18 minute read
Qigong: A journey
By Dr. Christopher R. Holder
Tai Chi, meditation, yoga, neigong, all of the internal martial arts and Qigong have been known for millennia to bring about a myriad of health benefits. There are countless studies, if you are willing to do a comprehensive search, that support this from all over the world. From addressing very general things like stress down to very specific disease states, the Eastern approach to health has answers for it all.
Beyond the search for a cure, most anyone else who regularly participates in this type of work either have a heavy cultural influence or was indoctrinated into a practice or martial system and simply never stopped. Particularly for westerners. And because of this, many of the more esoteric practices that are either in the forefront or hidden in the mysteries of some of these trainings, stay “mystical” and out of the consciousness of western society.
I found my way when I began to study with Sifu Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson in 2009. My experience with eastern philosophy of any kind was next to zero before my full immersion in his teachings. I studied Medical Qigong, shamanic Daoism, Tai Chi and Baguazhang which completely shattered everything I thought I knew about medicine, martial arts and mysticism. In 2012, I graduated from his Medical Qigong doctoral program with an emphasis in oncology. Having 3.5 years of the deepest dive imaginable, I didn’t know where I was going to take my studies. It wasn’t long for me to find a home for it in the exact place I had been working for over a decade.
Performance
My 9-5 is very different from that of an energetic oncologist. After my playing days were over as a member of Eastern Kentucky University’s football team, I immediately shifted my role from athlete to coach. If I’m being totally honest, I never loved football. What I loved was the training for football. The long days in the gym, the grueling conditioning sessions and all that goes around for preparation for the season… this is where my love was. Naturally, I went into the sports performance side of coaching for my career.
I started my coaching career in 2000. I became a collegiate head strength and conditioning coach immediately and have spent the last 20 years honing my craft. Everything weight training, speed development and movement minded is where my specialty resides. I’ve coached over 5,000 athletes in my career, worked for four major universities and now head up strength for the most successful high school athletics program in the country.
At the time of my graduation from Sifu Johnson’s doctoral program we were given a wonderful gift. We were required to write a doctoral thesis for the completion of our degree and because we were oncology students, it was assumed that we would have to conduct cancer research to receive our diplomas. But, as a gesture of love to us all, Sifu Johnson gave us permission to conduct research on any topic that interested us. With that, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
During our clinical rounds I was able to treat folks from all walks of life. The truly sick to those folks who were healthy and simply wanted to have the experience. Concurrently, I had the opportunity to randomly treat my athletes at the university and found some very interesting trends. See, folks who come to me for Qigong to address an illness present in an eerily similar way to an athlete who is burning the candle at both ends training for their sport. Both have marked deficiencies in some areas and an overabundance in other areas. The athlete frankly is lucky that their youth and resiliency keeps them in front of any real stagnations developing and kicking them into the disease state. Oh the magic of youth.
With that I had a hunch that if we could restore energetic balance to the athlete, we might be able to see a marked increase in performance. And since I didn’t have protocols to make someone throw a football farther, kick a soccer ball harder or hit a golf ball longer, I needed to address variables that we all know help and athlete perform better. Things like sleep, evening out emotions, reducing nervousness, increasing focus and ramping up overall energy for competition. With an entire year of testing, 8 doctoral candidates performing over 500 treatments and three competitive seasons, we were able to see just that. Direct, consistent exposures to Qigong in fact does positively impact the performance of competitive athletes.
Qigong Strong
Fast forward to 2014. I had taken a new job at Cal Poly on the central coast of California and was helping my assistant, Chris White, work on his Master’s Thesis. Thanks to some one-onone treatments with him and as a result of a positive experience, he was interested in writing his thesis on and researching how a daily Qigong practice might impact strength gains during a formal training block.
For those of you who don’t train with weights, particularly at the level college athletes do, let me give you a little insight on how things are done. We coaches write programs in blocks. The programming is systematized and typically lasts between 8-12 week cycles. Natural breaks occur due to academics and break times, so these cycles repeat over and over the duration of an athlete’s career. The hope is, as their body matures
and the months and years pass, the athlete remains injury free and continues on an upward trajectory in measurable strength and speed attributes.
The research clearly states that it takes about six continual weeks of weight training for an adaptation to begin and a detectable change in the proteins of the muscle can be observed. Strength, as a skill, has even more moving parts than just big muscles. There is a coordination of the nervous system, a lowering neurological threat to allow the athlete to perform and express strength that simply takes time. Lots of time.
Once we were clear on what Chris wanted to observe, had our “game plan” together on how we were going to effectively expose our experiment group to the Qigong and then granted human subjects approval from the university (no small task, believe me), we were ready to go.
I had been working on treatment protocols for years by this time to “tune” and induce flow states for athletes. I was well aware of some of the major energetic players within the body that acted as accelerants for some of this phenomena. But the Qigong study Chris and I were attempting to do would involve, at the beginning, 125 participants, a daunting number for a lone practitioner to manage. Therefore, we needed to create a daily practice that could be led by me, in front of 70 student-athletes that would not be overly time consuming yet powerful, direct and able to create the desired effect. The end result was a 15-minute daily practice that focused on clear balancing with particular focus on cultivating the lower dantian. My hunch was that if we could create an energetic leveling among the athletes with the addition of building out a robust lower dantian in each, we could have a measurable change in those participating. And again, we were right.
