Outside vs. Inside: Hard and Soft Qigong

Posted in Balance, Qigong, qigong practice by Dr. Bruce

If you do much reading on qigong, you’ll eventually run across the idea of “hard” versus “soft” qigong.

Each has teachers that prefer it and each has its place in the overall scheme of qigong practices. I’ll offer my opinion on these two, but first I’d like to clarify what they mean.

The simplest way to describe hard qigong is to say that it focuses on strengthening the body in various ways. There are exercises for strengthening muscles, ligaments and tendons as well as improving endurance and stamina. Hard qigong is especially popular with martial artists and others who rely on physical strength in their pursuits.

Soft qigong is more focused on the internal aspects of health. It includes exercises for stretching, deepening breathing, massaging and balancing the internal organs and even psychic development. It supports a healthy life and increases longevity. People of a more contemplative nature tend to like soft qigong better.

So you can see that each of these have a place in the ‘world’ of qigong. And depending on your personal goals, one or the other may be more appropriate.

However, if you had to make a choice between them, I’d recommend soft qigong. The reason is simple. By emphasizing health and longevity you are improving the overall quality of your life. And soft qigong offers an outstanding complement to the more ‘external’ disciplines such as martial arts, etc.

This isn’t just my opinion either. I recall visiting with a very highly trained kung fu (gungfu) master in the San Francisco area many years ago. He’d spent most of his then 50 years of practice focusing the harder, more external arts.

The conversation turned to the hard vs. soft question and he said, “I now wish that I’d spent more time doing the internal practices. After all these years emphasizing the external arts, my body and health have suffered.”

This means that if you practice hard qigong, you must practice soft qigong to heal and balance yourself. But if you practice only soft qigong, you may or may not want to practice the more external forms.

Be well,

Dr. Bruce


What Is The Best Way To Practice Qigong?

Posted in Qigong, qigong practice by Dr. Bruce

I often get asked what the best way is for practicing qigong. And I have several answers to the question. Here they are:

  1. Practicing is better than not practicing. I say this to emphasize the idea that you get no benefit from not practicing.
  2. That being said, if you can practice at a consistent time every day it will help. Partly this is because developing a regular habit supports the progress you’re making. For many people this will be in the morning, first thing on arising. You’ve done your practice for the day and kicked off your day by increasing your balance, energy and focus. What’s not to like?
  3. Sifu Lew had us start practicing twice daily – once first thing (and I mean first thing) in the morning and once before bed. This is a great way to begin and end your day.
  4. Be mindful when you practice. If you remember from an earlier post on “mind,” letting yourself become totally absorbed in the movements gives them additional power and effectiveness.
  5. Avoid overdoing it. Some people, particularly beginning students, think that if a little is good, a lot is better. Not necessarily so with qigong practice. In fact, using the “pieces of paper” analogy from before, it’s actually better to do just a bit at a time, but be consistent with it over time.

Hope that helps!

Be well,

Dr. Bruce