Miranda Castro. Mothering. Summer 1996 Issue.

Qigong refers to Chinese practices designed to manipulate natural energies.

Recently this term has spawned some heated debate. Indeed qigong bears rich and multifarious associations. In mainland China, the recent Falun Gong qigong movement had dramatic political and social implications. Some Chinese hospitals treat patients using qigong exercises and have created departments for the practice and instruction of qigong. There is some history of charlatans using mock qigong to con the gullible. Exceptionally early risers in China can almost always observe the hordes of the elder shaking, twisting, prancing, shuddering, or simply standing in inexorable poses to obtain the riches of health and longevity they are told qigong offers. Even in the West, qigong has its adherents. Some devote themselves to formal forms of qigong, practices which echo the routines of taijiquan (also t’ai chi), while the more cerebral students tend to be drawn to the possibilities of sitting, meditative styles.

Qigong is, at any rate, an enormously complex subject. Those interested in more information should avail themselves of the ever multiplying sources on the subject. The equally scholarly and practically adept master of qigong, Ken Cohen, is an excellent and readily available resource for information.*

The Secret of the Renowned Acupuncturists of Old

The relevance of qigong to the practice of acupuncture is three-fold. First, there is a school of thought which holds that the practice of qigong is essential to the performance of the art of acupuncture. The venerable modern master of acupuncture, Cheng Dan-an recounted his frustrating experience with needling in his records Acupuncture & Moxibustion Formulas & Treatments. Unable to obtain clinical effectiveness in his practice equal to his father’s, he eventually took the advice of his father and began the diligent practice of qigong. As a result of his qigong regimen, Cheng Dan-an was finally able to cultivate unusual clinical prowess and later became one of the founding fathers of TCM medicine. Qigong ostensibly allows the practitioner to sense, reach, and manipulate the forces of qi within the body more successfully than a person who has no daily menu of qi practice. Given the basics tenets of Chinese medicine, this is a logical conclusion.

Energetic Fringe Benefits During Treatment

Secondly, there is the application of qi directly in treatment. Occasionally referred to as “External Qi Healing” or EQH, this has been used by some people as therapy. Customarily involving the placement of the hands in such a way as to allow the unimpeded flow of energy from one person to another, EQH seemingly shares common ground with the more popular energywork methods of therapeutic touch and reiki. Generally speaking, EQH characterizes a concentrated, pure manipulation of energy alone without the employment of other modalities. Nonetheless, this distinction does not necessarily preclude the possiblity that the bounty of healthful qi in a qigong practitioner engaged in healthcare might not be incidentally advantageous to the client. Thus a third possible manifestation of qigong cultivation in the clinic is the unintentional transfer of qi from the acupuncturist to the person being treated. This concept is similar to but different from the actual role of the practitioner’s qi in the practice of acupuncture. The necessity for differentiation lies in the fact that EQH is consciously directed at a specific area of the client’s body and responds to the expectations of the healer and the object of the healing, while the unconscious transfer of qi during a session is more akin to an osmosis from an area of high qi concentration to an area where qi is wanting and is not consciously disease-specific.

First Steps on the Road to Mastery

Finally, qigong practices can be taught to clients. Many people find this reasserts their control over their own bodies, a sense which may be jeopardized by illness. These practices might be chosen from a lexicon of therapeutic qigong techniques with specific relevance to the presenting disharmony. Alternatively, the acupuncturist may simply advocate the regular practice of a fundamental qigong pose or practice set for its long-term effects on creating well-being and harmony. Some practitioners may even formally teach qigong exercises, ranging from visualizations to sitting qigong to the various styles of tai ji.

In longer courses of drug treatment, however, failure to address the unique situation of each patient often leads to a range of adverse effects and less than optimal efficacy.  Experts are attempting to solve these problems using more and more sophisticated testing, including genetic profiling, and many medications are increasingly available in a variety of dosage options.  It is also becoming common to combine multiple drugs in a single tablet, creating a compound that better addresses the complexity of real-life patients.  All of these steps are helping to better meet the needs of a spectrum of patients within mainstream health care.  Ironically, although the biomedical community at large is unaware of this, these changes bring the allopathic model more in line with Traditional Chinese Medicine.

