The Complete Guide to Qigong

Chapter 1: What Is Qigong and Why People Love It

Let's start by clearing up something important: Qigong (pronounced \"chee-gong\") is not a workout, not a religion, and not a performance. You will never need to be flexible, you will not need to memorize a choreographed routine, and you definitely do not need to sit cross-legged on the floor unless you happen to like that. At its most basic, Qigong is a series of slow, deliberate movements paired with breathing and attention. You stand, you breathe, you move your arms and legs in ways that feel a little like a tai chi class slowed down even further, and you try to keep your mind from wandering off to your grocery list. That's it. That's the hobby.

So why do people do it? Why would anyone carve out twenty minutes a day to stand in their living room slowly raising their arms over their head and then slowly lowering them again? The honest answer is that it feels good in a way that sneaks up on you. The first few times you try it, it feels a little strange. You might feel slightly silly standing in your socks moving your hands in circles. But around the third or fourth session, something shifts. Your shoulders stop feeling like they're living somewhere up near your ears. Your breath gets a little deeper without you forcing it. And you start to notice that for those twenty minutes, your brain - the one that's been