
CULTIVATING CHI
Qigong is an ancient moving meditation technique for cultivating life force “CHI” in and around the body to promote health and happiness
Q
igong, which means “energy cultivation”, is an ancient 4,000-year-old practice of self-healing. Practitioners utilize varying sets of physical movements together with focused breath work and visualizations to harmonize, circulate and build up the body’s life force, called “chi”. It is most often utilized as a moving meditation and therapeutic exercise, but it is also the core foundation of Tai Chi and all martial arts.

Visualization is key to unlocking the full power of Qigong
C
ertified Qigong Master Judi Hason studied with many illustrious Masters, both in the U.S. and at Wudang Mountain in the northwestern part of Hubei Province of China. Wudang Mountain has been considered a spiritual sanctuary for over 2,000 years and is the primary center for Taoist Internal Martial Arts in China.
I had the great privilege and joy of studying weekly with Judi for over six years. I got to experience first-hand the power of these forms and techniques and the philosophies and physiological principles behind them.
According to Chinese medicine, Chi is as real as blood and other physical effects, so when we practice Qigong, the more clearly we visualization our Chi, the more effectively we can utilize its movement within us to achieve a harmonious balance of good health and overall well-being. We are taught to use a visualization of Chi that works for us. It can be a brightly colored ball or it can be traveling trails of light.

Light Painting as Teaching Tool
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t takes years of disciplined practice to be in tune with Chi as a 3-dimensional physical element. It is pulled like a silk scarf, pushed like heavy rock, scooped up like water or folded over like dough. The Chi “ball” as Judi sometimes refers to it, is visualized as traveling inside the body along meridian lines, as well as outside of the body as the student moves it around (and around in it) in all directions, back and forth, reaching up and sweeping down in space.
After showing some of these images to Judi’s students, one of them came up to me afterwards. Through tears, she told me that these images were a glimpse into a realm that for her has no words to describe it, but for which she has a strong and very personal connection, love and respect.

“We are souls dressed up in sacred biochemical garments and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play their music.”
(ALBERT EINSTEIN)
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