Qigong can help resolve digestive problems, asthma, arthritis, insomnia, pain, depression, and anxiety, as well as cancer, coronary heart disease, and cases of HIV/AIDS. According to Wong Chongxing, M.D., Director of Research at the Rei Jin Hospital in Shanghai, China, several thousand hypertensive patients, had been instructed in basic qigong exercises, experienced dramatic improvement. His studies suggest that daily qigong practice lowers blood pressure, pulse rates, metabolic rates, and oxygen demand. David Eisenberg, M.D., a clinical research fellow at Harvard Medical School, says, these studies also indicate that qigong triggers the body's relaxation response by reducing the level of dopamine, an enzyme that controls neurological activity.

  Stephen Chang, M.D., a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, refers to numerous scientific studies documenting the effects of qigong. In one study, 2,873 terminal cancer patients practiced qigong for six months: 12 percent of the patients were cured, while 47 percent showed significant improvement. In another study, qigong eye exercises significantly lowered farsightedness and nearsightedness in a group of Chinese school children. Also, such diseases as sinus allergies, hemorrhoids, and prostrate problems have been effectively treated.

  Today in China, many hospital practitioners combine qigong with conventional medicine in order to treat cancer, bone marrow disease, and diseases of old age. At the Kuangan Men's Hospital in Beijing, China, ninety-three cases of advanced malignant cancer were treated with a combination of drugs and qigong exercises, while a control group of thirty patients were treated by drugs alone. Eighty-one percent of the qigong group gained strength, 63 percent improved appetite, and 33 percent were free from diarrhea compared to control group improvements of 10 percent, 10 percent, and 6 percent, respectively.

  In many caces Qigong can be more effective than chemotherapy, surgery, and even acupuncture for the prevention and treatment of disease. Liu Guo Long, M.D., Ph.D., of the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, believes qi energy directed to the site of an injury facilitates the signals to the brain stem. As a result of increased blood and lymph flow, and a greater supply of nutrients regenerating the cells, the area of injury can cure more effectively.

  Dr. Jahnke, director of the Health Action Clinic and Chairperson of the Qigong Department of the Santa Barbara College of Oriental Medicine, draws from a broad experience with qigong, that in regular classes at Health Action, and at a regional hospital, they have seen constant testimonials of the health benefits of qigong. After only two weeks of practice, six people out of a group of thirty had specific improvement-(three cases experienced increased breath volume and relief of constricted breathing, one person found relief from constipation, one person improved sleep, and one had a lessening of headaches). In this very brief period of practice, twenty-five of the thirty participants reported a heightened sense of well-being. One of the patients had set an appointment for glaucoma surgery before joining a weekly qigong class. After six weeks in the class she went to the laboratory for preoperative testing. The results of the tests showed that the glaucoma problem had resolved itself and surgery was not necessary.

   Dr. Jahnke also recalls a group of arthritis patients who have been regular participants in qigong classes. After approximately six months, several patients remarked that the stiffness and pain in their hands had diminished and the deformed knuckles characteristic of arthritis had begun to return to normal. The most incredible thing about qigong practice is that people actually can feel the operation of the physiological mechanisms of curing in their body. The increase of blood and lymph flow, and a shift in neurotransmitters creates an actual sensation that is clearly perceptible to the individual. The Chinese call this 'qisensation.' 

 

  Qigong developes into a number of branches. Personal self-curing and health maintenance practice is called internal qigong. Internal qigong can be performed with little or no movement. In this form, it is known as quiescent qigong. When internal practice includes movement, it is called dynamic qigong. According to Roger Jahnke, O.M.D., internal, self-applied qigong practice may include laying down, sitting, standing, or walking forms. Meditation is an example of quiescent qigong while tai chi is an example of a mildly dynamic qigong.

  One of the most provocative aspects of qigong is known as external qigong. In external qigong, a qigong master or qigong doctor projects or emits his or her own qi to serve or cure another. When patients are severely ill and their own level of qi is very low or stagnant, receiving qi from a qigong master can prove to be a powerful stimulant toward curing. Generally, however, people who receive external qigong from a qigong master, simultaneously do their own internal practice.

  Dr. Jahnke states that external projection, while seeming to be a fantastic aspect of qigong, is not unlike what Western cultures call magnetic curing or psychic curing, both which operate through the same natural laws of physics as the phenomena of qi emission.

 Fong Li-da, M.D., from the Beijing Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, conducted the study in which  a qigong master practicing external qigong was able to project her qi to either kill or promote the growth of bacteria in test tubes.

 

  A senior scientist at the National Electro Acoustics Laboratory in Beijing, China, Lu Yan Fang, Ph.D.,  discovered in the early 1980s, that the hands of qigong masters emitted high levels of low frequency acoustical waves called secondary sound. Although everyone generates secondary sounds, the signals generated by the qigong masters were one hundred times more powerful than the average individual, and one thousand times more powerful than those who were elderly or ill. Using electroacoustical technology, Dr. Fang constructed an instrument that simulated this infratonic sound (eight to fourteen hertz, seventy decibels). Dr. Fang directed these massage-like, secondary sounds into hospitalized patients, and noted numerous improvements, particularly for the management of pain.

  Over 1,100 human patients were studied and treated. When used on the chest or back, the brain's production of alpha waves is stimulated. Therapeutic benefits include pain diminition (including migraines), increased circulatory functioning, muscular relaxation, and the alleviation of depression.

 The Infratonic QGM, device of Dr Fang, has received awards of recognition from the China Ministry of Health, the China Central Technological Committee, and the National Committee for Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is used as an effective pain management tool in China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. In the United States, it is approved for sale by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as a therapeutic massage device. 

  Dr. Jahnke warns, however, that these machines mimic the human qi. And it is always preferable to develop one's personal practice instead of just relying on a machine.