Qigong for Joints

Healing, Flexibility, Range of Motion

This week in Wednesday evening Qigong class marks halfway through our current Qigong series, Qigong for Joints and Flexibility. We covered the All-Season Qigong in spine health mode, many White Crane Soft Qigong exercises, and how qigong can help arthritic joints with gentle movements and massage. I also repeated instructions on the standard for determining if you have over-done the exercises. That is simple, if 24 hours after exercising you feel more pain than usual—other factors such as temperature and humidity being relatively constant and you haven’t binged on inflammation causing food—you overdid the exercises. There are three main ways you can overdo: too many repetitions, too much muscular force and overextending the range of motion.

In this week’s class I talked about joint breathing as another mode of treatment in the qigong for arthritis regime. Because we have intention to move the Qi strongly when we do joint breathing, we use reverse abdominal breathing as the foundation. As we inhale, we draw healing qi into the affected joints. As we exhale, we visualize stiffness, pain and stale energy leaving the joints. It is important to be able to put your mental focus deeply into the joint on inhalation. The ability to focus the mind is developed through meditation.

This week I also introduced Tai Chi Ball Qigong exercise for joints. It is too difficult to describe the movements in words, but I can express several points about Tai Chi Ball and joints in writing. One is that for injured or arthritic joints you need to use a lightweight ball. Too heavy a ball will aggravate the joint. Another is that the metal balls you sometimes find for hand and finger exercises are not good. Metal is cold and is an electrical conductor, which means it will absorb the qi (bioelectricity) that your joints need for healing. Jade is good, but very expensive. Use wooden balls, which you can find in a craft store.

To learn more about these subjects see Qi Elements’ YouTube channel, qielements1, and the video playlist “Qigong for Joints.” Here is the link.

Understanding Tai Chi: Martial Art vs. Health Exercise

Not everyone knows it, but Tai Chi is a martial art. Nowadays, Tai Chi is more well known as a health exercise. If we go back to its origin several centuries ago, Tai Chi was just a martial art used for defending one’s abbey, clan or village, family, or self. As time passed, people began to notice that those who practiced Tai Chi stood out as being healthier and living longer than those who did not. A saying emerged, especially regarding those in Taoist societies who made Tai Chi and other Qigong exercise a way of life:  People said of them, “to die at age 120 was to die young.”

In Qi Elements’s Fundamentals of Tai Chi class on Saturday morning, January 3, 2026, we talked about those two aspects of Tai Chi—the martial art and the health exercise. We looked at the form movements push and white crane spreads wings and how the two arcs of peng made the structure of those movements so strong and able to absorb and neutralize the incoming power of an opponent’s attack. Shifu Marc, senior student Larry, and I stressed the importance of performing the moves correctly and moving the body in and out of the two arcs of peng.

Attendance this morning was light. I supposed that many students were still away on holiday. Those who were there were relatively new and focused on the stress reduction and health improvement aspects of Tai Chi. I wondered if our demonstrations of martial applications were persuasive. Were they thinking, “I am doing Tai Chi just for health, so these martial art demonstrations aren’t important to me? Why is it so important that I do the movements so precisely?”

In the case of the two movements we focused on, I pointed out how bringing the Mìngmén back and tucking the buttocks under to form the vertical arc of peng helps to restore flexibility in the lumbar spine, a frequent locus for health problems because our modern life-style does not promote its movement. It also opens the Mìngmén gate to increase the flow of Qi into the governing vessel The horizontal arc of peng rounds the back, promoting the movement of shoulders to restore their flexibility. It also opens Dazhui to increase the flow of Qi through the shoulders and arms.

  The ancient Romans knew that the arc or arch is a strong structure, but underlying the physical strength of the arcs structure in Tai Chi is the flow of internal energy, Qi, because the arcs of peng in the human body are living structures strengthened by living energy. 

