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April 27-29 2018: National Qigong Association Semi-Annual Conference (East) in Asheville, North Carolina

April 28 2018: World Tai Chi and Qigong Day. World-wide

May 13-19 2018: Self-Healing Retreat for Cancer Patients. Baltimore, Maryland.

October 6-7 2018: National Qigong Association Semi-Annual Conference (West) in Portland, Oregon

YouTube video (4:40)

• Tai Chi Improves Brain Metabolism and Muscle Energetics in Older Adults.
• Neural Mechanisms of Qigong Sensory Training Massage for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study. Qigong Sensory Training (QST) is a nonverbal, parent-delivered intervention recently shown to be effective at reducing these everyday challenges in children with ASD. This study proved its feasibility for larger trials. 
• Hypoglycemic and antioxidant effect of Tai chi exercise training in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Tai Chi has an antioxidative and hypoglycemic effect in the elderly with metabolic syndrome.
• The effect of Chinese martial arts Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) on prevention of osteoporosis: A systematic review. TCC is beneficial to BMD and may be a cost-effective and preventive measure of osteoporosis. This beneficial effect is better observed in long-term TCC practice.
• Review of the Neural Oscillations Underlying Meditation. The most commonly studied specific meditation practices are focused attention (FA), open-monitoring (OM), as well as transcendental meditation (TM), and loving-kindness (LK) meditation. Meditation is one type of mental training that has been shown to produce many cognitive benefits. Meditation practice is associated with improvement in concentration and reduction of stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, different forms of meditation training are now being used as interventions for a variety of psychological and somatic illnesses. The current literature suggests distinct differences in neural oscillatory activity among FA, OM, TM, and LK meditation practices.
• 'Mindfulness' meditation technique finding new fans in Triangle and beyond. "The formal practice of mindfulness meditation is like going to the gym," she said. "You are training your brain toward focus, toward being able to marshal your own attention." Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh showed why this works by looking at MRI images of study subjects who had been practicing mindfulness meditation for eight weeks. The images showed a decrease in the size of the amygdala, which is the "fight or flight" center of the brain.
• A Randomized Trial Evaluating School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Ethnic Minority Youth: Exploring Mediators and Moderators of Intervention Effects. The study provided evidence that mindfulness intervention was beneficial for low-income ethnic minority youth in reducing perceived stress and internalizing problems, and improving emotion regulation outcomes. Furthermore, mindfulness training was associated with reduced mental health symptoms via improvements in emotion regulation.
• The neurobiology of focus and distraction: The case for incorporating mindfulness into leadership. Two main neural circuits are contrasted: the mind-wandering default mode circuit and the attentional central executive system. These two systems act in an antagonistic pairing, where the degree of toggling between systems is associated with the degree a person can sustain focus and filter out unwarranted distractions. Excessive multitasking appears to compromise the neural switch of these two systems, thereby diminishing our focus and concentration. In contrast, mindfulness practice is shown to have the opposite effect by enhancing the neural switch, thereby enhancing leadership focus that can lead to greater flexibility, foresight, regulation, and creativity. To conclude, leaders who are excessively distracted, such as with multitasking, may be compromising cognitive brain functioning, while engaging in mindfulness may replenish the brain and thereby enhance leaders' ability to sustain focus and tap into higher cognitive functioning.
• Tai Chi and the Musician: How This Martial Art Could Help Your Career
• Bioelectric signaling in regeneration: Mechanisms of ionic controls of growth and form (morphology). Levin at the Department of Biology, Tufts University is at the forefront of researching the relationship between physiology and bioenergy. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine the Eight Extraordinary vessels or meridians are the energy template of the body. This energy template or field is affected by the environment and is the fundamental pattern that provides the basis for human growth and morphology. Levin's work expands our basic understanding of morphogenetic processes responsible for the generation and repair of complex anatomy through researching and understanding our endogenous voltage gradients, ion flows, and electric fields.
• Qigong dance helps Parkinson's patients. 
• Cognitive Gains From Meditation May Endure Up to 7 Years
• 10-minute Tai Chi practice improves attention and decreases stress.
• Review finds mind-body practices improve depression, activities of daily living, and mobility of post-stroke patients.
• Tai Chi found as effective as normal pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with COPD but does not require specific facilities.
• Postural awareness and its relation to pain: validation of an innovative instrument measuring awareness of body posture in patients with chronic pain. Postural awareness and adjustment are fundamental to the practice of Qigong. This research confirms the importance of postural awareness for reducing pain over time.
