Articles · 326 and counting
Is tai chi and qigong the same? A man with twelve years of tai chi asks Master Dai what the real difference is, which is better, and whether tai chi is a form of qigong - and gets a test he can run with his own opening movement.
A science journalist asks whether qi energy is real, what it actually is, what it feels like, and whether it can move objects. Master Dai answers with a thirty-second test you can run on your own hands - and a flat no on the spoons.
Vision boards, affirmations, scripting — and still nothing moves? Master Dai explains why manifestation stalls when your energy is empty, why meditation alone isn't enough, and the simple daily test that shows the difference.
How often should you practise qigong? The honest answer is less about intensity and more about a simple daily plan — plus what a full year of mornings can build.
Am I doing qigong right? For most practitioners that’s the wrong question — here is the one that actually tracks whether the practice is working.
Is qigong something you do or build? The name of the practice already answers the question — and it changes what a single session is for.
Why does holding your arm out start to hurt when nothing changed but time? A two-minute test that explains what qigong is actually built from.
What does kung fu really mean? Not fighting — the same word for skill that only time can build sitting quietly inside “qigong.”
What does gong mean in qigong? The character 功 shows work plus strength — not the effort itself, but what the effort produced.
What does the qi character mean? What the character 氣 actually shows: steam rising off cooking rice — invisible, real, and it does work.
Is the chi in tai chi the same as qi in qigong? No — two different Chinese words that only look alike once written in English letters.
Qigong or chi kung — same word, two spellings, from two different systems for writing Chinese sounds in English letters. Neither is wrong.