Why do I see so many older people practising Qi Gong?

[4bsolute]

... and why so few younger people?

 

Internet, courses in cities - 95% are surely above the age of 50.

 

Is Qi Gong not yet appealing to people below that age? Does the majority first need a heavy form of contraction, such as multiple injuries in order to want to understand health and longevity?

 

I still have this feeling of loneliness sometimes in my location when practising. I want to share and connect and I still have the Bias of age, sometimes...

 

Why is that so? Because where I live, here in Germany - as sad as it is: But AGE means stiffness here, unflexiblity in all aspects of life. Especially psyche.

 

I talked with friends about subjects like meditation, because again the majority of them suffer from stress already - being in their early or mid-20s. These concepts do not appeal until they really suffer more and more. The common "excuse" still is that they have no time for it, want to "clean up /g et rid of something first" in their lives or wait for some miracle (see suffering).

 

Do we really have transported such less wisdom from generation to generation in the West? I live in Europe and preventive concepts are really new. New in that form that I do not know what the church / romans have burned to ash. Wholistic concepts like shamanism and druidism were here long ago. And for the most part only find revival in forms of small presentations on medival markets.

 

What's blocking it here?

 

I'm really interested what your experiences is on this! Feel free to share it

 

 

All the best,

Light.

Edited November 5, 2013 by 4bsolute

[liminal_luke]

Hi 4absolute,

 

Just want to chime in and say that hasn't been my experience. All of the classes and workshops I've taken (in the US) have had a good mix of ages. Certainly there's lots of young people here--just look at any of the threads on retention.

 

edit: I've been interested in spirituality all my life. Well, maybe not all but certainly way, way back. Of course I wasn't taking tai chi classes at the age of 12 because it didn't occur to my parents to encourage me that way. And I'm not sure they were even available in my small town back then. I didn't have the money or mature mindset to go traveling around taking workshops. Even so, I can see the seed of what I do now developing in me even then. Think it's that way for most of us.

Edited November 5, 2013 by liminal_luke

[Brian]

Hi 4absolute,

 

Just want to chime in and say that hasn't been my experience. All of the classes and workshops I've taken (in the US) have had a good mix of ages. Certainly there's lots of young people here--just look at any of the threads on retention.

 

Ya Mu's workshops are certainly not attended by mostly older people. I can't speak to other systems.

 

I suspect part of the explanation for what you are seeing, though, is that there is a tendency for younger people to view themselves as immortal...

[yabyum24]

What's blocking it here (Europe)?

 

Simple, we don't live in California

 

I can't find a Qi Gong, Nei Kung, Bagua, Mo Pai, Dzog Chen centre etc etc within a radius of 200 miles of where I live. The average (trendy location) USA person steps out of their back door and stumbles over these guys. At least that's the unscientific (perhaps slightly exaggerated) impression I get from what I read on internet forums of various kinds.

 

I figure I'm lucky to have a nice Tai Chi group near me. There's a mix of ages and genders but it is weighted towards middle aged and older ladies (nothing wrong with them mind). The teacher makes a big deal of "energy" work.

 

Holistic concepts were wiped out when the Roman Empire "civilized" our tribes and those tribes moved into the classic christianity/feudal development mode.

 

Still... there's always raw nature we can visit. Empty our minds and feel ourselves bound to it. It's the same forest, wind, sea and sky our ancestors knew and that may be as close as we'll ever get to it.

[zanshin]

Maybe self conscious. For some reason, I used to feel weird to go do qigong with random people around, but past few years I can go to a park and practice alone and it doesn't bother me if people are around or coming and going as long as it's a relatively peaceful setting.

[liminal_luke]

I prefer to attend events where my own group is represented, but I think there's something to be said for developing the capacity to be comfortable being the odd one out. A few years back I took my mom, in her sixties, to a trendy Cuban restaurant in Portland for dessert. She asked afterwards if I was embarrassed? Turns out she was the only one her age there. I hadn't noticed. Told her I wouldn't care if everyone else was 16. This place had the best chocolate cake in town and no way was I going to let the age of the other patrons keep us from sampling it.

