Qi
Improving Our Quality of Life
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Schools in America are increasingly demanding higher test scores of their students and have turned to a number of strategies to help them be successful. While differentiating instruction, selected instructional practices, tutoring and test prep (to name just a few) have had some positive impact; none of them have given us the results we all want. There is however some powerful alternative strategies that has not yet been tried and can help bring the desired results. It is teaching our children how to enhance their power for concentration and to control their emotions and energy. Consider the training of great athletes like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods. When great sports stars like these play against their peers they move with such ease and grace, yet play their game at a level above their competition. It is more than just their physical ability that brings their game to the highest level. It is their mental and emotional abilities that they have learned to control while under very stressful situations. If we look into the ancient teachings of the Chinese we can learn how we can help our children develop these skills. The word Qi in ancient China was generally considered, “The energy in all matter.” All substances, whether having form or not are comprised of this energy or Qi. The term Qi in regards to our health means our body’s life force or biopsychic internal energy. All infants are born with a purity of Qi and a kind nature. Their nature is unclouded by the negative emotional desires that lead to agony and bitterness. There is no hatred, anger or prejudice. There are no attachments that lead to uncontrolled desire, obsession and greed. As the infant grows into a child their emotional experiences are stored in their mind and sub-consciously influence their behavior and nature in life. Negative and hurtful memories create emotional stress so that their Qi becomes unbalanced and blocked. The natural kindness that the child was born with becomes concealed, just like the sun being veiled by dark clouds. The results are children with excessive emotional highs and lows. They have a short attention span and get tired easily. They can become fearful, depressive, aggressive and quick to anger. These children are very difficult to teach and are very disruptive to the classroom. Emei Qigong is a much respected Qi health system in China with an eight hundred year old history. Their schools teach that living a healthy life with a peaceful mind results in having a relative balance between our emotions and the Qi in nature. This enables the harmonious flow of Qi in our body. Grandmaster Fu, the head of the Emei Qigong School says, "Use Qi development exercises to clear your Qi blockages and improve the function of your physical body, your emotions and your heart.” It is best to begin these exercises as a child before the negative experiences root into the memory. The child can then learn to achieve peace when stressful situations arise and are much more capable in absorbing knowledge. In China, many schools teach their students the Qi development exercises of meditation and proper breathing with the goal of having the children calm their emotions and focus their thoughts. Three simple Qi development exercises totaling 5 to 10 minutes in the morning and after lunch each day will achieve the desired results. These exercises can also be considered a behavior-management tool which can help students control anger, prevent outbursts and deal with the aggressive actions of others. The first effective Qi development exercise is meditation. Researchers at Harvard’s Mind-Body Medical Institute established in 2000 that meditation activates brain structures involved in attention and in controlling the autonomic nervous system. “When practiced regularly meditation encourages a state of calm,” from the Harvard Women’s Health Watch, January 2001. Scientists have discovered at least five different brain waves that can be measured: • Delta - a deep sleep • Theta - a light sleep • Alpha - a calm, waking state • Beta - an active or stressful state • Gamma - a fighting state In an alpha state, the creative and logical processes of the brain work at their best and stressful situations can be thought out with wisdom and confidence. One advantageous result of meditation is that the brain waves go into an alpha state of calmness. There are many types of meditation. Some focus the mind on a tranquil scene or play quiet music to relax thoughts. Others focus on a mantra, a word (an example would be “Om” for peace) or on an object for a period of time. There are other types that require a focus on the internal workings of our body, such as an organ, or an emotion generated in our mind such as compassion or empathy. The best method for mediation in the classroom is use of a tranquil scene. Allow each student to choose his/her own creative scene. The student may change the scene each day but the scene should stay the same for the meditation period. The scene must be a quiet, beautiful and peaceful, and void of all people except the student. Some examples of peaceful scenes are the beach on a sunny warm day, or a majestic mountain with green meadows, tall trees and beautiful horses. Tell the students to just focus on the scene and silently enjoy the restful time there. Their breath should be natural and their posture relaxed and comfortable. This should be done for 3 to 5 minutes. Another result of a classroom filled with students in meditation is the peaceful Qi field that is produced by the group. When you combine the Qi of two or more people, a group Qi field is formed. This type of Qi field is formed from each individual’s sub-conscious and conscious outward expression of emotions, thoughts and body language. Families, friends, classrooms, communities, cities