PROMOTING QIGONG AND ENERGY MEDICINE THROUGH RESEARCH & EDUCATION
"Qigong is the most profound health practice ever invented by mankind for the prevention of illness, reducing stress, managing chronic conditions, increasing longevity and resilience, and promoting healthy, active aging. Qigong combines exercise with the proven benefits of meditation and should be promoted to the public as an essential life skill."
Tom Rogers, President, Qigong Institute.
Watch a short 10-minute clip from Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century created by Qigong Institute Chairman of the Board Francesco Garripoli. It was the first Qigong documentary to be shown on PBS, starting in 1999. The full documentary can be obtained via the Qigong Institute Store.
A fundamental tenet of Energy Medicine is that the human body emits and receives a broad spectrum of electromagnetic and acoustic radiation and that these oscillating energy fields regulate the function of the body's physical and chemical processes.
Introduction to the fundamentals of practicing the Art of Qigong and Tai Chi.
Harvard Medical School's Harvard Health Publications calls Tai Chi "medication in motion". Tai Chi when combined with standard treatment is helpful for a range of conditions including arthritis, low bone density, breast cancer, heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, sleep problems, and stroke. Harvard Medical School recommends Qigong and Tai Chi.
By the early 1980's research was underway in China, South Korea, and Japan on clinical and medical applications of Qigong. Most of these studies were reported only at international conferences, but abstracts were available in English. The Qigong and Energy Medicine Database™ was the first online resource for these abstracts and contains Western medical research collected by the Qigong Institute since 1984.
Qigong changes the expression of genes related to energy metabolism, insulin secretion and inflammatory pathways, an important step to improved health and fitness.
"Integrative Medicine" blends the best of conventional and complementary medical approaches, addressing not only physical symptoms, but also psychological, social, environmental & spiritual aspects of health & illness. It believes in stimulating the innate human capacity for healing, empowering patients in their own care, while providing them with choices in healthcare that are proven to be safe and effective." The Center for Integrative Medicine.
"The founding of the Qigong Institute was a natural outgrowth of my interest in Qigong. The goal of the Qigong Institute is to promote the scientific understanding of the basis of Qigong" Dr. Ken Sancier (1920 - 2013).
The database originated in the1990's as a means to catalog the vast amount of information Qigong Institute Founder Dr. Kenneth Sancier obtained mainly from international conferences. In 2023, the Database contained over 18400 abstracts (accessed Feb 12, 2024). Search the Database.
Qigong combines exercise with the proven benefits of meditation and should be promoted to the public as an essential life skill.
Qigong is a "mind-body" biopsychosocial wellness practice in a new category of exercise called Meditative Movement which integrates exercise, movement, posture, breathing, and awareness.
Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher Henderson Smith
Qigong Health Care can be a powerful component of Western models of healthcare systems which prioritize biopsychosocial whole person health and where prevention and wellness are primary aspects of care. The practice of Qigong combines physical exercise with the proven benefits of meditation and can be promoted to the public as an essential life skill. This publication describes the scientific research progress, issues, and challenges of integrating Qigong Health Care into Western medicine and healthcare.
“Since its founding under the leadership of the late Ken Sancier, The Qigong Institute has served as an objective organization for gathering and disseminating scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of Qigong and related practices. The Institute’s latest report, An Introduction to Qigong Health Care: Meditative Movement Exercise for Whole Person Health––authored by Tom Rogers––is a comprehensive and very accessible resource for all interested in Qigong for health, including practitioners, teachers, scientists and policy makers.“
Peter Wayne, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine. Director, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.
Harvard Medical School
Author, Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi
eBook PDF. 56 Pages.
Exercise is Medicine In a 2016 cover story, TIME Magazine declared that if exercise were a drug, “it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed.” Harvard Medical School recommends exercise programs that include aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training, and balance exercises —which are included in the movement and exercise component of Qigong. Harvard Medical School researchers say exercise can do more for your health than medications. The physiological and psychological effects of exercise are similar to pharmacological effects of drug therapies. If exercise were a drug, the FDA would approve it for a large number of conditions. Although exercise was found to be so effective that it was featured in Time Magazine, it is not a standard part of medical school curriculums.
