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Welcome to this Qigong course
from the Path of Balance and Harmony (Move Well section)
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Qigong, pronounced “chi gong” or “chi kung“, is the Chinese tradition of self healing movements incorporating movement, breath work and mindfulness. Here you will learn techniques to reduce pain, increase satisfaction and generate powerful levels of health. Focused both on rehabilitation for each part of the body as well as building great all round health long term. It feels satisfying to look after ourselves well!
I’m George Monkhouse, an acupuncturist and natural health expert. I’ve run 2 successful clinics in London for over 10 years, and given over 12,000 treatments for many athletes and people with chronic health conditions.
I’ve spent over 15 years learning, testing and researching effective natural ways to manage our own health better in a few minutes a day without equipment or other people’s help.
Effective treatment is really important, but self care is even more so, do you agree?
Read about my journey with Qigong
Rebuild your body
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Now, there’s a big difference finding something that works for you and something that works on thousands or millions of people, no? That’s why there is no perfect diet, even though some people swear by theirs.
Qigong, much like yoga in India, is China’s tradition of exercises found to heal from injury and infection, build a powerful body and stay in great shape through time. It teaches you to condition the body to perform at its best whatever health situation you find yourself in. These traditions have gained enormous popularity in recent years as they give us the power to condition our bodies for success in sickness and in health.
You cannot have too much health
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You can have too much fitness and can do too much exercise but you can’t have too much health.
Most athletes know the value in stretching before and after exercise as it minimises injury, but qigong goes further to rehabilitate from injury and build health in a variety of ways.
What really makes natural health work long term is self care. Knowing how to treat yourself first is the foundation of natural health, right? It’s not rocket science. It’s about conditioning your body, getting to know it better, spending time investing in it, investing in your healthy and pain free future, with tried and tested methods.
Train in tried and tested ways to
heal injury,
generate long term health
and
build strength.
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I’ve needed techniques that work well on many people who are often time-poor, so I turned to what has been working well for many people over many centuries. China has recorded many qigong movements and systems that we see in use today around the world – however the Chinese can point to a long recorded history of effectiveness, whereas our records are strangely absent. Many of these movements are still seen in countries worldwide for one reason – people teach others what worked for them.
I’ve definitely had my fair share of major injuries myself (read my journey with Qigong here) from an adrenaline filled lifestyle and hedonism in my teens and early adult life. I’ve really needed techniques that clear pain, increase flexibility and build health fast – without taking too much time from my busy schedule.
These techniques are compiled from several qigong traditions, to give you a variety of techniques that work on different parts and systems of the body. Some will be more useful at different times in life. These techniques have all been in practice for over a thousand years. They are as popular and effective as ever. Because they really work so well.
The great wisdom of these ancient practices is that they empower you to be your own healer. This is not new information, it’s been around a long time and now you can learn it and share it all your life. Modern medicine can help us in so many wonderful ways but it has left us deficient in knowing how to look after ourselves well, hasn’t it?
Learn to fix your injuries and generate health – build health – with qigong. Look after yourself well. Learn to clean and strengthen your body and mind – clean and strengthen, clean and strengthen, clean and strengthen.
Honestly, what are you waiting for? We all need this information. You are just a few moments away from new levels of happiness, health and prosperity. Tools that last a lifetime. Go on, treat yourself, you won’t regret it.
The 5 parts of this course are set out below:
The Four Pillars : Secure the core
The most important of all are the 4 Pillars, which improve all health conditions and can be practised for a couple of minutes or preferably around 10-12 minutes daily.
- YinYang Breathing – quieten the mind, enliven the body
- Standing Practice – core stability, structural integrity
- Longevity Squats – rebuild the body, nourish the organs
- Spinal Twists – loosen and mobilise the spine and nervous system
Shaolin Stretching : Mobilise the limbs
Hard style qigong to open and lubricate the joints, loosen the connective tissue and increase flexibility.
Do this for:
Chronic pain, injuries, stiffness, sedentary lifestyle and to feel really good
Seated Qigong : Nourish the nerves
Qigong is often thought of as an activity that we do standing up. However, all exercises can be adapted to make it easier for those who are not able to stand or are unable to for long periods of time.
Stretching through the upper body tissues is an excellent way to support clarity of mind, good brain and neurological function, conditioning of the neck, upper back and shoulders, regular twisting and mobility through the spine.
The nerves in the fascia (connective tissue) around your muscles, joints and organs are enlivened when we stretch, promoting efficient blood flow and hormonal balance.
Do this to:
Support recovery from conditions such as bells palsy, stroke, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, stiff upper back, neck or shoulders, wrists and hands, for a muzzy head, for headaches and migraines, for heart and lung conditions, mental health disorders, anxiety, insomnia. to feel great, to feel energised, to feel motivated, to feel enlivened.
Organ Washing (Qi Lifting) : Cleanse the body
Organ washing is advanced reverse breathing. It is a method from the Shaolin tradition to clean through the organs, oxygenate and strengthen the blood, unite the back of the body and connect with the earth.
Do this to:
Support recovery from autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases (high BP, cholesterol, heart attack and heart failure) addiction, diabetes I & II, immunodeficiency, abdominal tension, cancer, poor diet, digestive disorders, catching coughs and colds.
