Chinese Qigong embraces modern fitness

File photo shows a Kung Fu master performing Qigong in central China's Henan Province. [Photo: VCG]

A delegation of four Qigong masters from China is visiting the San Francisco Bay Area to train Qigong practitioners at a series of events.

The workshop, titled "Chinese Health Qigong: Ancient health enhancing exercises for modern fitness," is organized by Shaolin Temple USA and the Chinese Health Qigong Association (CHQA).

During the four-day program from Thursday to Sunday, the delegation, composed of experts from the CHQA and some Chinese universities, demonstrated health Qigong and gave lectures on methods of traditional Chinese health preservation to local audiences.

"The health Qigong is a new and essential form selected from many different versions of traditional Qigong to meet the requirement of modern practitioners," said Gao Lanjie, vice secretary-general of the CHQA.

By aligning physical movement, breath and mind adjustments, health Qigong aims at improving the functions of the body, Gao added.

"Most of our students in this workshop are adults. They are mostly engineers from Silicon Valley high-tech companies," said Heng Yuan, a senior instructor at the Fremont school of Shaolin Temple USA.

"They keep practicing Qigong because they feel the benefit of it," he said. "If you can keep practicing for a month, you'll be able to feel the difference."

Health Qigong has been actively promoted to other countries in the last 10 years. About 2.5 million people are exercising health Qigong in more than 50 countries and regions, according to Gao.

She said health Qigong is increasingly being recognized by the overseas authorities. In the United States, roughly 50,000 people are practicing it.