I started my healing journey in the 1990s. Nearly 3 decades later, I’m still on the path — not because I haven’t found healing, but because it is a lifelong process.
With qigong, the healing goes deeper than you can possibly imagine. You don’t just heal your body; you heal your mind, your emotions, and your spirit too. This is why I and so many of my students are head-over-heels in love with the art of qigong.
But…
Is qigong ALL that you need? Are you disrespecting the art of qigong if you use multiple methods of Eastern or holistic healing? What about combining it with Western modalities?
In other words, is qigong so powerful that you’ll never need any other healing methods once you start practicing it?
In today’s Walk & Talk, I address these issues. And you might be surprised by my answers! (Then again, if you’ve been studying with me for a while you probably won’t be surprised.)
Either way, I hope you enjoy this video.
(Note: Click here if you want to check out my friend Elisha’s foam rolling and fascia release training series that I mentioned in the video. It’s free.)
I also hope we can chat in the comments. Let’s talk about healing modalities you’ve found helpful along your own healing journey. How do you fit them in with your qigong practice?
(Note: This video starts off with some wind noise. But it quickly gets better. Thanks for your patience and your understanding!)
From the heart, Sifu Anthony
Loved seeing the sea in the background as you walked and talked; almost as if being right there too. In addition to qigong practice I go to the YMCA to use weights with the intention to strengthen and tone my arms, legs, and mid area (stomach, waist) plus swimming. The qigong enlightens and awakens my feelings of gratitude, joy, inner peace, love plus stimulates / awakens me. It gets me going- with positive energy. I appreciate the sounds (birds, wind whispering through the Pines) the colors and rays of light cast upon the forest….. well all this and more are just some of the benefits I experience in everyday life. And YES I am ever grateful to be on the path of learning and practicing Qigong as well as sharing the art with others. Namaste
Exactly! Strength training is beneficial, especially as we all get older. It takes nothing away from qigong to go lift some weights!
Personally, I think a walk along a sandy beach on a sunny day would be a great modality!
When I was enduring a very rough time at work, I started learning shiatsu, and it was a great experience – it got me out of my head and into my body, and as it turns out it was totally complementary with what I’ve since learned in qigong.
Learning to eat healthy foods has also been a journey for me. My aim is to eat at least 15 different unprocessed or lightly processed natural foods each day, and some days I succeed.
I agree! Walking is great medicine!
Intermittent fasting, and even extended fasting, are great healing modalities that I would think would be great in addition to Qi Gong. I practice intermittent fasting, and am planning a longer fast. I would love a nice walk and talk to get your knowledge and opinions on fasting. Thank you for these videos. Love them!
I’ve had good success with Intermittent Fasting as well. Qigong has a long tradition of fasting with an art called Bigu. It’s something that I plan on talking about more in the future. Stay tuned.
Great Talk , Sifu! …..love the Mediterranean Sea , you’re not far from Israel shore with the same sea and it’s so inviting……
I have been going for acupuncture and herbs while I was learning TAichi.
Later while learning qigong I had some Energy work done by master Philip Lai in Ottawa. In the past 6 years I have massage therapy and chiropractor treatments.. it is interesting that in the beginning when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia I went to massage therapist but she told me she was just massaging a stone, muscles won’t give…. so I think, there must be an emotional release before we can do the physical.. TAichi released a lot of that emotional baggage as well healed the lower back alignment. When the seasons change, I Feel the need for a tune -up and go for chiropractic and massage. Qigong is a companion being with me all the time. Deep breathing and visualization help not only with physical flexibility but also with psychological state. After so many years in chronic pains having to give up so much of what was important in my life, every time I practice Qigong is a breath of fresh air and hope . And so it changed the way I think, and my sensitivity to the world went through the roof..
Thank you for your insights!
Yes, qigong is a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively!
Enjoyed the video. I agree that Qigong is not a panacea. However, it opend doors that I probably would not have entered. For example, I ventured into trance/chakra/ecstatic dancing, which l combine with my Qigong workout. Again, I always appreciate your honesty.
Actually, this is one of the biggest benefits of qigong. It is the master key to other healthy habits. This benefit is not to be underestimated.
I don’t do anything esoteric, safe for Qigong, which I switched to from yoga.
I take every opportunity to swim, either in the sea or indoor pool; paddle kayak – my absolute love; but it’s also time to return to stretching (I used to stretch regularly, before hip fracture). Thank you for reminder 🙂
Swimming is great! I think it’s a form of qigong because of the slow movements and the controlled breathing!
Partly joking… can Elisha come to Costa Rica?
The retreat is full, but maybe sometime in the future!