and countries all form Qi fields in different ways. A household will radiate a Qi field that is formed by its family and this energy is felt when you enter the home. The same is true for a classroom filled with students. You can sense the Qi field when you enter the classroom and immediately feel if the students are studious, friendly, aggressive, angry or peaceful? You will then instinctively form an emotional response based on this kind of sense. Classroom meditation will create a peaceful group Qi field that wills a sub-conscience influence on each student helping him and her to become more peaceful. When the meditation is over, the room’s Qi field will have a feeling of lightness and everyone will be on the same relaxed emotional wavelength. The second Qi development exercise is proper and full breathing into the chest and abdomen. Full chest breathing opens the lungs and enables a greater volume of oxygen to enter. Abdomen breathing increases the ability of the diaphragm to rise and fall. This exercise enhances overall energy. It also naturally shifts the body's center to a lower position making the body's equilibrium more stable. If it is difficult to breathe abdominally, then just breathe normally but focus on the lower abdomen. In either case, the breathing should always be slow, even and full. Take one full inhale and exhale with focus on the chest and then another full inhale and exhale with focus on the lower abdomen. The inhale should be done with the nose and the exhale with the nose and mouth. If you have a cold or nose difficulties then inhaling with the mouth is acceptable. Do this alternate chest and abdomen breathing three times. The final exercise is a Qi massage for the brain. Each organ in our body has a unique vibrating frequency. When we resonate with a particular organ’s vibrations, by producing the correct sound, it combines with the sounds that the internal organ produces. Our internal Qi then goes directly to that organ. Combining the sound with a mental focus will directly massage the specific organ you are exercising; in this case it is the brain. To exercise the brain, first expand your chest before you inhale and then bring the oxygen in slowly and fully through the nose. On your exhale focus on the brain and repeat the sound “Hong” until the exhale is complete. Alternate the sound’s pace from a slow cadence on the first exhaling breath to a fast cadence on the next exhaling breath. Continue to alternate the fast and slow cadence until you complete the brain Qi massage exercise. The alternating should be done 3 to 5 times. Go to the website www.whatisqi.com to hear the “Hong” sound. At the home page simply click on the “Emei Healing Sounds” link and then click onto the “Brain”. After the completion of the Qi development exercises students should be relaxed, energized and ready to learn. When stressful situations arise they will be better able to handle them in a wise and peaceful manner. These exercises have a cumulative effect, so practice them for 2 to 4 weeks before judging the results. In July 2006 Maria Crowe, a teacher at the Queens High School of Teaching, invited me to share the Qi development exercises with her class of multiple handicapped high school students. I worked with the students for about two hours. About a month later, I asked Maria to let me know how her students were doing and if she had continued to do the exercises with them. Here is how she responded. “The kids love it! They enjoy practicing the exercises everyday. I have found the students to be calmer, have a greater sense of togetherness and have enhanced reasoning skills after the exercises. I remember one day Michael (one of the students) couldn’t come up with the answer to a question I posed to him. He thought for a moment and then proceeded to do the brain sound exercise. He then came up with the correct answer. It was very funny but also astonishing.” In November of 2006, I contacted Maria again and asked her to survey her students asking what they remembered about the Qi development exercises last summer? Here is her response: “Hi David, I surveyed the guys about what they remembered from last summer’s Qi development exercises. I also asked them to tell me what their favorite part was? There are wide ranges of special disabilities among my students including autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, visual and motor impairments as well as spinal bifida. Some of the responses to my question follow.” Brandon: “The Qi is energy from your body. It is a mix combination of movement and energy. It helps you breath. It makes your body parts strong. Makes your eyes stronger too and gets the toxins out of your body. I feel relief when I finish practicing.” Michael: “I remember using the Qi exercises to keep insects from going on me by building up my Qi. I liked chanting for example hong for my brain to make me smarter, jen for my heart chakra to calm down, hia for my digestion, hey for my kidneys. My lungs fill with oxygen to help my skin heal faster. In September I read the Qi book every night. Qigong has been around for a long time but it was too late to save my Mom (she died a few years ago). The Qi exercises help people live longer and get more energy.” Anthony: “The book was nice, I liked pushing the energy it helps me feel better.” Saidu: “The Qi exercises were lots of fun. I liked the activities we did with the Master David. I liked when the master signed our books with Chinese characters. Qi exercises taught us breathing to help us calm down. Touching our organs when chanting was good. Qigong helped me with my school work. I try to practice at home after school.” Berrenger: “I liked the warm ups doing the sounds for the organs, I remember hi for my stomach, hong for my head and ger for my liver. I liked to push and pull the energy ball and working with the master. The music made me feel good.” |
