Qi Gong (also spelled chi kung and pronounced chee kung), is a Chinese term created around 1950 to encompass a vast array of practices, some dating back thousands of years, possibly predating acupuncture and the martial arts. Its meaning is something like “energy practice” (time spent in practicing the art of qi cultivation and balancing). Qi, in this context, refers to energy, that which permeates the universe and all within it, universal energy, life energy, life essence. In a healthy person this qi flows freely along various meridians or channels and through various acupoints, invigorating all parts of the body.

These thousands of ancient qi gong practices took many forms. Some emphasized breathing techniques, others movement, and still others, meditation. They were applicable to maintaining a long, healthy life, healing self and others, to martial arts, and to the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. Their basis was/is the energetic concept of the human body; that is, the body has a system of meridians or channels which are conduits for the flow of qi, and which connect to all organs and parts of the body. This is a very complex but well-defined system on which Traditional Chinese Medicine is based.

Until around 1980, these practices were kept rather secret and were only taught to close family members or selected disciples of a master. Now this extremely valuable information is more and more frequently being disseminated to the general public in China, and slowly but surely, also to the general public in the West.