• There’s new evidence that Silicon Valley's favorite mindfulness habit may help defeat a key problem of aging
• Study suggests Tai Chi as low-cost alternative to pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD patients
• Practicing Tai Chi helps improve respiratory function in patients with COPD Tai Chi offers a low-cost, easily accessible alternative to pulmonary rehabilitation, study finds.
• This Harvard Medical School transcriptome research is the first to show at the molecular level how Qigong (which elicits the relaxation response) lowers blood pressure. Qigong Institute founder Dr. Ken Sancier showed that Qigong reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients in his ground-breaking 1996 paper 'Anti-Aging Benefits of Qigong'. Note that one of the authors of this current paper is Dr. Herbert Benson who wrote the book on the Relaxation Response.
• 7-Year Follow-up Shows Lasting Cognitive Gains From Meditation
• Movement therapies such as Tai Chi more beneficial than manual therapy for adults with arthritis.
• Integrative Health & Wellness Caucus Focuses on Putting Health Back in Healthcare. “This caucus is the start of an important conversation to shift our healthcare paradigm from a reactive model to whole-person preventive outcomes,” said Len Wisneski, M.D., Chair Integrative Health Policy Consortium. “American’s have spent billions of dollars out-of-pocket on complementary and integrative care. It is time that Congress and healthcare payers and systems respond by including all credentialed and licensed providers and evidence-based care approaches into the choices available to all Americans.”
• The effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for nurses and nursing students: An integrated literature review. This review concludes that mindfulness meditation is an effective strategy for preventing and managing the workplace stress and burnout.
• Vagus Nerve as Modulator of the Brain-Gut Axis in Psychiatric and Inflammatory Disorders. Qigong practice stimulates the vagus nerve, mainly through diaphragmatic breathing. This review article reports that vagus nerve stimulation is a promising add-on treatment for treatment-refractory depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and inflammatory bowel disease. Treatments that target the vagus nerve increase the vagal tone and inhibit cytokine production. Both are important mechanism of resiliency.
• Qigong (Baduanjin) helps stroke patients achieve the best possible short-term outcome and should be integrated with mainstream rehabilitation programs.
• WHAT IS THE INTERSTITIUM? SCIENTISTS 'DISCOVER NEW ORGAN'
• Newfound 'organ' had been missed by standard method for visualizing anatomy
• The Relationship between Heart Rate Variability, Psychological Flexibility, and Pain in Neurofibromatosis Type 1. Psychological flexiblity is related to pain.
• Tai Chi more beneficial than aerobic exercise for fibromyalgia.
• Tai Chi found superior to physical exercise and psychological support for cancer-related fatigue.
• Mindfulness is associated with psychological health and moderates pain in knee osteoarthritis.
• The Bioelectric Code: Reprogramming Cancer and Aging From the Interface of Mechanical and Chemical Microenvironments. Cellular membrane voltage (Vm), has been documented to exert control over cellular behavior both in culture and in vivo. Manipulating this fundamental cellular property influences a remarkable array of organism-wide patterning events, producing striking outcomes in both tumorigenesis as well as regeneration. These studies suggest that Vm is not only a key intrinsic cellular property, but also an integral part of the microenvironment that acts in both space and time to guide cellular behavior. As a result, there is considerable interest in manipulating Vm both to treat cancer as well as to regenerate organs damaged or deteriorated during aging.
• Tai chi recommended to fight fibromyalgia
• American College of Physicians strongly recommends non-pharmacological treatment including meditation, tai chi, and yoga for low back pain.
• Korean study highlights importance of proper posture while doing Spontaneous Qigong (whole body vibration).
• Spiritual Fitness: An Essential Component of Human Performance Optimization.
• Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: The Convergence of Traditional Wisdom and Contemporary Neuroscience for Self-Regulation and Resilience. It's interesting that the authors of this paper associate yoga with eudaimonic well-being. Yoga thereby gains approval as a mind-body therapy that can be studied and utilized in western medical research and clinical contexts because it can be treated as a practice distinct from its historical origin and framework.
• On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Qigong is a eudaimonic approach to well-being.
• Revealing the Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Beneficial Effects of Tai Chi: A Neuroimaging Perspective. This review identifies possible links between the alterations in the brain and beneficial effects of Tai Chi, such as improved motor functions, pain perception, metabolic profile, cognitive functions, mental health and sleep quality.
• Brainless Embryos Suggest Bioelectricity Guides Growth. Researchers are building a case that long before the nervous system works, the brain sends crucial bioelectric signals to guide the growth of embryonic tissues. Levin at Tufts is the main researcher.
