Blog: Energize Your Life With Chi

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Chi Gong Basics at the on Oct. 24, 2011 at 7 p.m.

Chi Gong is a way of life for the Chinese. When I lived there I would see everyone out in the morning doing their practice on all public parks and any space which could accommodate a group of people.  Can you imaging 20-30 of us doing a synchronized set of movements on the grass lot next to the bank building at Bridge and Star streets?

In America Chi Gong is becoming popular as a series of exercises, and like yoga, it is really a combination of exercises, eating and lifestyles. Chi Gong is the grandfather of all martial arts, when practicing a martial art you are practicing a subset of Chi Gong. Chi Gong can also be seen as Qi Gong, or Chi Kung or with the words together without space such as Qigong. Chi sounds like the first syllable in word Cheeta although some pronounce it as Key.  

Chi is the concept of Spirit, Energy or Life Force and Gong is the concept of Practice or Exercise. Gong can also be seen as Kung as in Kung Fu (Fu is concept of Power). So the translation of Chi Gong would be Spirit Practice or Energy Practice. It has a martial arts component to reflect discipline and control, a medical component to promote health and wellness and spiritual component to grow one’s connection to the divine.  

Most gyms and marketed materials such as books or videos only offer the exercise portion of the work, ignoring the true power behind it. Masters, as portrayed by the lovable character Mr. Miyagi in the movie "The Karate Kid," are able to harness the energy and use it to "bend" what we believe to be the natural laws of physics. I’ve heard of some masters able to knit broken bones together with the work. I know broken bones heal faster and stronger in those who receive healings. I was born a healer and already knew Chi Gong naturally, just not the name. So many of the 20 techniques I use as a healer are Chi Gong-based.

Twelve years before I accepted my life calling as healer, I was summoned to the hospital to say my final goodbyes to my mother, who was going to pass in the next few hours. I used Chi to heal her with her doctors having no explanation how she survived and was out of the hospital in less than a week with a condition which would usually take 3-4 weeks to heal normally. From then out she beat the clock in all her healing times compared to other patients. Of course it wasn’t until I became a formal student of the art did I have a name for what I did and an understanding of why it worked. Chi has power of life and I am convinced it is used in the reports to bring back the dead such as Christ raising Lazarus. 

The word Chi also can be seen as Qi in China or translated to Ki in Japanese as in Reiki. Asian languages are pictorial so translations often become whatever the ear of the translator hears. A picture says a thousand words is true. The picture for Chi is a rice pot over fire. Rice is one of the staples of an Asian diet so the concept of essentialness and provision is build into the word. The fire itself is a mystery of energy and heat also providing light, warmth and the necessary tool to cook the rice. But what is most pointed out is the steam coming off the pot. This steam is equated to the spirit and for those of us who know our Bible the Holy Spirit comes in the form a a whisper or the force of the wind. 

It is associated with Breath, which we know is the source of all human life with God breathing life into Adam. This breath, life, energy, spirit concept can be found in other words that have no true way of translation. 

For example Aloha in Hawaiian has the word HA, which means breath, and Alo is God, so someone is wishing you to have the breath of God when they say Aloha. As a matter of fact if you were to do the full greeting it is to exchange the breath, your spirit and some of your spiritual knowledge. When I learned this from my Kahuna mentor it was extremely powerful in connecting us together as two in a shared community.

Other cultures use the word for the same concept here are a few you may have heard. India uses Pranic or Prana, which is usually translated as Breath. Yoga works to increase Prana and one of the spiritual healings I do which is becoming popular in America is called Pranic Healing.

The Pacific Islanders from New Zealand to Hawaii use the word mana to mean life force. (Be careful while Hawaii of the usage based on content, because sometimes it means the group of westerners bastardizing their system of belief.)  I found this to word to be interesting since in the old testament uses Manna as the heavenly bread of life provided to the Jews in the 40 year wandering in the desert with Moses looking for the promised land.   

Verbal history also teaches the Polynesian islands were founded by twelve tribes which came from Africa (Egypt maybe?) who were imparted with the secrets of life. Could they have been the twelve Jewish tribes which are called God’s Chosen People? The Chosen people were tasked with sharing God with the world.

The verbal history says the twelve sourcing tribes went to many places carrying the secret with them, each tribe finding their home. Between Africa and Hawaii rests our Asian friends who I suppose learned the secrets and incorporated them into their ways of life. Thus we are back to the Concept of Chi being common across the Eastern globe.

For more information, come to the Chi Gong lecture at the Phoenixville Library on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. The lecture is free to all, but please sign up with the library to make sure there are enough seats and hand outs. I will go over the golden eight exercises that make up a basis of a home program used in the medical Chi Gong so wear loose fitting clothes.

Linda Bender is a metaphysical doctor trained as a medical intuitive. She uses over 20 life coaching and touch therapy techniques to help you reduce stress and pain so your body invokes its natural healing ability. She is at on Church Street in Phoenixville. See www.BenderHealing.com or call 800-706-1354 for more information.