Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Lesson 2: Qigong
Introduction (15 minutes)

- Ask class what they thought of last week’s session on yoga

- Ask if any of them practiced yoga again since we last met

- Pass out a mini quiz on the yoga session

o Q: Who is recognized as the first practitioner of yoga?

 A: Shiva

o Q: How many types of yoga are there (bonus points if you can name them)?

 A: Four: karma, bhakti, gyana, and kriya

o Q: Provide any 3 benefits of yoga we discussed last week

 A: improves strength, pain management, lowers blood pressure,

improves sleep, or helps manage stress and anxiety

Class Discussion (5 minutes)

- “What do you know about qigong?”

- “Has anybody practiced qigong before?”

History of Qigong (15 minutes)

(Brief history of qigong, 2018)

- Bodhidharma, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to China, is also recognized as

the originator of qigong

 - Buddhists practices became known as Zen meditations

o These meditations allowed for Buddhists to manage the flow of energy

throughout their body, also known as Qi

- These Buddhists learned to harness their Qi and allow it to create a balance between

their mind and their physical body

- The term “qigong” is derived from “Qi,” which is the energy flowing through our

body, and “gong,” which means a “skill cultivated through steady practice”

- Through countless hours of meditation and physical movements, the art of qigong

was formed to educate individuals on how to harness their flow of energy

Benefits of Qigong (10 minutes)

(Bouguyon, n.d.)

(Fenneld, 2020)

- Lowers blood pressure

- Reduces depression

- Manages stress and anxiety

- Improves immune response

- Relieves side effects of cancer patients

o Qigong has been researched with cancer patients and has shown to provide

relief of fatigue, pain, anger, and stress

Guided Qigong Session (30 minutes)

- Guest instructor: Kimberly Ivy

o Seattle-based Qigong instructor

o Founder of Embrace the Moon, a school for Qigong and Tai Chi

o 43 years of professional experience

- She will have time to introduce herself and speak on her experience and the school

she founded

- She will then lead the class through some qigong exercises for 30 minutes

Closing Discussion (15 minutes)

- Ask class “what is something you learned today?”

- Discuss different applications of qigong

o Physical benefits

o Mental benefits

o Health management

- Question/Answer period with myself and guest instructor

 References

Bouguyon, C. (n.d.). What is QIGONG? National Qigong Association.

https://www.nqa.org/what-is-qigong-.

Brief history of qigong. Institute of Qigong & Integrative Medicine. (2018, November 5).

https://www.iqim.org/about/history-of-qigong/.

Fenneld. (2020, September 23). What are the health benefits of qigong? Cleveland Clinic.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-qigong/.