What Is Qi Energy?

Western vocabulary cannot fully describe "qi" but it's usually described as "life force", the essence that animates us into life. It's also described as "energy" where the physical world is one of qi vibration, alternating between yin and yang energies, producing all physical things. 

In reality we should not have to "do" anything as qi should flow naturally through us. However western culture and modern life has discouraged our connection with the natural world.

Qigong is a powerful and precise method of healing, whereby the vital qi energy is pushed through the Meridian Channels that are connected to our inner organs by using slow, steady and focused movements in order to stimulate and massage them. 

Meridians are the energetic pathways in the body along which this qi energy flows. Traditional medicine such as TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) has accumulated thousands of years of experience and empirical evidence to support their effectiveness, even if they cannot always be understood with current scientific knowledge. 

Despite the importance of free flowing qi through the meridians, blockages or disruptions in this flow can occur due to various factors such as stress, poor diet, lack of sleep or emotional trauma. 

These blockages can lead to a disruption of overall energy balance and ultimately to health problems. Clearing meridian blockages is essential to restore the free flow of qi and promote good health. 

The 18 movements in our qigong routine are energetically balanced, which means that when practiced in the correct order, they encourage blocks to be released and energy to flow through the organs and meridians in the body.

Yin translates as "the shady side of the mountain" and Yang translates as "the sunny side of the mountain".

Again, yin and yang are difficult to explain in a western concept. They are not opposing forces, but instead represent the dynamic changes that happen within us and around us constantly, opposites that also complement each other, to form a wholeness, a harmony and balance in existence.

Where Yin is quiet, still, night time, cold, inward, pupil.

Yang would be loud, active, daylight, hot, outward, teacher.

When all of the yin and yang aspects of Qi are in harmony, there is health, wellbeing and contentment. When yin and yang are in disharmony, when there is too much or too little of one aspect of Qi relative to another, then there is illness, pain and suffering.

The movements practiced in our Be Well Qigong sessions allows us to bring in both Yin and Yang, as we use our palms to connect Yin energies coming upwards from the earth and Yang energies coming downwards from the heavens, bringing balance to where it is needed within.