Note: I use the spelling qigong, chi kung and qi gong interchangeably in this article so that more people can find it.


Learning qigong has very little to do with learning very long forms, Many of which are recent creations design to milk students into expensive subscriptions.


Digital marketers have found they can make a lot of money off qigong course subscriptions atm, subsequently the entire first page of search results for online qigong courses are usually very poor. I’ve dug around a bit and found that some of the best qigong videos don’t show up in a conventional searches at all and are totally free. Below are some of the videos I’ve found along with some principles for the beginner.

5 things you need to begin learning qigong online

First, you must get familiar with basic qigong concepts and terminology. These terms have to do with anatomy, breath, mind state and energy. The below video does a good job of easing beginners to qigong into it’s language and concepts.

This video gives a good overview of chi gong terminology. The qigong teacher who made it has a lot of free chi gong lessons online and on his youtube channel.

If you are already familiar with some of the basic qigong concepts here is a good video on a more advanced method.

The next thing you’ll need to learn qigong is a breathing method.

Breath is the key that unlocks the benefits qigong. There are many methods. If you’re learning online there is no use in studying an elaborate breath method, you just need one that syncs the breath, movement and chi. You also need one that syncs to your specific level of development. The below methods are from the monk Chan Fa who is friends with my teacher. Chan Fa has studied Taoism and “heart” Chan Buddhist methods all his life, he has achieved a very high level of skill, his students are highly skilled martial artists and practitioners, he is not known in the west and has no western students. His breathing methods are simple and direct.

Here we introduce to you two simple and effective breathing methods. One is the Five and Ten Dantian Breathing Methods. First, sit on a chair, relax your body, and place your palms in the Dantian of your lower abdomen below your navel. Close your eyes. Breathe out through your mouth and count from one to ten. At this time, you should simultaneously retract the Dantian of the lower abdomen inward and lift the anus upward. After exhaling, breathe in through your nose and count from one to five. At this time, protrude your lower abdomen forward and relax your anus. One exhalation and one inhalation is one time, and a total of ten times is one time. It’s up to you how many times you want to do it.

The second is the four-seven-eight breathing method. The method is also very simple. Sit up straight and relax. Breathe in and count from one to four. To stop breathing, count from one to seven. Then exhale and count from one to eight. This counts as one time (one breath), ten times is one time. How many times or how many times you want to practice is entirely up to you. Both of these breathing methods involve inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. They can be practiced while sitting or lying down. The counting speed should not be too fast or too slow, just


The third thing you’ll need is a set of qigong movements or form.

Youtube makes this part of the process easy, there are thousands of options. When learning from free video, look for footage recorded before the current qigong trend. There are a massive amount of sketchy organizations and chi kung teachers that are cashing in on this boom. When you learn from an older source, certainly pre 2000’s, the teacher will be more dedicated to the art and not just making money off of it. The older routines are simple and effective whereas many of the new ones are stretched way out to milk students for ongoing subscription feeds. If you’re learning qigong online the same rule we use for a breathing method applies to the form, it must be simple and effective. For this purpose the Ba Duan Jin qigong routine is probably the best option. It is so simple and effective it has survived in one form or another for at least 800 years. This set has a symbiotic relationship with tai chi and xing yi.

Some of the best Ba Duan Jin Qigong videos are online for free.

Yes, I know it’s not in English, but in the coming weeks I will break down the separate movements of Ba Duan Jin or 8 pieces of brocade, chi kung routine online all for free.

Zhang Guang De, the chi kung master in the above video is the creator of the Daoyin Yang Sheng Gong chi kung system and one of the best chi kung teachers of recent times. Many of his chi kung videos are online for free, however most of these cover his longer routines. If you want to learn chi kung online for free it’s not going to benefit you to learn a longer system. The Ba Duan Jin, is simple and effective, practicing it everyday will provide health benefits.


Here is the Qigong teacher Yang Jwing Ming performing the same set.

it’s a shame people pay thousands for online qigong courses when this material exists…

Dr.Jwing Ming also performs seated ba duan Jin qigong

This seated qigong set is quite nice to follow along with.

The 4 thing you need in your qigong practice is a suitable mind state.

In Chinese literature, the first and last items on a list are the most important, so pay attention to this one. Depending on your former training, or lack thereof, you may have a hard time picking this last concept up online. Although it is essentially a state of keeping your focus, it has a feeling. In my experience you need to be beside a master to have this feeling transmitted properly. It is strongly related to the breathing method. In a traditional setting the mental state, especially focus and intention, of a qigong student is constantly adjusted by the teacher, but this is often given little time on the modern chi kung courses. Senior Yi Zong bagua coach Edward Hines is particularly good at teaching the mind states in an accessible way.

The 5th thing you need in a qigong practice are clearly defined stages to reach for.

This is also a big difference from the marketing type teachers. Below are some goals that you can find in qigong practice. First you can start off with simple goals like performing a certain number of breath cycles every morning, performing the set a specific number of times a week etc. After you get comfortable you need to set internal goals. All qigong teachers I have studied with make this a critical point.

  1. Sinking Qi To the Dan Tien (this is a good goal to set after you are comfortable with the breathing and some movements, it is difficult without a teacher in real life but I believe it would be achievable in a disciplined online practice. This practice causes a deep sense of rest, grounding and well-being and is good for everyone. It has a lot to do with settling the emotions. Imagine you were in a brutal boxing match, at the bell you get to go to your corner and rest, that is sort of the feeling.)
  2. Agitating Chi in the Dan Tien: Same as above, but opposite, this is a big part of Chen Pan Ling Tai Chi.
  3. Burning Impurities From the Mind: This is a practice in marrow washing and as such can’t be learned online, in fact it’s nearly impossible to learn this offline as well. This is one of the practices that causes change in the practitioner on a very deep level.
  4. Clearing Negative Energy through the Lao Gong points. This is not very difficult for someone to learn who is sensitive to energy and has some tai chi or meditation experience, I’m not sure if it could be learned online, possibly.)
  5. Holding Intention on Emptiness: This could probably be learned online or from a book by those with good mental faculty and some meditation experience.
  6. Activating The Large Heavenly Circle: Although this is often taught in online qigong courses, there is 0 chance you will learn it that way. This practice can dramatically change the internal and external circumstances in the practitioners life.
If you dig around youtube there are a lot of great qi gong sets. When learning qigong online you don’t have the benefit of knowing if it is right for you until you try it. So for this reason you’ll have to try a lot of them before you find one that fits your style. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of learning chi kung online.

Remember be selective when you’re looking for a qigong teacher, online or offline.

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