Taiji Qigong Shibashi book

This excerpt is from a book-in-progress I have the privilege of co-writing with a clinician who specializes in qigong, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Drawing on his direct training with the founder of Taiji Qigong Shibashi, the book explores both the practical applications and deeper philosophy of this healing art. My role has been to translate complex scientific, anatomical, and cultural concepts into accessible, heartfelt language that honors the depth of the tradition.
(Shared here with permission.)

If, after a few months of practice you still don’t sense the Qì flowing through your body, don’t panic. It doesn’t really appear out of the blue. Fabrice explains that it’s usually easiest to perceive Qì in your palms first, and within a year it’s typical to experience it all over your body. Some people have a natural tendency to feel it early on in their practice, while others barely sense it at all, especially if they start working with qigong later in life. However, the ability to perceive Qì has nothing to do with gaining the benefits from practicing qigong. Regardless of your ability to sense Qì, your health will improve with your commitment to performing the movements on a daily basis. 

For people like me who struggle to feel Qì in their bodies, closing your eyes can help because it cuts down on the distractions around you. Closing your eyes enables you to connect with the way your body feels internally, but this is something you should do before you even start practicing your set for the day. 

Eventually, however, you will want to conduct your practice with your eyes open all of the time. Fabrice explains that the reason for this is to train yourself to maintain a meditative brainwave state even when you’re moving and your eyes are open. In fact, you may have noticed that when you’re doing a seated meditation you can experience a relatively deep state of stillness and calm, but as soon as you open your eyes and stand up, your monkey-mind takes over again. Practicing qigong with open eyes helps train your mind to bridge the gap between the meditative state and normal everyday activity.

“Do you feel like you’ve been able to achieve that, so that throughout your day every day, you’re in a state of calm and meditation?” I ask. “Would you say that’s true all the time?”

“I would say that my general state is a lot closer to a state of meditation,” Fabrice replies. “I wouldn’t say that I’m super enlightened and that everything I do is under a state of meditation– far from it—but you do get a sense of maintaining some of those meditative levels while you do other things. Therefore, when you do go into a closed-eye seated meditation, you’re able to go a lot deeper into that as well. 

“The electrical activity in your mind is ten times louder when you’re moving than when you’re in a seated and still meditative state,” he continues. “That’s why most—if not all—EEG systems require you to be immobile so that they can get a good reading of your brain activity, because as soon as you move, it creates too much commotion and noise in your brain.”

“So the importance of doing qigong with your eyes open is that it gives you more control over your brainwaves and state of mind all of the time?”

“Yes.”

Wow.

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