Medical Qi Gong to Heal Yourself and Others
Updated: Sep 22
Len Shen is a Doctor of Medical Qi Gong, Buddhist Lama, Christian mystical priest, Harvard-trained litigator, Fortune 100 corporate executive, and on the Board of homeless shelters and technology startups. Founder of California Qigong, he teaches Qi Gong online and uses sophisticated medical Qi Gong protocols to promote healing.
Is Western medicine not working for you? Do you feel disempowered by your doctors, helplessly being sent to test after test, scan after scan? Are you being prescribed pharmaceutical drugs with side effects, and then prescribed more drugs to fix those side effects? “Isn’t there more out there to help me get healthy?”
What about Energy Healing? The “Mother of all Healing” modalities in many indigenous cultures, today Energy Healing is relegated by mainstream medicine to “woo woo” New Age fringe practitioners, turned to only as a last resort. Indeed, energy healing is largely unregulated, with no established standards of safe and effective practices. So, results have been varied at best.
Medical Qi Gong: A 4,000-year-old healing practice finally being recognized in the U.S
In China, one of the most sophisticated Energy Healing practices in the world has been refined into a true medical science. Unbeknownst to most physicians in the West, over the last 4,000 years, the Chinese have developed Medical Qi Gong (MQG) to a high level of detail and skill.
The significance of MQG has begun to be recognized in the United States. In May 2026, Harvard Medical School hosted its second conference on this topic in three years, titled “The Science of Tai Chi and Qi Gong as Whole Person Health,” where hundreds of physicians, academics, and practitioners from 65 countries shared research about what has long been known and practiced in the East as a powerful system for healing.[1]
Earlier this year, after years of studying Medical Qi Gong, the U.S. Veterans Administration announced that qualified MQG practitioners will be authorized to treat, not just teach, millions of VA patients around the country. The VA has worked with the National Qi Gong Association to facilitate the qualification of Qi Gong practitioners for this enormous market of needy patients.[2]
Here below is the first in a series of articles introducing the science of Medical Qi Gong, which has brought the science of Energy Healing to a high level of sophistication, both in the practitioner and in their patients.[3]
What is Qi Gong, and is it an effective healing modality?
Qi Gong means “Energy Work” in Mandarin Chinese. Similar to Tai Chi, Qi Gong entails gentle movements, sound vibration, breathing techniques, visualization, and relaxation to open the energy highways or “meridians” in the body and allow a freer flow of energy. With open meridians, clots of stagnant and negative energy can be cleared from the body, deficient areas can be revitalized with Life Force Energy (“Chi”), and a healthy overall energy pattern can be re-established. When the energy matrix of the body is healthy, the tissue will grow accordingly, like young vines following a trellis.
Qi Gong is practiced by hundreds of thousands of Americans for its health benefits, which have been recognized by the National Institutes of Health, Veterans Administration, and major medical institutions.[4]
How is Medical Qi Gong different from Qi Gong?
Within Qi Gong, a lesser-known but most powerful branch is Medical Qi Gong (also known as “External Qi Gong” because it involves projecting energy into other people). MQG goes beyond healing the practitioner; it can be used by the practitioner to heal other people by projecting healthy life force energy into their bodies and removing toxic energy clots from the sick patient.
MQG has been refined over millennia into a meticulous science. It includes 18 Rules of Posture, 16 Rules of Neigong (“Internal skill,” comprised of once-secret Daoist practices to absorb energy from the ground and environment), detailed understanding of the anatomy of the body’s acupuncture meridians and energy centers, and a highly developed ability to sense and control electromagnetic energy. In fact, the number one principle of MQG is, "Your mind is incredibly powerful in its ability to sense and control energy around you, much more than is recognized in the West."
Unlike any other energy healing practice in the world, MQG has dozens of protocols developed over centuries to treat specific diseases, including several types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue, hypertension, and many other diseases.[4] [5]
Where can I find out more about Medical Qi Gong and learn how to practice it?
Fewer than 1,000 MQG doctors have been certified in the U.S. (These degrees are theological doctorates to comply with U.S. regulations, not M.D.s.) The author and his colleagues in California Qi Gong are among those MQG doctors, trained directly for at least five years under Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson. Dr. Johnson is widely recognized as “the father of Medical Qi Gong in the West” and author of 11 books documenting dozens of treatment protocols used in the Chinese Medical Qi Gong hospitals.
Our mission is to bring the healing powers of MQG to especially those who can least afford it, and hence, we have provided over 80 pro bono workshops at homeless shelters, Veterans facilities, dementia wards, and women’s cancer groups. We presented multiple topics on our work at the 2026 Harvard Medical School conference and were featured by the National Qi Gong Association this year.
For those interested in learning how to practice MQG, California Qi Gong provides three weekly online classes. For those interested in learning how to treat others and not just themselves, including the millions of veterans awaiting MQG treatments, enrollment is now open for a three and a half year program beginning in January 2027. This program will certify Master of Energetic Medicine (M.E.M.) degrees, with both weekly online and in-person clinical workshops (Continuing Education Credits may be available). No prior experience is required for any of our classes.
Conclusion
MQG provides powerful techniques to help heal oneself, loved ones, and friends, including for illnesses where Western medicine has not been satisfactory on its own. Please see here or email us for more information, and watch for upcoming articles in this series on MQG.
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Read more from Leonard Shen
Leonard Shen, Doctor of Chinese Energetic Medicine & Buddhist Lama
Len Shen is a Doctor, Lawyer, Buddhist Lama, and Priest. He has dedicated his life to public service, first as a Harvard-trained environmental advocate and Fortune 100 corporate chief ethics and compliance officer, and now bringing the 4,000-year-old healing tradition of Medical Qi Gong to clients and students through his non-profit. Dr. Shen and his colleagues at California Qi Gong provide treatments and online training, including for those who can least afford medical care. They are recognized experts, including presenting their work at Harvard Medical School in May 2026. Medical Qi Gong is used to treat a host of diseases, including cancer, chronic fatigue, menopause, and trauma-related illnesses.
References:
[2] VA Credentialing
[3] This article includes portions of the author’s own presentation at the May 2026 Harvard Medical School conference.
[5] The Secrets of Chinese Energetic Medicine, Volumes 1 to 5, by Jerry Alan Johnson.
