www.Longfei-Taiji.co.uk

Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain

The Way to a Long and Healthy Life
by Malcolm Kirsh
Longfei News Letters - Volume 4, Issue 2

Malcolm Kirsh is 51 and has been head of psychotherapy and counselling for the 101 Practitioners Network for 15 years. He was previously at the 101 Clinic, Seymour Place, London W1 and now at the Hale Clinic, 7 Park Crescent, London W1. He also works from a clinic in Hendon, north west London.

In preparation for his thesis he studied the different schools of psychotherapy and counseling in their approaches to stress (before the word became a clichˇ). He would now define stress as "the negative manifestation of the internal processes used to deal with external stimulation." Whilst also being psychodynamic his main work is on a cognitive and behavioural level.

He also studied some remedial therapies which would assist in reducing stress such as massage, relfexology, relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy and has trained for many years in Taiji and Qigong.

He works with individuals who have a vast range of presenting problems, many of whom could be described as obsessive and addictive in behaviour. He works with couples and business

colleagues with issues relating to communication and relationship conflict.

Currently he is working on a European Union funded project to provide online counseling,

psychotherapy and the medical advice for prisoners throughout the European Union.

Mediocre medicine cures diseases; superior medicine prevents them.
Nei Jing

The will is the commander of Qi. Qi is the totality of the body.
Mencius

Qigong is Poetry and Medicine

The Tang Dynasty (seventh to tenth centuries AD) is best known for its poetry and many poets were devoted practitioners. The great Qigong poet Po Chu Yi registered the sensations he experienced while in a meditative Qigong state:

As I close my eyes to meditate
Vibrant Qi from within radiates.
Tingling feelings of joy arise
Like crawling insects in gentle surprise.
This sensation permeates into every cell.
From the centre the void begins to swell.
Forgetting myself and becoming formless,
My mind and cosmos dissolve into nothingness.
There is one common flow, one common
breathing. All things are in sympathy.
Hippocrates

Relax and empty your mind and heart of all thoughts. Breathe in gently and deeply, so that the incoming cosmic energy fills the energy centre at your abdomen.

And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whip-poor-will or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night?
I am a red man and do not understand.
The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with the pinon pine.
The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath.
Native American Indian Chief, Seattle, 1854

The Art of Qigong

Enjoy good health - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually; increase vitality so that you can get the best out of your work and play; have clarity of thought and freshness of mind, as well as spiritual fulfillment.

You can attain all these goals with Qigong. Qigong is non-religious. It can be practised by anyone without affecting their religious beliefs - or lack of them. At the more advanced levels it is spiritual - it transcends the physical - but there are many people who practise and benefit tremendously from its physical level only, leaving out some or all of the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects.

The ancient Chinese, like other great peoples of ancient civilizations, did not compartmentalise knowledge. Thus, many scientists and Qigong masters were also poets, doctors, etc.

The source of life, of birth and change is Qi,
everything under heaven and earth obeys the law.
Qi in the periphery envelops the cosmos;
Qi the interior activates all.
Nei Jing

We often view with suspicion and disbelief whatever we are unaccustomed to, even though the unconventional may actually be better and more acceptable to other people.

This observation is particularly pertinent as we examine the practice and philosophy of Qigong. It is therefore worthwhile for those who may not be used to the profundity of Eastern wisdom, and may sometimes find it bewildering, to keep an open mind and refrain from automatically dismissing as impossible or absurd patterns of thoughts and modes of behaviour that are foreign to their culture.

Qigong is the art of developing energy, particularly for health, internal force and mind training. In Chinese, energy is called 'qi', pronounced and often spelt as "Chi" in English.

Qi is the energy that enables us to walk and talk, to work and play, to philosophise and visualise and to perform all the other myriad activities necessary for living. It is also the energy that changes the dinner we have just eaten into flesh and bones, that moves the necessary muscles when we smile, that fights the hostile micro-organisms which invade our bodies, that transmits messages from our brain to various organs and tissues, and does countless other things inside our bodies that we are unaware of but that are essential to keep us alive.

Practising Qigong greatly enhances our energy, thus enabling us to get more out of life.

Qigong is especially invaluable for health, internal force and mind training. A fourth dimension may be added, for those who are ready - spiritual fulfilment. Qigong is excellent for curing illness and promoting health. Internal force, obviously, is force from inside the body and should be differentiated from external force, which is usually muscular or mechanical and sometimes brutal. Qigong develops internal force.

The concept of mind-body unity has been prevalent in Eastern thought throughout the ages. Besides keeping the body physically fit and healthy, Qigong is pre-eminent in training the mind.

