What to expect at the first session:
*New beginners are always welcomed to join at any time in the year.
* Wear loose comfortable clothing and shoes and bring a small bottle of drinking water.
*We are a keen and friendly group; some students have been coming for many years because they have discovered that Qigong makes them “feel great”.
*Terms are 12 weeks and sessions run during Somerset school terms times, taking breaks at half-term and holidays.
What does a Qigong sessions involve:
There are two sections to a session:
*First section – warm up exercises: these are traditional Chinese exercises, combined with Mrs Men Bao’s (founder of our club) own exercises, taken from her vast experience in sports and gymnastics and put together in a structured sequence to ‘oil our joints’ before we start. We also practice Professor Hu Xiaofei warm up exercises which are part of Daoyin Qigong (watch on Qigong videos page – Daoyin Qigong), and sometimes warm up exercises are also specific qigong sets like Chinese Health Qigong sets: Ba Duan Jin, Wu Qin Xi or Yi Jin Jing which stretch the body (watch on Qigong videos page – Chinese Health Qigong).
*Second section – Qigong practice: Qigong (also spelt Chi Kung and pronounced ‘Chi-Gung’) means ‘energy work’. ‘Qi’ (pronounced Chi) is the fundamental force in the Universe – air, breath and nourishment. All things would be lifeless and static without Qi. Qi is the driving force of the Universe and human life, the energy that allows us to grow and develop as we pass through life. Without it we would regress and decay. Qi is the root of all energy. Then the session concludes with cool down exercises.
Qigong exercises have been practised for thousands of years and concentrate on three areas:
1- Improved posture
2- Better breathing – deep and natural
3- Greater concentration – focusing and balancing the mind
Look at the ‘Qigong videos’ page for examples of qigong we practice in our club.
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Approximately 70% of all doctors’ visits for modern complaints have the onset of the problem caused by stress factors, or blocked energy, in today’s frantic life. There are two ways energy gets blocked, either through an accident such as a broken limb or through internal unmanaged stress.
Qigong help us find our flow of life energy through the use of breathing and relaxed slow movements, we enable the mind, body and spirit to let go of tension or ‘dis-ease’ (lack of harmony) before it becomes a disease.
Qigong is a discipline that can help:
– Improve balance, co-ordination and memory,
– Strengthen joints and develop and maintain flexibility,
– Enhance circulation and digestion,
– Boost the immune system function to help prevent illness,
– Help achieve and maintain correct body weight,
– Improve physical, mental and emotional health,
– Increase general vitality,
– Heighten awareness,
– Help with hypertension,
– Help with rheumatism,
– Help with headaches & migraines,
– Help with insomnia,
– Help with diabetes,
– Help with ME,
– Help with MS,
– Help with arthritis,
– Help with asthma,
– Help with blood pressure,
– Help with back problems,
– Help with knees problems,
– Help with joints problems,
– Help reduce stress by promoting a sense of calm and well being,
– Slow the ageing process and helps prolong life.
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Qigong work with a subtle current of life energy, flowing through every living thing and when that flow gets blocked; our health systems begins to break down. The symptoms of blocked energy are first felt as tension and stress.
The practice of Qigong help release physical blocks as well as emotional and mental ones, opening us up to the spiritual element of the practices. This eventually becomes the core of our training and we aim to practice Qigong to heal ourselves in order to open up to a maximum flow of ‘Qi’ (life energy).
Breathing is the key to releasing the ‘world we all carry on our shoulders’, and so we encourage learners to come to sessions for no other reason than to ‘breathe’ and to ‘let go of their grip on the rat race from today’s frantic life style’ and then one day they will discover that they have grasped Qigong naturally at deeper and deeper levels without any struggle.
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