Qi Gong vs Taiji for health.

[bartekb]

I would say there's no way in he77 that these external exercises would give the same benefit as qigong.

You can always play golf with your dantien

[Franklin]

actually some sports like golf can be seen as bad for your health

when you play golf you are only twisting one way
unless you switch hit....

which can lead to lopsided development in the musculature
which can then effect the structure of the body or the internal organs....

western sports in general are different from taiji and qi gong
of course exercise is healthy....

but the gentle twisting and stretching that a good qi gong set can do wonders for the health
even something as simple as baduanjin
because it is very balanced and ends up working the whole body very gently

when i was in taiwan a friend of my wife's family was having shoulder problems and wanted me to preform tui-na
the person was a dentist and was having pain in the shoulder, difficult to raise the arm, and the arm would turn like a gear (get stuck for a second in different positions)
i told them that tui na would help but the cause is holding your arm in a certain position to work on teeth all day long
instead of tui-na i taught ba duan jin and after a week of practice they had no more pain and had regained the mobility...
(actually i gave them one of my DVDs to learn and follow along from)




franklin

[shawnsegler]

I would say there's no way in he77 that these external exercises would give the same benefit as qigong.

That is not necessarily true.

[oldtyger]

I think a similar thread was done before. My answer is the same. Several of my teachers who practice both qigong and martial arts, including taijiquan, have told me that qigong is better for health because it focuses solely on that. If you do taijiquan you also have to focus on the proper movements to be able to use them for applications.

Personally I also like to do some stretching and strength training, e.g bagua jibengong which is excellent for this or Wu style leg methods which is a great leg work-out, some falling/rolling from aikido, systema, jujitsu, and some cardio like swimming.

Rich

[Bao]

If you focus more on taiji, taiji will be better. If you focus more on qigong, qigong will be better. I have tried a whole lot of qigong, but I always return to my taijiquan. It allready has all of the qigong I need.

[wiesiek]

It allready has all of the qigong I need.

somebody alredy stated it on the beggining and i can only echoes it;-
- properly done tJ exercise = qigong
basically we can tell that:
T.J. is the name of set of qigong exercises directed to martial application
but
from pure medical/patients viev -
medical qigong is better `cause is much easier to learn 2-3 simple exercises for particular meridian qi flow correction than
more complicated /usually/ part of TJ forms which, on the end, will do the same.
anyway
to do it this way you need somebody experienced for evaluation of qi flow...
best solution is to learn some simple full qigong set and work with all meridians from beggining.
8 brocades looks like good starting point:
-easy to learn /one day /
-works with whole body
-you doing qigong and T.J. from very beggining !

[johnwang]

I would say there's no way in he77 that these external exercises would give the same benefit as qigong.

Walking 6 to 8 miles daily has been proved to be the best exercise that human being can do on this planet. All your body problems can be detected and fixed at the same time.

人挪活樹挪死 - You move a tree, that tree will die soon. You move a person, that person will live longer. You need to move your body and not doing static qigong and have the danger to be paralyzed for the rest of your life (it did happen to some qigong master - paralyzed from waist below because too much sitting).

[Haoran]

Qigong has moving, sitting, standing, natural, forced, etc.

The difference between Qigong and External exercises is:

External exercises are Use => Replenish exercises.

Internal (Qigong) exercises are -> Supplementing (works directly to stimulate metabolisum)

Should you walk? Sure, no problem. If you live in China you know about walking.

However, doing internal exercise in your declining years or on the hump (50s) is much better for your old age.

Look at Ma Yueh Liang, look at Sher K. Lew (91 this year), etc.

[Chowfarn]

Talking a bit more about this to my Sifu & he explained:

Internal Kungfu (Taichi, Xingyi etc) works the lowest dantien (in the belly).
The Qigong sets (like ZZ) within an Kungfu system also focus on the lowest Dantien.
As the lowest Dantien controls the bodies power.

Generally a stand alone Qigong system works the 3 dantiens.
Higher levels of these systems focus on the upper dantien as its supposed to bring enlightenment.

Of course there will be exceptions.