Qigong is actually older than history. It was practised in antiquity not only by the Chinese, but also by peoples of other great cultures at different places and times. It was known by different names. The Indians, for example, had yoga and the Tibetans, the art of wisdom.

By the time of the Shang Dynasty (sixteenth to eleventh centuries BC), Qigong had developed to a fairly high level. Many of the patterns of this time resembled the typical movements of animals, because we want to acquire particular characteristics which surpass those of humans.

Cleansing Meridians and Balancing Yin-Yang

Although the details of Chinese medical philosophy can be complex and puzzling, fundamentally the hows and whys of Qigong therapy, as well as of other branches of Chinese medicine, can be reduced to two simple principles: the cleansing of meridians to achieve harmonious energy flow and the restoration of yin-yang balance.

The Joy of a Stress-Free Life

How many of us can still appreciate the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond, or the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by the midday rain, or scented with the pinon pine? Not many, as most of us today are preoccupied with stress.

Stress, most doctors agree, is presently the number one trouble-maker, causing both physical and mental illness, as well as loss of efficiency for 'healthy' people. The three most widely prescribed drugs in the world today all deal with stress.

Qigong is an excellent way to manage stress, as well as cure illnesses caused by stress - without the use of tranquillisers, anti-depressants, surgery or psychotherapy.

One great advantage Qigong has over Western treatments for mental illness is that the effects of Qigong are preventative as well as curative. Moreover, they are holistic; the same Qigong exercises are as beneficial for mental problems as for other forms of illness.

In other words, one does not have to be mentally ill to practise those Qigong exercises which are effective for curing mental sickness, because they not only manage stress, thus preventing possible mental diseases, but can also cure or prevent physical illness.

Breathe Better, Think More Clearly

Many experiments using Western scientific principles are instruments have been carried out recently in China to test and subsequently verify, the traditional claims made by Qigong masters through the ages, such as that Qigong enhances one's stamina, endurance, reflexes and judgement.

Improving Academic Performance Through Qigong

A few years ago, meditation usually meant to
most a 'religious' reflection . . . but in the East,
meditation had long been practised as a mode of
achieving consciousness on various levels of
awareness, and the coming to the West of this
teaching has brought about a new realisation of
the potential of this form of approach to that
which is inner, higher or spiritual.
Michael J Eastcott, 1969

The mind of a student who practises Qigong is also better focused than that of an ordinary student. Many people cannot concentrate because their untrained minds, to use a Chinese saying, are like monkeys and wild horses, running everywhere. Qigong training brings these 'monkeys and horses' under control and develops a focused mind.

Furthermore, a Qigong student can use his mind more efficiently than an untrained student. His ability to visualise, which is developed through Qigong practice, not only enables him to see problems clearly in his mind, but also to consider possible solutions for his problems through visualisation.

In all the major schools of Qigong, mental development is an important function, especially at the advanced levels. But this mental aspect is present at all levels, even though many beginners may not be aware of it. In the medical school of Qigong, the unity of mind and body is always emphasised. The Nei Jing, regarded by many as the final authority on Chinese medicine, advises: "Discard all irrelevant thoughts, breathe in cosmic energy, so as to open your mental faculties."

The concept of mind in Qigong is much influenced by medical, Taoist and Buddhist philosophies. In Chinese, 'mind' may be expressed as 'heart', 'spirit', 'soul' and 'consciousness'. In Chinese medical philosophy, the seat of the mind is in the hear, not in the brain.

A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion, of his consciousness.

The delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires, and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Who do you think said these inspiring words? Not a mystic nor a spiritual teacher, but one of the greatest scientists of all time - Albert Einstein.

Taiji: Energy and Poetry in Motion

Taiii masters say that there are three levels of attainment in Taijiquan. At the first level the exponent can perform Taiji movements flowingly and achieve health and fitness.

At the second level he can apply the movements effectively to combat. At the highest level he connects the mind to the body, the consciousness to the subconscious and the individual to his environment. Qigong is helpful at the first level, necessary at the second and essential at the third.

In combat, just as in normal practice, the Taiji exponent does not use mechanical strength, he uses internal force. If he uses mechanical strength, he has to tense his muscles, which in turn will constrict his meridians and interrupt the internal energy flow.

A Taiji exponent aims to be calm throughout - even when someone is endangering his life or those of his loved ones - so that Qi flows endlessly inside him and provides him with stamina and internal force.

These slow, gentle movements are performed during practice. At an advanced stage, when his Qi flow is as quick as he directs it with his mind, the Taiji exponent can be very fast. In fact, he has to be fast and forceful when he spars or fights.

Back to contents

©copyright Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain