Pre-modern Medical Qigong?

[al.]

I'm curious to ask- does anyone have much knowledge about pre-modern (pre PRC) medical qigong?

 

As far as I know, a lot of medical qigong styles have developed in tandem with the qigong hospitals that sprung up in the 1950's. As with the rest of Traditional Chinese Medicine, during this period a great effort was made to 'modernise' TCM and bring together various theories. Although in many ways beneficial, the major problem with this was the removal of 'Shen' from the picture. Anything related to the more spiritual aspects of Daoism was removed from the curriculum.

 

This led to a more 'syndrome-based' form of TCM, which is in many ways quite similar to Western prescriptive medicine eg. patient is diagnosed with Liver Yang Rising, use this combination of acupoints/herbs to subdue Liver Yang. Jerry Alan Johnson's medical qigong books are generally regarded as the authority on this topic. Much of the material in the books stems from how qigong healing was taught in the hospitals, and in many ways shares the same modus operandi of TCM diagnosis of syndromes.

 

Unlike acupuncture, herbs, or tuina, there don't seem to be any pre-modern books written about medical qigong. This has led me to wonder how much of medical qigong is a modern development? I assume that a lot of the healing qigong skills were highly coveted and remained concealed within family traditions. It would also seem that many of the Daoist and Buddhist temples held their own qigong healing traditions.

 

Even if medical qigong as it's often practiced today is a modern development, this is perhaps not a bad thing. But I wonder- how much may have been lost?

[Ya Mu]

I'm curious to ask- does anyone have much knowledge about pre-modern (pre PRC) medical qigong?

 

As far as I know, a lot of medical qigong styles have developed in tandem with the qigong hospitals that sprung up in the 1950's. As with the rest of Traditional Chinese Medicine, during this period a great effort was made to 'modernise' TCM and bring together various theories. Although in many ways beneficial, the major problem with this was the removal of 'Shen' from the picture. Anything related to the more spiritual aspects of Daoism was removed from the curriculum.

 

This led to a more 'syndrome-based' form of TCM, which is in many ways quite similar to Western prescriptive medicine eg. patient is diagnosed with Liver Yang Rising, use this combination of acupoints/herbs to subdue Liver Yang. Jerry Alan Johnson's medical qigong books are generally regarded as the authority on this topic. Much of the material in the books stems from how qigong healing was taught in the hospitals, and in many ways shares the same modus operandi of TCM diagnosis of syndromes.

 

Unlike acupuncture, herbs, or tuina, there don't seem to be any pre-modern books written about medical qigong. This has led me to wonder how much of medical qigong is a modern development? I assume that a lot of the healing qigong skills were highly coveted and remained concealed within family traditions. It would also seem that many of the Daoist and Buddhist temples held their own qigong healing traditions.

 

Even if medical qigong as it's often practiced today is a modern development, this is perhaps not a bad thing. But I wonder- how much may have been lost?

 

There are medical qigong systems available that do focus on Shen, use very little communist TCM, and that do contain hand-me-down knowledge. That is what I teach. Links in my sig contain more info.

[al.]

There are medical qigong systems available that do focus on Shen, use very little communist TCM, and that do contain hand-me-down knowledge. That is what I teach. Links in my sig contain more info.

 

Hi Ya Mu,

Thanks for the get back.

Would you say that the system you teach/other medical qigongs you've had experience with, have their source in the classics (The Yellow Emperor's Classic, The Classic of Difficulties, etc.) or have stemmed from older/alternative traditions?

I ask as I'm curious to how seperate/compatable the medical qigong traditions are to the acupuncture/herbal traditions.

a

[寒月 Hanyue]

http://qigongamerica.com/

http://traditionalstudies.org/Welcome.html

 

I can't remember the other link to another worthwhile site, if I remember i'll post it too.

 

Best,