Medical Qigong is one of the four main branches of Chinese Medicine. The four branches are acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Chinese medical massage, and Medical Qigong. Medical Qigong has been practiced in China for over 2,000 years and is still practiced in hospitals in China today.
In Chinese, Qi is life force or energy. Gong is skill. Qigong, therefore, can simply be understood as skill with life force or energy. Qigong is a personal cultivation practice that involves posture, breath, intention and movement to balance, regulate, nourish, and purge an individual’s own Qi.
Medical Qigong on the other hand is Chinese energetic medicine. It is an alternative and complementary healing modality which involves the client lying on a massage table while the practitioner interacts with the client’s Qi to achieve balance and greater energetic harmony.
To use an analogy, a Medical Qigong treatment is like managing a grocery store. Sometimes there is a surplus of certain items in the inventory and they are taking up too much space in the back stock. These items are put on sale to move them out of the store. Grocery stockers are on the lookout for holes on the shelves, where items need to be restocked. The grocery store is your internal landscape and flow of Qi and the items in the store reflect what is happening with your Qi. In some areas there is too much Qi which causes blockages, like the surplus inventory that needs to be moved out. In other places Qi is deficient, like the empty spots on the store shelves and we need to bring Qi into those places to nourish them. Medical Qigong is this balancing act of Qi within and around the body.
Also, similarly to how an acupuncturist will prescribe herbs or a medical doctor will issue prescriptions, the Medical Qigong practitioner will often prescribe simple Qigong exercises to be done in between treatment sessions. The combination of regular Medical Qigong treatments and Qigong exercises is where the magic really happens. The more you are able to contribute to your own healing process the deeper things can go in treatment. It is important for you to take a role in your own healing process.
While clients are welcome to come for a single session, a series of sessions in combination with regular practice of prescription exercises yields the best results.