Long White Cloud Qigong

The way energy moves through our body is directly connected to the function of the tissues in our body. For this reason there are patterns of how the energy moves through different tissues within our bodies.

One such pattern is that the soft surfaces of our body tend to be more conductive of energy than the hard surfaces, and this applies to both sending and receiving energy. This is because the soft surfaces of our body tend to have richer bloodflow and more nerve endings, which play an important role in conducting energy. Soft surfaces also mould to the shape of whatever the come in contact with, which also supports better conduction.

This leads to significant noticeable effects on our energy flow when we face the soft surfaces of our bodies in different directions during our qigong practice.

Another useful principle that we find throughout qigong that can help us to understand the way postures and movements in different practices affect our energy, is the principle that low is more yin, and high is more yang.

So when we enter a posture with a lower stance, or we do movements that focus lower down in our body – it will tend to have a more yin effect on our energy overall, and when we enter postures that have a higher stance, or do movements that focus on the upper parts of our bodies – it will tend to have a more yang effect on our energy.

You can easily experiment with this in your practice by sinking or raising your posture a little, or raising or lowering the movement of your arms a little within a practice, and noticing the effect that this has on the overall quality of your energy.

One of the basic laws of physics is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and we see this principle throughout qigong practice.

When we extend a limb and send force outward, a counterbalancing force naturally returns inward. By tuning into this return force, we can better understand how external movements influence our internal tissues and energy.

There are some general rules that can help us to recognize this. For example, when we extend our hands away from our body, the return force inside our body is usually at the same level as our hands. Other factors can sometimes shift the focal point of force, but this principle offers a useful starting point to be able to more easily track, and direct the movement of force and energy within our bodies.

The movement of force changes direction in our joints, making the flow of energy a bit more complex in these areas than in other parts of our bodies. Because of this we often put extra focus on our joints in our qigong practice and in daily life, to make sure that energy flows through them freely, and we avoid excess tension which could block energy flow or lead to injury.

This sometimes leads to a misconception that our joints should never fully straighten and always be partially bent in our qigong practice. But it is healthy for our joints to move through their full range of motion. It is going that little bit further and locking the joint which can cause excess tension and block the energy flow.

So your joints don’t need to always be bent or curved in your qigong practice. It is quite healthy to straighten them – just avoid locking.

Each of us has healing energy ⚡️ within us! Our qigong practice helps us to become aware of this energy and activate it so that we can use it to bring balance, health, and vitality.

There is a common misconception that qigong is all about relaxation, but this is not correct. Qigong is about working with our energy, and while it is true that too much tension can block our energy flow, not enough tension (or too much relaxation) will also prevent our energy from flowing.

You can think of this like a string on a musical instrument, if the string is too tight it will either not vibrate properly or break, but alternatively if it is too loose, when it is plucked it also won’t vibrate and transmit the energy effectively.

In our qigong practice our aim is to allow our energy to flow most effectively, which means finding the right balance between tension (or activation) and relaxation in our body – or yin and yang – to allow the energy to flow.

There are many small details in qigong practice that are easy to overlook, such as details of how we use our eyes and direct our gaze or interesting shapes we make with our hands make during different movements, like crane’s beaks, or dragon’s paws, and so on.

It can be easy to assume that these details are just fanciful cultural relics, serving only a decorative purpose within the practice. But working with our energy is often subtle and nuanced, and small details can have a surprisingly significant influence on how our energy flows within us.

It can be fascinating to discover the effect each of these small details has within your practice, and if you are interested, a good teacher will be able to guide you to recognize the role of each little detail within the practices that you do.