Joan’s Boomer Blog

Qigong for 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

About a month ago, my husband and I started taking a Tai Chi class for beginners. For baby boomers Tai Chi is the perfect form of exercise because it builds muscles, keeps joints flexible, reduces stress, helps you sleep soundly at night and improves balance - all through breathing and a series of slow, smooth flowing movements that are easy on your body.

Tai chi is an ancient art, often described as meditation in motion. The focus is on practicing the precise movements which flow one into another without pause, in coordination with the breath. Besides these postures or forms, there are also many exercises to help move the chi, or life force energy, throughout your body, creating good physical and mental health.

I’ve always wanted to try tai chi and our first series of classes was in the Qigong, which, I think is less precise in the movements than other forms of Tai Chi. We learned some wonderful meditations in this class too, which focus on clearing chakras, or energy centers in the body, and bringing chi to the various organs of the body.

I found another Tai chi class for beginners at the local Y where I also take yoga. This is Tai Chi in the Yang style which is extremely precise and really makes you feel like a klutz at first. I can do the arm movements and the foot movements pretty well but do them at the same time will take some practice!

What I’ve found in learning tai chi is that this is a journey which has no ending. Many spend months on just one movement to perfect it. One of the important benefits of Tai Chi is that besides being a physical journey, it’s also a spiritual journey and you learn some surprising things about yourself along the way.

If you haven’t tried Tai Chi, or you are a beginner, you may see it being performed and think “How could Tai Chi really be good exercise?” Let me tell you, you definitely feel it in every muscle but the body moves as one piece so there is never strain put on any one muscle or joint. Along the way, you also focus on deep breathing.

After a few classes, you find you’re standing straighter, breathing deeper, feeling stronger and more energetic. I’ve been sleeping better than I have in years.

Besides taking a Tai Chi class for beginners, you can also learn the basics of Tai Chi and receive the benefits from Tai Chi DVD’s. Here are some that we’ve collected and use daily:

Qigong Beginning Practice -A 2 cd set featuring instructors Francesco and Daisy Lee-Garripoli. One cd is a PBS special on Francesco’s journey to China and his discovery of the QiGong exercises in his video. Done with voice over before a beautiful lake, the exercises are easy to follow and perform. You definitely feel the benefits of this Qugong work out. We’ve been doing this one twice a week but you could certainly do it daily for more benefits.

We have two Tai Chi dvd’s by David Dorian Ross:

A.M. and P.M. T’ai Chi With David-Dorian Ross and CJ McPhee

T’ai Chi Beginning Practice

David Dorian Ross is a wonderful instructor and between these two Dvd’s we have several practices for daily use. The AM/PM dvd also has a great option for morning when your body needs waking up, and evening, when you need calming for good sleep.

We don’t yet own Energy Boost for Seniors With Chi but it’s next on our shopping list.

One thing about Tai Chi for beginners is that your practice becomes about perfecting the moves and making them second nature so you never really get tired of any one dvd or workout.

Tai Chi is one form of exercise that you could do well into your elder years.

Read more about how lack of sleep can make you obese and forgetful!

Read more about the benefits of Tai Chi for stress management.

Can Magnetic Therapy Relieve Your Chronic Pain?

Chronic Pain doesn’t have to be part of your senior years. Alternative remedies such as magnetic therapy, using magnetic bracelets, acupuncture, reiki and energy medicine offer hope for chronic pain sufferers.

Baby boomers who suffer chronic pain often just accept pain as part of their lives. They take pain medications that harm their livers - Pop a pill and feel a little better - However, that chronic pain from arthritis, back or hip problems, neuropathy, carpel tunnel or other forms of unrelieved pain are still present. You can try and relieve the symptoms but the underlying cause it still there.

How Does Magnetic Therapy Work?

Magnetic therapy has been around for about 4,000 years. Magnetic healing may work to relieve chronic pain by relaxing the capillary walls of the body, increasing the blood flow throughout your system, working much the same as massage therapy, which stimulates the areas around muscles, increasing blood flow and helping the body to heal itself.

In Magnetic therapy a magnetic bracelet or other jewelry is worn which may help increase blood flow and speed healing of chronic pain, getting to the cause of the pain, not just relieving the symptoms.

Where Can I Find Quality Magnetic Bracelets?

One way to get magnetic jewelry is to join an MLM like Amega Global, which offers quality magnetic bracelets, zero point energy wand, an energetic healing tool which can help the body heal from chronic pain - often in minutes), and other energy healing products. Their products are about $200-$600 each.

Or, you can get the same type of magnetic jewelry such as the iRenew Energy Bracelet at Amazon.com for a fraction of the price.

The Magnetic Therapy Industry is a billion dollar business worldwide, with $300 million of that business in the United States.

Life is too short to live with chronic pain. With magnetic therapy, you can increase your quality of life - no matter how long you live. I’ve seen amazing results in seniors over 80 years old, as well as those in their 40’s and 50’s.

If you live in chronic pain and don’t want to take pain medications daily, check out magnetic therapy and energy healing. You might be glad you did.