Ancient Art of Qigong Eases Arthritic Joints

Sep. 7, 2008 -- In November, Ken Cohen was invited to give two lectures on qigong, the ancient Chinese therapeutic movement discipline, at that hallowed hall of Western medicine -- the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Sensing he might face a crowd of skeptics, the qigong master from Colorado surveyed the room and immediately knew what to say and what to leave out.

"If you go in there and talk about life force and opening up the currents of qi and making sure it flows and so on and so forth, they're just going to stop listening and fall asleep," says Cohen.

Instead, Cohen focused on the growing body of medical studies indicating that these exercises -- using deep breathing, visualization and gentle, fluid exercises -- can prevent or help treat an array of ailments ranging from hypertension to arthritis, diabetes to depleted cerebral function.

"If I go in there with hard data, they'll listen," explains Cohen, who speaks in Fair Oaks next weekend. "I'll say, 'Look, you've got 240 hypertensive patients, divided into two groups. Both are given identical Western medication for high blood pressure. But one group practices qigong.'

" 'These groups are followed for 30 years. At the end of 30 years, 47 percent of the control group had died, but only 25 percent of those practicing qigong. For stroke, 40 percent incidence in the control group, 20 percent in the qigong group.' "