Pushup-Squat-Leg Raise
Rating – Hard
Get the blood pumping through your muscles, increase basic muscular strength, break a sweat. Keep the body conditioned for action when needed. Give muscles an increased energy requirement to maintain a regular flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles.
Do this for:
Long Covid, weak core or pelvic floor, heart and lung issues, to build muscle and endurance.
Preview Free Demos Below
My journey with Qigong
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“If I don’t do qigong I get pain, if I do qigong I get none. In reality it is the same for all of us as we age. Move your blood well, it is the life force.”
Similar in some ways to Yoga and Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong is the science of self healing through body movements, breathwork and mindfulness.
I first started learning Qigong (pronounced Chi Kung or Chi Gong) when I became interested in Chinese Medicine, having received great benefit from acupuncture and read a lot about the clear and elegant philosophy of Daoism that is the foundation of Chinese medicine and thought.
A tendency towards inadequate risk calculation in my youth led to numerous injuries from sober athletic activities and not so sober tomfoolery. At 18 I’d smashed my right knee and at 20 I re-smashed that knee with further trauma to the hip and ankle. From that time I struggled to run for more than 10 minutes without my knee buckling, swelling and generally not doing what was requested of it for the next couple of weeks. Running, skiing, football, squash, many passions were compromised.
The resulting limped gait I adopted to manage the injuries meant the problem worked its way up my spine and shoulder and affected my whole structure. I was resigned to not being able to run properly in the future.
I started Qigong and Zhan Zhuang (Standing Practice) with the aim of rebuilding the structure and functioning of my body and being able to run again. I didn’t hold high expectations, in truth, but I practised every day, sometimes for 10-20 minutes but often for 1-2 hours. I noticed more and more benefits and improvements to my body, even my mood and mind. I was pain free, much stronger, calmer and more stable physically and emotionally and considerably more resilient.
After 3 and a half years I thought, “Well if I can’t learn to run again I might as well give this up and find something else that might work”, as this was the whole point of getting started in the first place. 13 years after the 2nd injury I started running every day. My first week was 2k, 4k, 6k, 8k, 10k, 12k. I felt great! I even ran my first competitive 10k race two weeks in. Here is a picture with the Vale Practice Clinic team afterwards (where I used to work and they were offering massages and osteopathy to the runners).
But the very next day my knee complained… damn. It was struggling. Already…
But I could feel the strength lying within. My knee didn’t buckle and I didn’t need a knee brace for long. I could feel my body wasn’t done yet, that the work wasn’t in vain. My core was strong, my whole system was working in a way it had never done before. I was already a different animal.
After some research I changed my running to the ‘barefoot’ style, so I was landing on the balls of the feet rather than the heels (taking pressure away of the joints to the tendons and ligaments) and hey presto! I started running 12 mile obstacle courses, 15 mile SAS selection routes in the mountains, a couple of half marathons and up and down numerous mountains. I’d learned to share the load so that weight and pressure no longer accumulated in the (damaged) joints but was shared equally among the sinews, the skin, the muscles, the joints, the connective tissue – in the way the body was designed to work! With a stretch rather than a thud. With flexibility rather than compression.
I even took up MMA (mixed martial arts, cage fighting; in a team of mixed pros and amateurs). My core stability held me in good stead against taller, heavier and more muscular opponents, despite not being a natural fighter.
Running my first Tough Mudder
Running my first Fan Dance Race in 70mph winds at 2°C
Mixed Martial Arts – Kickboxing with New Wave Academy
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) – Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with New Wave Academy
The Canon Rock, north face of Tryfan, Snowdonia
The summit of Mt Toubkal, highest point in North Africa
Trekking barefoot for a week in Sri Lankan mountain, jungle, forest and bush
Barefoot mountain climbing
That process was truly profound, it went far beyond my expectations, but it is not the only success.
During this time I was also fixing my body from the damage of excessive alcohol consumption until the age of 23. The resulting damage to the liver and kidneys meant they ached all day, every day for over 4 years AFTER I stopped drinking (until I found acupuncture). My vitality developed well beyond my pre-drinking days.
Since these body restorations, I broke my sacrum (the thick bone at the back of the pelvis that your spine sits on), I tore my good knee, I popped ribs in martial arts, damaged head and neck and chest and shoulder. Fingers, toes, wrist. You name it, I’ve probably smashed it up at one time or other. And then… and then… {head in hands} …the knee went – again! (Jumping across a waterfall in the mountains with a heavy backpack.)
Surgery was necessary, it was totally unavoidable. The doctor told me 10 years ago it would have been a sports ending injury.
Two years ago
Post op, the surgery was far from perfect, but with my trusty Qigong always available – without equipment or other people’s help, just determination and dedication – within 2 months I was trekking barefoot for a week in Sri Lanka, climbing mountains barefoot in the UK and Switzerland and happy to know I had the tools to build and rebuild my body, any time, for the rest of my life.
If I don’t do qigong I get pain, if I do qigong I get none. In reality it is the same for all of us as we age. Move your blood well, it is the life force.
Want to learn this stuff? It’s really not hard, it just takes one decision, to be carried out day after day after day for less pain and more satisfaction for the rest of your life. A habit worth investing in.
Don’t be fragile in mind or body, be a badass. You deserve it. So does your body for getting you this far. Look after it, you only have one.
Move Well.