each type of exercise must pass through the three phases of external, internal and median hunyuan from the initial level to the most elevated one. Zhineng qigong is divided into three stages and 6 levels of practice. In the first level there is pengqiguanding fa which belongs to the stage of external hunyuan. The second level, xingshenzhuang, trains the hunyuan of mind and body. The third level, wuyuanzhuang, trains the true hunyuanqi of the internal organs. The second and third levels belong to the stage of internal hunyuan. The fourth level trains the hunyuanqi of the central channel; the fifth level trains the hunyuanqi of the central line and in the sixth level one makes a return to the origin (also called complete fusion in the primeval source). The fourth, fifth and sixth levels belong to the phase of median hunyuan. The six levels of practice have all been formulated according to the different vital activities. There also exists sanxin bing zhanzhuang which is a basic method of the entire system of exercises, with the characteristic of ferrying from one level to another.

3.Zhineng qigong gathers the strong points of the other systems. Zhineng qigong has gathered the essence of the methods of the Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, medical, martial, popular and numerous other schools, transforming their organic structure into a complete system.

6.Through the method of regulating the flow of qi by means of qi, in a safe and reliable way we do not practice in a dangerous way. This includes the conduction of qi by means of thought, the conduction of qi by means of the body and the conduction of qi by means of sounds.