Chi kung
What is chi kung?
Chi kung is the art of developing vital energy particularly for health, vitality, mind expansion and spiritual cultivation. The term chi kung, or qigong, is Chinese, but arts of energy have been practiced by different people, especially in the past when they were kept as top secrets. The Indians call their energy art yoga, the Tibetans wisdom art, whereas the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks called it the mystery art.
Because of cultural and historical reasons, there may be some differences in the methods and emphasis in these different energy arts of different peoples, but they all deal with developing energy, and they all aim at promoting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health, irrespective of religion.
Various types of chi kung
There are literally hundreds of types of chi kung, because the term chi kung is actually a collective name for various arts of energy training.
For example, in the history of chi kung in China, physicians developed energy for healing, kungfu exponents for enhancing combat efficiency, Confucian scholars for mind expansion, and Taoist and Buddhist cultivators for spiritual growth.
Nevertheless, there are large, comprehensive schools of chi kung, such as Shaolin Chi Kung and Taijiquan Chi Kung, where the various different health, martial, mental and spiritual needs are fulfilled.
Form, energy and mind in chi kung training
Although there are thousands of chi kung exercises, they all involve three elements, namely form, energy and mind. These three elements are also the three treasures of a person. In other words, every human has form, energy and mind. Chi kung training develops all these three essential elements of a person.