PART TWO. GENERAL KEYS TO QIGONG TRAINING
Chapter 7. General Concepts
7-1. Introduction
7-2. Building Qi
7-3. Kan and Li
Chapter 8. Regulating the Body (Tiao Shen)
8-1. Introduction
8-2. Relaxation Theory
8-3. Relaxation Practice
8-4. Rooting, Centering, and Balancing
Chapter 9. Regulating the Breath (Tiao Xi)
9-1. Breathing and Health
9-2. Regulating the Breath
9-3. The Different Methods of Qigong Breathing
9-4. General Keys to Regulating Normal Breathing
9-5. Six Stages of Regulating the Breath
Chapter 10. Regulating the Emotional Mind (Tiao Xin)
10-1. Introduction
10-2. Xin, Yi, and Nian
10-3. Methods of Stopping Thought (Zhi Nian)
10-4. Yi and Qi
10-5. Yi and the Five Organs
10-6. Xin, Yi, and Shen
Chapter 11. Regulating the Essence (Tiao Jing)
11-1. Introduction
11-2. Strengthening Your Kidneys
11-3. Regulating the Essence
Chapter 12. Regulating the Qi (Tiao Qi)
12-1. Introduction
12-2. What Qi Should be Regulated?
12-3. Regulating the Qi
Chapter 13. Regulating the Spirit (Tiao Shen)
13-1. Introduction
13-2. Regulating the Spirit
Chapter 14. Important Points in Qigong Practice
14-1. Introduction
14-2. Common Experiences for Qigong Beginners
14-3. Sensations Commonly Experienced in Still Meditation
14-4. Deviations and Corrections
14-5. Twenty-Four Rules for Qigong Practice
PART THREE. THE QI CHANNELS AND VESSELS
Chapter 15. General Concepts
15-1. Introduction
Chapter 16. The Twelve Primary Qi Channels
16-1. Introduction
16-2. The Twelve Primary Channels
16-3. Important Points
Chapter 17. The Eight Extraordinary Qi Vessels
17-1. Introduction
17-2. The Eight Extraordinary Vessels
PART FOUR. CONCLUSION
Chapter 18. One Hundred and One Questions
Chapter 19. Conclusion
Appendix A. Translation and Glossary of Chinese Terms
Index
16
Foreword First Edition
When Nixon opened China to the West in the 1970’s, great interest was kindled in the possibilities of Americans learning many previously-hidden secrets of the “inscrutable” Orient. One of the realms of exploration most eagerly awaited, particularly by Western physicians, was the science of Oriental healing: exotic practices such as acupuncture, Shiatsu massage, Taijiquan, and the curious and puzzling notion of Qi, or vital energy. Popular magazines at the time featured arresting photographs of men and women lying calmly on operating tables, nearly disemboweled during major surgery, yet apparently requiring no more anesthesia than a few gleaming needles thrust into the skin of their foreheads.
Since these earliest dramatic harbingers, serious investigation of phenomena based on Chinese conceptualizations have both waxed and waned. Interest in Taijiquan, for example—a form of exercise, health maintenance, and combat—has risen steadily, especially in the western United States, stimulated in part by the fact that a large part of the Chinese citizenry practice this exercise daily to apparently good effect, and in part by the fact that Taijiquan masters, who regularly win mixed martial arts tournaments, seem to become better with age, rather than slower and weaker as do aging practitioners of other martial forms such as Gongfu.
In contrast, after a spate of studies and articles attempting to define the physiologic bases for the generally unchallenged efficacy of acupuncture, interest in this area has waned markedly. Most early investigators tended toward the beliefs either that some form of suggestibility was involved, like that of hypnosis, another time-honored and effective anesthetic; or else that some known neural mechanism was being employed, such as “gating,” where stimulation of some nerves with acupuncture needles functionally blocked impulses (presumably pain impulses) in others.
At the present time in the public mind a mixed feeling, an ambivalence, seems to hold sway, between forces of acceptance and of resistance toward these oriental concepts. To place the value of the present book in some perspective, therefore, it will be useful to understand these opposing forces.
The current forces tending toward acceptance of Chinese healing theory and practice draw from multiple origins. The first is the upsurge of interest in physical fitness. A few years ago the “high energy, high effort” fitness wave swept over the country; thousands of formerly sedentary individuals ran, jogged, danced, pumped and stretched in search of greater health and strength or, at least, an improved silhouette. Then, as many would-be athletes nursed injured or over-strained muscles, bones and joints, interest in “low-impact” exercise surfaced. Ironically, Qigong practices were already providing this valuable type of conditioning centuries ago. Thus, the Westerner familiar with low-impact aerobics can readily understand the value of Qigong forms.
A second force tending toward acceptance is the average person’s awareness of the link between mind and body; the concept of psychosomatic illness—mental conditions causing physical illnesses—is familiar from the popular press, from the revelations of celebrities and from everyone’s personal experience of tension headaches, stress ulcers, and the like. In a comparable fashion, some recent investigations by Herbert Benson, M.D. and others on the beneficial physical effects of mental calmness (as in the “relaxation response”) have given solid support to the power of mental states to heal or harm. Thus the emphasis in Qigong practice on mental conditioning as a prerequisite and companion to physical improvement is not so foreign a notion at all.
On the other side of the ledger, certain factors tend to elicit resistance to these Eastern teachings and disbelief in both their relevance to modern persons and their scientific validity. One