Qigong as Medicine

[taai gihk yahn]

I accept your accolades with all the awesome humility of the master of the universe that I am!

Just as long as u don't tell me that I "raise ur compassionate" u freak

[Scott R. Brown]

Just as long as u don't tell me that I "raise ur compassionate" u freak

You are the one with your hand on Bodhidharma's what?????

[taai gihk yahn]

You are the one with your hand on Bodhidharma's what?????

his Da Mo...

[Scott R. Brown]

his Da Mo...

Ahhhh Yessss!!! THAT is very compassionate of you!

[GeneChing]

Research finds Qigong and Tai Chi offer multiple health benefits
By Health News Team • Jul 7th, 2010

Research supports the use of tai chi as a beneficial alternative medical practice A new review has found the practices of Qigong and Tai Chi are beneficial for the heart, immune system and overall quality of life.

The review, appearing in the American Journal of Health Promotion, included 77 randomized controlled trials on both interventions published in peer-reviewed journals between 1993 and 2007. There was a total of 6,410 participants in the studies.

The authors say they found quite consistent evidence of several benefits from this particular category of exercise, including better bone health, cardio-respiratory fitness, physical function, balance, quality of life, fall prevention and psychological benefits.

"We see this as moving the understanding of the potential of Qigong and Tai Chi forward, with an emphasis on combining the evidence across these practices," said co-author Linda Larkey, Ph.D.

Shin Lin, a professor at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine explained that Qigong is a very general term to describe exercises that enhance flow of energy or balance.

Tai Chi, on the other hand, is a much more specific exercise program that focuses on a series of 24 to 108 movements to achieve a state of relaxation of both body and mind.

Here's the article for purchase including abstract and authors

A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi

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Title: A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi
Author(s): Roger Jahnke, Linda Larkey, Carol Rogers, Jennifer Etnier, Fang Lin
Publication: American Journal of Health Promotion, July/August 2010, V24, I6, e1-25
Keyword(s): Tai Chi, Taiji, Meditation, Qigong
This review examined the evidence for achieving outcomes from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Qigong and Tai Chi. RCTs reporting on the results of Qigong or Tai Chi interventions and published in peer-reviewed journals from 1993 to 2007 were identified. Seventy-seven articles met the inclusion criteria. The nine outcome category groupings that emerged were: bone density (n = 4), cardiopulmonary effects (n = 19), physical function (n = 16), falls and related risk factors (n = 23), quality of life (n = 17), self-efficacy (n = 8), patient-reported outcomes (n = 13), psychological symptoms (n = 27), and immune function (n = 6). Research has demonstrated consistent, significant results for a number of health benefits in RCTs, evidencing progress toward recognizing the similarity and equivalence of Qigong and Tai C

[Dale Dugas]

good to see it getting the exposure it deserves.

[Sal Canzonieri]

that's a great article, it is appearing all over the place on the internet, even on medical journal sites.

I'm doing Qigong healing sessions since March and its been quadrupling each month!
People on the east coast are just getting into Qigong finally.
I've been have very dramatic results from it, I mean, my clients have been.

[Sal Canzonieri]

http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20...src=RSS_PUBLIC

Buddhist Meditation Boosts Concentration Skills
Study Shows Meditation Sharpens Attention and Improves Focus
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

July 15, 2010 -- People who learn how to meditate using Buddhist techniques not only may find a bit of peace in life, but also can improve their attention and focus a new study shows.

Psychologist Katherine A. MacLean, PhD, and other researchers, signed up 30 people with an average age of 49 to go on a three-month meditation retreat in Colorado. Another 30 people in a comparison group went on a similar retreat.

The participants studied meditation techniques, such as concentrating on breathing, with Buddhist scholar and co-researcher B. Alan Wallace, PhD, of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.

All participants were aficionados of meditation and had been on retreats before, but this time they were taught how to concentrate and asked to complete various tests. Also, volunteers attended group sessions twice daily and engaged in individual meditative practice for about six hours.

At three points during the retreat, the volunteers took a 30-minute computer test, during which they watched the screen as lines of various lengths flashed randomly in front of them. Most lines were the same length, but sometimes a shorter one would appear.