The weight training program we created for the experiment was eight weeks long. Enough where the physiological change the research agreed with could
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take place and to build out comprehensive testing in both the front and back ends of the study. Three teams were used for the study. All three teams performed the exact same General Physical Preparation (GPP) program I developed for their strength training. The entire pool of athletes took part in the study, with those who wanted to take part in the Qigong portion acting as the experiment group with the remainder acting as our control. Fortunately for us, the athletes were very interested in what we were doing and we had a robust number by the end of the experiment to substantiate our findings.
Along with the strength training data, we collected a wellness intake for both groups at the end of every week. This was included to help us create language around what we found in the end with the hard data of the lifting numbers. We took lifting maxes at the beginning of the study to create a baseline for the athletes, poured that data into our computer program to assign loads over the 8 weeks which helped predict where we would end up. And at the conclusion of the 8 weeks, we tested again.
What did we find? Exactly what we hoped to find. Significant differences were found in all but one of the tested variables. Strength increases in both groups were impressive substantiating the effectiveness of the lifting program. But what we saw from the Qigong group was truly mesmerizing. Without boring you all with numbers, many of the strength leaps we saw could only be compared to someone using performance enhancing drugs. Even more interesting were some of the “outliers” in the experiment. We had several football players have an increase in front squat performance of over 100 lbs in 8 weeks, something that most would consider impossible without steroids. Included in this article is a link to this study for those of you who like crunching numbers and seeing the intricacies of the experimental model. If you are reading this, it’s assumed that you have a true interest in these esoteric practices and have a degree of understanding of the nuances of all of this. One of the things I haven’t mentioned about either of these studies were the phenomena that was implied. In the strength study the wellness intake implied this and in the original study it was something that was discovered when looking at the entire body of results. Each of the athletes in both studies displayed a tangible display of emotional leveling, a consistent clarity that they carried throughout the duration of both experiments. It was seen clearly in the strength students study where around week five the students were taking midterm exams. Their data showed a “cratering” of sorts in the wellness intake that had to do with some of the emotional and stressrelated questions. Whereas, again in both studies, the Qigong groups showed a consistency that continued to improve over the course of the duration of the studies.
As you can imagine, I have a dozens of theories as to why something like Qigong could be an ace in the hole for high-level athletes. Many are conjecture on my part. Western-minded athletes juxtaposed with eastern esoteric practices don’t always mix. And I would like to be the first to demand that they in fact do, and might be in fact the perfect harmony represented in our beloved symbol of yin/yang. Intended to be together so that one might fully compliment the other.
Since the conclusion of the strength study, Chris White has moved on to coach at Louisiana State University and is finishing up his Ph.D. The strength study is being used for his doctoral dissertation as he is expanding on those findings. He intends to publish this study at the conclusion of his program. Link to Chris White’s Master’s Thesis: https:// digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1470/
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Book Excerpt Bai Xin Excerpt
Excerpt (lines 15-21, with translator commentary)
15原始計實, 本其所生。 The true primordial strategy is the root from which life springs. 16 知其象則索其形， Knowing its image, one apprehends its form. 17 緣其理則知其情。 Reaching to its principles, one knows its nature. 18 索其端則知其名。 Seeking its end, one knows its name. 19 故苞物眾者莫大於天地, Thus, for producing many flourishing things, nothing is greater than Heaven and Earth; 20 化物多者莫多於日月, For transforming many things, nothing can transform so many things as the sun and moon; 21 民之所急, 莫急於水火。 For causing urgency in people, nothing is more urgent than water and fire.
Here we see the emergence of a higher wisdom: the “clear vision” (明 ming: enlightenment) that accompanies one’s ability to preserve Dao within.
While, again, not indicating any familiarity with the Dao De Jing, lines 15-18 of the Bai Xin show a striking correlation to the following lines from DDJ1, perhaps offering further insights into them:
DDJ1:
The Dao that can be told is not the Eternal Dao The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth The Named is the mother of the myriad things… BX15-20: Excerpt from: Reid, Dan G., The Thread of Dao: Unraveling Early Daoist Oral Traditions in Guan Zi’s Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin), Art of the HeartMind (Xin Shu), and Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye), second edition • Montreal: Center Ring Publications, 2019 • Paperback book • ISBN13: 978-0-9949781-8-9
The true primordial strategy is the root from which life springs. Knowing its image, one apprehends its form. Reaching to its principles, one knows its nature. Seeking its end, one knows its name Thus, for producing many flourishing things, nothing is greater than Heaven and Earth. For transforming many things, nothing can transform
so many things as the sun and moon.
