Qi Gong Practice
Qi Gong is a specific practice for attaining longevity and making the body and mind overall stronger, more robust, and efficient. Having more internal awareness and stronger bodily communication can also help practitioners to find their individual strengths and weaknesses, develop life goals, and learn to train their bodies and minds together.
The benefits of internal Qi Gong practice are vast. Internal Qi Gong practice is beneficial for all people and can help with physical and emotional ailments that a practitioner may be suffering from. The main practice of internal qi gong is the practice of taking in healthy fresh qi and expelling the waste, toxins, and unhealthy qi that have accumulated in our bodies over time.
Combining these practices together with the conditioning of the skin, muscles, and tendons through repeated hitting with various technique and instruments and various movements can increase the strength of the external body and internal organs. The practice of qi gong is meant to awaken and strengthen the vast potential each individual has; both internally and externally. It can also teach a practitioner how to be in better communication with their body and thus have better internal coordination as it has been conditioned to higher levels of health and power. Once a practitioner of hard qi gong has trained the higher levels of training they can then break objects over their body and be struck with kicks, punches, etc. without sustaining injury.
Wudang Qi Gong
Daoist practice maintains that the cultivation of the mind and spirit must be coordinated with the improvement of the body. Wudang Qi Gong has two systems of qi gong practice: Internal Qi Gong (or soft qi gong) and Hard Qi Gong.
Wudang Daoist qi gong’s main focus is on the body and health preservation. Both are considered internal/soft qi gong. In internal qi gong the focus is placed on deep breathing without allowing the thoughts to wander too far. The practice of soft qi gong does not require the use of large amounts of physical energy. This type of training can help to open the lungs and strengthen respiration, strengthen the organs, and also open the energy channels and meridians of the body. We practice both hard qi gong and soft qi gong to connect the body as a composite whole.
Hard qigong can also be called ‘tong zi gong (桶子功)’, or ‘bucket’ qi gong. There are three levels of training in the practice of hard qigong; beginning with basic level training and moving to the more advanced stages. The practices of hard qigong involve specific breathing technique, as well as the practice of swallowing air in order to cleanse the internal organs and digestive tract, gathering, distributing, and circulating qi throughout the body, storing qi, compacting qi, using qi for explosive power and protection, and strengthening the internal organs. Hard qigong practice trains the tendons, bones and skin, while internal qigong practice focuses on the cultivation of ‘essence’, qi, and ‘spirit’.