To sum up, I stressed the underlying point, there is no conflict between Tai Chi martial art and Tai Chi for health and longevity. Those two approaches to Tai Chi are integral, mutually supportive, and inseparable. The movements that are correct for martial strength are the same postures that are beneficial for health, not only because they promote body movement, but also because of the effect that can’t be seen (but will eventually be felt by persistent practitioners) of promoting the free flow of internal energy.

Your Health and the Autumn Season

Its October 3 and fall weather is finally showing up in the Northern Virginia area. Nighttime temperatures are falling into the 40s. The air becomes drier, and the increased dryness causes problems for the mucous membranes of the lungs and upper respiratory system and the skin, which is governed by the lungs. Every year the skin around my ankles starts to itch and I will need to apply lotion to relieve the itching. That started yesterday.

With temperatures up only to the high 50’s or low sixties at sunrise, you should realize that you need to put on a jacket if you are going out, but by noon, you will want to take off that jacket and stow it until evening.  Of course, there will be people out and about with just a T-shirt and shorts. You might wonder why they think they should be defying nature and what consequences they might face later in life. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic (Nei Jing) advises us to live in harmony with nature, but we seldom pay attention.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the energy of Autumn begins to arrive during the first week of August. The Western calendar marks September 22 as the beginning of Autumn, but TCM regards that date as the middle of Autumn. One evidence in support of the TCM view that I have observed during my years of teaching Tai Chi and Qigong is that students will begin to miss classes in August and September, citing respiratory illness. This is especially true for students who are working and burning the candle at both ends, quite a common lifestyle in the Washington DC area.

In my Qigong class on the Autumn season and the lungs, I remind students of the following advice drawn from TCM and Qigong literature.

The lungs need special care in Autumn. They are called the “tender” organs. Among the five zàng (yīn) organs, the lungs are the organs most vulnerable to external pernicious influences. The lungs are the interface between the body and the outside environment. Therefore, they are the most affected by external pernicious influences such as climatic heat, cold, and dryness.

The lungs govern the skin and the body’s exterior, including the Guardian Qi, the bio-magnetic or bio-electrical field that surrounds the body and protects it from external pernicious influences. If lung qì is weak, physical, and emotional protection is weakened, causing vulnerability to infections, diseases, and negative energies from other people.

The lungs are challenged by the cooler and drier air of Autumn, which can make them too yáng. Therefore, we should protect our lungs and lung yīn by keeping the lungs, mucous membranes, and skin moist to prevent their drying out. Many cold and flu viruses thrive under drier conditions. To maintain the proper yīn state of the lungs, drink more water.

Depression, sadness, melancholy, grief, and sorrow are the emotions associated with the lung/large intestine organ network. In TCM, grief includes pessimism, which is seen affecting both lungs and heart. We should also protect ourselves emotionally. Guard against the sadness and depression taking root in the mind and overwhelming the spirit. Some people will experience Seasonal Affective Disorder as the daylight wanes in autumn.

Use herbal teas and change diet to keep the lungs and the mucous membranes of the sinuses and throat moist. Eat foods that moisten and nourish body fluids including rice, sesame seeds, honey, walnuts, spinach, apples, pears, and grapes. Eat sour foods such as sauerkraut, sourdough bread, pickles, olives, lemons, adzuki beans and green apples. Drink chrysanthemum or mint tea, lemon boiled in water or rose hip tea. Avoid overconsumption of cold foods. Wash your hands frequently.

The Theory of Yin and Yang and Its Application to Tai Chi Chuan

Our Fundamentals of Tai Chi class on Saturday morning (9/13/25) focused on our curriculum component Coiling, Spiraling and Silk-Reeling and the underlying theory of Yin and Yang. This topic is timely as we are currently experiencing the transition from waning Yang to growing Yin as summer changes to Autumn in Northern Virginia. We are also experiencing major changes in other areas of our lives.

Wouldn’t it be nice if things did not have to change, like if we could have endless summer? Perhaps, but that is not the way the world works. As the climate in our area transitions from the warmth of summer to the coolness of Autumn, we are reminded of the constant changes in nature. Just like the seasons change, so too do the forces of Yin and Yang interact and transform human affairs. For our own wellbeing we should recognize and accept that change is constant.

