Healthy Retirement: Try Qigong for a Health and Healing
It seems unfair that as we near our retirement years, when we should finally have the chance to enjoy life and do as we please, we find health issues are consuming our time and energy. As we age, it becomes even more important to find a form of exercise that can help us stay healthy and even help overcome the health issues we may already have.
For the past few months, my husband and I have been hooked on qigong exercises,. We started by taking a six week class but at $12 a class for each of us, we decided to look around for some qigong DVD’s to do at home. I found several that provide great workouts and we alternate them so we don’t get bored with any one.
Qigong for Health and Healing
What is qigong?
Qigong is a gentle, flowing form of exercise from China, used for healing and energy medicine. The slow, meditative movements incorporate breathing techniques to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate the life energy (qi) throughout the body. Spending even 15 minutes a day doing qigong exercises can lead to better health, increased immunity and energy and reduced stress. Other qigong benefits include better balance and increased mental focus.
More Benefits of Qigong
Anyone can do qigong. Even for those who can’t stand, the exercises can be done sitting in a chair. Beyond purchasing a DVD or taking a class, there is no equipment to buy, no warm ups to do. Once you memorize some of the exercises, you can do them anyplace, anytime.
Watching a gigong practice, you would never guess that pretty much every muscle in your body is being worked and internal organs massaged so lung health, digestion and circulation are also improved. My husband has had shoulder and neck pain for years due to sitting at a desk all day, working at the computer. He said for the first time in all those years, he can turn his neck without pain and his shoulder pain is gone.
The other day, my digestion was off. I had severe heartburn and thought perhaps I’d caught some sort of bug. I didn’t feel like doing anything but I decided to do about 15 minutes of cleansing exercises with a qigong DVD and about half way through I felt totally normal. All my indigestion was gone and it didn’t return.
After I spend about 30 minutes doing my daily qigong practice I feel refreshed, energized and more focused. This is the sort of exercise you look forward to doing and you miss it if you don’t do it. In the past, I’ve done treadmills, lifting weights, aerobics, etc and qigong is so much easier and more relaxing, yet it does all the things these other forms of exercise do too.
If you have any health issues, a daily qigong practice for health and healing will benefit you. Almost all the DVD’s we have are by instructors who have overcome severe health issues using qigong.
How do you get started in a Qigong Practice?
As I mentioned, we took a class to begin with but now that I’ve purchased and used several qigong DVD’s I can tell you, a class isn’t really necessary. All the DVD’s we have also give lots of information on how to do the exercises and why you are doing them. Here are some of our favorites:
Qi Gong for Health and Healing: A Complete Training Course to Unleash the Power of Your Life-Force EnergyLee Holden’s course covers everything you need to know about qigong. There are five DVD’s with 10 hours of instruction and exercise routines. There are qigong exercises for morning to energize and and evening to calm. Six audio cd’s and a workbook complement the video with information, breathing exercises and guided meditations. If you can’t take a class, this course is the closest thing you’ll find.
I’ve ordered a a few qigong DVD’s that I tried and sent back for various reasons. These are the ones we use a couple of times each week at least:
Qigong Beginning Practice Garri Garripoli and his wife, Daisy Lee Garripoli, have several qigong DVD’s out for different issues such as cleansing, better digestion and stress reduction. We have several of these but we always seem to come back to the Beginning Practice. The entire routine takes over an hour but it covers all the basic qigong exercises.
This DVD set also has an extra DVD done by Garri Garripoli for a PBS special which tells the story of qigong and his personal journey back to good health using these exercises.
If you’re also interested in Tai Chi, DVD’s by David Dorian Ross are a good bet. I like this one, T’ai Chi Beginning Practice because there is a tai chi practice section and about 30 minutes of qigong energy exercises in a different segment.
If you are interested in qigong for health and healing or learning basic tai chi forms, these three instructors have many DVD’s out (I have several by each of them) and they are all very good.
Qigong is a form of exercise, true, but somewhere along the way, you begin to realize that you’re getting much more out of it than improving health and physical fitness. A daily qigong practice offers benefits beyond physical fitness. Doing the slow, focused excercise routines clears your mind, and you feel relaxed and free of stress. This is something you can carry into your day and you feel better all the time.
More information on Qigong and Tai Chi
QiGong Institute
Qigong Institute on YouTube
National QiGong Association