Volunteers were instructed to respond by clicking the computer mouse when a shorter line appeared in a test to measure their visual attention span and their ability to make distinctions.

Researchers say that as meditation training progressed, the volunteers who received meditation training got better at spotting the short lines compared to those who didn't receive the training, suggesting it became easier to sustain attention.

The comparison group of volunteers went through identical training later and also improved concentration skills and the ability to differentiate the size of lines.
Lasting Improvements in Concentration

The improvement lasted for five months after the end of the retreat. Follow-up assessments were conducted five months after each retreat using laptop computers sent to the homes of participants.

"People may think meditation is something that makes you feel good and going on a meditation retreat is like going on vacation and you get to be at peace with yourself," MacLean says in a news release. "That's what people think until they try it. Then you realize how challenging it is to just sit and observe something without being distracted."

The tasks the volunteers performed lasted 30 minutes and were very demanding, according to MacLean, who worked on the study as a graduate student at the University of California, Davis.

"Because the task is so boring and yet is also very neutral, it's kind of a perfect index of meditation training," says MacLean, now of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The study is published in the July 2010 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[GeneChing]

Qigong is the cheapest way to stay healthy: doctor
2011/01/05 21:33:46

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Qigong is one of the oldest and most economical ways of maintaining good health, a doctor said Wednesday at a press conference held to promote Chinese medicine.

The practice of qigong, which dates back to the rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Yao in 2356 B.C., is not as difficult as most people might think, said Lin Kung-yi, a physician from Taipei City Hospital's Department of Chinese Medicine.

"People associate martial arts sects with exaggerated movements, which is not all correct, " said Lin, adding that the fundamentals of qigong are easy to grasp and learn.

Abdominal breathing, for example, is one of the three fundamentals of qigong and keeps the internal organs in good condition, he said.

Although qigong is classified as alternative medicine, its healing effects have been documented in many historical manuscripts and modern scientific journals, Lin said.

He urged the Committee on Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy to include Chinese medicine in textbooks so as to popularize the qigong practice, which he said is cost effective.

It's especially good for you if you wear white pants.

[David Jamieson]

It's especially good for you if you wear white pants.

Is that specifically a middle aged Chinese guy thing to do that?

Tucking a golf shirt into a pair of sweat pants.

I never see it except with Chinese dudes around 50 yrs old. lol

[Scott R. Brown]

http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20...src=RSS_PUBLIC

Buddhist Meditation Boosts Concentration Skills
Study Shows Meditation Sharpens Attention and Improves Focus
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

July 15, 2010 -- People who learn how to meditate using Buddhist techniques not only may find a bit of peace in life, but also can improve their attention and focus a new study shows.

Psychologist Katherine A. MacLean, PhD, and other researchers, signed up 30 people with an average age of 49 to go on a three-month meditation retreat in Colorado. Another 30 people in a comparison group went on a similar retreat.

The participants studied meditation techniques, such as concentrating on breathing, with Buddhist scholar and co-researcher B. Alan Wallace, PhD, of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.

All participants were aficionados of meditation and had been on retreats before, but this time they were taught how to concentrate and asked to complete various tests. Also, volunteers attended group sessions twice daily and engaged in individual meditative practice for about six hours.

At three points during the retreat, the volunteers took a 30-minute computer test, during which they watched the screen as lines of various lengths flashed randomly in front of them. Most lines were the same length, but sometimes a shorter one would appear.

Volunteers were instructed to respond by clicking the computer mouse when a shorter line appeared in a test to measure their visual attention span and their ability to make distinctions.

Researchers say that as meditation training progressed, the volunteers who received meditation training got better at spotting the short lines compared to those who didn't receive the training, suggesting it became easier to sustain attention.

The comparison group of volunteers went through identical training later and also improved concentration skills and the ability to differentiate the size of lines.
Lasting Improvements in Concentration

The improvement lasted for five months after the end of the retreat. Follow-up assessments were conducted five months after each retreat using laptop computers sent to the homes of participants.

"People may think meditation is something that makes you feel good and going on a meditation retreat is like going on vacation and you get to be at peace with yourself," MacLean says in a news release. "That's what people think until they try it. Then you realize how challenging it is to just sit and observe something without being distracted."