An Introduction to Qigong Health Care
Mindfulness with paced breathing is fundamental to Qigong. Paced breathing stimulates the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system, which reduce stress chemicals in the brain and increase vascular relaxation that lead to lowering of blood pressure and stress. Qigong Institute founder Dr. Ken Sancier reported on Qigong's beneficial effects for blood pressure in his landmark paper Anti Aging Benefits of Qigong in 1996. Papers published since then have confirmed Qigong's use in lowering hypertension and stress. [Read Article].
Qigong for the Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of COVID-19 Infection in Older Adults. Potential mechanisms of action include stress reduction, emotion regulation, strengthening of respiratory muscles, reduction of inflammation, and enhanced immune function [PMCID: PMC7227578].
10-week Tai Chi intervention improves psychoemotional state, cognition, and motor learning in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. [PMID: 33887380]
Tai chi is often described as 'meditation in motion,' but it might well be called 'medication in motion.' MORE.
Multifaceted physical activities such as tai ji (tai chi), qigong, and yoga involve varying combinations of neuromotor exercise, resistance exercise, and flexibility exercise. Neuromotor exercise training is beneficial as part of a comprehensive exercise program for older persons, especially to improve balance, agility, muscle strength, and reduce the risk of falls. MORE.
Also see: Clinical Evidence of Tai Chi Exercise Prescriptions: A Systematic Review
Stress in the workplace is is the second-most disabling illness for workers, with an annual price tag of more than $300 billion in lost work time, health care costs, and stress reduction. MORE.
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QMBE is a safe and gentle multimodal intervention that shows promise in conferring a broad range of psychosocial and physical benefits [PMCID: PMC7050958].
Qigong practice includes biomedical, social, and psychological aspects of health that are described by institutions such as the U.S. Veteran’s Administration as “whole person health,” and are delivered by a biopsychosocial model of medicine. Biopsychosocial medical practices and therapies integrate physiological, cognitive, emotional, and social input with neurophysiological mechanisms.
See Bioenergetics
The fundamental principle of Western medical science has been that the basis of life is biological. However, each cell in the body can generate and receive different forms of energy -- heat, light, sound, vibration, magnetism, and electricity. Historically, these different types of bioenergy phenomena have been treated as byproducts of normal cellular function instead of being recognized as intrinsic to the function.
Dr. Roger Jahnke, OMD and Founder of The Institute of Integral Qigong & Tai Chi explains the meaning and origins of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Kung Fu.
Although the practices that are today called 'Qigong' are millennia old, the term 'Qigong' was coined in the mid-20th Century.
More information on the history of Qigong (also called "Dao Yin") can be found in Dao Yin (a.k.a. Qigong): Origin, Development, Potential Mechanisms, and Clinical Applications [PMCID: PMC6854271] and Chinese Medical Qigong.
Meditation is one of the four fundamental components of Qigong along with movement/posture, self-massage, and breathing. Qigong (and it's most popular moving form, Tai Chi) is an ancient practice which belongs to new category of exercise called "meditative movement". Meditation in combination with breathing and slow, gentle movements (although there are many forms of Qigong that do not involve movement) affects humans physically and psychologically through relaxation techniques which reduce stress through modulation of the autonomic nervous system. MORE.
Qigong combines exercise with focused movement, breathing, and meditation. Doing repetitions is not the focus - it is conscious application of the three intentful corrections - lengthen the spine,deepen the breath, clear the mind or visualize healing. MORE.
More on Government and Qigong
Qigong Trips to deepen your practice at power spots in Asia, Africa, and more.
Educating the public about the health and life-enhancing benefits of Qigong.
QigongDharma is the confluence of the streams of qigong and meditation – embodiment and insight
Recovering the Way focuses on Qigong for substance use disorder and AA recovery
Find Focus and Inner Balance, Reduce Pain with Tai Chi and Qigong
Certified Instructor training.
"Chi Kung Is not just a way of life, it is life."
This is a short clip from Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century, created by Qigong Institute Chairman of the Board Francesco Garripoli. It was the first Qigong documentary to be shown on PBS, starting in 1999.