As Acupuncture Physicians, most of us are trained in acupuncture and other modalities. But, Chinese Medicine is extensive and a few years of training allow us to learn only up to a limit. Many of us were exposed to qi gong during school, but with the hectic student life we forgot it or didn’t find it relevant to anything. For me, that introduction led me down a rabbit hole which evolved into a period of intensive learning and training with 5 different masters in both the US and in China. Eventually, I was trained in the Wu dang system of Dao yin, qi gong, tai chi, and other mystical arts. As a result, I have taught qi gong and tai chi to patients during classes, retreats, and while receiving acupuncture treatments for over 15 years. I have seen patients grow spiritually to significant levels, maintain their health, bounce back from a cold or flu, and I have seen the progression qi has had on their level of consciousness. I have also observed unbelievable spontaneous remissions that were medically documented and previously diagnosed as incurable.
In the following real-life story I share one of several techniques that you can implement clinically with your patients. This qi gong technique can be done standing, sitting, or lying down. I regularly teach it to my patients during their treatment session. l know that letting your patients rest during their acupuncture session is good and common but, are you aiming for an average result or for a transformation? I strive for transformation and a lot of patients are too. Some patients may not show a lot of interest at first, but if they are coming for acupuncture they already think outside the box, so why not add to it?
A Colombian patient came to my clinic for stress and high blood pressure. She was already on three blood pressure medications and when I checked her blood pressure it was around 156/97. Clearly, the meds were reducing it some, but not much. So I treated her with acupuncture and taught her the following qi gong technique as she was resting with the needles. First, I instructed her to slow and deepen her breathing. After four or five breaths, I asked her to visualize her Du20/Bai Hui opening up like a door and then to take her mind into the cosmos, universe, or heavens (whichever one you prefer). Once there, I had her visualize a celestial waterfall flowing down with silver light through time and space directly into her Du 20/Bai Hui. On the inhale she directed the celestial waterfall of silver light into Du20/Bai Hui and on the exhale I asked her to visualize it flooding her body downward and washing all lower frequency vibrations, pains, and emotions out Kidney 1/Yong Quan. This is to be done a minimum of nine times.
For the next step, I asked her to visualize Kidney 1/Yong Quan opening up like a door and then to take her mind into the earth and visualize a lot of golden light rushing up from earth and flowing toward Kid 1/Yong Quan. On the inhale the golden light starts to flow from the earth to the feet and enter the lower leg, on the exhale I asked her to visualize this golden light flow through her body and flush out any impurities or anything unwanted in her body out through the top of her head Du20/Bai Hui. This will flush out the body with earth qi that is golden in color. This is to be done also a minimum of nine times.
Lastly, once she had flushed down through the body with silver tian qi (heavenly energy) and up through her body with golden di qi (earth energy), then as she took her next inhale, I asked her to bring both the silver and golden colored energy into her body following the same paths at the same time and to blend both energies together in the lower dan tien (located in the lower pelvis above the bladder and behind Ren 4-6 area). She did this nine times. Once the patients have done this nine times, they have already cleaned the body using heaven and earth’s energy and then collected and refilled the body with more qi. When they have finished, I have them focus their yi/intention on the ball of golden/silver light until they either see it pulsate and light up brighter or they fall asleep.
I teach this and other similar qi gong techniques to patients while on the treatment table to help them engage in their own transformation. There is nothing stronger than an internal revolution occurring at the body, mind, and spirit level. A transformation that can impact all 50 trillion cells of the body. After one month treating the Colombian lady at a once a week frequency, I asked her if she had checked her blood pressure recently, and she said no. I also asked her what medications she was currently taking and she said that she had stopped taking all her meds since the first treatment. At that moment I had many worrying thoughts going through my mind while remembering her blood pressure was initially 156/97. I knew that stopping all her meds for a month would likely result in her blood pressure rising at a very high level. I then quickly checked her blood pressure and when I got a reading it was 117/78.
I thought “acupuncture didn’t do that, it was the qi gong”. I have over 18 years of treating high blood pressure and my go-tos are diet, herbs, minerals, and nutrients in conjunction with acupuncture while keeping the patient relaxed and engaged with a course of treatment. I knew that just four acupuncture treatments weren’t enough to cause that significant decrease in her blood pressure, especially when it was already high with three medications. This story illustrates one of many ways you could also incorporate qi gong into your acupuncture treatment to enhance and support the treatment’s result.
I love qi gong and have found that teaching it to patients during their treatment can have significant benefits. Out of all my patients there are some who have an affinity to join me in group qi gong classes that I have been teaching weekly for years. We have become friends and we all benefit from the qi gong exercises. It also provides me with a side income that when added up month to month or year to year is significant. And many patients from the group qi gong classes have joined me and my wife on healing retreats that initially lasted one or two days. Through time, these have transformed into seven-day retreats into the rainforests of Costa Rica. It has been an incredible journey to get to this point and it all started and evolved over time from learning qi gong. Now we incorporate many teachings and tools to transform the health of individuals, sparking that innate consciousness within to help upgrade our life, health, and spiritual awareness.
When I teach this Heaven and Earth qi gong routine to my patients I keep it simple. I begin by explaining the entire sequence, then I do a little with them until I see they got it and finally I leave and tell them to do nine breaths of each step and to fall asleep afterwards. The patients have told me that it has been simple and easy to learn this technique. Occasionally, some fall asleep while doing it, but that is also good.
I hope this post inspires you to join me into the world of qi and that you feel empowered to include this technique in your own practice.
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As a practitioner and certified instructor of Wudang Qi Gong and Daoist Arts, Justin teaches in his clinic and retreat-style conferences in Costa Rica to those who are interested in these ancient arts. For more information, please sign up to our newsletter so you can receive our future articles and upcoming classes.