The Foundations of Healing Qigong

People often encounter Qigong through a class, a video, or a movement sequence.

They see slow movements.
They notice breathing.
They feel calmer afterward.

And the natural question becomes:
Why does this work?

Healing Qigong has been part of Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries. In that tradition it is not simply a set of exercises. It is a method for restoring balance and circulation in the body’s internal energy systems.

Over time we’ve found that most people can understand the practice more clearly when they see the deeper principles underneath the movements.

Those principles are explained in three foundational ideas.

The first is the nature of the practice itself.

Many people confuse Qigong with yoga, stretching, or general wellness exercise. While there are similarities, Qigong developed within the medical and philosophical framework of Chinese medicine and works through a different set of principles.

If you're new to the practice, we explore this more deeply in
What Is Healing Qigong and How It Differs From Yoga

The second foundation is understanding how the body actually changes through practice.

Qigong works by restoring circulation, elasticity, and energetic flow through the tissues of the body. Many people begin practicing when they notice stiffness, fatigue, or reduced mobility appearing in midlife. Those shifts are not simply aging. They are often signs that circulation and elasticity have been gradually decreasing.

We explore this physical side of the practice in
Why Your Body Feels Stiffer in Midlife and How to Restore Elasticity Naturally

The third foundation is understanding the deeper principles that make the movements effective.

Most Qigong exercises are simple. The movements themselves are rarely complicated. What matters is the underlying mechanism they activate inside the body.

• Breath

• Circulation

• Energy flow

When these systems begin to work together, the body gradually restores balance.

We explain those principles in detail in the full pillar article
The Three Foundations of Healing Qigong

If you want to understand why Qigong works - and why such simple movements can have such profound effects, that article walks through the deeper mechanics behind the practice.

For many people, this understanding is the moment Qigong shifts from being just an exercise… to becoming a lifelong practice.

If you're looking to practice from home, our guide to the best online Qigong platforms covers what to look for and how different options compare.

Read the transcript

Alright, so let us prepare. You're welcome to open a window, close doors, silence phones, and settle into the self for this next 30 minutes. You're welcome to look at the screen to follow along, and it's equally okay to listen to the words and move in your own way, or tune out my words entirely. If you feel any sharp or shooting pain, please back off. Above all, let's do no harm today. Let this be an experience of receiving the balm, the healing balm of nature.

Rub your hands together, feel the earth beneath you. The earth has one clear message: I am here to support you, I've got you. Reach your hands toward the sky, tilt your face to the sun, and use your hands to welcome it in. Brush off your face, clearing out leftover stale energy so we can receive what is new. Then brush your arms, imagine you got out of the shower and there's no towel, so brush off every part of your body. Notice that sigh wants to come out. And start to shake, shake, shake, like it doesn't matter what it looks like. There's no form to shaking. This is an energetic practice, releasing what no longer needs to be here. Let yourself crack open this morning; that's how the light gets in.

Now let it slow down, and soften into a stance that feels effortless. Stack your hips over your feet, your head over your hips. Let the hands cover the lower belly, and breathe in, let this area fill like a balloon, and as you breathe out, press just a little to exhale completely. This abdominal breath is the simplest, foundational part of Great Energy Qigong. When you breathe consciously deep into the abdomen, you soothe the nervous system, you activate rest and relax, allowing your body to heal and your mind to become steadier.

Now the Open the Gates process, an approximately 10-minute warm-up that articulates every joint in the body. These joints are thought to be energy gateways where energy can become stuck, so by moving them all comprehensively, top to bottom, we check for anything that needs to be freed. Flex the hands, extend the elbows, curl the fingers, roll the shoulders, rotate the elbows, circle the neck, roll and circle the eyes, circle the hips. We breathe into the belly through the nose, one of the methods of cultivating Chi, and whenever a sigh or sound wants to come out, let it out. Stand on one leg and swing the other, loose in the hip.

Now let the feet be wider than hips, soften the knees, lightly engage the navel and lift the perineum, and still keep the breath full. Turn from the waist, knocking on the door of life, letting your hands knock into your body. Everything in Qigong does many things. Your arms are like empty coat sleeves, as loose as can be, and you're still moving from your center.

Now separating heaven and earth: press one hand down and the other up, through the middle, and to the other side, put some energy into it as if you're pressing away something with a little resistance. Then horse stance, feet wide, knees bent, legs engaged, reengage the core and the breath. Give yourself the gift of lots of breath; you taking deeper breaths does not take breaths away from anyone else. Then, imagining a Chi ball, an energy ball, between our hands, we pull it apart, rotate, press, and scoop, pulling energy up from the earth almost like drawing a bucket up from a well, letting the energy of earth stream up your legs into your center to nourish you. This is our Chi cultivation practice today, moving nice and slow, keeping your mind in the movements, staying connected to your breath. When breath, mind, and body come together, we're practicing Qigong.

Now we move into our moving meditation, called open to flow. Your whole body ripples up and your hands ride the energy, almost like a bird soaring on the thermals. The goal with moving meditation is, how little can you do, and how much can you allow. Then let your hands trace the shape of a torus, a three-dimensional donut; some models suggest our energy field is in the shape of a torus. Imagine you can see the scintillating, sparkling lights of your own energy field, the golds and silvers and whites from the heavens, the reds and greens and blues and browns from the earth.

When you feel complete, come to rest, to sit or lie down. Relax completely, letting go of all effort. Imagine there's a bright light at your center, and as you breathe in it gets brighter, and as you breathe out it disperses into your body, so that every one of your trillions of cells is bathed in this light. When you're ready, move your fingers and toes, and bring both hands to cover your heart. Thank yourself for taking this time to breathe, to move, to take care of this miraculous vessel that is your home. And thank all of your teachers, past, present, and future, whether they looked like a teacher or not. So many people have loved you into being. Thank you, everyone, for the honor that it is to share these practices, to come together for this precious, vital work.