How To Tell Qigong Mindfulness Or Consciousness
Many people see qigong as a wonderful tool for mindfulness practice. Do you know that being mindful is just the preparation practice in a deep level of qigong?
So, what is a deep level of qigong? It’s consciousness. But before you are able to do that, your mind has to be in a very focused state. That’s when you will need qigong mindfulness practice to get you there.
The difference between mindfulness and consciousness
Qigong mindfulness is about being fully aware of what is happening at the moment. Awareness is one of our conscious mind’s functionalities. During qigong, we shall be fully aware of how different body parts coordinate with each other.
From the western psychological perspective, people understand consciousness as the conscious mind. Therefore, Lots of people misunderstand consciousness as awareness or mindfulness.
However, consciousness is totally different than awareness or mindfulness. You have to understand that consciousness in Buddhism and Yogic spirituality has nothing to do with the mind.
To simply put, awareness is about being mindful. In Chinese qigong terminology, we call awareness Juezhi (觉知) and mindfulness Zhengnian (正念).
Buddhism have been influencing China over the past thousand years. In Chinese, we use the word Mingjue (明觉) to describe consciousness. You can refer to this article about how to practice Mingjue consciousness.
What is mindfulness
Mindfulness is the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. It is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness is often used as a psychological therapeutic technique or psychotherapy.
Mindfulness is the prerequisite and is not consciousness itself. However, qigong mindful practice is a doorway to consciousness.
How qigong mindful practice leads to consciousness
Let’s imagine that you carry a candle to a dark room. Then the candlelight will illuminate the room instantly. Same thing as our awareness.
Awareness is just like the candle we hold. We can simply use the candle, our awareness to illuminate our mind space. The process of grabbing the candle and lighting it is mindfulness.
Nowadays, mindful practice is so trendy that everyone talks about it. They were told that being mindful is the way to change their life, so they think mindfulness is the life goal.
It’s like when you learn about the candle, you start to talk and study the candle all the time. You forget or do not realize that your real subject to study is not that lighted candle (awareness), not the way you lit the candle (mindfulness) either. The real purpose is to study that room (our mind), and what is working behind the scene to make your mind exist, which is consciousness.
However, the mind we are talking about here is not the logical mind, conscious mind, or subconscious mind that psychology defines. In that consciousness state, you will be able to experience the spiritual awakening stage of your true existence.
In summary
Consciousness is a super clear, bright, no-different state of our mind. If you get the essence of the Eight Verses, you can reach that consciousness state.
Qigong mindfulness practice is the way to reach that consciousness state. However, awakening consciousness is not the ultimate goal. It is just the beginning of realizing the truth within.