What the Bai Xin calls “the 原始 primordial 計 strategy (that is) 實 real,” the Dao De Jing refers to as the Eternal Dao in the line “The Dao that can be told is not the Eternal Dao.” Both texts begin this discourse by setting apart the true Dao. As will be seen later, the Bai Xin also uses the term 道 Dao much in the same way as Lao Zi.
The parallels continue:
DDJ1:
… Thus, always without desires Observing its inner subtlety Always with desires Observing its outer surface… BX17-18: Reaching to its principles, one knows its nature. Seeking its end, one knows its name
Despite the stark similarities in these verses, the differences in their terminology and shifted sequences of development suggest that both texts were written records of a shared oral tradition, rather than one directly influencing the other. Their verselike qualities further suggest an oral transmission aided by these mnemonic devices. Lines 15-16 also shed light on DDJ35’s “by holding onto the great image, the world is put into motion.” The Bai Xin clarifies the meaning of “the image,” here, as an indistinct sense of Dao, not yet revealing its principles. Holding to the image, then, is to “know without knowing;” in other words, to know Dao, “the true primordial strategy,” without intellectualizing it. Heshang Gong (c. 200 AD) comments on this line from DDJ35:
“By holding onto the great image, the world is put into motion” “Holding onto,” here, means holding close. “Image,” here, means Dao. The Sage holds the Great Dao close to him, and everything in the world shifts its heart to the way things once were. He governs his body, and Heaven sends down spiritual lights. (These spiritual lights go) back and forth between his body (and Heaven).
212 大明之明, 非愛人不予也， The brilliance of great illumination does not nurture those who do not accept it. 213 同則相從, 反則相距也。 To those who join with it, it also joins. From those who are in opposition to it, it also separates. 214 吾察反則相距, 吾以故知古從 之同也。 I have witnessed this opposition, and subsequent separation. Thereby, I know that the ancients joined with it in unity.
As the sage follows Heaven rather than man (and human desires that lead to obstinate actions), he recognizes when Heaven/nature/ziran offers the time, the opportunity, to be seized. He waits on Heaven’s hand in emptiness and tranquility, and follows when beckoned by the right timing and opportunity. He must be open, listening, and changing according to what is naturally offered. Doing so, he proceeds with the chariots of “all things being aligned” – the “action of no action” (wei wu wei) that allows all things to fall into place. Virtue is the power within action of no-action. When Virtue abides, Dao naturally follows, for “Virtue is the abode of Dao.” Though we are still, many processes
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continue on inside of us. The Daoist art of stillness – the art of stillness in movement and movement in stillness – allows for these processes to proceed at a higher capacity and functionality than simple inertia. Like King Yu’s waterways, the Daoist art of stillness finds the path of least resistance and highest attainment. As such, this practice reduces the potential for harm caused by obstinate force, and so naturally bestows longevity, effortlessness, and competence, whether in our physical body or in our endeavours. Virtue is also happy to have them Those who are one with loss Loss is also happy to have them
We might take from the connection between these stanzas that the beginning of DDJ23 also suggested the importance of tranquility to welcoming Virtue – whether during quiet stillness, or when conducting affairs. This ideal of conduct is found in the opening lines of the Bai Xin, and in BX130-132:
These closing lines of the Bai Xin emphasize the techniques of lines 201-207, above, which can be understood as a method to welcome Virtue in light of the Xin Shu Xia’s opening lines (see my comments lines 201-207, above). These closing lines also share in common with DDJ23 the idea of sympathetic resonance. Lao Zi’s words in DDJ23 impart the very same thoughts as BX212-214, while mentioning Virtue, directly:
Those who are one with Dao Dao is also happy to have them Those who are one with Virtue As for the sages of antiquity, Their mouths were without empty chatter, And their hands without empty gesturing. As things arose, orders were sent out
DDJ23 begins:
To speak rarely is natural Gusting wind does not last in the early morning Sudden rainstorms do not last all day Who acts in this way? Heaven and Earth If Heaven and Earth cannot continue in such a way What then, should be the case for men? They should follow the method of Dao!
For a better understanding of early Daoist references to Virtue, it helps to look at the early commentary attached to the Xin Shu Shang, lines, 116-119: Thus, Virtue (De) also means “attainment (de).” As for this attainment, it is called “attaining the causality.” The effortlessness of this (causality) is called “Dao.” When abiding in things, we call it “Virtue.”
Synonymous with “obtaining the causality,” Virtue is what put things into order so that they accord with Dao. So Virtue is within, a power obtained that brings about balance and harmony. Wu wei is also to not resist this change, this reversion back to balance and harmony. The Xin Shu and Nei Ye both describe the way of attaining Virtue, while the ancient commentary appended to the Xin Shu Shang explains that Virtue implies its homonym (de) meaning attainment – when Virtue is attained, Dao naturally follows as Dao resides within Virtue. As such, all of the Daoist arts, from internal cultivation, to martial arts, to painting, music, and healing practices, apply the technique of inviting virtue, balance, harmony using the technique of wu wei (no action) – relaxation in action that allows Dao to naturally arise in the subject, whether that subject is a work of art, a patient, or oneself.
