I am always surprised by the relatively low numbers of acupuncturists and Chinese medicine practitioners who practice qigong since it offers direct, lived experience of yinyang, the acupuncture points and channels, and more. It springs from the same roots as our medicine and enhances our ability to enjoy free flow, harmony, and centered, relaxed parasympathetic states that contribute to our own health and well-being, as well as that of our patients.
Chinese medicine can be said to have one root with many branches. This shared root is made up of the core principles of yinyang, five phase and microcosm / macrocosm resonances, free flow of qi and blood, naturalness, and the three treasures of jing-qi-shen and Heaven, Human and Earth.
Of the branches (acupuncture, herbal medicine, tuina, etc.), none embodies these roots more profoundly than yangsheng (nourishment of life) and especially qigong. For acupuncture practitioners, qigong offers a deep and lived experience of all of these principles; as well as a direct connection to qi, points and channels.
1. Making Friends With the Points
The “invention” of modern qigong in 1947 is credited to Liu Guizhen, a chronically weak and sick soldier in the Northern Red Army. Sent back to his home village as a hopeless case, he was taught a neiyanggong (inner cultivation) practice by his uncle. Practicing for 102 days by standing in silent meditation, regulating his breath, focusing his mind at Yongquan (KID 1) on the soles of the feet and repeating a simple mantra, Liu recovered his health and went on to found China’s first modern qigong schools and rehabilitation centers.
There is a saying, “Where the mind goes, there the qi goes.” There’s nothing mysterious about this. Simply paying attention to any part of the body invites it to “wake up” – bringing it to the forefront of our awareness.
You can try it now with any point of your choice; commonly used examples are Laogong (P 8), Yongquan (KID 1), Xuanzhong (GB 39), Taichong (LIV 3), Hegu (LI 4) and Mingmen (DU 4). Simply sit or stand, relax, and allow your mind to be absorbed into the point until sensation – a feeling of aliveness – arises. This is a way of both activating points and simply experiencing them within the landscape of the body.
Points can also be connected to each other. For example, we can stand with the feet well-rooted, palms facing the earth, and interconnect Laogong (P 8) to Yongquan (KID 1),1 or Hegu (LI 4) to Taichong (LIV 3); or we can place the center of the back of one hand – outer Laogong (P 8) – over Mingmen (DU 4) and enjoy the comforting, easing and nourishing sensation that evokes.
2. Working With the Channels
There are three ways we can work with the channels in qigong practice.
The first is an extension of the focus on points. We can mentally trace the path of a channel while standing in the core qigong posture (“standing like a tree”), taking our awareness up or down the channel, stopping at some or all of the points along the way, feeling them come alive under our calm attention.
The second is to combine this with physically lengthening through channels. In internal method practice, the emphasis is not on “stretching,” which paradoxically may generate tension,2 but on softly, elastically and mindfully lengthening and releasing, over and over, in harmony with slow, deep, lower abdominal breathing.
For example, we can work with the liver channel, opening and closing Zhongfeng (LIV 4), through Ligou (LIV 5) to Ququan (LIV 8), and then up the thigh to the groin: Zuwuli (LIV 10), Yinlian (LIV 11), and Jimai (LIV 12). Opening (widening and lengthening) the groin and hip region, known as the “kua” in the internal arts, is a key part of tai chi skill.
From an anatomy / physiology point of view, it maximizes the health of local nerves, blood vessels and lymph nodes. And from a Chinese medicine point of view it opens the pathway between the liver and other leg channels and the trunk. Hip, pelvic and genital health all benefit.
The liver channel can then be further lengthened up to Qimen (LIV 14) and even as far as its termination at Baihui (DU 20). The same approach can be taken with every channel.
The third way of working with the channels is to lengthen and spiral through the whole body. As written in the 4th century BCE Daoist text, the Nei Ye (Inner Training):
For all [to practice] this Way:
You must coil, you must contract,
You must uncoil, you must expand,
You must be firm, you must be regular [in this practice].3
Most of us are familiar with the growing science of the fascia or connective tissue. When we are young, the fascial tissues show clear folds or undulations which have been compared to elastic springs. This elasticity – which is unrelated to simple muscle strength – gives young humans and young animals springiness and bounce. (Think of a lamb’s astonishing leaps on the most delicate and fragile legs or how children can’t resist skipping along the pavement.)
As we age, however – and especially when we lead lives with impoverished natural movement – the fascia lose this springiness and the undulations flatten. And when we sit for long periods, or distort our physical alignment and structure through poor posture, repetitive work or particular sports and leisure activities, negative patterns are imprinted on the fascia. They no longer glide against each other, but instead form adhesions and become matted, firm and overly dense.
The consequence is stagnation – manifesting as pain, impaired movement and poor health. It could therefore be said that as far as movement is concerned, our bodies are as young as our fascia.4
Restoring elasticity and fluidity to the fascia requires patience and commitment. It is quiet, soft, slow and absorbing work, integrating movement, breath and mindful awareness. It doesn’t offer the instant gratification of aerobic or power workouts, or the big stretches of some styles of yoga, which may be one reason why qigong is generally less popular.
Editor’s Note: See part 2 of this three-part article in the December issue.
References / Footnotes
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
| Digital Exclusive
One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
| Digital Exclusive