Qigong Healing Basics: Moving the Qi to the diseased area:

Many people associate Qigong with Taijiquan, but actually it has a much longer history and was traditionally used to heal specific illnesses from a Chinese Medicine perspective. In this article we will begin to look at the theory and practice of how that works!

In the last article we discussed five types of Qigong Breathing methods, today go a little farther and talk about how to use Qi to relieve stiffness in your body.

First we need to know how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) understand Qi:

In TCM we see Qi as a combination of factors related to the circulatory system including:

• oxygen in blood: When we breathe we bring oxygen into the body. It circulates in the blood and arrives at every tissue of the body, nourishing them.

• Food nutrition: nutritional contents of food such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals circulate in the body and especially the blood, further nourishing tissues, organs etc..

• the original basic energy of the organs: each organ has its own structure and nutritional content which allows it to function properly. This is built of the original physical essence of the body but also by the energetic signature of the organ that allows it to perform its function. We broadly call this organ Qi as the Original Qi of the organs. It is nourished by nutritional Qi but also exists as an intrinsic aspect of the body.

There are other types of Qi too, but these are the important ones for our Qigong practice.

Now let's talk about the basics of Qi pathogenisis in muscle tension and pain:

Our Qi can become sick in multiple ways, but usually it either accords to:

1: Excess: too much collection of a pathogenic factor such as cold or heat in a specific area of the body.

2: Deficiency: a lack of Qi in a specific area.

Of course this can also relate to other problems, but most important from the Qigong perspective is:

• stagnation: the Qi in an area does not move smoothly due to blockage,

• stasis: the blood in an area does not move smoothly due to a blockage or collection (think of how a bruise or local inflammation work).

In either case we might feel pain since lack of movement causes muscle tension and local swelling or inflammation.

These are big principles which can apply to many types of pain.

Now I will give a quick overview of a few common problems people experience and then a more detailed analysis of possible deeper problems, then we will talk about using simple Qigong to treat them at home. This time we will just talk about shoulders and neck, but these can apply to any part of the body and we will talk about this in a later article.

1: Sore shoulder and neck from heat accumulation:

This patient has tight and painful shoulders and neck which radiate into the head and cause a headache.

The skin of the sore area is hot to touch compared to skin on other parts of the body and may present as reddish in color compared to other skin.

The patient will normally feel bothered, agitated, and always want to move around to try to relieve the pain.

2: Sore shoulder and neck from cold accumulation:

the patient has tight shoulders and neck which are hard to touch, may result in a headache but they do not show normal heat symptoms such as agitation but instead may feel tired, lethargic and lacking energy. This type often happens when people have a common cold or if they have been working outside in the winter for a long time.

3: Immobile pain in shoulders and neck caused by blood stagnation.

The pain is in a specific place and it may be hard to move such as the arm not being able to lift above the head or the neck being unable to turn. They may have a very severe and penetrating headache.

Although each of these problems result in shoulder and neck stiffness and pain their cause (etiology) is totally different and we can't treat them in exactly the same way.

Now let's look at some deeper causes of each problem:

1: Heat or could could be further complicated by organ issues:

heat or cold in the digestive system may cause the patient to experience muscular pain.

As I mentioned before, the Qi is carried in the blood, so if the patient eats food which generates heat or cold in the body it may be carried in circulation from the small intestine to other parts of the body.

Modern medicine is beginning to find that certain foods can cause inflammatory results which are systemic, so if you are sensitive to those foods they may make already existing pain conditions much worse. This is an example of heat related problems having a cause which is not local to the point where the pain is experienced. In terms of cold in the organs can also have many causes, but as an example if a person has a lung infection where they also feel lethargic, it is not uncommon to experience muscle stiffness, especially in already sensitive areas.

These are just a few examples since there are so many different ways to become sick, so if you are experiencing problems it is useful to visit a TCM practitioner or acupuncturist to get a diagnosis before you try to treat yourself with Qigong.

2: Stasis in an organ causing pain somewhere else:

people with stiff shoulders may experience issues if they eat too much food.

In this case their stomachs may experience bloating which then causes pressure in the upper body as well as demanding more blood to visit the stomach for digestion, making the flow decrease in the painful area in the body and making it easier to become aggravated.

These are just a few small examples, but let's talk about some easy ways Qigong can help.

1: Qigong to disperse stagnation:

If you are sure you have a stagnation of Qi or stasis of blood it is possible to practice Qigong to disperse the blood and Qi away from the pained area.

Here are a few great ways to practice: