Qi Gong and My Neck

I am the least qualified to discuss Tai Chi and Qi Gong, but I’ve been attempting to learn about it, and both are pretty darn cool. My in-laws have a Lego resale business, and I thought the easiest way to convey to my spouse what I think I understand is as follows: Qi Gong is older and like the predecessor of Tai Chi. Qi Gong appears to have lots of different movements, which would be like individual Legos. Tai Chi is more like when you get a specific set or creation of Legos. A prescribed order and sequence. Qi Gong can be martial arts, spiritual, or physical wellness. Tai Chi was developed from Qi Gong focusing on the martial arts application.

The funny thing is, I think a lot of the videos labeled as Tai Chi aren’t necessarily strict Tai Chi Forms, so in theory they might be more Qi Gong. I wonder if it’s the term Tai Chi being more recognizable. That’s why I initially searched under Tai Chi. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open up learning Qi Gong if it was entirely different and perhaps harder. Surprise – it’s probably easier or similar to those beginner Tai Chi videos anyway.

I realized it’s been about a year since I’ve had tension and pain in my neck whenever attempting to stretch or exercise my neck. I finally gave up because it wasn’t worth it, even if my physician gave me a standing prescription for muscle relaxants. I watched a couple of Qi Gong videos online and automatically stopped as soon as any of them mentioned stretching or turning the neck much. I finally realized today that it might be worth a shot. If they cause pain and I regret it, at least it’s not doing so while I’m at work attempting to concentrate and deal with that aspect of life. I still have a week and a half left (and a bottle of prescriptions at the ready). As it is, I don’t know what I’ve been doing that makes my shoulders so tense and hurt by the end of the day, but I’m in pain and chucking back the OTCs by that time. I thought walking was supposed to help with that, and all I’m doing is walking. Anyway, I tried a couple of gentle videos (the first semed more geared towards arms and shoulders) and only went as far as I felt was safe. The pain is always delayed, so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed. I can always try different videos tomorrow.