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Criticisms and Controversies of Qigong
Much of the criticism of qigong involves its claimed method of operation. Both traditional Chinese and Western medicine practitioners have little argument with the notion that qigong can improve and in many cases maintain health by encouraging movement, increasing range of motion, relaxation, and improving joint flexibility and resilience. However, the benefits of qigong become much more controversial when it is asserted that qigong derives its benefits from qi acting as a kind of “biological plasma” that cannot be detected by our sense organs or their extensions in the form of scientific instruments. Many biologists and physicists are sceptical of these claims and regard them as pseudo-scientific.
Many proponents of qigong claim that they can directly detect and manipulate this energy. Others, including some traditional Chinese practitioners, believe that qi can be viewed as a metaphor for biological processes, and the effectiveness of qigong can also be explained in terms more familiar to Western medicine such as stress management.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the increasing popularity of qigong and related practices led to the establishment of many groups and methods in China and elsewhere that have been viewed in a critical light by more traditional qigong practitioners as well as sceptical outside observers. In this view, a large number of people started studying qigong under inadequate supervision, indeed, perhaps the majority of people today who study qigong study from books or video tapes and DVDs without supervision by a teacher. This laxness can lead to several problems, according to those who view themselves as representative of orthodox schools. Most traditional training takes many years of practice under the supervision of someone who has also learned over years, someone who can guide and prevent the student from taking an unbalanced approach to qigong practice. The theory is that unbalanced circulation of inner energies eventually leads to unbalanced effects on the various systems of the body, both mental and physical.
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Stories of unguided practitioners or inexpertly guided students developing chronic mental and physical health problems as a result of such training are not uncommon. A term used by English speaking practitioners and teachers for one example of this syndrome is “Qigong Psychosis” (Now included in the DSM-IV as a culture-bound syndrome: Qi-Gong Psychotic Reaction: DSM-IV General Information: Appendix I, Outline for Cultural Formulation and Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes). Another function of improper training involves frauds and deliberate charlatans who promote themselves as qigong “healers” promising miracle cures of any conceivable affliction for the right amount of money. Traditionally, qigong is considered more of a health maintenance regimen, and any promises of miracle cures should be viewed with suspicion, according to traditional teachers and practitioners.
This recent popularity has also led to increased attention for quasi-religious groups teaching styles of qigong in an atmosphere of New Age-like spirituality. Qigong has been associated in China with Taoist and Buddhist meditation practices for two thousand years, and this association has recently been exploited, according to traditionalists, by many would-be cult leaders. Perhaps the most notable example of a group promoting a synthesis of overt religiosity with qigong practice is the Falun Gong group, whose worldwide popularity grew to the point that the People’s Republic of China government banned their practice outright in 1999.
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Dear writer
In your piece you mention Falun Gong in a derogatory manner, in fact you have done your best to put people off Qi Gong. For several years I practiced Tai Chi, and some meditation, and then I came across Falun Gong 4 years ago. I have to say that I have never felt better in my whole life, I am at peace, have more energy, I am more focussed, I could go on with the benefits I have received from practicing Falun Gong. I think alot of the comments like yours are made when people do not truly understand, it is so easy to point the finger, to be sceptical and be the critic, it takes nothing to be this way. However take it from somebody that has followed Falun Gong for this length of time, there is no cult basis with Falun Gong, it is an individual practicing his/her self improvement through Falun Gong, following Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, which I would hope you agree are good attributes to have and to do the Qi Gong exercises. The Chinese Communist Party are a dictatorship and will suppress any group that they fear as a threat to their power and control of the peoples minds, whether they are or not. You might say that the cult is the Party, its use of propaganda to control the masses is in my opinion cult-like. Also, you have failed to mention the fact that they are actually persecuting Falun Gong adherents in China to death, using various sick means of torture, to date more than 3300 have died, the figure could be 10 or 100 times higher. Then there is the organ harvesting from live Falun Gong people as well. I would like to finish by saying that I hope that you will take it from somebody that knows Falun Gong better from personal practice, that it is not as the CCP propaganda has put out, or as in your article, for me it is a very good, upright, honest and healthy practice that benefits people of all ages and backgrounds to be healthier and happier, and to gain a perspective on life that I never had before.