The theory of Yin and Yang plays a crucial role in various aspects of Chinese philosophy and culture, including traditional medicine and the art we are studying, Tai Chi Chuan. The idea of constant change is not unique to the East. To cite just one example, the idea that no situation is permanent is also evident in Chapter 3 of the Book of Ecclesiastics where it is written that there is a time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant, a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

In Tai Chi Chuan we learn that we should adjust to change and try to flow with it rather than to resist it. Of course, there is no resisting the changes of season. The change from the extreme Yang of high summer to the growing Yin of Autumn should prompt us to rest more, sleep a little longer and conserve our energy. We should drink more water to protect our lungs against the dry Autumn air. Also we should guard against depression and sadness that often accompanies the diminishing daylight.

Coming soon, part two, the application of Yin and Yang theory to Tai Chi Chuan.

Tai Chi and Religion

One day a young man came to my Tai Chi school expressing interest in Tai Chi, but he noted that he had some concerns about Tai Chi and his religious beliefs.  I didn’t want to pry into his personal beliefs, and as is my policy, I told him he could have a free trial class.  My expectation was that he would quickly discover there would be no problem of conflict between his religious beliefs and Tai Chi.  That was my view as an active member of the United Methodist Church  and longtime Tai Chi practitioner and teacher.

At that time, our school did have some Taoist decorations.  Most notably, we had a large Yin-Yang symbol painted on the floor.  I didn’t see the symbol as in conflict with the Abrahamic religions.  If anything, I thought it kind of represented the process of God’s creation of day and night, land and water.

It turns out my expectation was wrong.  The young man  stayed for the whole class, but as soon as I adjourned the class, he shot out the door, not stopping to discuss his concerns or even say thank you and goodbye.  I felt sad.  I felt that I had failed in the opportunity to introduce someone into the wonderous art of Tai Chi.  I had underestimated the gulf the exists between some versions of religion and things that are relatively new to Western culture, including Tai Chi and the Taoist philosophy it is based on.

Years later a couple of incidents made me more aware of the nature of the gulf that unfortunately seems to exist between Tai Chi, Taoist philosophy and some interpretations of religion.   In one instance, a teacher colleague mentioned that in her small town, members of a local church were forbidden to set foot in her school of Chinese martial arts, which included Tai Chi.  Another time during a meeting in church where I mentioned that I teach Tai Chi, a fellow congregant asked me if my teaching Tai Chi and studying Taoism meant that I was not a Christian.   I replied that it did not.

My teacher related an incident that occurred  during one of his Qigong workshops.  In an offhand remark,  he had said the Jesus Christ was a great Qigong healer.  Immediately after this remark, two women in the audience stood up, declared loudly “Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and left in a huff.

I don’t think that it is necessary to ascribe conflict to the two statements.  What was the power that Jesus felt flow from his when the bleeding woman touched his garment?  What passed between God and Adam in the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  The vital energy of life, Qi, I think, which, of course is part of God’s creation.

Some people reject meditative practices like Tai Chi as devilish.  Hmmm?  Have they never heard of the saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross?

I think that some people are predisposed to look for conflict or indoctrinated to look for conflict, whereas others, among whom I count myself, are predisposed to look for commonalities.  I believe my mission of teaching Tai Chi to strengthen people’s health and spirit is God given.

I asked Microsoft Copilot for its opinion, and it provided a nice conclusion to the discussion, I think,

Tai Chi is a unique blend of movement, meditation, and martial art that transcends cultural and religious labels. Rooted in Taoist philosophy, it offers a pathway to harmony and balance that can be adapted to suit individual needs and beliefs. Whether approached as a physical exercise, a meditative practice, or a spiritual ritual, Tai Chi remains a testament to the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit.

In understanding the relationship between Tai Chi and religion, one must appreciate its flexibility and inclusivity. Tai Chi is not confined to any one tradition but is instead a universal practice that encourages self-discovery, mindfulness, and peace. As such, it stands as a bridge between disciplines, offering something valuable to all who choose to explore its depths.