Your walk and talks are great. They give me a chance to go other places, if only for 15 to 20 minutes. I noticed an small increase in chi flow in my quads from do the example exercise that Elisha had us do in video #2. My experience is that the more in balance that you can get your body to, the better results you will get from what ever healing work you are doing. The sum of the work you are doing (yoga, qigong, tai ji chaun, acupuncture, massage, meditation etc.) on yourself is greater than just adding up the individual parts. Looking forward to your next walk and talk, and Elisha’s next video.
I agree that the sum is greater than the parts. There is a synergy that acts as a magnifier, especially when you find the right combination of arts.
Hmmmm
I do alot of weights but currently im going through a phase where i need healing calming my nerves. Weights dont help with that. Ive been doing weights 20 years.
I need more yin
..not yang atm.
I think qigong is all i need atm.
Qigong may very well be all you need right now, especially if you need balance after 20 years of weight training!
Sifu, I’m very appreciative that you sent the links to Elisha’s workshop. I’ve found lots of synergies and valuable supplemental tools which I’m beginning to explore for the sake of – well, I feel like using her techniques can accelerate my progress in Qigong.
Because, I’m new at it (January this year), and I’m really only starting to scratch the surface of what intentional relaxation can be like, what proper, correct alignments in the forms and the energy and power which can result from them can be like. I’m doing a few different types of Qigong, including the Shaolin 18 Lohan Hands with your 5-phase routine, as well as some entry-level Energy Arts stuff, and I live near a martial arts studio which teaches Wild Goose qigong (which I’m studying and practicing) and old-style Yang taijiquan (which I’m not).
All of these varieties of qigong are revealing to me places where I’m not relaxed, and where I’m actually bound and not even necessarily able to relax intentionally. And how that affects my mind, intention and spirit. So, I’v been eating up Elisha’s content this week since you sent the email out. She has many dozens of videos and blog posts on her website, demonstrating ways to use her pin-and-stretch, compress-and-shear techniques to really release places of my body which – if I were to just count on qigong and breathing meditation alone to release them, it would take a wildly long time to get the results I’m already getting with Elisha’s tools.
So thank you. I do need qigong – a lot. Like you, major depression was what launched me into it. I’m pretty well recovered, but, having thrown myself into it, I sincerely am here to stay and anticipate (at least) a lifetime of going as far, inside and out, as my spirit can get. Extra modalities like meditation, self-hypnosis, immersion in Nature, physical fitness and exercise, acupuncture, positive diet, occasional yoga such as restorative and Yin types, mental health work, and now, Elisha’s fascia-freeing approach to exploring one’s body and emotional history are all valuable parts of the growth.
Sometimes I don’t know precisely what it is which is getting me better, so, I feel like I better keep doing them all! Thanks again. Finding you, your website, and your lessons has paid off in many ways, and it’s a nice surprise that your introduction to Elisha has been one of them.
The important thing is to make progress. I’m so glad that you’re finding things that help you, including Elisha’s work!
Great video Sifu! I always appreciate your candor and honesty as you share your personal experiences. I have benefitted by combining my Qigong with myofascial release techniques using the Melt method. My Melt instructor is a physical therapist, also trained in kinesiology and sports medicine and knows the workings of the body well. Interestingly, she was the one who recommended that I give Qigong a try to support my healing! When I had trouble finding a local teacher my search led me to you! Using the combination of modalities I can happily say that I am now free from chronic pain.
My thought is that qigong could hypothetically do anything anyone needed, and the mind is powerful enough to be trained into healing in anything, but I think the hurdle is that the human body/mind/etc. is built to automate/simplify things.
That is to say that if you follow any one healing path long enough, your human tendency is to start making it habit and then it starts to become route and loses its power/efficacy.
The benefit of stepping aside and following a separate, but also effective, path is that it provides a shock to one’s system that allows for greater growth in all areas. And as such, one can come back to the original path after having success elsewhere and suddenly find all sorts of avenues opening up and growth happening that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
Even Western practices such as physical fitness regimes recognize this and encourage practitioners to swap out different exercises to shock the muscles/stamina into new growth and avoid stagnation. I’m not an expert in it, but I believe this is the basic concept behind cross-fit.
I always come back to Physical Therapy and stretching on a yoga mat — even just lying on my back. I got a lot out of working with Erika Berland, who is trained in Body Mind Centering (BMC) by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Those movement patterns, some of which are covered in yoga for back pain videos, are like an old friend. I definitely seem to need them. I got a lot out of Network Chiropractic, too, which is a gentle form of chiropractic founded by Donny Epstein. The search continues… There’s so much I would like to explore. I get the Qi Gong is all you need vibe, too. I understand it. It’s catchy. We want to go for it.
It’s catchy, but it’s also untrue, which is a problem!
I love centering by sunning on the lawn, walking barefoot, or gardening barefoot. I also enjoy lifting weights, doing some yoga, swimming, walking daily, deep breathing, bathing in essential oils and natural mineral salts, and studying herbology and eating organic- concientious eating, intermittent fasting and now a curious user of other fasting methods.