Though most people prefer to study Qigong in classes, studying online has many benefits. Here are just a few:

1. Classes on YOUR schedule

   For those of us with already hectic schedules, trying to find time to squeeze in another appointment just isn’t possible. It’s not just the class that adds to our busy schedule, but it’s also the time it takes to find a class and the weekly travel to and from the class.

   Online classes are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can log on when it fits YOUR schedule, and have the lessons right there waiting and ready for you. And most online classes offer email support or support forums, so you can post a questions and get advice quickly and easily.

2. Classes at YOUR speed

   Trying to keep up with a weekly class can be stressful. If the class moves faster than you can learn, you can easily feel like the “odd person out” since you need more time to learn. And if life intrudes, and you miss a class or two, you can easily become lost. Or if you are a “fast learner”, the slow plodding paces of some class can cause you to lose interest.

   But online classes are usually self-paced. Many online classes allow you unrestricted access to all the lessons in the class right from the start. You can move at the speed YOU want, and spend as much time on each lesson as you’d like. But even if the class is “paced”, for example, by sending you a lesson a week by email, you can just save the lesson emails and work through them at your own pace.

3. Classes in your home

   Many people have trouble finding classes in their local area. You may have to search long and hard to find a class that’s near you. But online classes are as close as your computer! And especially if you have a laptop or mobile device, the classes can be where ever you want them to be! Online classes almost can’t be beat for convenience.

4. Classes with recognized masters and instructors

   Let’s face it – many local classes are taught by hobbyists and part-time teachers. And while that may be fine for a while, nothing beats studying with a master or professional instructor. These people have made the energy arts their life’s profession. Professionals who make their living through Qigong have a higher level of dedication and commitment to their students, just like professionals in other occupations. After all, you wouldn’t go to an amateur doctor who only did medicine on the side, would you?

   But there are very few professional, full-time Qigong instructors, and most of us don’t live near them. We’d have to spend a lot of travel time to get to them. But with an online program, you can have direct access to their teaching quickly and easily. In addition, these masters often provide email support and support forums, so you can get answers directly from them!

Not sure if online Qigong is right for you? Most online programs offer sample lessons or low-cost trials. That way, you can try the programs out to see which one is right for you!

We recommend the following online Qigong programs:

• ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong

  This program uses a modern, kinesthetic approach to learning Qigong, and includes some Tai Chi taught from a Qigong “energy arts” perspective. The whole idea behind this program is to get you to “feel” the movements by including a lot of experiments and details, rather than having you just follow along.

  This program was one of the first online Qigong programs. It has also been on the web for a long time, and has lots of students, so that says something for it. They offer a free sample lesson (click here) to get you started.

• Shaolin Qigong Home Study

  This program is much more traditional in the information it covers and the way it teaches the information. It includes a variety of sitting and standing Qigong practices, including some meditation. They are also taught with detailed information, plus a lot of traditional theory about Qigong.

  This is one of the newer online programs, but ironically, the newest is one of the most traditional. They offer a low cost trial (click here) to get you started.

Why should you study Qigong online? Wouldn’t a DVD be better?

And what do you do if you don’t have room in front of your computer to practice?

Many people don’t realize that learning Qigong online offers a number of benefits over learning from a DVD. And that you don’t need space in your computer room to practice from an online course!

The primary problem with most Qigong DVDs is that they tend to put people into “follow-along” learning mode. In most Tai Chi and Qigong programs, you watch the instructor, either in class or on video, and then follow along with the video or instructor in what we call “monkey-see, monkey-do” fashion.

Many online programs, by contrast, are not follow-along programs. Most instructors, even offline in their in-person classes, have found the “monkey-see, monkey-do” approach to be ineffective and time-consuming. As a result, we DON’T want you practicing Qigong in front of a TV or a computer monitor. That approach is counter-productive to Chi Development.

So even if though most online programs includes video, you don’t play the video and try to follow along with the teacher like you do on a DVD. Instead, you use the video to get an overall idea of how the movements look, but you use the text and photos to get the details for the movements and customize the movements for yourself – according to your own strengths and weaknesses.

What students with limited space in their computer rooms or without a computer in their practice room do is this.

They watch the video portions of the online program on their PCs just to get an idea of the movements, then print out the text and photos that are part of the course. They take the print-outs to their practice space to work on the details and on learning the movements for themselves. If they forget how a move goes or if the printed photo is not clear, they may go back to their PC to watch the movement and examine the high-quality photos, but then they go back to their practice space to work.

