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I am working on hand outs for a class I am designing. I would love your input, that includes grammar.:) I am trying to keep this one short and relatable to people that go to a gym.
QiGong
The art of sacred body language.
Julian DavisQ. What is Qigong?
A. I will put this in the context of working out. Lets say I have an intention I need to communicate to my ham string muscles, the intention is I wish for my ham string muscles to lengthen. I will use all sorts of tools to achieve this I will employ gravity, breathing, imagination, and even body movements as in stroking the back of my legs in a down ward motion. All of this to empower my original intention for my ham strings to lengthen or stretch out if you will. This is a form qigong. Now if I just used breathing and imagination then it would often fall under the category of meditation. Qigong is when you add in movement. Of course from this you see we are communicating intentions all the time consciously or unconsciously, and we receive communication back reflecting this. It is a never ending process of asking questions or asking for something to happen and listening for the answers. Often the reason our ham strings just do not lengthen by our very thought is that we unconsciously for maybe years have communicated to them that we wish for them to shorten. So we must employ a collection of tools to help focus our intention to counter the communication we may have been sending unconsciously for years. This can apply to the physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual bodies.
Q. What is the intention that we are communicating in a qigong class, or what are we asking for?
A. There are all sorts of intention one could have for the same qigong form. Or one could allow the Qigong form to hold the intention, in this case the qigong form does the work and the less you do and the more you relax, enjoy and trust the qigong form the more powerful a tool it will become. I designed this class so that the Qigong forms do all the asking or work, so people can relax and listen. Not that the other way is bad just different. I feel we must learn to truly listen before we can truly speak. In general the forms are asking for greater balance and harmony in all aspects of our life. They do this by asking for more common ground or an increase in neutral or accepting space in which the polarities of our life can come into balance and work in harmony. This is very over simplified and one should not limit them to my definition I am constantly having the small box I try to put these forms in expanded. Most of the work is learning what to ask for in life to achieve the greater levels of balance and harmony we are all looking for. Let the forms designed by sages teach you how to listen and what to ask for.Hi Julian!
would try and keep the answers as simple as possible, your average Joe that goes to a Gym usually won’t be so introspective and thoughtful and may find some of your wording as too abstract. I searched in Googled right after reading you post here “What is Qigong” I found a really simple one that I liked. Of course I am just coping what I saw, but I found it’s simplicity effective and attractive for someone who may not want to go so deep at the beginning:
“Qigong (also spelled Ch’i Kung) is a powerful system of healing and energy medicine from China. It is the art and science of using breathing techniques, gentle movement, and meditation to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate the life energy (qi). Qigong practice leads to better health and vitality and a tranquil state of mind. In the past, qigong was also called nei gong (inner work) and dao yin (guiding energy).”
Hope that helps a little.
Good Luck,
Damon.
Hi Julian,
Good that you are creating a qigong class!
I concur somewhat with what Damon said. Most people operate
from short attention span theater and sort of need something
short and sweet that grabs their attention.Everyone’s got their unique take on qigong, and I don’t think
you should get rid of yours. It’s the unique perspective that
makes it *your* class and not someone elses . . . but it’s
probably better to save your analysis for the class discussion
instead of a handout.As to your handout, you can keep some of what you wanted to say,
just make it shorter and more direct.For instance, you say in the middle of your first q/a:
“Now if I just used breathing and imagination then it would often fall under the category of meditation. Qigong is when you add in movement.”
Why not just use/modify this statement as the answer on the handout.
You could say something like:“Meditation uses tools like breathing and imagination. Qigong goes
one step further by adding in body movement.”If you want to gear your handout to people who are used to working
out in a gym, why not say something like:“Instead of fighting your body and trying to whip it into shape,
what if you could work with your body? Qigong is a relaxed
form of ‘exercise’ that your body likes and uses tools from meditation.”Then you have something that grabs attention, and generates curiosity
to find out more.At any rate, I’d be happy to provide edit recommendations for
whatever you choose to be your final version.Best,
StevenI would have just printed Michaels answer but I figured people would want to have their teacher put it into his words. What do you think?
QiGong
The art of sacred body language.
