Qigong Gymnastics: Its Difference from Yoga Exercises

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The etymology of the word ‘qigong’ goes back to two Chinese characters: “qi”, which means ‘energy’, and “gong”, ‘action, work’. Qigong is thus a work with energy. Energy should not be understood as a typically material substance like electricity, but rather as prana and https://www.julianalucky.com/story.

In general, in the opinion of the author of this article, prana and qi are essentially of the same order. Qi also permeates all things. Just as the universe is filled with prana, chi fills the so-called animate and inanimate nature. During practice, qigong practitioners, like kundalini yoga practitioners, raise qi energy and transfer it from the lower dantian to the higher dantian and back again. The very notion of energy centers “dantian” bears great resemblance to the system of chakras, energy funnels that are widely represented in the yogic tradition.

However, we cannot say that the exercises of qigong gymnastics are a complete analog of the yoga complex. Yoga, in contrast to qigong (regardless of which component we are talking about, static or dynamic exercises), is in many ways more demanding of the initial physical preparation of the practitioner. Qigong exercises do not require as much attention to, for example, stretching or twisting exercises or strength exercises. There are quite difficult exercises in qigong that need to be held for a long time, they are static, but they can hardly be compared in general with the exercises of the yoga complex.

Second, if in yoga exercises the healthful effect is achieved through changes in the physical position of the body, in its intricate twists, bends, and bends, then in qigong exercises body position is not so fundamentally important. In qigong exercises, attention is paid to the sensation of energy flowing through the body, inside and out.

In the initial stages, visualization is used to speed up the appearance of real sensations in the body. However, afterwards, when the practice has been practiced, the visualization exercises are of no help and are even recommended to be halted as soon as possible, since visual images begin to interfere with the real sensation of the passage of Qi energy. On the other hand, qi energy should not be perceived only as a certain substance to be felt physically. Qi is a spiritual component, so in the more advanced stages, adepts of this gymnastics cultivate spiritual qi.