"The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life."
                                                 - Eckhart Tolle

Is there an underlying spiritual dimension behind the myriad forms of Qigong that by its very nature, invites us to simply and directly access deeper levels of being, pure awareness and the experience of Presence in daily life? If this is the original intent of Qigong, in what way can this ancient art be practiced as a Portal to Presence?

These questions and the perspective that informs them stem directly from many years of my personal and professional experience as a psychologist, student and teacher of Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan. My own journey through the complex and often confusing landscape of these disciplines and practices has led me to some of the insights and ideas I would like to share in this article.

Having studied and worked for many years with a variety of teachings, and masters of internal energy, martial and spiritual arts, I have personally experienced and observed many of the spiritual blind alleys and subtle dangers that are associated with complex systems of Qi training and hierarchical structures of spiritual development. The obvious risks include identification with a set of formal teachings, lineages, systems, or even the identity of belonging to an elite professional organization. The less obvious, more subtle dangers involve identification with a set of goals, or images of spiritual attainment, no matter how refined or ideal they may be. The result of either is that the seeker assumes a new self-image; an elevated or spiritual ego emerges, an identity framed within the language, symbols or authority of the teachings or lineage. These risks become especially compelling when ancient teachings are highly commercialized as they are transplanted into Western society. As a result, it is very easy for students of Qigong or meditation to become lost in a forest of techniques, symbols, arcane language, rituals or authority and thereby ignore the simple and direct realization that lies at the very heart or genesis of most formal systems. This essential realization, which we could describe as Presence or Being, is in complete alignment with the core of Taoist principles, and is aptly expressed in the aphorism:

"When there is no meditator, there is nothing to meditate upon" 1

If we are willing to suspend for the moment our conventional understanding of Qigong, our inquiry could lead us into a much simpler and direct approach to working with Qi - a way of embracing the life force that encompasses and employs the most subtle qualities of energy expressed in the body/mind. This approach to understanding and practicing Qigong is more truly aligned with the Taoist principles of Wu Wei (non-effort) and Wu Chi (Formlessness). This approach, more fundamental than any forms or systems of cultivating Qi for the purpose of healing or developing internal power, would at the same time effortlessly incorporate those expressions, and simultaneously point to the field of consciousness or Presence that lies behind all of these phenomena.

I would describe this deeper understanding or more essential quality as the spiritual foundation of Qigong ­ the ancient intent underlying any forms or systems of internal development whether they are healing, martial or spiritual.

Notwithstanding the numerous health benefits of the conventional forms of Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan, and other ancient mind/body traditions, there is something more essentially authentic in or behind these forms that evokes a deeper level of human consciousness existing prior to the forms themselves.

Before we examine this possibility, it may be useful to briefly describe some