Last Updated on July 21, 2021
Doing further research about chi kung/qi gong, I picked up a book by Ged Sumner, he taught that we can become healthy and fit- without the need to go into the gym. Written in a way that compels the reader to really give chi kung a try. Since the exercises are so simple- no equipment needed and be done anywhere, anytime.
The website: http://naturalmovement.info/ , as indicated in the book contains illustrated videos on the chi kung movements for easy reference.
During the beginning of the book, Ged Sumner wrote that the quest for the perfect body- causing many people to slave and work themselves in the gym is not the solution to health and happiness. Vigorous exercise and the slogan “no pain, no gain” – and because people believe them, they tend to feel bad and guilty when they start missing gym sessions. In the end, some would start to stop exercising alltogether and thus result in more health problem. Already the body is exhausted and when we keep pushing it further, it’s only a matter of time that it would break down.
An excerpt, written in Chapter 7 under Moving in Three Dimension (pg 63) :
If you are thinking a lot, you shift into an internal reverie which, over time, leads to a state where you primilarily reside in your thoughts and your intellectual functioning. This draws you away from your body awareness so that your movements are dimly registered. It can feel as if you are operating on automatic pilot. You walk down the road, you catch a bus, you walk through the park, yet you are so entrenched in your own thinking process that you are only partially aware of your body movements and coordination. You have a reduced experience of body sensation, kinaesthetic movement, awareness of what is around you and energetic connection to your surroundings. …….
Being completely distracted can, at its worst state, make you feel as if you are a ghost stuck in a machine- simply running on auto-pilot and only engaging with the external world from a mental perspective, for brief spells at a time, before sinking back into reverie. This state can sometimes be a highly creative space or it can be a foggy experience, but in either case it’s a shift away from bodily sensations. It that a problem? It seems most people operate this way in the world, but what are the consequences?
One could argue that disconnection from the exterior world is a self-preserving, filtering technique, designed to keep us safe. It would be equally fair to say that maybe we wouldn’t need to filter out the world if we weren’t already so over-stimulated internally.
~ Ged Sumners
From what I observe, many people are suffering from depression, anxiety, sleep/digestive/stress related disorders, headaches, forgetfulness and even accidents because we are disconnected from our body, from the outside world. Meditation and practicing exercises like qi gong would help to calm the ever thinking mind down and bring the focus and attention to the body- not only externally but internally. As you are in tune with the body, you would be able to understand instinctively your health problems and instinctively sort of know the way to overcome the problem. The more internally still the mind is, the more focused and strong the mind is. Qi gong, tai chi and yoga practice helps one to be better in tune with the body.
