Other · 1979
Therapeutic qigong (modern health movement)
Psychological change emerges when the body recovers its rhythm: to regulate physiology is to reorganise the mind.
Therapeutic qigong is a body–mind practice combining gentle movement, breathing and attention, systematised in China from the late twentieth century onwards as part of the public health movement and of modern traditional Chinese medicine. Although its roots are ancient, its contemporary clinical formalisation made it possible to study and apply qigong in healthcare settings, including the management of stress and anxiety and emotional regulation. It does not constitute a psychotherapeutic model in the Western sense, but it offers a practical framework of physiological and emotional self-regulation that has indirectly influenced current approaches in body psychotherapy, mindfulness-based interventions and integrative health models.
Core ideas
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The mind is not separable from the body
The starting point is a non-dual ontology in which mind and body constitute an integrated functional unity. Psychological experience is not understood as an exclusively cognitive or narrative phenomenon, but as an expression of the dynamic equilibrium of the bodily–energetic system. The intervention does not act on isolated mental contents, but on the overall organisation of the organism, on the assumption that bodily regulation indirectly modifies emotional experience. (Liu & Chen, 2010).
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Physiological regulation precedes psychological transformation
Psychophysiological equilibrium is considered a necessary condition for emotional and cognitive stability. Rather than seeking insight or narrative reinterpretation, change is produced by restoring autonomic balance and respiratory–postural coherence, which reduces reactivity and favours mental clarity without direct interpretative intervention. (Zhang et al., 1988).
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Energy flow as an organising metaphor of equilibrium
The traditional concept of energy flow functions as an explanatory framework for the systemic self-regulation of the organism. Blockage or stagnation describes patterns of somatic tension, respiratory rigidity or sustained hyperarousal, whose reorganisation is addressed through coordinated movement, regulated breathing and focused attention. (Liu & Chen, 2010).
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Direct experience replaces interpretation
Therapeutic knowledge is not constructed through verbal analysis or cognitive reformulation, but through repeated, regulated bodily experience. Learning occurs through progressive somatic experience that reorganises the nervous system and modifies internal perception without the need for extensive discursive elaboration. (Ooi & Giovino, 2019).
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Disciplined repetition produces gradual reorganisation
Change is not conceived as a discrete event or a transformative insight, but as the cumulative result of sustained regular practice. Daily consistency progressively reorganises respiratory, postural and attentional patterns, generating emotional stability through incremental psychophysiological plasticity. (Liu & Chen, 2010).
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Bodily attention is a tool of integration
Sustained focusing on internal sensations strengthens stable interoception and reduces cognitive dispersion. This practice develops a non-reactive relationship with internal experience, widening the window of tolerance without explicit emotional confrontation or direct narrative exposure. (Liu & Chen, 2010).
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Slow movement reorganises chronic defensive patterns
Gentle, coordinated movements make it possible to release micro-tensions associated with states of persistent alertness, favouring gradual somatic discharge. The organism can abandon rigid defensive patterns without the need for intense emotional exposure, producing regulation through postural and respiratory reorganisation. (Zhang et al., 1988).
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The practice can be autonomous and does not depend on a therapeutic alliance
The axis of change lies in bodily self-regulation learnt and practised autonomously. Clinical supervision may accompany the process, but transformation depends fundamentally on disciplined repetition and on the individual's capacity to sustain the practice outside guided contexts. (Ooi & Giovino, 2019).
Influences
- Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
- Taoism
- Practices of bodily and respiratory regulation
- Integrated body–mind conception
- The public health movement in the PRC
Key references
- Liu, X., & Chen, K. (2010). Chinese Medical Qigong. Singing Dragon.
- Ooi, S. L., & Giovino, R. (2019). Qigong for mental health: A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
- Zhang, Y. et al. (1988). Clinical studies on Qigong therapy in China.