 

Meditation in Tai Chi

Standing, sitting and even lying down meditation are integral to Tai Chi training and practice. Integral to Qigong practice, self-cultivation and health maintenance and improvement as well. Today, July 5, at Qi Elements Center for Tai Chi and Qigong, we devoted our late Saturday morning class to Embryonic Breathing meditation. I thought the meditation would be a great relaxation exercise during the hectic and always noisy July 4 holiday.

I fear that meditation is becoming a lost art in today’s overstimulated lifestyle. So many people appear to be becoming addicted to the constant stimulation they get from their cell phones, social media, television and other entertainment media. I remember a few years ago I was leading a 10-minute Wuji standing meditation when I noticed that one student was constantly looking at her watch. It seemed that simply standing still and focusing the mind inside the body was torture for her. She didn’t understand, perhaps I failed to remind the class how important stillness and meditation are to Tai Chi and Qigong practice.

Today, though, it seemed that everyone enjoyed the Embryonic Breathing meditation. They all said that they found it very relaxing. We are fortunate now to have the knowledge about this method of meditation thanks to my teacher’s–Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming–research, teaching and writing. Until recently, this knowledge was held very closely among monks in monasteries.

Now, we in the broad population know that Embryonic Breathing is the foundation of Qi cultivation and Qi circulation in Tai Chi and Qigong. It is the basis for storing Qi in the Real Lower Dantian, where it can be preserved and for increasing the capacity of the Real Lower Dantian to store Qi, which is vital to improving health and increasing longevity. Embryonic Breathing is also the foundation for the Small Circulation, which is practiced to improve Qi’s circulation throughout the body and is vital to maintaining an abundant supply to the internal organs. In turn, the Small Circulation is the foundation for the grand circulation exercises in which we learn to exchange Qi with our environment for health and to lead Qi to the arms and legs to energize our muscles for power in Tai Chi self-defense and martial art training. The latter is the rarely taught internal side of Tai Chi.

If you want to learn more about the arts of Tai Chi and Qigong, of course, I recommend my teacher’s publications, and you can also follow this blog, Qi Elements’ YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/qielements1, our website at http://qielements.com and, if you are in the Washington, DC area, join us at our school in Herndon, Va.

Email me at qielements@qielements.com if you would like to join our Tai Chi or Qigong mailing list to receive news of upcoming classes in Tai Chi and Qigong.

Thank you so much for your attention,

Master Roger Blough

Taijiquan in Action: Self-Defense against a Straight-in Punch to the Face

In last evening’s Taijiquan (Taiji martial art) class we analyzed how Taijiquan could respond to a straight-in right punch to the face. The first issue we discussed was that our response would depend on whether the punch was “excess”–that is, whether the attacker commits his center to the punch–or “controlled”–that is, when the attacker keeps his or center balanced.

If the attacker throws his center and weight into the punch, we have to train ourselves automatically to respond to two factors. First, we will have to change the angle and get out of the way otherwise the attacker’s momentum will lead him to collide with us. Second, the attacker’s momentum will make it difficult for him to respond to our actions by pulling back. If the attacker retains control of his center, we have the opportunity to use a number of techniques that we would not try if the attacker’s full body momentum were behind the punch. We decided to deal with the “excess” attack this week and take up the “controlled” attack next week.

So, in response to the attacker’s straight in, high, right punch, we decided that the Taiji techniques Wave Hands Like Clouds and Large Roll Back (#1) would be advantageous. We intercept the punch with our right hand circling to attach to the attacker’s right wrist and our left hand circling to intercept and attach to the attacker’s right elbow while the same turning movement of our body takes our right foot back to change the angle and avoid a collision. Adhering to the attacker, our right hand coils and plucks the attacker’s right wrist and our left hand and forearm files his right elbow to apply pressure to the tendon right above his elbow.

