QIGONG

What is gigong?

Qigong (pronounced chee gung) is rooted in Chinese medicine along with Taoist philosophy and healing arts. When we practice qigong, we're aiming to build and enhance our vital energy (qi) to improve our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. We do this through specific practices that involve the body, the breath, and the mind (this is the gong, which means skill or exercise).

It's often introduced simply as gentle exercise or a series of movements that improve health and wellbeing - in fact many qigong teachers, especially here in France, describe their classes as 'gentle gymnastics'.

But while learning the movements matters, they're just one part of qigong practice - moving without a connection to awareness and breath is simply exercise. Qigong is not really about the movements - it's about the person who's moving.

What we're really trying to do when we're practising qigong is to bring body, breath and awareness into harmony. When we can do that, over time our internal state slowly begins to shift, and we start to see benefits not just while we're practising but as we move through each day and through our lives.

It may look simple from the outside, but its depth comes from what you can't see.

My approach - integrative qigong for resilience

My approach to qigong is an integrative one - it blends the wisdom of ancient traditional Chinese energy practices with new scientific insights from somatics, neuroscience and breathwork.

As we prepare to grow older, it becomes more and more important to build and conserve our vital energy, to teach our nervous systems to be calmer and more adaptive, to understand how to breath well and to keep our bodies moving fluidly. That's why the core of what I practice and share is based around resilience.

Resilience isn't about being strong all the time, or never getting upset or stressed or tired. It's about being able to meet life and everything it throws at us head on, in all its messiness, and still find our way back to steady ground and to a place of balance and centredness. It's about understanding that the things that stress us, that throw us off kilter, that stop us sleeping well, aren't just located in the mind, they're rooted in the body.

Qigong is a gentle invitation to clear out the unhelpful things that are holding us back, move anything that appears to be stuck, and make room for something softer, for a quiet kind of balance and inner strength.

What happens in a qigong session?

Sessions generally last for 50 to 60 minutes. Each one is different, but we mostly follow a sequence:

We begin by warming up our bodies: opening our joints; stretching the tension out of our muscles, connective tissues and fascia, clearing and dispersing what the Chinese call stagnant qi (blocked vital energy) from our energy channels. The warm up movements in qigong - often called Daoyin or Taoist yoga - are mostly spiral or circular and should always be done without pain.
Then we work on our posture and our breathing. The way we stand is important in qigong as it helps the energy to build and flow. Here too I might introduce some breathing exercises to help us breath light, slow and deep.
Next we'll move into what we call the flow or movement meditation part of our practice. This helps circulate the qi, and the combination of slow movement, breathing and awareness activates our parasympathetic nervous system to take us out of readiness/stress mode and into what's known as the 'rest and digest' state.
We often finish with some walking practice or if we're inside, with some seated meditation practice.

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