Julian DavisFirstly Qigong and Chi Kung pronounced chee gong are the same thing.
Qigong is a modern term that became popular less than a century ago. It literally translates as skill in cultivating the subtle breath of Nature. Note that chi kung (Wade Giles system) and qigong (pinyin system) are identical. They are two ways of translating the same Chinese ideogram, or picture writing.
Michael Winn, healingdao.com
Q. What is Qigong?
A. I will put this in the context of working out. Lets say I have an intention I want to communicate to my ham string muscles, the intention is I wish for my ham string muscles to lengthen. I need help to achieve this so I will employ gravity, breathing, imagination, and even body movements as in stroking the back of my legs in a down ward motion. All of this to empower my original intention for my ham strings to lengthen or stretch out if you will. This is a form of qigong. When we just employ breathing and imagination then it would often fall under the category of meditation. Qigong goes one step further and adds in movement or body language. Of course from this you see we are communicating intentions all the time consciously or unconsciously, and we receive communication back reflecting this. It is a never ending process of relating and communicating, or you could say experimenting. Often the reason our ham strings just do not lengthen and give resistance to change is that we unconsciously for maybe years have communicated to them that we wish for them to shorten, or we have never communicated to them we wish form then to lengthen only shorten. So we must employ a collection of partners (gravity, or breathing, ect) to help focus our current intention to counter the communications we may have been sending unconsciously for years. My view is that our body is our greatest partner in achieving greater levels of enjoyment, health, and peace. I have replaced many other partners in my quest for greater health and enjoyment with just qigong that includes acupuncture needles, herbs, ect.
The Qigong class I have designed is to allow the forms to hold the intention in this way you are free just to relax and listen/feel. The less you do and the more you allow change the more powerful the forms become. Of course it will take time for most to build trust in these forms and with your own experiences. Make qigong a lifelong partner and it will only get better with age.
Qigong is a fairly new word.
In ancient China, qigong was called yang sheng, or Long Life Nourishing Exercises. Sitting and lying forms of qigong were called dao yin, and may appear to resemble Indian yoga even though the internal dynamics are quite different.
The earliest Chinese drawings of qigong we have are on silk scrolls found in a tomb in Mawangdui, China dated to 216 b.c.
Michael Winn, healingdao.com
Qigong and Tai Chi are different.
Tai chi movements are designed to have fighting applications, and thus are often more complex to learn (150 moves in some cases). Tai chi has secondary health benefits that over time are similar to qigong. But Ive found that modern people are very busy, and few will make the time to learn and practice tai chi chuan deeply enough to get its benefits. Learning short qigong forms is a much more practical and effective strategy.
Michael Winn, healingdao.com
In comparison the moves in class will only consist of roughly five simple powerful moves per class. Allowing you to again relax and go deep into each form in the time we have.
It is great O2 fitness has decided to provide a qigong class; they are truly ahead of the curve. I invite you to enjoy qigong and enjoy life with me here at O2 fitness.Hi Julian,
I agree with you that you should use your words, since it is
your class and you want to put your flavor on things . . .
you shouldn’t necessarily just defer to Michael’s words.A quick question:
Is the handout something you are using to *advertise* the class, or is
it something you are giving people who are in the class?The reason is, is that they have different goals.
I have different responses depending on your answer.
Best,
StevenIf you are handing it out to students already enrolled in
the class, then you can probably keep it
(for the most part) as is.All you would really need in this case, in my opinion,
is some minor grammar editing. This wouldn’t take much
work.If you wanted something to advertise the class, then
I wouldn’t use anything like this. The reason (as I mentioned earlier),
is due to the “short attention spans” that most people operate
under. If something isn’t short, sweet, and at *most* a few
sentences, people won’t take the time to read it. Their
minds will wander off. In this case, you want something
REAL SHORT–an attention-grabber–that is not only direct,
but leaves the person curious for more. Thus for the
advertising situation, I’d stick with my
original comments–and just mention the one or two key
sentences I came up with (or something similar you like), and leave
any further discussion for the class.Thus, in the last case, anything more than three quick sentences
is too much information.In other words, you really would want two completely different
things depending on what you are using it for.Of course, maybe ultimately you would like both. 🙂
S
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