The tasks the volunteers performed lasted 30 minutes and were very demanding, according to MacLean, who worked on the study as a graduate student at the University of California, Davis.

"Because the task is so boring and yet is also very neutral, it's kind of a perfect index of meditation training," says MacLean, now of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The study is published in the July 2010 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Wait.....Wait.....Wait.......... let me get this straight! These people were taught how to practice concentrating and the news is, their concentration improved?

So......what we have really learned is NOT that Buddhist Meditation improves concentration, but that PRACTICING CONCENTRATION improves concentration!

Oh yeah....and we have learned that, there are plenty of idiots out there who will fund an idiotic study in order for idiots to study other idiots and prove that other idiots will believe the idiotic study is not idiotic!

And these people call themselves scientists?

So let me figure this one out! If I teach someone how to do pushups and then have them practice doing pushups, they'll be able to do more pushups? Is that right?

Do you think I could get an idiot to give me a grant for a study too?

[taai gihk yahn]

Wait.....Wait.....Wait.......... let me get this straight! These people were taught how to practice concentrating and the news is, their concentration improved?

So......what we have really learned is NOT that Buddhist Meditation improves concentration, but that PRACTICING CONCENTRATION improves concentration!

Oh yeah....and we have learned that, there are plenty of idiots out there who will fund an idiotic study in order for idiots to study other idiots and prove that other idiots will believe the idiotic study is not idiotic!

And these people call themselves scientists?

So let me figure this one out! If I teach someone how to do pushups and then have them practice doing pushups, they'll be able to do more pushups? Is that right?

Do you think I could get an idiot to give me a grant for a study too?

quiet you; don't you know that when it comes to studies involving qigong or meditation that subjecting them to rational analysis is to simply underscore your failure to understand the truth about these sorts of things? which is that, when studies show that these things "work", then it's just scientists regurgitating what Ancient Taoists already knew billions of years ago, and when the studies don't show that they "work", it's because these sorts of things can't be adequately measured by scientific studies...

[Scott R. Brown]

quiet you; don't you know that when it comes to studies involving qigong or meditation that subjecting them to rational analysis is to simply underscore your failure to understand the truth about these sorts of things? which is that, when studies show that these things "work", then it's just scientists regurgitating what Ancient Taoists already knew billions of years ago, and when the studies don't show that they "work", it's because these sorts of things can't be adequately measured by scientific studies...

Yeah? Well I got something RIGHT HERE that can't be adequately measured, Buddy!

Maybe I can get a grant THAT!

[GeneChing]

Other people are getting them. Why not you?

This isn't quite scholarly...it's Reuters.

Qigong: mindful movement made in China
By Dorene Internicola
NEW YORK | Mon Feb 7, 2011 10:43am EST
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - If yoga is all the rage, can Qigong be far behind?

Sometimes called Chinese yoga, Qigong is a mind-body practice that melds slow graceful movements, mental focus and deep abdominal breathing to boost and balance a person's vital energy, or "qi".

As China's star rises in the west, devotees believe this 5,000-year-old energy cultivation system is poised to become the new kid on the block among rat racers hungry for a more serene form of fitness.

"As China becomes more of a player in the world, Chinese practice is becoming more mainstream," said Matthew Cohen, creator of the Tai Chi & Qi Gong Basics DVD, "just as yoga became popular when the Beatles went to India."

Cohen, an instructor at Sacred Energy Arts in Santa Monica, California, said unlike in India, yoga in the west has come to favor the athletic at the expense of the meditative.

"The world is getting more crowded, cars and computers getting faster," he said. "Qigong is about going slower, so internally you create space."

Tom Rogers, president of the Qigong Institute, a nonprofit educational organization, said Qigong is the precursor to all Chinese energy practices.

"Tai Chi is the most well known moving form of Qigong. Kung Fu is also a form of Qigong," Rogers said from his home in Los Altos, California

Rogers added that the idea of energy cultivation is foreign to westerners but common to other cultures.

"Look at e=mc2," Rogers said of Einstein's insight that matter and energy are different forms of the same thing.

"In the west we look at mass," he said. "Western physics made weapons. The east looks at energy."

The slow, spiral exercises of Qigong, such as Rolling the Ball or Wave Hands in the Cloud, require no equipment, can be done anywhere, and are easy to learn.

