Qigong Side Effects and new class posting

[Dean]

I'll mention the new class at the end of this message, but first:

I was asked recently about the side effects of doing qigong. I have
answered this before but I am writing about it again to perhaps make
it clearer.

The side effects of qigong are similar to the side effects of holistic
medicine and are very different than the side effects of western
medicine.

In western medicine the side effects are of two types:

1. The result of putting poisons in your body (all drugs are treated
as poisons by the body). They clog up your detox pathways and reduce
the effectiveness of your liver, kidneys, digestion, etc.

2. The prime purpose of most medicines is to shut down various parts
of your body - various metabolic pathways. This is done in order to
bring back some semblance of balance to an imbalanced organism. To
bring back true balance you need nutrition - nurturing your body, mind
and spirit. This shutting down results in decreased function and,
over time, more problems - side effects.

In holistic medicine we are not interested in shutting down systems,
we are interested in starting them up again. Ideally we correct
imbalances and get things working again. Interestingly the words
health and holistic have the same idea which is wholeness.

So, the side effects of holistic medicine are due to your body
regaining function - becoming more alive again. Even though this is a
very positive direction for you it may be disconcerting and feel like
a negative thing.

An understandable example of this from my acupuncture practice is that
of a knot in a muscle. If you have that knot, it may or may not be
now causing you some trouble. In order to treat that knot, I would
often put a needle in it in order to relax that knot and give you some
long term relief. Once the knot is relaxed, the sensory nerves are
awakened and you will feel like you had just worked that muscle a lot,
as you had. This may be perceived as a temporary worsening. In
truth, the muscle is now relaxed, nutrition can now move into the area
to heal the tissue and waste products from the dysfunction can move
out of the area - thus providing for long term relief. The western
approach to the same problem is usually pain relievers that block the
pain so you temporarily feel better, but nothing has been done to cure
the problem.

So, the side effects of qigong. Let's call them something less
damning like healing reactions:

1. Detox reactions - these are usually thought to be from the release
of toxins from either the tissues and/or the liver. These can be
typical liver signs - moodiness, anger, depression, rashes, flu-like
symptoms. This is why we often mention drinking more water to help
flush out the toxins.

2. Temporary imbalances due to strengthening at uneven rates. The
body tries to maintain balances - homeostasis - of various systems in
the body. On your road to wellness, as systems are strengthened you
may experience the imbalance to be worse than fact that you are
getting better. Examples are: your blood pressure may go up or down,
your blood sugar may go up or down, you might feel more yin or more
yang - you get the idea. If it gets too much, just slow down your
practice to allow your body to catch up.

3. The qi busting through - as the qi in your body gets stronger, it
may become obvious that your channels are constrained or limited and
this greater level of qi may cause a temporary discomfort or pain.
This is often in areas where you have had previous problems or
injuries. Again, this is a good sign, but if it is too much, slow
down your practice.

4. Retracing or, as I like to call it, the path revisited. Often,
our present condition is a result of a series of problems and
compensations so that your current problem is quite different than the
original cause. Then, as you heal your self, other problems come up.
You may not have experienced these problems in quite a while and may
think these problems were caused by your qigong practice. Not so -
you are simply going back down the same path you came getting back to
wholeness by revisiting those problems you thought you were done
with. Those problems were not gone they were just hidden because of
compensations. Now you have the opportunity to finally get rid of
them so they are no longer effecting your health.

I am describing these healing reactions as if they are just physical
as they often are. In truth, you can have these reactions at all
levels - body/mind/spirit - or what ever parts in which you like to
divide your self.

If you are local, you might be interested in the next class. I posted
the info here at google groups: http://groups.google.com/group/qinews

I am not sure you can all see that so I am also posting it at:
http://qi.org/QigongClass4-8-09.pdf

If you can't see any of that, call the clinic at 541-753-5152 1-6 Tu-
Fri Pacific time and request more information.

With Qi,

Dean

[Dean]