What Is Medical Qigong?
Medical Qigong is an ancient form of Chinese energetic medicine. It is a comprehensive healing system that uses breathing techniques, gentle movement, visualization, and focused intention to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate the life force energy known as Qi (Chi) through the body. Unlike acupuncture or herbs, which use external tools, Medical Qigong is a direct manipulation of energy using the practitioner’s mind, breath, and hands.
The term “Qigong” means “energy cultivation,” and in this medical context, it means cultivating, correcting, and directing Qi to promote healing.
Medical Qigong is one of the four foundational branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), alongside acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Chinese massage (Tui Na). But it’s also the oldest of the four and is deeply spiritual, working with both the physical body and the energetic and emotional bodies.
How Does It Work?
Medical Qigong therapy functions by correcting energetic imbalances in the body that are often the root cause of disease. According to Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson, illness first begins on the energetic level, often in the form of emotional trauma, spiritual stagnation, or energetic blockages, before it manifests physically.
Here’s how it works:
1. Diagnosis Through Energy: A trained practitioner can often perceive energetic disharmonies in the client’s body without touching it. They assess Qi's flow, quality, and movement in the organs, meridians, and energetic fields.
2. Treatment with Energy: Using hand techniques, intention, breath, and visualization, the practitioner emits their energy (called wai qi) or helps guide the patient’s internal energy (nei qi) to clear blockages, expel toxins, and restore proper energetic flow.
3. Client Participation: Often, the client is given Qigong exercises, breathing meditations, and lifestyle practices to continue the healing process on their own between sessions.
Why Is It Effective?
According to the eleven volumes of Dr. Johnson’s text, Medical Qigong is effective because it works at the root rather than the symptom. It treats the Three Bodies:
• Physical Body: Organ function, posture, respiration, and movement.
• Emotional Body: Repressed grief, anger, fear, and other toxic emotional residues.
• Spiritual Body: Disconnection from life purpose, ancestral wounds, soul fragmentation.
Modern science is slowly catching up with this understanding. It is now widely recognized that stress, trauma, and emotions directly affect our immune system, hormones, and overall health. Medical Qigong, as a full-spectrum healing system, has protocols for each of these levels and is effective for chronic illness, cancer support, emotional trauma, and spiritual awakening.
Dr. Johnson’s clinical experience — detailed in his books — showed thousands of cases where traditional medicine had failed, but energetic medicine brought relief, recovery, or profound transformation
What Makes It Miraculous?
To the modern Western mind, it may seem miraculous because it:
• Heals without drugs or invasive procedures
• Addresses emotional trauma stored in the organs
• Releases generational and karmic patterns
• Reactivates the body’s natural healing intelligence
But to the Qigong doctor, it is simply the natural law of energy: when Qi flows freely, the body heals itself. When Qi is stagnant, toxic, or depleted, disease arises.
Medical Qigong doesn’t just aim to remove illness — it aims to rebuild the spirit, awaken the will, and return the person to alignment with Heaven and Earth.
A Simple Analogy for the Layperson
Imagine your body is like a garden. Your Qi is the water that nourishes every plant, flower, and tree. If a section of your garden gets no water, it withers. If the water is toxic or blocked, it causes disease. Medical Qigong is like a master gardener who clears the blockages, purifies the water, and teaches you how to keep your garden in balance — not just for a season, but for a lifetime.
Conclusion
Medical Qigong is not just therapy — it’s a way of life, a spiritual art, and a medicine of the future rooted in the wisdom of the past. Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson dedicated his life to preserving this sacred tradition and translating it for the Western mind. His eleven-volume text is a treasure map to understanding the unseen world of energy that governs every breath, every organ, and every emotion we experience.
For someone new to Chinese Energetic Medicine, or Medical Qigong, know this: your body is electric, your emotions are energetic, and healing is not only possible — it is your birthright. Medical Qigong is a profound path to reclaiming that truth.
