Power of Practice

Author: Elena Bartke

When thinking about how powerful practice can be, I immediately have to think of one of my own stories. I’m quite new to Qigong but I have been a Yoga practitioner for many years. Before Covid started, my yoga practice was very irregular and I was having good months with regular practice but also months where it was almost non-existent. When Covid started, I, as so many others, started to work from home. This meant a lot less movement in the day. Also, mentally detaching from work was a necessary skill to have due to less boundaries between work and private life. So instead of waking up and going straight to my desk for work, I started to do Yoga every day. After a few months, I saw a huge difference in making progress, unlocked new dimensions of my practice, and gained more flexibility and strength on a mental and physical level than ever before. It became such a big part in my daily routine – something that I thought I would never have time for…To make time for it felt challenging in the beginning but soon became an effortless part of my life.

The Zhineng (Wisdom) Qigong practices are very powerful and equips the practitioner with easy to learn methods and tools to activate self-healing abilities which can result in miraculous recovery from ill health or provide you with new level of fitness and vitality. To give an example, some scientific data was collected by the first medicine less hospital, founded by Dr. Pang Ming. Patients healed after dedicated practice even though medical doctors diagnosed incurable diseases. Most patients spent 24 days at the hospital and practiced about 8 hours per day. (1) In the ”Analysis of the Therapeutic Effect of Zhineng Qigong on 47 864 Cases” conducted by the Hua Xia Zhineng Qigong Clinic, it becomes evident that with regular practice you can achieve incredible results. In this particular study, 99% of patients achieved improvement in their symptoms to some extent. (2)

Zhineng Qigong practice does not only have the power to support the self-healing process of serious diseases but can also affect many other areas of life, for instance, increasing harmony in relationships, new vitality and strengthening of the immune system, just to name a few. So what is it that helps us to be consistent and unlock the power of practice that also helped me retrospectively?

It all starts with our frame, meaning, what we keep telling ourselves. (3) For instance, I told myself that it would result in a lack of sleep and bad mood to wake up even earlier to practice before work and that’s why I had never done it before. Perhaps you tell yourself that you have a very busy life and too many responsibilities in the day. One thing that helps is talking to people and telling yourself that it is EASY to incorporate practice into your life. For instance, explain to your family that you need a little bit of alone time in the morning and discuss how you can make it work, or ask for a place where you can practice at work. Workplaces are a lot more open to it nowadays and are willing to accommodate. You will realize that there is always a way. 🙂

The next step is about insight and defining your intention. Why are you practicing and why is it so important to you? We all have deep intentions, for instance, being happy, healthy or finding our inner balance. We usually just need to verbalize them for ourselves and make them concrete.
More specific to Zhineng Qigong, the practice is about using the consciousness inwardly so that vital functions of the body and mind are restored, strengthened and improved. The main focus is to create Qi (life energy) pathways for exchanging the universal Qi with the body Qi. Make sure that you guide your consciousness so that the Qi follows and focuses on the areas you wish to strengthen or heal. (4)

”Qi is following the intention of the mind to work immediately, where the mind goes, the Qi follows.” – Master Yuantong Liu

So, the why is very important. It gives the practice a deeper meaning. Your intentions can also change over time. Therefore, it is important to remind yourself what it is you practice for and guide the Qi.

Once you have practiced for a while there will be results, maybe not yet the results you were hoping for but it is a journey and every small success matters. So, acknowledge your progress. Do you perhaps feel more light-hearted, tension disappeared and/or you handle situations differently? Celebrate every small step and build on them! This goes hand in hand with appreciating the efforts you make. Oftentimes, we fall into a habit of criticizing for not doing enough or the right practices. Yes, there is always more you can do but as long as you keep on practicing what you CAN do and KNOW how to do at this point in time, change will come into your practice and you will build on it in your own time.

Lastly, awareness is the key and puts it all together. If we are not aware of our progress, we will most likely drop the practice altogether and see it as a waste of time. (5) Based on research, behaviours that feel rewarding receive priority about behaviours that fail to do so. (6) Reward can come in all different shapes. External rewards like getting praise from friends or family, for instance, for being more active and positive are easily recognizable. However, recognizing change and transformation within ourselves asks us to turn inwards and be aware of mental and physical changes – and within is where it all starts. 🙂

Once practice becomes part of your routine, it is effortless and an integral part of your day. (7) Coming back to my own story, my practice is now a part of my morning as getting dressed and brushing my teeth. This process may take several months but as soon as you form a habit of regular practice, the intentions and goals actually become less important in guiding commitment to practice. However, with that being said, keep in mind that it is important to remind yourself WHY you practice as strong intentions will guide your progress and the Qi.

To support you in making Zhineng Qigong practice a part of your routine we will start to offer Life Changer practice sessions per February 2023. Find more information and subscribe here.

References
1. Chan, L. (2003). 101 Miracles of Natural Healing
2. Hua Xia Zhineng Qigong Clinic, Analysis of the Therapeutic Effect of Zhineng Qigong on 47 864 Cases
3. Britta Stalling, Hunyuan Qi Therapy (2022)
4. Master Yuantong Liu, Life Changer presents the 5 Immune Systems of Zhineg Qigong (2022)
5. Sheeran, P., Godin, G., Conner, M., & Germain, M. (2017). Paradoxical effects of experience: Past behavior both strengthens and weakens the intention-behavior relationship. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(3), 309-318.
6. Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C. H., Potts, H. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European journal of social psychology, 40(6), 998-1009.
7. Carden, L., & Wood, W. (2018). Habit formation and change. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 20, 117-122.