• Daily mood and chronic caregiving stress are associated with mitochondrial functional capacity. Mitochondrial health may represent a nexus between psychological stress and health. This research suggests how stress directly affects the body's production of energy.
• Mindfulness training benefits high school students.
• fMRI during Transcendental Meditation practice. The study found a pattern of heightened blood flow in attentional areas and decreased blood flow in arousal areas.
• Mindfulness helps MS patients.
• Systematic review finds that Qigong helps Type 2 Diabetes patients.
• Inflammatory biomarkers responses after acute whole body vibration in fibromyalgia. A single acute session of mild and short whole body vibration (one form of Spontanous Qigong) can improve the inflammatory status in patients with fibromyalgia, reaching values close to those of matched healthy adults at their basal status. The neuroendocrine mechanism seems to be an exercise-induced modulation towards greater adaptation to stress response in these patients.
• Tai Chi for older adults with chronic multisite pain: a randomized controlled pilot study. Tai Chi significantly lowered pain severity and pain interference, reduced fear of falling, and improved several single-task and dual-task gait variables, while light physical exercise in the control group did not change these measures.
• Insight Meditation and Telomere Biology: The Effects of Intensive Retreat and the Moderating Role of Personality. UC Davis study finds that meditation training in a retreat setting has positive effects on telomere regulation, which is moderated by individual differences in personality and meditation experience. Perhaps more interesting, multilevel analyses revealed an apparent telomere length increase in the retreat group, compared to a group of experienced meditators, similarly comprised in age and gender, who were not on retreat.
• Harvard Medical School recommends Tai Chi in another new book.
• Proper posture the tai chi way. Harvard Medical School recommends Tai Chi (again).
• Fibromyalgia Related Chronic Pain Reduced with Meditation Therapy
• Physical Therapy vs Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: Dose-Response Effects of Interventions. Tai Chi as effective as physical therapy for knee osteoarthritis.
• Prescription for mindfulness: Non-profits and hospitals use new practices for healing
• Study Shows Efficacy of Mindfulness Meditation in Treating Adults With ADHD
• Mindfulness Is Going Mainstream Because of Science
• Mindfulness decreases emotional reactivity and improves well-being of older adults in long-term care.
• NIH recommends Qigong for hypertension.
• More researchers discover Walking Qigong.
• Acupuncture 'dose' (number of treatments) and insurance benefits in the USA. An adequate treatment dose, including a sufficient number of acupuncture treatments, is important for the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for common conditions. Nationally, most people who use acupuncture do not receive a full treatment course. Considering evidence of effectiveness, low risk and relatively low cost of delivery, acupuncture could play a larger role in non-pharmaceutical treatment of common conditions such as pain. Policymakers should consider that, without insurance benefits for acupuncture, people are less likely to complete a full treatment course, which may contribute to disparities in use and health outcomes.
• VA Promotes Tai Chi as a part of its new Whole Health initiative. The VA describes Whole Health as providing a personalized health plan for veterans, encouraging them to practice "self-care," and providing a comprehensive care that "considers the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental elements that work together to provide the best quality of life."
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi and Qigong (Ba Duan Jin) helpful for people with type 2 diabetes.
• Another study showing the physical performance benefits of whole-body vibration (a form of Spontaneous Qigong) for older people.
• Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting-The beneficial effects of Tai Chi Qigong and self-defense Kung-Fu training on psychological and endocrine health in middle aged and older men. Tai Chi Qigong training provides a promising prevention strategy against age-related physical and mental deterioration in aging men.
• Building Sangha in the American Healthcare Setting for Persons With Chronic Disease. This research shows how self-led groups can be so beneficial for people with chronic diseases. Guo Lin Qigong is an example of the benefits of self-led group practice for people with cancer.
• Auricular Vagus Nerve stimulation helps treat depression. This research explains why techniques like Qigong self-massage of the ear are so beneficial and how they work.
• Effect of Meridian Acupressure on Aerobic Performance of Healthy Young Population: A Randomized Controlled Study. Turkish study finds that finger-tip acupressure increases aerobic performance of young healthy males more than 10%.
• Spontaneous Qigong (whole body vibration) as effective as Pilates on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.
• Systematic review finds Qigong reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with physical or mental Illnesses. Baduanjin is one of the older forms of Qigong.
• The Impact of Combined Music and Tai Chi on Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
• Yoga in Print Media: Missing the Heart of the Practice. Representation of yoga in articles contained in the most popular yoga magazine is heavily biased in favor of physical practices. Recommendations are offered about how to shift media representation of yoga to make the heart of the practice more accessible to individuals who could experience health benefits but currently feel excluded from the practice.
