Medical Qigong Exercise Prescriptions

Book excerpt: Medical qigong is one of the four main branches of Chinese medicine, and it is the energetic foundation upon which the others (acupuncture, herbal medicine, and medical massage) are based. Medical qigong and tai chi exercises are becoming more popular, but there are few books that discuss how they can be used to help address specific disorders. This book is the first medical qigong book that does not simply introduce a set of exercises that are a part of a general qigong routine. Rather, the exercises provided are those prescribed to patients at qigong hospitals in China. Medical qigong doctors and Chinese medicine hospitals have used these exercises for hundreds of years and yet they are relatively unknown in this country. The first half of the book introduces medical qigong theory from a modern Western scientific perspective as well as from the traditional Daoist and Chinese medicine perspectives, so that the reader will understand why and how medical qigong exercises work. The second half is practical exercises for self-healing. The book introduces guidelines for selecting appropriate exercises, and then the exercises themselves. There are general tonification (strengthening), purgation (sedating), and regulation exercises for health maintenance, followed by sections on specific organ and health disorders. This book targets health care practitioners as well as "patients," meaning anyone interested in taking an active role in the healing process.