You might have heard that music can be used to cultivate qi. Do you use background music during qigong practice? What music piece do you choose? This article will discuss why sometimes we use music for qigong, and sometimes we shall not. And what music you shall pick.
Music is a personal preference. As an experienced practitioner, I don’t use any background music for either qigong or meditation. If you wonder why, keep reading.
Do you need background music for qigong
Does Qigong practice need background music? It depends on the practice form and the purpose of your practice.
Dynamic qigong forms
Dynamic qigong are those forms with body movements. Taoist qigong like Taiji (Tai Chi), Five Animals, Qi Dragon qigong, Baduanjin and so on are dynamic qigong.
For beginners, qigong teachers usually provide a voice guide during the whole practice. Adding background music to the guide can make the guiding sound smoother and more pleasant. Therefore, you can pick some soft music for guided qigong practice.
A good example of soft music can be some elegant piano pieces. Traditional Chinese music pieces can sometimes be tricky to use. Unless you pick the one with a tempered tune without any high pitch, you shall avoid using traditional Chinese music for qigong practice.
For experienced practitioners, minimum guided voice with no background music is ideal. Because it can help concentrate on the movement to experience the qi mobilization.
Static qigong forms
Static qigong refers to qigong meditation without any physical body movement. Practitioners keep one posture during the practice. It can be sitting meditation, standing meditation, or sleeping meditation.
No matter what qigong form it takes, static qigong practices stillness. When you are in a stillness state, you can do best in qi cultivation. However, being completely still is super difficult for qigong beginners. Because not only your body needs to be still, but your mind needs to be still.
Sitting there quietly for 10 minutes is almost impossible for most people, let alone stopping both their body and mind. And you need to be in a completely relaxed state first. Here are four steps to relax your whole body.
Music can be a big distraction during static qigong for that practice purpose. Whether it’s soft one or rock-n-roll, the rhythm can easily trigger reactions in your body and mind.
Because different music tune has different vibration frequency. Each inner organ reacts to different vibrations. That’s how good music brings about intense feelings and emotions.
However, certain music or sound can be used in the static qigong practice preparation stage. Let’s look at it.
Guqin, best music to cultivate qi
Have you listened to Guqin music before? Do you know that Guqin is called the sound for qi cultivation in qigong?
The sound of the guqin is unique. It is considered the sound of Qi because it’s highly effective in cultivating all three levels of qi. The frequency and vibration of guqin is the closest to qi and Dao in quality.
“Quiet” can be said to be the biggest characteristic of the sound of the Guqin. The “quiet” here has three meanings. Firstly, playing the guqin requires a quiet surrounding because the guqin sound is lower in volume than any other Chinese plucked instrument like the Pipa, Guzheng.
Secondly, the Guqin player needs to be in a quieter mind. The best guqin players in history were usually enlightened persons. That’s why their music can impact other people’s lives in a much deeper dimension.
Thirdly, when listening to the guqin’s music, you can feel the remoteness and quietness, which is closest to the essence of Tao (Dao). You can literally hear the silence in open strings sound.
We hosted a Guqin music with qigong workshop and got great feedback.
Summary
Background music is a good guide for qigong beginners because it can help them relax their bodies and minds.
The vibration of Qi is much subtler than any sound vibration. In other words, you need to turn off other vibrations to experience qi. Therefore, for experienced qigong practitioners, it’s ideal not to play any music while practicing or meditating.
In Onenergy Qigong App, we handpicked a few great music pieces for guided practice. You can also customize your practice routine and select no music for your qigong practice.
