Discover How Qigong Can Transform Your Life
- Feb 10, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 5, 2025
Nicole Lee is an experienced Qigong Teacher, Practitioner and Holistic Health mentor. After delivering thousands of classes and workshops and over a decade of devotion to Qigong, she specialises in training others to share this subtle, yet powerful modality.
Qigong is more than a movement practice; it’s a way of being and a relationship with life itself. At its core, Qigong is about cultivating and refining our life-force energy (Qi) through movement, breath, and intention. But its true depth extends beyond the physical into the realms of spirit, consciousness, and transformation. This is where Shen Gong comes into play. Shen Gong, the cultivation of Shen (spirit), allows us to work not only with the body’s energy system but also with our consciousness.
Through Qigong and Shen Gong together, we move from simply circulating Qi to refining it, aligning with our deepest nature, and illuminating our true essence.
This path is one of personal evolution, a journey of dissolving conditioned patterns and returning to a state of wholeness.
Why Qigong is more than just a movement
Many students come to Qigong seeking health benefits, and while it certainly supports physical vitality, approaching it solely as a set of exercises is a limited perspective.
True Qigong practice is an integration of body, mind, and spirit, creating a profound transformation that cannot be reduced to mechanics alone. It is not just about following forms; it is about meeting ourselves in the present moment, sensing and cultivating Qi directly, and allowing wisdom to arise through embodied experience.
When I first encountered Qigong, I was drawn to its ability to regulate my nervous system, bringing a sense of relief from the hypervigilance I had carried since childhood. However, as I deepened my practice, I began to see that Qigong was not just helping me manage stress. It was unraveling the very patterns that had shaped my way of being in the world. It was not simply healing me; it was transforming me.
Qi and Shen: Energy and spirit in harmony
Qi is our life force, the energy that animates and connects all things. Shen, our spirit, is the radiant expression of our consciousness. The deeper our Qigong practice becomes, the more refined our Qi becomes, and the clearer and brighter our Shen becomes.
Through Shen Gong's practices, we learn to refine Qi into Shen, transforming physical energy into spiritual presence, awareness, and insight. This is why true Qigong is not just about cultivating energy but also about deepening our connection to our highest self, dissolving illusion, and expanding into greater states of consciousness.
Many of us have spent years disconnected from our inner light, weighed down by external pressures, unprocessed emotions, and subconscious patterns of survival. Shen Gong helps us reclaim that light. As we cultivate stillness, we learn to listen to the deeper currents of our being. We move beyond simply “feeling better” and begin the process of becoming who we truly are.
Commitment to practice: The key
To truly experience Qigong’s transformative power, one must approach it with depth and commitment. A scattered or reductionist approach will yield only superficial benefits, while a devoted, integrated practice will lead to profound shifts in awareness, energy, and spirit.
Qigong and Shen Gong ask us to step away from distractions and external validations, to become present with ourselves, and to refine our energy in a way that brings us into alignment with the Dao. It requires consistency, patience, and the willingness to let go of what no longer serves us.
My own path with Qigong was not a quick fix. It took years of dedicated practice to begin unlearning the patterns of over-functioning and control that had shaped my identity. There were moments of frustration, resistance, and doubt.
But over time, the practice revealed itself as an unwavering guide, helping me move from survival to deep presence, from fragmentation to wholeness.
How to bring Qigong into everyday life
Qigong is not separate from life; it is life. It is the way we breathe, the way we move, the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us.
For those just beginning, the most important step is simply to start.
Allow yourself to experience the practice without over-intellectualising it. Observe how it feels, how your energy shifts, and how awareness expands. Let the practice teach you rather than seek to control or analyse it.
When practiced deeply, Qigong is not just about movement; it is about transforming the entire landscape of your life. It is a return to your original nature, an opening to the vast intelligence that already exists within you.
Ready to Begin? If you're ready to deepen your connection to Qi and Shen, explore my latest Qigong mini-course, Natural Dao Qigong, or join the Yang Sheng Fa membership, where you’ll gain access to an abundance of class recordings and practice videos to support your journey.
Nicole Lee, Qigong Teacher Trainer & Yang Sheng Fa Mentor
Nicole Lee is an internationally certified Qigong teacher with training encompassing both Modern and Classical Qigong styles. Over a span of more than ten years instructing Qigong, she has witnessed the transformative impact of this gentle practice on physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Nicole approaches Qigong with reverence, advocating for a modern and contemporary perspective to make this ancient healing art accessible to those leading busy and demanding lives.