Next, we connect to attacker’s center and lead his momentum in a clockwise circle, pivoting on our left foot so that our stance can follow the circular movement while moving into the position for Large Roll Back #1. We lead the attacker face-first toward the ground. We are carefull to maintain our center upright. Before the attacker goes prone to the ground, we need to consider whether the situation warrants our applying fa-jin (explosive force) to the attacker’s right arm to destroy his elbow. If we feel that our skill is sufficently superior, we might take the risk of trying to subdue the attacker using only the pain of the joint lock (Qin Na).

I hope that next week I will be able to make a video of this action.

Do You Have a Mental Firewall?

More on the topic of training your wisdom mind to regulate your emotional mind. When we talk about training your wisdom mind, maintaining a calm and stable emotional mind, preserving a raised but calm spirit, and conserving and increasing your Qi (vital internal energy), do you realize that those are all related and mutually dependent? Forgive me if I have written this before, but it is important to recognize that though we all have a wisdom mind, symbolized in Qigong culture by a horse, a horse is not very useful until it is trained. It can’t be productively ridden or harnessed to carriage or plow until it is trained. Likewise, your wisdom mind can be productively used to regulate your emotional mind, help maintain a raised and firm spirit, and conserve and build up your Qi, but you have to train it first.

Here I need to make a slight digression because there is a potential problem given what we now know about human development: the part of the brain that acts as our seat of logical thinking and emotional regulator does not fully develop until we are in our twenties. I am troubled by the question, how much of what I am talking about can apply to teenagers whose brains are not fully developed? Of course, if they are not made aware of the potential for the wisdom mind to control the emotional mind et al., they won’t be able to even make an attempt to apply the concept. So as adults, we should encourage them to try, but we should restrain our expectations about their ability to succeed. Given that situation, I think, it is doubly important for adults who interact with teenagers to train and use their adult, “horse” minds.

One of the tools that we can use to train our “horse” mind is the idea of constructing a mental firewall. Like the firewall on your computer, your mental firewall would be designed to block out harmful input while letting in useful input. For example, sadly a real-life one taken from the news, if you received a text message from a “friend,” who wrote, “Why haven’t you killed yourself yet?” Your mental firewall would take that input and evaluate it before allowing that input to trigger an emotional response. Your mental firewall would say, “I thought the sender was my friend, but their message was the opposite of friendly. There is no useful information for me in that message except the information that the sender is not really my friend. No real friend would ever send such a mean message. I could send a mean message back, but that’s not the kind of person I want to be. I will ignore the message and block the sender.” The message that gets through your firewall might be, “In future, I need to choose my friends more wisely.” The emotion that might result would be a sense of relief that you have been made aware of and escaped from a poisonous relationship.

Your mental firewall would be a product of your mental root and center, two other tools that you can use to train your “horse mind.” Your mental root and center derive from self examination and self evaluation, which would probably involve your asking yourself and answering questions like: “Who am I? What do I stand for? What kind of person do I want to be? What are my beliefs and principles? How do I treat others? How do I want to be treated? When you have good answers to those questions, then when outside forces impact you, you will remain connected to your root and maintain your center. You will feel but not be ruled by your emotions. Your spirit will remain high and calm. Your Qi will not be used up by out of control emotions and a depressed spirit. Your Qi will be conserved and therefore sustain your spirit.

Do you just want to explode?

As you know, there are five regulatings involved in Qigong and Taiji—Body, Breath, Mind, Qi, and Spirit.  In this post I want to return to the regulating of the mind, more precisely, the process of using your wisdom mind (Yi) to control your emotional mind (Xin).  When your emotional mind is calm your body can relax, your breathing can be deeper, your Qi can circulate freely, your energy is conserved, you are healthier, and you live longer. 

I imagine that many potential readers of this post will object right away, believing that regulating emotions is not possible, maybe not even desirable.  One reason for such beliefs might be the constant messages you get from people around you and from popular entertainment.  Some people prefer not to take responsibility for their emotions.  They like to say things like, “I can’t help it, you make me so (fill in the emotion).”  They believe that their emotional upsets are your fault.  Maybe they just like the drama.

