Tai Chi & Qigong classes
Qigong/ Chi Kung
Most people haven't even heard of Qigong. You may have seen it, but thought it was Tai Chi. The two have similarities but are different:
Qigong: SAY it 'Chee-Gung'.
Sometimes you'll see it written as Chi-Kung. It's exactly the same thing as Qigong.
Qigong exercise has a 5000 year old history. It originated and has been practiced in China continuously since then. Qigong and Tai Chi practices were banned for a period of time last century, in an attempt to modernise China. "Out with the old and in with the new" was the cry! Practitioners who knew the benefits of Qigong and continued to pracice in secret risked losing their homes, imprisonment or even death. Aunts, uncles, sons, daughters and neighbours etc were encouraged to inform the authorities if they saw someone engaging in a forbidden activity. Even so, those who valued the arts carried on their practice as they knew it's benefits.
Qigong is an umbrella term used to describe various systems of physical and mental training for health, self-development or enlightenment. Together with massage, acupuncture and herbal remedies, Qigong is one of the core elements of Chinese Medicine which is used to balance the energy of the body, staving off premature ageing and poor physical / mental / emotional health.
Chinese Medicine is based on the Eastern concept of 'Qi', or universal life energy, which sustains every living thing. Qi circulates through energy pathways in the human body called Jing Luo or 'Meridians' . There are two polar opposites of Qi - Yin and Yang. Just as temperature can be described as hot (yang) or cold (Yin). Yin is always in the process of changing to Yang and vice versa. This is how the Chinese explain nature / everyday phenomena, such as wintere (yin) yielding to spring (Yang rising) yielding to Summer (Maximum yang), before returning to the more yin states of autumn and then maximum yin in winter/ again. The cycle is in continual movement. Everything on Earth is subject to and caused by the interplay of Yin and Yang.
When we become ill, Chinese Medicine points to the cause of the illness being a blockage, imbalance, stagnation or adverse flow of this qi energy within the body. A blockage can createboth a lack and excess of energy, meaning a part of the body becomes too yang whilst another becomes too Yin / not Yang enough. An illness (mental emotional or physical) will then arise unless the flow of Qi can be smoothed out.
If you can fix the Yin/Yang balance by clearing the blockage you can heal the illness / fix your emotional responses / illogical mind. Qigong focuses on HEALTH-KEEPING - preventing illness & prolonging life via daily Qigong exercises, rather than waiting until we get sick and then taking a medicine to control a specific symptom without getting to the underlying cause. Eg: You have high blood pressure -the doctor prescribes a pill to lower the blood pressure, rather than addressing the cause the high blood pressure. This is the 'sticking plaster' approach, you never actually get well, you just mask the symptoms, for a while.
If you Google 'acupuncture' you'll find a diagram of the energy channels, called jing-luo or 'meridians' within the human body. The practice of Qigong stimulates the Qi ( bio-electrical life energy) to flow correctly within these pathways via specific movements. The manipulation of the Qi through the energy channels breaks up blockages, removes stagnation and turbid Qi energy, allowing the body to naturally heal itself.
In the same way that an acupuncturist would use needles to stimulate certain accupoints, so Qigong uses movement as a self-treatment which can be done in your own time whenever you want.
Conditions helped by Qigong practice are many -there's really not much it doesn't help. As well as illnesses, it improves sleep, digestion, tones the body increases strength, helps joints and bones, calms the mind, reduces anxiety and lifts the mood., keeping us feeling young!
Tai Chi / Taiji
Like it's counterpart Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan (Tai Chi for short) is also spelled two ways.
You might see it written Taijiquan, often shortened to Taiji.
Understanding what Tai Chi is becomes easier when you have an idea of what Qigong is, because Tai Chi Chuan is MARTIAL ARTS QIGONG.
Tai means supreme and Chi means ultimate, so with the addition of Chuan (Fist) we have Supreme Ultimate Fist
About 500 years ago a retired army general called Chen Wangting who had a deep interest in the philosophy of yin and yang, wondered why, when it came to fighting the underpinning philosophies of yin and yang, were completely ignored.
He set about devising a fighting art which utilised the qualities of Yin and Yang, so that instead of meeting force with force, (Yang on Yang) used yielding (Yin) to overcome an incoming force (Yang), using the opponents own force to defeat them.
By yielding to the incoming force he found he could borrow the opponents power and by following a circular path, could lead the force to a place where it compromised the opponents structure or even turn the force back on them. Chen Taijiquan, the martial art, was born!
Yang style Tai Chi - a very popular style was developed out of Chen Tai Chi by Yang Luchan, who studied with the Chen family but is a less martial style than Chen.
Other styles have sprung up, Sun & Wu style are also older mainstream family styles but some less well known experimental styles have been developed by various individuals over the years. It pays to do some research and stick with a traditional style which is taught around the world if you want to be sure it's genuine, tried and tested.
At East Riding Tai Chi classes we start with some Qigong exercises. After we have covered these I teach beginners the Beijing 24 form looking at the 12 principles of taijiquan and trying to embody these in our practice.
Those who are keen will have the option to go on to study Chen Taijiquan and learn weapons forms and pushing hands / partner work if you wish, but this isn't compulsory. Most people choose to stay with Qigong and Beijing 24..It's your journey, travel how you wish :)
