Newsletter #19

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Qigong: The Art of Letting Go

When people talk about qigong, they usually highlight what you can gain, like better balance, improved energy, stronger immunity, greater calm. But just as important are the things you lose along the way.

A regular qigong practice invites the body and mind to release what no longer serves you. Each slow, mindful movement helps loosen the stiffness that creeps into joints and muscles from too much sitting or stress. With each breath, tension stored in your shoulders, back, and chest softens and melts away.

More than just a physical exercise, qigong helps you shed emotional burdens as well. Anger, frustration, and worry leave imprints on the body, tightening breath and hardening posture. As you practice, you learn to recognize those reactions and let them go, sometimes literally exhaling them with each movement.

You may also find yourself letting go of habits that drain you. The need to rush, the habit of overthinking, the feeling of being constantly "on". These patterns often quiet down naturally when you give yourself time to slow your breath and reconnect with your center.

So while it's true that qigong can strengthen, energize, and heal, its quiet gift is just as much about release as it is about gain. With each session, you leave behind a little more of what weighs you down. You walk away lighter, freer, and more at ease.

The Hungry Ghost Festival: A Time to Remember and Respect

On the evening of July 29 this year, many Chinese communities will mark the Hungry Ghost Festival, a tradition rooted in both Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. Known as Zhongyuan Jie (中元節), it falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, a time when the boundary between the living and spirit worlds is said to thin.

During this month, often called "Ghost Month", it's believed that restless spirits, or "hungry ghosts," wander the earth in search of food and recognition. These are souls of those who died tragically, without descendants, or without proper burial rites, and are thought to suffer from hunger and loneliness.

Families make offerings of incense, food, and joss paper (symbolic money) to appease these wandering souls and honor their own ancestors. In parks and streets, you may see small fires burning, tables piled with fruit, and candles glowing, each gesture meant to bring peace to both the spirits and the living.

The festival also reminds us of our connection to the past — that remembering the forgotten and extending kindness to all beings, seen and unseen, helps restore harmony in our lives.

For those unfamiliar with the tradition, it's a meaningful time to reflect on gratitude and the impact of our actions, ensuring we don't leave others "hungry" for care, respect, or remembrance. Even if you don't observe the rituals, a quiet moment of remembrance and compassion on this night aligns with the festival's spirit, keeping our hearts open to those who came before us.

Qi Journal Updates:

Our Summer 2025 Journal has been released and getting a great response from our readers. If you are not a current subscriber, please consider purchasing either print or digital issues at www.qi-journal.com/subscriptions.

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new website, ChineseHealth.com Designed as a companion to qi-journal.com, this site focuses on Chinese 养生 Yangsheng— the art of nourishing life through traditional practices that support health and longevity.

The site already features more than 120 free articles, organized into categories such as "Exercise & Activity," "Mind & Spirit," "Diet & Nutrition," "Lifestyle," and a dedicated section on a dozen common "Chronic Conditions." Whether you’re just beginning to explore complementary approaches or are a seasoned practitioner, you’ll find plenty of valuable insights to support your journey. Visit the site at ChineseHealth.com

We’ve also been publishing a popular series on qi-journal.com, exploring how Western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine view organ function from very different perspectives. You can read the series here: How TCM Views Organs.

The Art of Fā Jìn: When Power Becomes Performance

If you've watched Taijiquan demonstrations online lately, especially in Chen style, you've likely seen young practitioners whipping through their forms, punctuating each strike with dramatic shakes and recoils. At times, their bodies seem to rebound more violently than the strike itself.

This visible shaking comes from fā jìn (發勁), the sudden release of stored energy through coiling and uncoiling movements. In traditional training, fā jìn is subtle yet powerful... the culmination of whole-body coordination and intent. When striking empty air, some rebound is natural, as the unspent energy dissipates back through the body. But in real martial application, a clean strike should send the energy into the target, not back into the practitioner.

The problem arises when students imitate only the outward appearance of fā jìn without understanding its purpose. Over-exaggerating the recoil turns what should be an efficient release into a theatrical display. While it might impress spectators, it undermines the essence of Taijiquan as a martial art: controlled, focused, and effective.

In true practice, the body remains relaxed, connected, and intent continues through the target. Excessive shaking is a sign of misdirected force or worse, of copying a teacher's style without grasping the underlying principles.So next time you see or practice fā jìn, aim for clarity over spectacle. The real skill lies not in how much you can make your body quiver, but in how much of your energy you can deliver outward, with precision and control.

(鲤跃龙门) The Carp Leaps Over the Dragon Gate

Lǐ yuè lóngmén" (鲤跃龙门): The Carp Leaps Over the Dragon Gate is one of the most enduring idioms in Chinese culture. It expresses the idea that perseverance and effort can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary, a lesson deeply rooted in Confucian, Daoist, and folk traditions.

The legend dates back over a thousand years and is tied to the mighty Yellow River. In ancient times, near what is now Shanxi Province, the river narrowed into a turbulent cascade known as the Dragon Gate (龙门). Every spring, countless carp would swim upstream, battling the fierce current to reach calmer waters. Those few carp able to leap over the rocky Dragon Gate were said to transform into dragons— celestial beings of power, wisdom, and transcendence. This image became a favorite metaphor for scholars who faced the daunting imperial examinations, a test that could elevate a humble family to high status. By the Tang dynasty, the saying was already common: "The carp leaps over the Dragon Gate" symbolized a student's determination to succeed despite hardship.

Today, this idiom is still widely used to encourage those facing examinations, career obstacles, or any uphill battle. Teachers write it on classroom walls, calligraphers inscribe it as a blessing, and families speak it as encouragement to children. The story endures because it speaks to something timeless: a belief that effort, even in the face of overwhelming odds, can transform one's destiny. To leap over one's own Dragon Gate remains a worthy aspiration in any era.