QiGong: Imparting a Study

I’ve been teaching QiGong for 15 years studying it for 21 years. One always wants to be better (more “masterful”?) at whatever they do or wherever they put their efforts.  But in QiGong I can honestly say, less has been more.  Not hanging on one’s knowledge (or knowing little to begin with) gives you less of a chance of mucking it up, getting your ego involved.  Being less verbose and more genuinely engaged in the actual practice, makes one a better guide.

I have had many QiGong teachers over the 20 years I've studied the forms.  I can say my first QiGong teacher was the most influential.  An unassuming, unpretentious, delicate woman in her 70's, who learned QiGong at a somewhat advanced age.  She was the daughter of an African missionary, and she herself was a long time spiritual seeker.  Erva was simple and direct in her teaching approach.

 After many years of studying with her, I became frustrated at her seeming unwillingness to verbally share her understanding of the movements, of the form.  I was curious and had an intellectual and experiential wondering about certain QiGong series and a strong sense of some of the movement's benefits, how the sounds impacted various organ systems directly.  I wanted information, but Erva quietly, with penetration insisted on the practice of QiGong.

So I started studying with the "masters", seeking to satisfy my knowledge yen. And these men (they were all men) had tons of information, a lot of speculation, a heaping amount of stylization and more than enough ego embedded in themselves and what they were trying to impart.  I gathered from them what felt worthwhile and I left the rest (a lot of bulk!).  At the end of the day (or the decade I happened to be in), I realized Erva's simplicity, lack of verbosity, and experiential teaching style was the real deal.

It doesn’t really matter what one knows or doesn’t know about QiGong.  It only matters that one does QiGong (as Erva knew).  All the speculation and “knowing” of any of the forms, only enhances it in one’s (wrong?) imagination; it doesn’t really enhance the work, even the deep ancient meaning of the work.  Doing the work is what matters. Letting the forms work on you is what is real.  Work simply, practice with an honest, beginner’s mind approach.  It may be in all learning, the need to acquire “stuff” or knowledge and then the need to let it go and let it Be what it is.

QiGong is so simple and so real.  There is nothing one has to do, just follow the energy.  Give yourself over to the form in relaxation and breath.  When teaching over these many years, I have been tempted (and have more than occasionally) expounded on what this movement is for, what this does, the meaning or purpose of this or that.  And it’s interesting as information goes, but it really doesn’t enrich the work, or potentiate the form.  Erva knew this.  And it took me going away from her and doing my own exploring and experiencing a lot of yang QiGong before realizing it’s all a kind of unnecessary clutter to the beauty of the wild yet sensible garden that is QiGong.