Health on the Hill

It all started with Oprah, as many trends do. I watched as Dr. Oz, Oprah’s medical guru, espoused qigong (pronounced “chee-gung”) as a way to “add years to your life” and reduce stress. Then I found a qigong DVD in the apartment. And on Tuesday there was an ad in the Daily Tar Heel for qigong classes offered in Chapel Hill. The buzz around this exercise is heating up.

Perhaps qigong is becoming a new fitness trend in America, but in China, it is a 2000-year-old traditional healing method. Since 1989, medical qigong has been recognized as a standard medical technique in Chinese hospitals. In 1996, the Chinese government decided to regulate qigong and incorporated it into China’s National Health Plan.

What is qigong? According to the UNC Wellness Center Web site, qigong is, “a simple system composed of gentle movements, meditation and breathing techniques that cleanse and strengthen the immune system and Life Energy (Qi).”

Maybe you read that description and already decided to sign up for a qigong class near you. Maybe you laughed at the word “life energy” and the thought of an exercise powerful enough to strengthen the immune system. Or maybe you still are trying to pronounce qigong (it’s okay, you’ll get there).

Either way, people practice qigong to reduce stress, meditate and alleviate sickness with movements resembling a combination of martial arts in slow motion and beginner’s yoga.

I called the Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center in Chapel Hill, which is offering three qigong classes every Tuesday beginning Feb. 12, to learn more about the self-healing powers of qigong.

Joy Bryde, program coordinator, says that classes are open to cancer patients, survivors and their family, friends and caregivers. Qigong’s movements are gentle and easy enough for the patients and survivors to perform, says Bryde. Also, some evidence says that qigong can help with the absorption of medication in the blood stream. To absorb drugs, Bryde says, they must flow through your blood system, and qigong and its gentle movement helps the blood flow better.

The Support Center offers qigong as a complimentary therapy to cancer patients and survivors and not as an alternative to their current, doctor-prescribed medical regime.

The UNC Wellness Center also offers medical qigong, which helps the “practitioner to take control of illnesses or pains, and also helps to prevent them.” The wellness center focuses on the self-healing aspect of qigong, and the Web site says research indicates that people’s most powerful defense against disease is already within a person’s body. The goal is for practitioners to connect with these self-healing powers through qigong and decrease their dependence on medicine.

There are not enough well-designed research studies on qigong to prove the connection exists between the exercise and its healing powers. There has been research, however, in human’s self-healing power. At the very least, qigong’s meditative and energizing powers mirror that of yoga, and its breathing techniques and gentle movements should leave practitioners feeling calm and energized. And we all could use less stress in our lives. To sign up for classes at the Cornucopia House, call (919) 401-9333, or if you prefer the UNC Wellness Center, call (919) 931-9983.

Intrigued? Watch a short video about qigong featuring instructor Lee Holden, whose show often appears on PBS: