Erris Eye publication - Topic - Qi gong

Posted on: Sunday, February 16, 2020

In Traditional Chinese Medicine TCM acupuncture is just one part of the picture. There is acupuncture, electro acupuncture, facial acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, Tui Na (meridian massage therapy), qi gong and tai chi, chinese fire cupping and Moxa. I can tell you more about qi gong this week.

Qi Gong, (Chi Gung) means “energy work”.
There are many kinds of Qi Gong, which can be roughly paraphrased as the following: “A physically energetic exercise which has a specific physical or energetic effect upon a specific part of the body or mind, performed repetitively with the active participation of the mind, can be called Qi Gong”.

Health workers in China are currently obliged to do 20 minutes of qi gong every day to protect themselves from the current risk of the coronavirus.

All qi gong exercises have the goal of powering up the body’s “operating system”, giving you more energy, releasing tension and stress, strengthening systems in the body, calming the mind, and so on. You don’t need any experience to do Qi Gong.

Each movement builds on the one before it, slowly coalescing into a very intricate and complex set of movements that really open up and provide the smooth sense of having energy in a calm body.

Karena is an acupuncturist at The Mayo Acupuncture Clinic, Ballina and Castlebar. Visit www.mayoacupuncture.ie or call 0879918514 for enquiries.