• Non-Pharmacological healing with Mind-Body practice. Dr. Roger Jahnke. video. 1:03:01.
• Teach Kids About Mindfulness With These Everyday Objects
• Yoga found effective for veterans with PTSD symptoms.
• Physical activity and disability outcomes in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review (2011-2016). Physical activity including tai chi was associated with measurable benefits on ability outcomes, but continuation is likely required to maintain benefits. This research confirms what the Qigong community knows so well: you have to keep practicing to maintain the benefits. 
• Systematic review finds acupuncture affects brain networks and connectivity.
• Major Medical School Announces First Dedicated Mindfulness Division. The Division of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School aims to introduce mindfulness into medical care.
• Tai Chi enhances cognitive health and function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.
• 12-week Tai Chi program as effective as physical therapy for knee osteoarthritis.
• Systematic review finds mindfulness-based interventions improve quality of life, acceptance of situation, and reduction in depression and anxiety in adults with advanced cancer. Mindfulness is fundamental to Qigong. The authors also recommend simplified and briefer mindfulness sessions which is exactly what Qigong has to offer.
• Substituting Meditation for Detention Apparently Works Wonders For Kids. For years a Baltimore school has sent more difficult students to their "Mindful Moment Room" instead of detention. The result has been zero suspensions.
• 7 Myths About Meditation Preventing You From Grasping The Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness. If you're focused on the wrong things, you won't get the true benefits. The number one way to get the benefits of mindfulness is to practice Qigong.
• UCLA Medical School study finds mindful movement therapies including tai chi are effective therapies for management of common older adult mood, sleep, and cognition disorders.
• An Introduction to Tai Chi. A new special health report from Harvard Medical School. Mind-body exercises, such as tai chi and yoga, have been gaining popularity over the past few decades. This is not surprising, given the increasing number of studies on the positive effects of these gentler forms of exercise—everything from lowering blood pressure and managing depression to building strength and improving balance. There is even evidence that tai chi may help you live a longer, more vital life.
• Teaching meditation and yoga in high school.
• Affective Responses to Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise, Mindfulness Meditation, and Combinations of Exercise and Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Intervention. A single bout of brisk walking or meditation, as well as a combination of walking and meditation, may positively influence affect. There is some evidence to suggest that affective benefits may be greater following meditation or a combination of meditation and walking, when compared with walking alone
• Yoga as effective as physical exercise for cardio-respiratory fitness.
• Qigong alleviates musculoskeletal pain and improves overall sleep quality in people with chronic illness. Unfortunately, in the abstract and title they call Baduanjin "mindfulness", and do not mention that Baduanjin (8 pieces of Brocade) is Qigong. Fortunately, Qigong is mentioned multiple times in the article text. "Contemporary concept Qigong practices like Baduanjin enhance physiological proprioception by combining a special state of awareness with posture, movement, and breathe control, and thereby improve and strengthen the overall state of vegetative regulation (homeostasis) [66]. Compared to first line treatments (drugs, cognitive behavioral therapy) and other effective treatment alternatives (e.g., aerobic exercise for insomnia), there are a lot of advantage to use Baduanjin exercise as an adjunctive treatment for patients suffering from pain and from insomnia. It is accessible to people of all ages and physical strength, easy to learn, and has few known side effects."
• Registration is now open for the next National Qigong Association Conference. Friday–Sunday, April 27–29, 2018 DoubleTree by Hilton, Asheville-Biltmore, NC. Three days of workshops, lectures, seminars, and demonstrations presented by over 20 leaders in the fields of Qigong, Taijiquan, and the Energetic Arts, plus networking with friends in the Qigong community, distinctive vendors & products, and a silent auction.
• Tai Chi and Qigong May Improve Motor Function, Depression and Other Symptoms in Lyme-Related Parkinson's Disease
• Qigong practice affects brain alpha and theta activity.
• Tai Chi improves memory and cognition in older adults.
• Tai Chi improves cardiorespiratory fitness for coronary disease patients.
• The acute Effect of “White Ball” Qigong in Perceptual auditory Attention. The correlation between body-mind techniques, practice, and better cognitive performances is a current topic of public interest. Benefits in attention, multi-task management, stress- coping, well-being and general health improvements are documented. Qigong is a therapeutic technique from TCM with great clinical success on cognitive and emotional management. One of the problems with Qigong research is the lack of adequate controls. We recently developed a placebo Qigong and adopted this methodology to the current research study. We were interested whether a single five minutes practice of the White Ball Qi Gong exercise improved the Perceptual Auditory Attention or if a minimum of training is necessary to obtain potential effects.
