does anyone know of a good IMA class in Sydney (if so where) and, I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but is Qigong, in any way similar to yoga, it sounds, a little bit, like it could be, but this could be a total misinterpretation on my part.
Unfortunately I can't help you on this point, as I'm not from round that neck of the woods. But... I believe it is quite similar, however QiGong doesn't usually involve a lot of stretching as much Yoga does. It is more to do with breath, posture and Yi (Mind). Of course, Yoga also is about these things... So I guess, they are quite similar really... But with differences... James
Some schools of qigong are more similar to Yoga than others, though both Yoga and qigong have most of the same basic goals. The "Buddhist" Qigong I practice has more stretching and exercises reminiscent of Yoga than most "Daoist" qigong, which usually involves a lot of holding relatively static, standing postures. The biggest difference I can see between Yoga and the Qigong I do is the order it goes about in. Yoga thinks "your muscles have to be strong and flexible in order to do the energy work well, therefore, start out with a lot of stretching and balancing postures before moving on to the breath work, meditation, etc." Qigong says, "you won't really feel the energy of the movement in the postures until you've got the breathwork down," therefore, begin with a lot of breathwork, meditation and gently moving exercises before moving on to more strenuous, stretching and unusual position holding."