"I call it getting an MBA: Movement, Breathing and Awareness," Rogers said. "One is adjusting your posture so energy flow is better; two is slow, deep, abdominal breathing; three is awareness, or trying to get thoughts out of your head."

Balance, posture, breath control and relaxation are among the benefits of Qigong, according to Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise.

She said some research trials have also reported statistically significant decreases in the incidence of stroke, decreased blood pressure, and increases in bone mineral density and improved effectiveness of cancer therapy among practitioners.

"Exercise is not just about going on the treadmill or lifting weights," Matthews explained.

Rogers said as you become more adept, the benefits increase.

"Like an onion you peel the layers back and there's more and more to it: movements are more fluid, posture is better, energy is flowing, breathing is more efficient with movement," he said. "As your awareness deepens you're distracted by less and less."

He added that every chronic illness on the planet is affected by stress.

"Connect with that healer within. Turn that on," Rogers added.

[GeneChing]

There are several spelling errors in this article, but we have spelling errors all the time, so who am I to talk?

Third-Grader Heals Friends with Qigong
Leif Reffsgaard uses millennia-old Chinese therapy
Updated: Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011, 8:53 AM CST
Published : Tuesday, 01 Mar 2011, 11:40 PM CST
by Scott Wasserman / FOX 9 News

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. - Some call a Chinese healing tool called Quigong “needle-less acupuncture,” but to one St. Louis Park third-grader using the practice to heal his friends, it’s magic.

Getting lost in a different world isn’t hard for 8-year-old Leif Reffsgaard and Paul Krenik, who both love Harry Potter.

“I just think magic is really cool,” Reffsgaard said.

Magic is usually saved for the imagination, but in his life, Reffsgaard is using an ancient Chinese teaching that he said often makes him feel like Harry.

“I feel like I'm a wizard using the healing spell,” Reffsgaard said.

Reffsgaard said he has used Qigong many tomes to help heal injured friends, including Krenik, who recently fell and hurt his leg in gym class.

“At first, I was like, ‘How on earth is he going to heal me?’ when it was hurting,” Krenik recalled. “When he used it, I was like, ‘Woah, what just happened?’”

Krenik described the feeling of the treatment as being everything he liked, a soft blanket hitting the pain. For Reffsgaard, there’s more in it for him than just the satisfaction of a job well done.

“When I help others, it makes me feel happy,” Reffsgaard said.

To understand Qigong, FOX 9 News spoke with Reffsgaard’s teacher, Master Chunyi Lin. Lin has studied the art for more than 30 years.

“QI means energy, gong means work,” Lin explained. “Working with the body’s energy -- that's what Qigong is all about.”

There are two types Qigong. First, the external type where a master helps to improve another person’s flow of energy.

“A person sends out energy through the heart to help others to clear the energy blockages -- clear the aches and pains,” Lin said.

Deanne Kroll said she came to Lin more than a decade ago with headaches that wouldn’t go away, and he demonstrated how he helped her feel.

“I’m going to send out energy from my heart to help you unplug those energy blockages,” Lin explained. “You might feel a tingly sensation here or there.”

Lin said he knows that just by looking at it, Qigong can appear to be hokey, but a recent study at the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic found that people suffering from chronic pain felt significantly better after weeks of external Qigong treatments.

According to Lin, the extra energy provided via Qigong can help provide protection to prevent illnesses in the body.

Now, what was once an ancient Chinese secret only known by Qigong masters, Lin has developed Spring Forest Qigong so that people can help heal themselves with internal Qigong.

“Everybody was born with this gift,” Lin said. “So, you can help yourself and others to heal.”

Lin said that is the unique aspect of his internal art, and said practicing Qigong for just 10 minutes each day can improve a person’s quality of life and give practitioners more energy.

As for believing in the process, Lin said children like Reffsgaard are quick learners because they are often more open to what appears impossible.

“The most powerful healing energy in the universe is love, unconditional love. His love is so pure,” said Lin of Reffsgaard . “He wants to help others. He used the techniques, and it works.”

At 8 years old, Reffsgaard has now practiced Qigong for four years and said he intends to keep using his wizardry to help himself and his friends.