Scholar qigong, medical qigong, martial qigong, enlightenment qigong

This text provides the a detailed discussion of history and development of the artform, the scientific principles and physiological theory underlying the practice [along with cultural background and vocabulary from Chinese medicine] and practical concepts for applying qigong in practice.  This text was first text in a series of in-depth texts on qigong by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming; it serves as a foundation reference for anyone beginning an in-depth study of qigong regardless of the purpose of that study. There are probably as many reasons for studying and practicing qigong as there are people who study and practice qigong. We could list four significant classifications of reasons or motive that people have for studying qigong; these include: to improve and maintain health, to heal injuries and overcome serious illness, to focus power and train for fighting more effectively, to focus the mind for spiritual cultivation.

Maintaining health with qigong is primarily about training to regulate the mind, body and breath.  At its simplest, this form of qigong could be thought of as a form of physiological meditation that uses disciplined study of breathing combined with different forms of exercise and stretching movements to massage muscles, tendons and strengthen bones in order to maintain physical health and help calm the mind and practice emotional control.  Essentially, qigong conditions one's thinking on exercise, diet and all activities that pertain to health.  It is NOT a substitute for eating well, getting plenty of exercise or leading an enjoyable and meaningful life -- instead, qigong complements those activities.

Healing injuries and recovering from serious illness with qigong builds upon the techniques used for maintaining health and adds specific qigong exercises designed to speed up healing or cure the sickness.  Over thousands of years, qigong practitioners have developing an elaborate medicinal knowledge of biolectric/biomagnetic qi circulation and balance; recently, conventional medical science and biomedical engineers have begun to better understand and use the millennia of clinical experience to develop treatment methods and devices based upon bioelectricity/biomagnetism.  

Developing martial arts power and effectiveness with qigong is primarily about using the training to develop the power, efficiency and self-control of the body and mind for self-defense and diffusing difficult situations.  It involves the abilities to perform spectacular leaps, to accomplish unbelievable moves and to deliver highly-focused blows.  These abilities are especially effective because an understanding of qigong allows for devastating attacks delivered to extremely susceptible areas on the opponent's body.  There are also techniques (e.g. iron shirt) that emphasize training to focus energy and provide an ability to resist blows; there are others such as chin na grasping or siezing arts or taichiquan wrestling arts that focus upon understanding an opponent's energy and power and using an opponent's imbalance qi against him.  

Spiritual cultivation with qigong is associated with techniques that extend self-control and build upon having achieved the highest accomplishments in all other qi gong categories ... beyond healthiness, beyond longevity, beyond power and effective self-defense ... spiritual cultivation is about an elevated capacity for self-awareness and grasping reality exactly as it is.  This level of awareness allows one to think very clearly about one's previous explorations of faith, lifelong prejudices and mental conditioning that can bias spiritual cultivation ... with self-awareness and discipine, one can use prayer and meditation to reach beyond one's conceptual frameworks, intellectual limits or physical capabilities ... to enter a world where grace and unexplainable mercies prevail.