Greetings, I’m Lee Holden, and I welcome Middlebury College’s global community to this Modern Qi Gong practice site. Qi Gong can be translated as “skillful working with life-force energy,” and it is one of the most widely practiced forms of exercise in the world, with an estimated 80-100 million people practicing daily. An ancient moving meditation form with roots in China, it is now practiced on every continent and in a variety of social, cultural, and educational contexts—including college campuses.
Qi Gong has always linked breath, movement, and mental intention for optimal health and vitality. The focus of this modern, Western approach includes helping individuals and groups clear stress, recharge, cultivate inner peace, and calm the mind, creating the conditions for more effective engagement in life and work. This modern approach celebrates the history of the practice while addressing contemporary challenges to our mind, bodies, hearts, and souls. Significant research is now available linking Qi Gong practices with medical wellbeing initiatives internationally.
The Embodied Intelligence project sponsoring these videos is made possible by the Ron and Jessica Liebowitz Fund for Innovation (FFI) at Middlebury College. Hosted by Professors Andrea Olsen and Nükhet Kardam, the project includes an overview of Qi Gong basics and two Qi Gong films created for classroom and individual use; presentations at the 2016 Clifford Symposium Fully Present: The Art and Science of Mindful Engagement on September 22-24, 2016 at Middlebury College in Vermont; and a lecture and workshop series on the Monterey, California campus February-May 2017.