This is quite a bit different from what you might expect in a Qigong program – but unlike most Qigong instructors, online teacher are not intending to produce “monkeys” who can follow along with them or copy them. They are intending to have you get the most benefits by learning customizing the movements for your body … right from your first lesson.

You know, there are thousands of registered students for these computer-based online Qigong courses, and many had misgivings about learning in this format.

While not everyone can make the transition to “not following along”, it’s actually much more like studying with the high-level Qigong masters. In in-person training with these masters, you spend almost no time following along. They may demonstrate a movement a few times while you watch, but rarely did they do the movements in front of you with you following. Instead, you spent a majority of the time working on our own in learning the skills involved.

In this way, online courses are very much like studying the advanced training taught by high-level masters.

Originally from China, but now practiced the world over, Qigong helps its practitioners improve their health and fitness, aid in healing and recovery of illness, relieve stress, develop energy and vitality, and gain a better sense of connection to themselves and the world around them.

Qigong practice has many benefits. Here are just a few, as reported by doctors, hospitals, research studies, and students around the world:

• increases flexibility and mobility
• improves strength and stamina
• lowers blood pressure
• greater aerobic capacity
• relieves stress and improves nervous system function
• promotes deeper relaxation and better sleep
• drops stress hormone (salivary cortisol) levels
• improved immune response
• improves posture and back/spine structural problems
• clears negative emotions and reduces anxiety
• increased respiratory capacity
• most recommended aerobic exercise for coronary artery disease
• better sense of connection between inner self and the outer world
• combines the powers of meditation and movement in one practice

… and much more!

As far as I know, Taoist Master B. K. Frantzis, in his book Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body, was the first to document the importance of what he called “the 70% rule” and its application to all aspects of Tai Chi and Qigong practice.

In our advanced training, we describe this important practice rule this way:

The 70% Rule for Tai Chi and Qigong from Advanced Training Level 1

ESTIMATE YOUR GREATEST ABILITY to perform any given exercise, then practice at only 70% of that maximum level.

For example, if we ask you to bend over and reach towards your toes, and you know that you can only reach as far as your ankles, well, your ankles would be your 100%. So you should only reach down to your knees or shins.

Apply this 70% rule to everything: how far you stretch; how many repetitions you do; how long you practice in a given session. Any type of straining represents 100% or more, wasting energy and causing injury. And if you are injured or hurt, go only 40% or less. Practicing at the 40% or less level will give your injury the time and energy to heal without aggravating it.

The 70% Rule applied to the Spine Stretch in our Level 1 training

Through our work with various Tai Chi and Qigong masters, and in working with our students during the 6-year research project that produced our advanced training, we learned an important corollary to this 70% rule. It is what we call the Balancing 70% Rule of practice.

In our advanced training course, we first describe this rule while learning the exercise Looking Backward in our Level 1 course. Looking Backward is a simple Qigong pattern that is great for the head, neck, and tops of the shoulders. Many of these areas become frozen or stiff after long hours of sitting, especially at a computer. The simple neck turn of Looking Backward can help loosen and relax the muscles, tendons, and vertebrae in the neck and shoulders.

The “Balancing 70% Rule”
An Example from “Looking Backward” in Level 1

Please keep in mind the 70% rule when you practice. Use this rule for the amount of time that you practice and how far you turn your neck from side to side. Also remember to keep to 40% or less if you are injured or compromised in any way, especially with a neck injury, throat problems, head injuries, tinnitus, or thyroid conditions.

If one side of your neck is more stiff than the other, keep within the limits of the stiffer side on both sides. For example, let’s say your 70% limits (or your 40% or less limits if injured) are that you can turn 60 degrees from the center to the left, but only 30 degrees to the right. Then you should turn only 30 degrees to both sides.

This will allow both sides to eventually balance and get stronger. If you ignore this balancing rule, the strong side will get stronger, but the weak side will continue to get weaker. In Tai Chi and Qigong, however, we try to work on our weaknesses with the goal of balancing both sides.

We consider the Balancing 70% Rule so important that we introduce it within the first two lessons of Level 1 of our advanced training.

The exercises are: 1. The Count 2. Finger Flicks 3. Touch and Brush 4. The Piano 5. The Straightener 6. Finger Massage 7. Finger Chi Washing

Mental Clarity Qigong is an extremely simple form of sitting Qigong, but it has profound effects, especially in improving mental and emotional health and relieving stress.

