Live in-person class at Stoughton Senior Center: Class is Tuesday @ 1 pm. Cost $42 for the full six weeks; $10 per drop-in. Contact me or see the Stoughton Area Senior Center website or newsletter for more information.

Live in-person class at Sun Prairie Colonial Club Senior Center. Monday @ 1pm. See above for payment amounts. To register or get more information, call The Colonial Club or email me at jochern5@gmail.com.

Qi: Vital Energy; Life Force; the energy that runs through the veins and arteries, the nervous system and the meridians of the entire body and gives us life and energy.

Pronounced “Chee”

Gong: Working with; Mastering.

Pronounced as spelled or as “kung”

Qi Gong: Working with the life force of the body to enhance health, energy, and spirit. Promoting health both mental and physical through movement and meditation.

QiGong is an ancient form of Chinese exercise and health movement used to help promote a strong but supple body and a relaxed yet creative mind. If you’ve heard of or seen Tai Chi, you’ve seen the martial arts form that developed out of QiGong but QiGong is not a martial art, so it is much easier to learn and to practice, emphasizing not specific, precise movement but moving in a way that feels right to each individual. Because there is no special equipment or clothing needed and the practice can be done seated or standing, there is virtually no limitation to who can participate–old and young, strong and frail, all can join in with little training. QiGong teaches deeper breathing, better posture and balance, letting the body flow through movements gently and gracefully and enhanced mindfulness. In fact, QiGong is a perfect introduction to meditation because the movement takes away the stress of “just sitting.”

Research into Qigong and Tai Chi now is showing that some of the benefits of both practices include lowering blood pressure, improving balance, increasing breathing capacity and reducing stress. And since QiGong is not “performance based” as Tai Chi is, more people are able to enjoy these benefits. The practice of QiGong is truly a universal form of self-health.

As the ancients so rightly found:

“Flowing water never stagnates; the hinges of an active door never rust.”