The body remembers how to heal.

Qi (pronounced chee) is the vital energy that animates all life. It flows through everything in nature, including your body. When qi moves freely, you feel balanced and alive; when it is blocked or depleted, you feel it too. Qigong is the practice of sensing, gathering, and guiding that energy.

It’s pronounced chee-gong. Qi means vital life energy; gong means skill or cultivation. Together, qigong is the cultivation of your life energy through gentle movement, breath, and focused intention.

Qigong’s roots reach back to ancient Chinese shamanism; as French sinologist Catherine Despeux notes, these exercises grew out of early shamanic techniques. A Neolithic pottery vessel over 5,000 years old, from the Majiayao culture and unearthed in 1975, shows a figure in a qigong-like posture, likely used by priest-shamans to enter trance states. Later, exercises called daoyin (“guiding and stretching”) appear on a silk painting from around 168 BCE. Over the centuries, Daoist and Buddhist meditation, the martial arts, and Traditional Chinese Medicine each refined these practices. In the 1950s they were united under one name, qigong, and since the 1980s it has spread worldwide.

Zhineng means “wisdom” or “intelligence”: the innate intelligence of life to heal and renew itself. Zhineng Qigong was created by Dr. Pang Ming, a physician trained in both Western and Chinese medicine, who studied under 19 different qigong grandmasters. In 1980 he began teaching a new, open method that combined their wisdom with a modern, scientific approach, so anyone could learn it. He later founded the Huaxia Zhineng Qigong Center in China, known as the “medicine-less hospital,” which hundreds of thousands of people visited to practice. I studied this lineage directly with Master Liu Jianshe, in New York and in China.

It grew from ancient Chinese traditions, including Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daoist philosophy, but you don’t need to believe anything to practice it. Zhineng Qigong is non-religious and open to everyone. It shares roots with the martial arts, but its purpose is health, calm, and vitality, not combat. Think of it as a mind-body practice for the whole person.

Absolutely. Qigong meets you where you are. The movements are slow and simple, and every one can be done standing, seated in a chair, or even lying down. I’ve taught students using chairs and walkers. There is no stretching, jumping, or choreography to memorize.

Most people feel deeply relaxed and quietly energized at the same time. You may notice warmth, a tingling in your hands, or a soft, magnetic feeling between your palms as you move. The mind settles. At the end of each class, we rest together in the qifield, the part many students say they look forward to most.

Yoga often centers on holding postures and stretching, and Tai Chi is a long, flowing sequence with martial-arts origins. Qigong uses simple, repeated movements paired with breath and intention, so you can begin to benefit from your very first class instead of spending months learning a form. Many people practice it alongside yoga or Tai Chi; they complement each other beautifully.

Many people feel calmer and lighter after a single class. With regular practice, even a few minutes a day, students often report better sleep, steadier balance, and more energy over the following weeks. Everyone’s path is different; consistency matters more than intensity.

Nothing at all. Wear comfortable, loose clothing and find a quiet spot where you can stand or sit. For online classes, all you need is Zoom on a phone, tablet, or computer. No experience is necessary.