About Us
Welcome to Qiful Life, a site dedicated to healthy living practices based mainly on concepts found in Qigong, Tea, Meditation, Chinese Dieting, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. At this site we focus mainly on Chinese concepts and break down some of the most commonly used forms of Chinese health practices in order to give you a comprehensive, understandable approach to how they work and why they could have a positive impact on you’re your mental and physical well being. All of the concepts promoted here use one central theme – how to improve one’s Qi or “energy” with the aim of maintaining balance and well being. Based on our own experiences from studying throughout China, Taiwan, India, Nepal and many other places, these concepts are some of the most widely used practices among locals for maintaining health. More importantly, they have also had incredibly positive impacts on our lives.
Having put these concepts into practice and seeing our health improve immensely in more ways we can describe, we decided to team up and put together a site along with instructional videos to share what we have learned. We are well aware that many practices such as Qigong are often wrapped up in esoteric imagery and stories, and overall misunderstood by the public due to the concepts they promote. Our goal is to break these barriers down and demystify them with the hope that they can be understood more clearly. We use our own words and experiences, and also back up our articles/thoughts with as much science behind them as possible, albeit often limited in English due to the relatively new concepts many of these practices discuss. We believe that healthy or often referred to as “spiritual” practices should be simple to follow, and not wrapped up in a mixture of 21st century mainstream spiritual hogwash coupled with ancient patterns of practice methods unbeknownst to modern-day people.
To begin looking at any of these concepts we need to familiarize ourselves with the concept of Qi. From a Chinese medicine/Qigong standpoint everything you see or cannot see is energy but in different forms. Energy is constantly transforming and it is a matter of whether it is transforming for the better or worse. For the human body this is no different. Everything we come into correlation with, whether it be the weather, the food we intake or the emptions we produce all have their own energetic properties that are constantly affecting the body. The goal is to understand how and why they have certain effects on the body, and transform them into a balanced, optimal state that brings a healthy physical and mental wellbeing for people. There are many ways to achieve this but we think using a variety of the concepts on this site are some of the most direct and useful.
The practice of Qigong in particular is one that we have fond to be most useful, and in fact is regarded as the most powerful method to keeping the body’s Qi in harmony. The basis of Qigong is a combination of movements based around the flow of energy throughout the meridians, coupled with deep breathing and visualization to keep the body feeling reenergized and balanced. Daily practitioners of Qigong often state they are able to cue themselves of ongoing chronic pain, allergies, asthma and many more illnesses that are linked to internal energy blockages in the body. There are many reasons why this is the case and we have made it a point to outline the theory, scientific evidence in addition to step-by-step instructions on how to practice them so that you may come into contact with their potential benefits.
There are also other Chinese solutions to common problems in the body that we think could be of help to society. For example, acupuncture is a very common misunderstood practice due to the lack of research on meridians and acupressure points in the West. Acupuncture is also usually thrown into the basket of “alternative medicine” when in fact it has been around in China for centuries, and clinics offering the service are found on pretty much every other block in Chinese cities. This practice can be used for healing muscle pains, revitalizing and circulating energy for curing chronic headaches as well as for various sports injuries. Chinese seek out this practice for many purposes to maintain their health and we believe that other societies can benefit from it greatly, thus we have broken down concepts and compiled research on this site to help readers gain a deeper understanding.
We also take a look at what the body should follow based on Chinese Qi concepts surrounding food. We find this particularly useful for modern people, as the concept of eating based around the Qi of seasons is relatively obscure. From a Chinese medical standpoint there are certain foods best suited for certain seasons as well as for certain medical conditions. For example, Chinese medicine talks in depth about the importance of warm/hot foods and liquids over cold ones due to the relation they have with the body’s circulation, body pain and illness prevention. There are also many tips as to which foods should be avoided, such as mangoes in the winter as this fruit is considered a “cold fruit”, which can highly affect the body’s ability to stay warm in colder temperatures. This is but one of hundreds of examples that most people are not aware of. Chinese medicine concepts are actually ground in scientific thought based on understandings of the world, and take a more holistic approach, which has helped many people stay naturally healthy over the years.
The point of all these practices plus other concepts found on this site is not to convince you there is some sort of magical formula that will keep you alive for hundreds of years; the point is to help improve the quality of life you experience for however long that may be. Quality of Life is what we emphasize and is what we have found to be the key essence in Qi-based living practices. There is no need to assume that these cannot be mixed with Western diet and exercise practices etc., or that some how Qi practices are superior over other schools of thought. The point is to recognize their validity and potential benefit they may have on you for either recovering from illness or in taking strides forward to improve your health. With this site we hope people can empower themselves with methods to stay healthy and enjoy a life with as little illness possible.
FAQs
Q: Where do your Qigong Classes originate?
A: From revered lineages based in Qingcheng Mountain and Huashan Mountain.
Q: Where do your Meditation Classes originate?
A: We have studies with various lineage holders and emanations of the following teachers:
Vajrayana Buddhism: Dorje Lingpa, Dudjom Lingpa, Shang Rinpoche of Tsalpa Kagyu, Shakya Shri, Lingchen Repa, Dilgo Khyentse and Mingyur Rinpoche.
Chan Buddhism: Lingji Zong, Chao Dong.
Daoism: Hao Datong’s Lineage of the Complete Reality School.
