The term "Qigong" or "Chi Kung" is a relatively new one in China, only coming into common use less than a half century, and is still nearly unknown in the west. Before this development practices were known as "Neigong" or "Nei Kung," which means internal power. The term has been gaining more and more popularity in mainland China, sometimes replacing more common names like Old Man Climbs the Stairs Chi Kung and White Crane Chi Kung.
The terms Qigong and Neigong are two terms that describe the movement of energy throughout the body. Both are derived from the parent Neigong systems which moves the energy from the inside of your body to the outside. Qigong operates in the exact reverse, from the outside in. But while Qigong and Neigong are from the same family they both take different approaches to locating and regulating your body's energies.
• Neigong is a meditative form, preferring to use the attention directed inward as we move through the forms.
• Qigong focuses on the external, directing the attention to the movements themselves and harmonizing them with your breathing.
The purpose of Neigong is to develop our core energies in the center of the body and bring it to the surface by energizing the acupuncture meridians. Qigong exercises often use a simple sequence of body movements while Neigong uses both mind and body interactions to move the Chi throughout the body. This allows students to work all of the meridian points at the same time.
The best practice is to learn both paths and by so doing, we learn to bring them both into play at the same time. We learn the movements one at a time but we perform them in such a way to perform the simultaneously. This causes the Chi to gather in the bone marrow and spine, radiating out from there. This is extremely important because it offers not only great physical prowess but great health as well because the energies that have been blocked are now opened up to release their healing powers throughout the body.
Finally, while harmonizing the body´s movements with our breathing is important the breath should not be the vehicle for moving the Chi: that it should be gently directed by the mind. Our movements and breathing in harmony are the tools we use to calm and focus the mind, allowing it to channel our energies for better health, fitness and awareness.