• Self-healing Retreat for Cancer Patients. May 13-19, 2018. Baltimore, Maryland.
• Move Your Way to a Mindful Meditation Practice. Another yoga teacher discovers Qigong.
• Tai Chi Chuan as Physical Therapy for Knee Pain.
• Easing Ills through Tai Chi. Harvard Magazine. Researchers study the benefits of this mind-body exercise.
• Fundamentals and Benefits of Qigong. Discover the power of this ancient health care practice, and its variety of movement exercises.
• Planning a World Tai Chi and Qigong Day Event for 4/28/18? Here is some helpful information from founder Bill Douglas on how to gain support and sponsorship for your event.
• Defeating Diseases with Energy. Healing with qi. A change in body energy can have a profound effect upon function. “My belief is that mitochondrial dysfunction underlies the etiology of most common complex diseases, as well as aging,” the author says. He explains that a person suffering from chronic headaches might see a neurologist, but there’s also the possibility that “there’s a systemic energy defect causing the headache. There’s nothing wrong anatomically with the brain.” Wallace believes the same can be said for problems with the heart, muscles, renal and endocrine systems. "We've completely ignored energy in Western medical philosophy," the author says.
• Rheumatoid arthritis pain? Tai Chi could improve symptoms in the knee, hip and hands. RHEUMATOID arthritis pain is a condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints - the knees, hips and hands are the most common effected areas. While there is no cure, there are a number of remedies which have been found to ease the pain, including Tai Chi.
• Breathing to Relax and Release Deeply Bound Tension.
• Study finds tai chi significantly reduces depression symptoms in Chinese-Americans. A 12-week program of instruction and practice of the Chinese martial art tai chi led to significantly reduced symptoms of depression in Chinese Americans not receiving any other treatments. The pilot study conducted by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry enrolled members of Boston's Chinese community who had mild to moderate depression.
• Exercise Alters Our Microbiome. Is That One Reason It’s So Good for Us? Researchers found increases in certain microbes due to exercise that help to produce substances called short-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids are believed to aid in reducing inflammation in the gut and the rest of the body. They also work to fight insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, and otherwise bolster our metabolisms. Almost all of the changes in people’s guts dissipated after six weeks of not exercising. By and large, their microbiomes reverted to what they had been at the study’s start. These results indicate that exercise must be part of one's lifestyle in order for the benefits to last as they do in the life-long practice of Qigong. 
• The Effects of Stress and Meditation on the Immune System, Human Microbiota, and Epigenetics. Psychological stress typically triggers a fight-or-flight response, prompting corticotropin-releasing hormone and catecholamine production in various parts of the body, which ultimately disturbs the microbiota. In the absence of stress, a healthy microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids that exert anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects. During stress, an altered gut microbial population affects the regulation of neurotransmitters mediated by the microbiome and gut barrier function. Meditation helps regulate the stress response, thereby suppressing chronic inflammation states and maintaining a healthy gut-barrier function. The current research team recommends the integration of meditation into conventional health care and wellness models. More information on Qigong and the Microbiome: Food Is Medicine.
• Overview of Systematic Reviews of Mindfulness Meditation-based Interventions (MMI's) for People With Long-term Conditions. Pain acceptance and coping were improved. MMIs are potentially beneficial to people with depression and a range of long-term physical conditions, particularly in improving psychological well-being.
• Want a Better Workout? Just Breathe. Breath work, fundamental to Qigong, is being rediscovered as a way to enhance health, athletic performance, and speed muscular recovery after a workout.
• When You Meditate, You Might Also Be Regulating Your Genes. The article should state that you are definitely regulating your gene expression when meditating (e.g. while doing Qigong). For more information see https://qigonginstitute.org/category/15/epigenetics-and-psychoneuroimmunology#QigongGeneExpression.
• Brief 60-second mindfulness practice aids people with musculoskeletal pain.
• Effects of mindfulness exercises as stand-alone intervention on symptoms of anxiety and depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis. This is the first meta-analysis to show that the mere, regular performance of mindfulness exercises (e.g. Qigong) is beneficial, even without being integrated in larger therapeutic frameworks.
• China reconnects with the religion of Daoism, under the watchful eye of the Communist Party
• Daisy Lee - FREE National Qigong Association Qi Talk. "To start the year off right, we [the NQA] would like to share with you a free link to our recent one-hour Qi Talks interview with Daisy Lee with Vicki Dello Joio. The Qi Talks archive is an exclusive member benefit, but we are sharing this audio recording for all to enjoy."
• Tai Chi for the homeless.