In Rishikesh you never know who you’ll end up meeting, or end up sharing your table with. It’s high season in Rishikesh since the weather is so pleasant, and because it’s festival season. Holi, the festival of bright colors thrown in the air. Rishikesh is busy, and that means that you rarely get to have a table all to yourself at a restaurant. There’s never enough room for everyone, so we all share and squeeze in.
I have shared my table with a fashion merchandiser from Kazakhstan, a marijuana grower from Canada, and band from Ireland. Today, at Little Buddha Cafe in Rishikesh, I was fortunate enough to be joined by a quiet man from Belgium. I was deep into writing in my journal, and barely looked up when he joined my table. When I began eating though, and set my journal aside, he began the quiet and simple get-to-know-you questions.
His name was Jos and he was from a small town in Belgium. He’s a homeopathic healer who also practices Chinese medicine. He also has been doing Qigong for the last 14 years. I have always been interested in Qigong and Taichi, and Jos was kind enough to take time over our lunch to tell me all about Qigong and Taichi.
He began studying Qigong 14 years ago in the South of India with a Qigong teacher who apparently has no email and no website, but is simply someone you need to find. He was fortunate enough to find him and begin his journey with Qigong. He’s studied with teachers around the world, but also specifically named a very intensive, western teacher who teaches outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand who does teacher trainings.
Jos told me that Qigong is more meditative and medicinal, the intention is on targeting energy centers in the body by “wringing out the meridians in our bodies.” He said that certain poses and flows target certain organs, and the intention is to heal the body. He said that he’s 65 and feels supple and agile, much more than other people who are in his same age bracket.
Tai Chi is based on martial arts. It’s based on offensive and defensive movements. Apparently, there’s little attention directed towards healing the body and the organs, but instead on the slow flow of the martial arts poses. Jos also claimed that Qigong is more focused on breathwork than Taichi, and Qigong can move faster than Taichi–who knew!
In the west, I feel like I have heard more commotion about Taichi rather than Qigong. I feel like I’ve rarely heard mention of Qigong, and maybe even have heard it misused in place of Machong, the game using tiles.
I felt so grateful that Jos took the hour to talk with me about Qigong and how its energy, I could see, would perhaps align more with my own than Taichi. I love the idea of learning another way to move the body, with breath and intention, for healing. Yoga is the perfect form of merging the body and mind together to explore the inner self, to explore discomfort, and to learn how to be still. But, I certainly am curious about what Qigong is and how Qigong could influence my yoga practice, or could influence my knowledge of the body and how to take an active role in healing it, or preventing illness, tension, and pain.
If anyone has more knowledge on Qigong or Taichi, I would love to hear more! Drop me a message on social media or send me an email at [email protected]
Want more? Check out the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast!
https://wildyogatribe.com/podcast/
Tune into the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify! If you feel called, please subscribe and give a review!
Questions? Comments? Let’s get social!
https://www.instagram.com/wildyogatribe/
https://www.facebook.com/wildyogatribe
https://twitter.com/wildyogatribe
Mediate with me: https://insig.ht/6gFTaXHlogb
Flow with me: https://www.youtube.com/c/WildYogaTribe
Book a private yoga or meditation class with me: https://wildyogatribe.com/yogaclasses
Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe
