Qigong (also written as chi kung, more commonly known as nei gong before the term qigong became the widely used term) refers to a type of training that manages the health of the mind and body. Qigong consists of two Chinese words: qi and gong. Qi, as used in the context of the phrase, qi gong, refers to the signal that controls the functioning of the body and the actual functions of the body as well. However, the common everyday usage of the word 'qi' has several meanings, such as: air, breath, gas, anger, angry, to make angry, natural force, smell, spirit, mental status. The word 'gong' is the short form for 'gong fu' (kung fu), which means 'training with time and effort.' The phrase 'gong fu' translates into: 'effort, skill, and time.'  In addition, as it is widely used today, gong fu is a Cantonese slang for martial arts, a usage widely adapted and coined in America to mean Chinese Martial Arts.

      What is qigong? This seemingly simple question, when asked today amidst the plethora of self-taught qigong videos and instruction books available on the market, will solicit answers that are more often than not far from being correct or accurate. These responses to 'What is qigong,' distorted to a great degree by the amount of mixed media coverage and publicity by self- proclaimed 'masters of the art of qigong,' fail to present qigong in its scientific context and instead, if with any accuracy at all, present qigong mainly in its spiritual or religious context. While qigong has its spiritual and religious applications, it is imperative to understand qigong from all points of view. This paper not only will define qigong, but also will cover the applications of qigong, as well as the origins of qigong, its relationship with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), medical qigong, how qigong works, and finally qigong training techniques and programs.

After understanding what qigong is, it is important to understand what the applications of qigong are. Qigong has           spiritual, religious, and health applications. Spiritual and religious applications are found in religious Taoism, Fang Shi, Buddhism, Polytheism, Shamanism (original religion of Manchuria), Bonism (original religion of Tibet), Confucianism, as well as several others. The health applications of qigong are for both mental and physical health maintenance.

Qigong originated from several areas of study including philosophy, religion, letters, the general public, and to a limited degree martial arts. In philosophy, qigong came from Dao Jia, which is the Daoist school of philosophy. In religion, qigong can be found in Daoist necromancers as well as Buddhism. In the letters, it can be found in Confucianism, which is the study of traditional scholars. In addition, qigong can be found in Fang Shi, which is a type of Daoist alchemy. It would be a mistake to say qigong came from the organized religion of Daoism.

The relationship between qigong and traditional Chinese medicine is often misperceived as being of the same founding. In actuality, classical medical texts, which are the primary learning tools of traditional Chinese medical practitioners, rarely mentioned qigong. Some of the more noteworthy traditional medical texts that do mention qigong are the Huang Ti Su Wen, Li Shi Zhen, and text written by Bao Pu Zi. None of the classical Chinese medical texts mentioned how to train in qigong except books written by Bao Pu Zi, who happened to be a fang shi (Daoist alchemist) and a medical scholar.  Furthermore, qigong was not traditionally part of the TCM school curriculum. Only in the last decade, starting in 1982, did traditional Chinese medical schools start to conduct research in qigong. However, Western type of medical schools in China began to study the effects of qigong on various illnesses as early as the beginning of the nineteen-sixties. These schools began the study of medical qigong, which is the application of qigong for medical purposes.