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Tao Fawu™ Qigong

What is Qigong?

Qigong means "skill with qi" or "qi work." We teach people to work skillfully with their qi. Qi can be translated as "breath," "life force," "energy" (a translation we discourage at Kulshan College™ because we find it imprecise), or even "the breath of God" that gives us life in the Christian tradition. Like breathing, we can live our whole lives completely ignoring qi, or we can learn to observe our qi and focus on it. Qigong is a way of affecting and directing qi for various kinds of benefit, such as improving health. The basic idea is that your qi directs less subtle bodily processes, and that if you change your qi, you change your health, and ultimately, change your life. Everyone has qi and is constantly doing things with it, whether or not they realize it. To operate mindlessly is to operate unskillfully. Qi is a fact, whether or not people believe in it.

Types of Qigong

Confusion has resulted from the fact that there are two types of qigong--the "internal" kind which involves exercises a person does to balance their own qi, such as Tai Ch'i; and the "external" kind where a practitioner learns to work directly with the qi of other people. To confuse matters more, there is overlap and fluidity between the internal and external types of qigong in some forms. Tao Fawu qigong includes both internal forms where the client learns to manipulate his or her own qi, and external forms where a practitioner learns to treat a client. Tao Fawu medical qigong is much more precise than "energy work," which often sets the standard for competency quite low. You can learn to do Tao Fawu qigong for yourself, using exercises that enhance health in general, as well as learning specific exercises customized just for you for more problem-solving oriented qigong.

Medical Qigong

What is Medical Qigong? Widely understood in China but little known in the West, medical qigong is a modality of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Rather than using needles, herbs, or massage, medical qigong relies on the ability to direct qi with the mind, the hands, or a ritual object, but without necessarily touching the body. Like its better known counterparts acupuncture and herbal medicine, to perform medical qigong skillfully requires thorough knowledge of TCM scientific theory. A medical qigong practitioner should be at least as well-trained as an acupuncturist or herbalist. To develop skill with medical qigong, a practitioner needs to be highly disciplined, with a focused mind similar to that of a well-seasoned meditator. To practice medicine as subtle as medical qigong, a practitioner must develop unusual abilities of subtle perception. A medical qigong practitioner must be a skillful observer of subtle phenomena in order to make the most accurate diagnosis to determine treatment. Any practitioner's treatment is only as good as his or her diagnosis. We do not believe it is in any client's best interest to treat a problem without first understanding it, despite how frequently this is done outside of Kulshan College.

Who Can Perform Medical Qigong?

In the USA, medical qigong is not licensed or regulated. This means hypothetically that anybody can do it (or say they do it). However, to practice medical qigong professionally and do it skillfully requires years of study and hard work. Choose your practitioner carefully--find someone experienced, skillful, and ethical. Studying acupuncture, Chinese herbology or massage alone does not lead to an understanding or ability to practice medical qigong. Medical qigong requires additional study. Practitioners of various forms of medicine will sometimes claim to have skill they do not have if it gets you into their office. Nobody outside of Kulshan College should be treating you with Tao Fawu qigong.

How Does Medical Qigong Work?

Medical qigong cultivates and redistributes the vitality or "qi" of an individual. This is the same way that acupuncture, Chinese herbology, and other TCM modalities work. The principles of treatment are the same, only the technique varies. Medical qigong is well suited for highly sensitive people, children, and people in frail health, but can be beneficial for absolutely anyone. Medical qigong involves working directly and subtly with a person's qi, and it is more gentle than acupuncture, acupressure, or herbology. Skillfully administered medical qigong can be used to treat physical, emotional, personal, and even spiritual conditions that cannot be treated with less subtle methods. Tao Fawu qigong is especially useful for treating modern plagues, brain and endocrine conditions, and allergies, but the modality was created for the treatment of virtually any condition.

Who Can Benefit From Medical Qigong?

Medical qigong has been used successfully to treat a wide variety of difficult, stubborn, and life-threatening conditions that do not respond well to other types of medicine. Medical qigong has gotten a reputation for being an alternative to the typically brutal treatment for cancer, as an example. Children, the elderly, people in frail health, and highly sensitive people tend to respond better to medical qigong than other TCM modalities. Tao Fawu style medical qigong developed out of the need to treat allergies, sensitivities, and all sorts of brain conditions painlessly, efficiently, and effectively. Like all forms of medicine, medical qigong works best when a problem is adressed early on, before it develops into a life-threatening crisis or serious problem.

About Tao Fawu Qigong

Tao Fawu qigong was created to address modern problems. The plague tradition within traditional Chinese medicine has kept TCM relevant for thousands of years, by requiring philosophers within TCM to extrapolate the theory to treat new problems, or new plagues. Heidi M. Hawkins, MAc, LAc, has studied TCM since 1991, and by applying the traditional philosophy, co-created Tao Fawu qigong and shengong. Because Master Hawkins is the only living master of Tao Fawu, her primary focus is on the teaching of others. People claiming to practice Tao Fawu qigong or shengong are making false claims if they are not currently enrolled at Kulshan College. They are breaking our code of ethics--a violation we do not take lightly.

How Can I Learn to do Tao Fawu Medical Qigong?

Tao Fawu medical qigong--a modern style of relatively recent development--is taught exclusively at Kulshan College of Intuitive Medicine. Classes are offered for laypeople as well as professionals. Anyone can study the basics at the Intro to Tao Fawu Qigong class, and practice for their own health. After attending this class, students may then attend our monthly Tao Fawu Qigong Practice Sessions held in Seattle, Bellingham, and on the Colville Reservation in Washington State. You may also choose to schedule a private appointment with or without previous study or knowledge, to learn the basics or to learn some specificly tailored qigong for your own benefit. Once you have learned the basics and attended a few practice sessions, you may be given permission to take the Tao Fawu Medical Qigong Class and learn to treat others. After taking this class, you may be given permission to attend the monthly Tao Fawu Medical Qigong Labs where we treat clients and students receive further instruction and experience. This is the process for becoming a professional practitioner of Tao Fawu Qigong. We also offer experiential training in our diagnostic labs (Intuitive Diagnosis Labs), Allergy Clinic, Brain Clinic, and Field Trips. These are offered on an invitation-only basis to students who have demonstrated sufficient ability and commitment.

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Tao Fawu and Kulshan College are Trademarks, since 2003.





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