A Tradition of Creating a Unique Solution for Every Patient

Unlike mainstream health care, individualized treatment is nothing new in Chinese medicine.  The 1,800-year-old system of using patterns of disharmony insures that each patient is treated differently from every other.  The focus on treating patients begins with the diagnostic methods of inspecting the tongue, taking the pulse, and inquiring about other symptoms.  This information allows the Chinese doctor to paint a unique picture for each patient that includes all of the relevant patterns of disharmony which are then organized according to priority.  Using this model, the Chinese practitioner determines a strategy for resolution using the conventional methods of treatment.

The methods of treatment lead directly to the selection of an herbal formula.  Formulas are usually selected from an established list in an authoritative formulary.  In many cases, these formulations boast an impressive history of 400 to 500 years of empirical use.  Some Chinese remedies are much older, dating back as much as 1,800 years, while a minority are only a few centuries or even decades old.  The formula will be chosen based on the patterns identified and the main complaint, with other factors such as gender, age, and constitution playing a minor role.

Selection of a formula is, however, not the only task of the Chinese doctor.  There is a final, crucial step in the process of prescribing Chinese herbs.  According to a recent blog entry by the renowned American lao yi sheng ‘venerable doctor’, Bob Flaws

Frequently, Chinese medical beginners will ask me whether this or that simple formula is appropriate for their patient. In almost 100% of these cases, the patient described is presenting a combination of patterns, not a single pattern, and, therefore, he or she requires a combination of formulas, not a single formula which addresses only a single pattern. In sum, modification of formulas is at the very heart of the professional practice of Chinese medicine.

In the United States, where acupuncture is utilized more often than Chinese herbal medicine, many practitioners have not had extensive training using Chinese herbal formulas.  Under the laws of many states, having a Licensed Acupuncturist title will allow practitioners to prescribe herbal medications.  Those without extensive training or knowledge will not write prescriptions for a custom herb formulation but will instead recommend tablets or other ready made forms such as tinctures.  In the PRC and Taiwan, it is understood that a master doctor always writes a prescription for a unique formula.  No Chinese doctor would ever establish a good reputation through prescriptions for tablets or pills alone.

Accordingly, the final step in prescribing a Chinese herbal formula is the additions and subtractions.  Your White Pine practitioner will adjust the traditional, time-proven  formulation for your individual case, deleting anything that is unnecessary and adding in those herbs with uniquely beneficial actions to quickly and safely treat your condition.  Since only about 10%-20% of practitioners in the United States are experts at using Chinese formulas and single herbs, a treatment at White Pine Clinic offers the rare opportunity to enjoy the Chinese standard-of-care for herbal medicine without leaving Tucson!

• Inspection– This is an exhaustive visual investigation of a client. The investigator notes both the general appearance–’thin face, rather pale, walks slowly’–and the pertinent specifics–’tongue body pale and swollen with tooth impressions’. The latter observation of the tongue image is especially important to the acupuncturist. The investigation of numerous qualities of the tongue, including form, bearing, color, and fur, provides essential information.

• Listening and smelling–Chinese diagnosis is holistic and exhaustive. While rather less emphasized in modern practice in China, judging the strength of the voice or being aware of odors associated with particular disorders are examples of listening and smelling examination techniques.

• Inquiry–Inquiry is a systematic question and answer process. This is customarily performed using a guideline of ten steps. These may include inquiry into: cold and heat, sweating head and body, stool and urine, diet and taste in the mouth, chest and abdomen, hearing and vision, sleep, old illnesses, emotions, lifestyles, and working environment, along with female issues or pediatrics.

• Palpation–Although palpation may insinuate the general palpation of key anatomical regions, the Chinese traditional and modern practitioner stresses the pulse examination portion of palpation. This is an extremely refined art which recognizes 28 or 29 basic pulse qualities and incorporates six specific pulse positions and three different depths. In some practices, the pulse examination alone determines the entire treatment plan. This approach unfortunately disregards the the classical injunction to ‘correlate all four examinations’ (si zhen he can).

The four examinations yield a generous collection of data. Viewed analytically these bits of information begin yield a comprehensive clinical picture.