Ancient art for modern world

Whenever she craves a cigarette, Jan Overhauser begins to breathe.

Deeply and with purpose, the Spokane woman slowly inhales and exhales – using her breath to calm her body and to focus her mind.

After smoking for 30 years, Overhauser has quit the habit. She hasn’t touched a cigarette in almost a year, she said, thanks to the ancient Chinese practice of qigong. “It calms my nerves,” Overhauser said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s the energy and getting control of your inner self.”

Pronounced “chee-kung,” this exercise of breathing and movement has become a popular way in the United States and throughout the world to relieve stress, stay healthy and perhaps deepen one’s spirituality.

On Saturday morning, Overhauser and about 20 others gathered at the west end of Manito Park’s duck pond to attend a qigong class taught by Bryan Knack, a tai chi and qigong instructor who offers the free lesson every week. For about an hour, experienced students and first-timers alike stood in the shade of pine trees as they moved their bodies to increase their range of motion and the steady flow of qi – a Chinese Mandarin word that means “energy, vitality or life force.”

“Qigong means breath skills or exercise of energy,” said Knack, owner of a studio called Northwest Tai Chi for Health. “We’re going to connect the energy of the heaven with the energy of the earth and the energy of ourselves.”

Wearing T-shirts, shorts, sneakers and other comfortable clothing, the group began with warm-ups that included rolling their shoulders and making circular motions with their heads. Besides Knack’s soothing voice, the only sounds they could hear at 9 a.m. were the gulls and ducks around the pond and the splash of the nearby fountain.

“It was just a time to calm down, relax, enjoy the world and thank God for the blessings I have,” said Sharon Spear of Liberty Lake, who attended the class for the first time.

Spear, who recently moved to the area from Japan, was looking for a way to improve her ability to meditate and relax, so she decided to drive to Manito Park to see what it was all about. After picking up the basic movements on Saturday, Spear plans to attend on a regular basis.

“It was a spiritual feeling of the universe and trying to get in touch with all that,” she said. “Everyone’s running and moving so fast, people are working at such neck-breaking speeds that we have no time to reflect and calm down.”

According to Knack, qigong was first devised 3,000 years ago by Taoist monks because of their sedentary lives and extensive meditation sessions. The Chinese believe that the practice of qigong enhances one’s immune system, which then prevents illness and increases the body’s ability to heal.

Knack said the four major approaches in qigong involve training the body, the breath, the voice and, most importantly, the mind.

“What’s truly leading your qi is your action of thought, your mind,” he told his students Saturday.

A Spokane native, Knack has been studying martial arts since he was in high school. About 20 years ago, he changed his focus to tai chi and qigong, studying under grand masters Yu Shaowen, Gao Jiamin and others from China and the United States. After living and teaching tai chi and qigong in Portland, he returned to Spokane in 2000 to open his own studio.

Although both tai chi and qigong are considered meditation practice, qigong, unlike tai chi, is not considered a martial art even though it creates martial abilities. It’s an exercise that doesn’t exhaust you, Knack said.

Other martial groups gather at Manito Park on Saturday mornings, but most practice tai chi instead of qigong.

“It’s for people looking for stress relief or those interested in the connection between the mind, body and spirit,” he said. Among high-level qigong masters, qigong is a way to understand human nature and its relationship with the environment, he said.

Next month, Overhauser, 47, will celebrate one year of being smoke-free, she said. It’s also her first anniversary of intensive qigong training at Knack’s studio. “I’ve replaced smoking with qigong,” she said.