Qigong is an ancient Chinese health system that gave rise to many styles of wushu and kung fu. Qigong is more than a set of therapeutic and health-improving exercises. It includes philosophical concepts, breathing techniques and various types of meditation.
In China, qigong is considered, on the one hand, a separate type of martial arts, and on the other, its exercises and postulates are included in all martial arts, without exception, and are an integral part of them. In its origin, qigong is the Chinese version of Indian yoga. Qigong practitioners speak of it positively as an excellent tool for maintaining physical and mental health. In addition, meditative qigong practice in combination with gymnastic exercises is used to treat stress, alternative treatment of diseases, to improve immunity and harmonize the work of the body, its organs and systems.
Qigong is very widespread in China. According to unconfirmed reports, about 10% of the Chinese population regularly and systematically practice qigong exercises. Qigong is not widespread in Russia.
However, critics point out that qigong is still an alternative medicine, and all the studies on the effect of qigong on the treatment of diseases are not convincing enough. Moreover, many skeptics openly call qigong pseudoscience. This is partly to blame for the numerous low-skilled instructors, whose delusions and abuses have led to the degradation and decline of confidence in qigong as a health system.
The influence of qigong on the human body
Martial qigong, which has developed for thousands of years in parallel with the Chinese martial arts, is aimed at raising the physical and energy capabilities of the body, at increasing the combat capabilities of a person: increasing the strength of blows, protecting the body from the blows of the enemy. Many of the techniques accumulated in martial qigong have been revised from modern scientific positions and used to train Chinese special forces, as well as for Chinese athletes. The success of the Chinese national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics was explained by the Chinese themselves as a result of the athletes' use of tough psycho-training, borrowed from qigong.
Taiji or taijiquan, which has a certain popularity in our country, is a dynamic qigong exercise, which has taken shape in a separate direction, which has both health-improving and martial use.
The medical direction of qigong has been used since ancient times by Chinese healers to promote health, prevent disease and treat disease. In modern China, qigong medical practices are used en masse in hospitals along with the achievements of modern medicine. Chinese doctors do not oppose traditional qigong to modern medicine, they use both of these means as complementary to each other.
Research confirming the effectiveness of qigong
For more than 20 years in Europe and the United States, large-scale research has been carried out on the influence of qigong on the prevention and treatment of diseases. According to Harvard University (USA), qigong exercises have been shown to be as effective against high blood pressure as prescription drugs. What's more, qigong lowers blood cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of heart attacks and kidney disease.
Research conducted at a military hospital in San Diego found that military personnel who practice qigong are 70% less likely to get colds than those who do not practice qigong.
In Germany, many psychiatrists have adopted qigong breathing and meditation practices to treat stress-related illnesses. In combination with antidepressants, qigong perfectly fights the symptoms of depression, improves well-being and cognitive functions, and improves the quality of sleep.
Experiments by the Swiss Research Institute, carried out in 1974-1975, showed that a qigong master is able to achieve a state of calm and relaxation that is not achieved even during sleep.
In 1970, Johann Schultz, the founder of autogenic training, published an article in which he recognized relaxing qigong exercises as "the Chinese version of autogenic training."
