According to Qi Gong practitioners, qigong can help you reach the Dao, or become one with the Dao. Dao cannot be translated, but it is rendered as a way.
The term Dao (Tao) encompasses both the dualistic realms of the material world and the transcendent realms beyond duality.
According to this doctrine, it represents the highest state of being. Tao is also understood as the essence, the primordial life force.
Literally translated, Qi Gong means ‘working with the life force’. The origins of the exercises go back a long way. The first records date back to the Zhu Dynasty (1100-771 BC) and the “Yellow Emperor“.
The practice includes breathing exercises, body and movement exercises, concentration exercises and meditation exercises. These exercises are designed to harmonise and regulate the flow of qi in the body.
The original fathers of Qi Gong were concerned with becoming one with the Dao, a spiritual path that would lead to enlightenment. The fact that regular practice also improves health was seen by the ancient masters as a nice but unimportant side effect.
For Western practitioners, Qi Gong has nothing to do with this original goal. This ancient Asian art of living is practiced as a method of relaxation and health maintenance and is an important pillar of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
Properly performed, Qi Gong exercises can be seen as meditation in motion, or energy in motion, with the focus on observing the progress of the exercise, i.e., the body and breathing.
The aim is to quiet the mind and relax the body and nervous system by performing the exercises slowly and deliberately. Qi Gong is similar to yoga, which is practiced in gyms, etc. Both Qi Gong and Yoga are Eastern tools that were part of Eastern spiritual training. But taken out of this system and practiced superficially, they have nothing in common with spirituality, because the essential spark and the underlying teaching and training are missing.
The Qi Gong therapy of Western practitioners has nothing to do with meditation and spirituality as taught by the Hermetic Academy.
Genuine meditation in the spiritual sense restores the lost spirituality that gives access to the inner and outer worlds.
Meditation gives us answers to the essential questions of life and solutions to the problems of everyday life, raises our consciousness and gives, among other things, inner joy, and confidence.
Fears disappear and trust in one’s own life and in a higher power is strengthened. The relaxation of the body and mind, as practiced in Qi Gong, is only a side effect, not the main focus.
Through meditation, the mind is sharpened, the meditator experiences clarity and truth, and becomes an attentive observer of his own circumstances. Thus, he gains more and more mastery over all areas of life.
The Hermetic Academy teaches, among other things, the high art of Hermetic meditation. It gives us the tools for true personality development, which in turn includes the elevation of consciousness that can lead to a state of enlightenment.
This does not mean just a brief flash of enlightenment, but enlightenment as a permanent state. A new person is born.
This person has developed desirable virtues such as honesty, reliability, selflessness, generosity, courage, conciliation, self-discipline, patience, humility, and many other qualities that enrich social relations with those around him.
The spiritual practices of the Hermetic Academy provide access to a higher spiritual reality. This inevitably leads to the recognition of one’s life purpose and mastery of one’s life.
