What is Ki Gong ?

Ki Gong refers to a wide variety of traditional “cultivation” practices that involve methods of accumulating, circulating, and working with Ki (aka Qi or Chi) energy within the body. Ki Gong is sometimes mistakenly said to always involve movement and/or regulated breathing; in fact, use of special methods of focusing on particular energy centers in and around the body are common in the 'higher level' or evolved forms of Ki Gong. Ki Gong is practiced for health maintenance purposes, as a therapeutic intervention, as a medical profession, a spiritual path and/or component of korean martial arts.

The 'Ki' in 'Ki Gong' means breath or gas/air in Chinese, and, by extension, 'life force', 'energy' or even 'cosmic breath'. 'Gong' means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of skill, so 'Ki Gong' is thus 'breath work' or 'energy work'. The term was coined in the twentieth-century and its currencyspeaks of a cultural desire to separate 'cultivation' from 'superstition', to secularize and preserve valuable aspects of traditional korean practices.

Attitudes toward the scientific basis for Ki Gong vary markedly. Most Western medical practitioners and many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the Chinese government, view Ki Gong as a set of breathing and movement exercises, with possible benefits to health through stress reduction and exercise.

In the traditional Korean philosophy it is believed everything has Ki, something’s transmit Ki more than others. For example air gives us most Ki. In our bodies the Ki is also taken in through eating, through our skin and mainly as stated, through breathing. When we breath Ki is absorbed and stored in our bodies. The area which Ki accumulates is called the Dan Jun, which literally translates to field of energy. The Dan Jun is the area in the lower abdomen about two inches under the navel. The Dan Jun draws, stores and emits Ki as the body needs it. Once Ki is absorbed and stored it is divided/used in two ways; 1) managing Ki, which is distributed through the body so it can function 2) Protective Ki, which is directed to the bodies surface to protect you from outside influences and injuries.

Your Sun Ki (personal Ki) must be kept in harmony with natures energy (Ki). If your Ki is out of balance it will weaken and decay. It can be brought back into balance, through natural (ki gong/diet) or medical assistance. Ki Gong is the way to develop and increase your energy in your body so it may be directed and transmitted through your will/intention Eu , so you may apply it to prolong and benefit your life.

The Three Basic Phases of Ki Gong
1) Accumulating/Storing the Ki
2) Circulating the Ki
3) Transmitting the Ki

Storing the Ki/Breathing Ho Hup Bop
Proper breathing is an integral part of martial arts training, incorrect breathing is unhealthy. Consider that the first thing that is disturbed when a person is upset is usually the breathing. Proper breathing helps us stay calm, helps us keep our endurance and coupled with proper mental training we can even control pain with breathing. Just like fanning a flame makes a flame greater because of the increase of oxygen, so to we gain additional strength with proper breathing.

In the Ki gong philosophy it is believed by breathing gently to your maximum capacity, the oxygen and Ki separate in the lungs and the Ki travels to the energy center of the body called the ‘Dan Jun’, as we exhale we expel waste gas Co2. The most important part of the breathing process concerning Ki gong is the point between the inhale and the exhale.

Basic Dan Jun breathing involves gently ballooning out the abdomen and imagine it filling with air. This pulls on the diaphragm and allows the lower tips of the lungs to fill with air, thereby filling the lungs with more air. By pressing our breathing in a downward motion first like the way a vessel is filled, the optimum amount of oxygen and Ki enters the body. Later you will learn to hold the point between the inhale and exhale locking the breath so optimum amounts of Ki are sent to the Dan Jun.

Circulating and transmitting Ki.
Ki circulates through our bodies whether we are aware of it or not. Circulating our Ki through our will/awareness Eui /?for our health and for self defense is a vital part of martial arts training. The first phase deals with gathering and storing the second phase with circulating the Ki through the body through the use of concentration exercises and the Ki Gong exercises, and lastly through Ki Hap (energy unification) to transmit our energy through out martial arts techniques.

As taught from one generation to the next generation, we follow the natural path of Grandmaster Jun, Yung Ho.