Speaking of drama, uncontrolled emotions are the core of dramatic entertainment.  A world where everyone regulated their emotions to stay within reasonable limits would make for boring entertainment, but don’t worry, it will never happen. 

As I was walking and listening to some oldies on my iPhone the other day, I was struck by the lyrics in one of the songs, which provide a prime example of how entertainment and the old norms of social interaction tell you that you can’t control your emotions.

Well, you walk into a restaurant strung out from the road

and you feel the eyes upon you as you are shakin’ off the cold.

You pretend it doesn’t bother you, but you just want to explode.

Most times you can’t hear them talk.  Other times you can.

All the same old cliches, “is that a woman or a man?”

And you always seem outnumbered.  You don’t dare take a stand.

Of course, those lyrics are from Bob Seeger’s Turn the Page.  They make for dramatic tension in the song and in the story of a band’s life on the road, but they send the wrong message.  The message is that some strangers’ remarks about your appearance have the power to provoke you into a confrontation.  Your muscles tense, your heart rate increases, blood pressure increases, your endocrine system starts to pump out adrenaline and other hormones prepare for confrontation.  Moreover, in today’s America, rudeness, idiocy, prejudice, and hate seem to be enjoying a renaissance.  What are you going to do?  Fight your way through every day challenging every idiot who gives you a dirty look?   

To avoid those unhealthy reactions, you could just train your wisdom mind whisper calming words to your emotional mind.  When it comes to the situation in the song, the words might be things like:  “Stay cool.  I like the way I look.  It sells a lot of concert tickets and records.  It helps me make the big bucks that those cliché-spouting yokels would love to have.  And anyway, do I really have to care what those strangers think?”  

Yongquan Breathing in Taijiquan and Taiji-Qigong Training

In yesterday (June 20, 2023) evening’s Taiji-Qigong class we began with Yongquan breathing. The Yongquan (Bubbling Well), of course, is the Kidney 1 point on the bottoms of the feet and is a major energy gate for exchanging Qi with the earth. When you have intention to move your Qi strongly, then you should do Yongquan breathing on the basis of Reverse Abdominal Breathing.

There are two modes of Yongquan breathing. Yesterday we did the mode I call “Qi exchange with the earth.” In this mode, when you exhale you place your mind* deeply under your feet and visualize or feel** breath and qi flowing down into the earth under your feet. Then when you inhale you place your mind in your Real Lower Dantian and visualize or feel breath and qi flowing up from the earth into that dantian. The best way to do this exercise is outside standing with bare feet on clean earth. Stand with your feet about hip width apart and joints and muscles relaxed.

The other mode of Yongquan breathing is what I call “rooting mode.” Rooting mode is more a Taijiquan training exercise than a Taiji-Qigong exercise. With rooting mode, when you exhale you place your mind deeply under your feet and visualize or feel breath and qi flowing down into the earth under your feet. When you inhale, just relax. Do not draw the qi back up into your dantian. With each exhalation, visualize or feel a root growing deeper and wider under your feet. After a few minutes, you will begin to feel very solidly connected to the earth.

The Qi exchange mode is useful for helping to regulate the qi in the organs below the diaphragm and for improving Qi circulation in the vessels and channels that run up and down the legs. Since I am recovering from lumbar spine surgery, I find this mode very helpful for relieving nerve pain as the nerves in my legs adjust to the decompression of my spine. People with restless leg syndrome, leg cramps or other issues with the lower body might also find the exercise helpful. It can also be done lying down. Just put your mind beyond the bottoms of your feet as you exhale.

Rooting mode? Well that’s for rooting and grounding yourself with the earth.

I thank my teacher, Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming, for sharing his Taijiquan and Qigong knowledge. Any errors in this exposition are mine.

*Qi goes where the mind leads it.

**When you start Taijiquan or Qigong training you will probably visualize or imagine Qi flow. If you practice consistently, you will eventually begin to feel Qi flow.