Practicing Qigong
Qigong has been practiced for thousands of years in East Asia as a martial, wellness, and spiritual cultivation practice. The development of East Asian medicine has been and continues to be informed by these practices.
In simplest terms, qigong involves the synchronization of movement, breath, and attention.
I practice a lineage of qigong called Jin Jing Gong. Jin Jing Gong 功經筋 (Tendon and Meridian Opening Qigong) is a qigong lineage that has its roots in Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, martial arts, and medicine. Like many other cultivation practices, Jin Jing Gong was developed and refined on Mount Emei in Sichuan province, China. Mt. Emei is one of Buddhism's four sacred mountains.
One reason I offer qigong classes to the community is to share the health benefits of qigong that folks can learn and take home to care for themselves.
Qigong is beneficial for our physical, psycho-emotional, and spiritual health. Through practicing, I have been able to release long term pain and tension patterns in my upper back and shoulders. I feel safer in my body and feel more connected to it. Qigong has also supported me to identify and change my relationship to difficult emotional states, acutely in the moment and more broadly. Practicing fosters more presence and ease. As with most things, the benefits are not without challenge and effort.
I started practicing qigong when I was in my 5-year doctoral program for classical East Asian medicine. Qigong was emphasized in my program because to be a dedicated practitioner of the medicine self-cultivation is necessary.
I think of self-cultivation as knowing yourself and knowing the world. It means knowing your patterns whether those be present-moment physical holding and pain patterns or how you react in stressful situations, and then, doing your best to tend to and take care of those patterns. It means building a relationship with your body, the environment, and how your body interacts with that environment. It means understanding how you have been shaped by your environment and how you can shape it back. Environment means our natural world which we are an essential part of. I also include things like political, structural oppression, familial, and ancestral context here.
Practicing qigong has asked me to build a relationship with discipline. My experience of discipline is challenging. I don’t have much discipline in my life that feels very easeful! It’s easy for me to decide to not do things because they are too hard. And, it’s equally easy for me to tell myself that I *have to* do something, and I go through the actions with a lot of tension and angst. Real discipline is about choosing rigor because you want it and following through with grace and ease. Qigong is one of the places where I get to practice this.
Another reason I am offering qigong classes to the community is to create a collective container to practice in. I find that I am able to step into this place of choosing graceful rigor when I am practicing with others or feel a sense of wider connection. I want to help foster this experience for others as well. Practicing qigong in a group feels different than practicing alone. The Qi of the room can powerfully shift with all of us focused together. Ultimately, we are never alone and always interconnected. Qigong practice brings us into deeper connection with our ever-present, universal web.
If you’d like to join me for qigong class, I’m currently holding a weekly Qigong in the Park at Marquette Park in Dutchtown. We meet at 6pm every Tuesday (weather permitting) throughout the summer and fall. For more info and to sign up for weekly reminders and weather cancellations about Qigong in the Park, you can fill out this interest form here. Stay tuned for more qigong opportunities in the future!