Qigong is an excellent discipline to practice for life, no matter your condition. From very demanding to extremely gentle, qigong has something to offer for everybody. However, this time and age you have more activities than ever to choose from: tennis, football, karate, taekwondo, aerobic, pilates, yoga, … you name it. Some of these disciplines look very cool indeed. They are “sexy”. You put on special costumes and do all sort of fancy movements and postures.
Qigong, in contrast, is about being peaceful and finding harmony. It's about doing slow, deliberate movements. And it goes a long way towards restoring your peace of mind and aiding in a large number of disorders. But it's not sexy, I'll give you that. Being dangerous, fast, strong, loud, … all those overly yang attributes, are sexy and that's the way you like your phone, car, TV, house, clothes,... But it's not the way you want to live your life. Not for long anyways. Qigong is about cultivating balance in your life, and for today's lifestyle that means cultivating the yin, nurturing aspects of your life.
So, how could I describe qigong in a way that can capture your attention when you have so much to choose from? That is very challenging to do when you don't have any previous experience, or worse, when you have the wrong kind of experience (a young woman recently told me how disappointed she was at her first contact with qigong where she was “just waving the arms around while holding an imaginary ball”).
To me, what is extremely satisfying about qigong is that it gives me control over aspects that were otherwise chaotic in my life. It makes me feel confident that I can sort out myself. When you have the experience that, through simple exercises you can smooth your digestion out or find calmness in the middle of a heated discussion, then that is life changing. And the good thing is that I am no master. I didn't have to train 10 years to achieve that. That means that if it works for me, I'm sure it will work for you. I'm just a couple of steps further into the journey compared to a beginner, and I am more than happy to share what I have learned with you.
That is why I say that although qigong may not be as sexy as some other disciplines around, it rocks all the same!