In Chinese qigong society, it is commonly known that in order to reach the goal of qigong practice, you must learn how to regulate the body, regulate the breathing, regulate the emotional mind, regulate the qi, and regulate the spirit. Tiao in Chinese is constructed from two words. That means the roundness (i.e., harmony) or the completeness is accomplished by negotiation. Like an out of tune in piano, you must adjust it and make it harmonize with others. This implies that when you are regulating one of the above five processes, you must also coordinate and harmonize the other four regulating elements.
Regulating the body includes understanding how to find and build the root of the body, as well as the root of the individual forms you are practicing. To build a firm root, you must know how to keep your center, how to balance your body, and most important of all, how to relax so that the qi can flow.
To regulate your breathing, you must learn how to breathe so that your respiration and your mind mutually correspond and cooperate. When you breathe this way, your mind can attain peace more quickly, and therefore concentrate more easily on leading the qi.
Regulating the mind involves learning how to keep your mind calm, peaceful, and centered so that you can judge situations objectively and lead qi to the desired places. The mind is the main key to success in qigong practice. Click to learn how Chinese medicine treats Viral Myocarditis.
Regulating the qi is one of the ultimate goals of qigong practice. In order to regulate your qi effectively you must first have regulated your body, breathing, and mind. Only then will your mind be clear enough to sense how the qi is distributed in your body and understand how to adjust it.
For Buddhist and Daoist priests who seek enlightenment or Buddhahood, regulating the spirit (shen) is the final goal of qigong. This enables them to maintain a neutral, objective perspective of life, and this perspective is the eternal life of the Buddha. The average qigong practitioner has lower goals. He raises his spirit in order to increase his concentration and enhance his vitality. This makes it possible for him to lead qi effectively throughout his entire body so that it carries out the managing and guarding duties. This maintains health and slows the aging process.
If you understand these few things you can quickly enter into the field of qigong. Without all of these important elements, your training will be ineffective and your time will be wasted.
Before you start training, you must first understand that all of the training originates in your mind. You must have a clear idea of what you are doing, and your mind must be calm, centered, and balanced. This also implies that your feeling, sensing, and judgment must be objective and accurate. This requires emotional balance and a clear mind. This takes a lot of hard work, but once you have reached this level you will have built the root of your physical training, and your yi (mind) can lead your qi throughout your physical body.