 

Another time a friend and I (early fifties, late forties)were reminiscing about how we loved the gymnastics classes of our youth, and bemoaning the fact that there were no tumbling for adults courses. Later, she remembered reading about a gymnastics class for adults in nearby Vancouver and we resolved to go. Well...turns out that when gymnasts talk about "adults" they really mean 12-22. No matter. They called their insurance carrier to make sure they'd be covered if we broke our necks, and we were in. I'm not gonna lie: it was a little weird doing cartwheels with a bunch of 15 year olds. The next day my foot was all out of whack, and I said never again. Still, I'm glad I went. I am a human being, and I will go where other human beings go--even if I'm the only one in the group like me.

[thelerner]

In martial arts I've seen a tendency to start out in hard styles and gradually move toward softer with Tai chi and gi gong being the last stops on the journey. Kids appreciate flashy, older people understand subtle. Its not a bad way to move over the decades.

[silent thunder]

Each season of life has Te.

Not all of us experience the seasons in the same order, or intensity...

[juliank]

Even here in CA Qi Gong doesnt have the same social status markers that Yoga does. Also from many peoples perspective it just looks 'weird'. Granted so does yoga but we know that what gets taught as yoga these days is just Indian gymnastics. So much really is about perception and social acceptance and less about whether its subtle or flashy. If Qi Gong was considered 'cool' you would see the parks filled with young kids doing it.

[Spotless]

It may be a cultural carry over:

In one of my Qi Gong classes many of the students are Chinese and some of them have been taking the classes for quite some time. All but one of us is over 50 and she is Italian and about 42.

Frequently we have dinner together when the class is over at 6:30, the classes are in Oakland Chinatown at the Chinese Cultural Center with plenty of restaurants nearby.

In our talks it became very clear that none of the Chinese were there for the inner discipline, it was exercise. The idea of Qi was practically mythical to several of them. They were curious in asking me questions because the master had said to them that I was "doing very well". In those questions it became clear that their understanding of Qi Gong and Tai Chi was from an exercise standpoint and some health stimulation movements with only a sort of misty awareness of legendary displays of Qi Gong and the enormous power it has.

At lunch in their restaurant of choice they have a 60" screen tv prominently positioned in the middle of the large dining area and the Wallstreet ticker tape plays constantly with full sound and news breaks - all in a fine upscale setting.

 

In my other Qi Gong class one of the interpreters that comes to pick up one of the masters is a private Kung Fu student of the master and we have become friends. Though he understands Qi Gong, he is all about Kung Fu and strength - Qi Gong and Tai Chi are viewed more as a health plan though he knows a considerable amount about Qi.

 

Both Qi Gong and Tai Chi are expanding rapidly here - it will be interesting how it unfolds.

Yoga here in the US used to be at a much higher level primarily because it was so pure and newly introduced, now it is primarily fitness exercise "yoga" which is not yoga at all. When I started with yoga it was and for me still is primarily meditation and breathing with postures as more of an adjunct.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Spotless

[JustBHappy]

Yeah, it's all older folk here, and Tai Chi is often the same. Everyone I talk to says that qi gong and Tai Chi are for old people only.

I view it as ignorance myself. People who haven't yet realized their own impermanence and inevitable decline. Once they do, they jump on the bandwagon and practice every morning and or evening. It's quite sad. The modern Chinese youth don't give a hoot about learning, mastering and preserving the jewels of their culture. They all want to the new Iphone, Ipad, or other Icrap instead. The crazy western students are often by far the most diligent.

[Mal]

Perhaps the Qi Qong practice has enabled them to become old?

 

i.e you see a lot of young and middle aged people who are overweight, but I can't even recall seeing an overweight old person.