It is especially useful when learning new material that is mentally or emotionally challenging. Often times, we find ourselves resistant to new ideas and self-exploration, but Mental Clarity Qigong improves certain types of chi circulation specific to the learning process.

You may use this Qigong to break down chi blockages and resistances to self-exploration, opening yourself to higher insight and self-understanding in Tai Chi and Qigong. You may also perform these “clearing” exercises before any learning situation to help increase mental clarity.

RIGHT NOW AT YOUR COMPUTER – Sit comfortably in your chair, with your feet flat on the ground. Allow your arms to hang down on the sides of the chair, to rest on the arm rests, or to lie comfortably in your lap.

Once you’ve made yourself comfortable, do each of these exercises in turn, spending at least 2 minutes or longer on each one.

Sighing – Begin inhaling using deep abdominal breaths, expanding your stomach (not your chest) on each in-breath. On the exhale, create a long, audible sigh. Sigh out loud during the entire exhale using an “ah” sound, such as “aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh”. Practice sighing for at least two minutes.

Chattering – Continue to inhale with abdominal breathing, but now on the exhale, make chattering noises using your lips and tongue. For example, make sounds like “babababababa” or “tatatatatata” or “dadadadadada” or any mixture of these sounds. Chatter out loud for at least two minutes.

Making Faces – Now forget about your breathing. Instead, spend some time making faces. For example, roll your eyes, squish up your face, stretch your face out, stick out your tongue, stick out your jaw, wrinkle your forehead. Try to move, squish, and stretch every muscle in your face and forehead as much as possible. Make faces for at least two minutes.

After you’ve completed those three exercises, relax quietly for a minute or so, noticing any sensations in your body or mind. Do not dwell on any sensation, but merely observe and note them, then move on to look for other sensations.

After a minute or so of noticing sensations, you may then move on with the rest of your day.

Not too long ago, I received an email from a prospective student:

“I am not interested in learning Qigong as I read a book about it, tried the exercises associated with it and decided that it was not comprehensive as there are more than 6 organs in the body.”

Apparently, whatever book she read didn’t explain this very well. It’s also a good reason not to just read a book about this stuff!

In Qigong, we sometimes refer to certain exercises as working on certain organs, such as the Liver, or the Spleen, or the Lungs. But let me ask you, when I mention your internal organs, such as your heart or your lungs, what do you think of?

If you are like most people, you think of the physical organs in your body – the actual living tissue structures, such as the heart that beats, or the lungs that fill with air. We think of these organs as “things” that surgeons operate on, or that we can see on x-rays.

But the “organs” in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Qigong are quite different. These energy arts use a “process-oriented” viewpoint rather than an “object-oriented” viewpoint. As such, in Tai Chi, Qigong, and TCM, the internal organs of the body are not “things”, but “abstractions” that describe processes that happen inside the body.

This causes a lot of confusion for Westerners. For many Westerners, we are used to thinking of the organs as “objects” – the physical living tissue structures in your body.

For example, we think of the kidneys as those “bean-shaped” organs near the middle of our back just below the rib cage. But as Chinese medical references point out, when a TCM doctor talks about your “kidney”, he’s not talking about your “bean-shaped” tissues. He’s talking about a process that includes these tissues, plus the entire urogenital system … as well as the endocrine system, part of the immune system, and part of the higher nervous system! The “kidneys” in TCM are much more than what most Westerners think of as the kidneys.

So what I’m about to say may seem odd to you, but it’s crucial to understanding Tai Chi and Qigong: A doctor can’t open you up surgically and point to your TCM kidneys! The same is true of other TCM organs. They too refer to processes, not just the physical objects or structures in the body.

This “abstract process” orientation also explains why TCM has some “organs” that can’t be found by Western doctors. For example, TCM doctors include in their list of organs one called the “Triple Burner”. But the “Triple Burner” doesn’t appear on any x-ray. Ask any group of surgeons, and they will tell you they’ve never seen a “Triple Burner” organ inside any patient.

But the “Triple Burner” is an important organ in TCM. While not a “physical organ” by Western standards, the “Triple Burner” represents parts of three important bodily processes: respiration, digestion, and elimination.

So concentrate on thinking of organs as representing the “processes” in your body rather than the “objects” in your body. When a Tai Chi or Qigong master say “lungs”, think of breathing. When we say “stomach”, think of digestion. When we say “heart”, think of blood circulation.

So a Qigong “organ” usually includes several organs. I’m sorry no one ever explained this to the woman who emailed me. Qigong is much more comprehensive than she was led to think.