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How to Achieve Life Balance with Qi: Advice from Robert Peng

06 May, 2019 | Posted by Jenn Brown

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How to Achieve Life Balance with Qi: Advice from Robert Peng
Robert Peng, born and raised in Hunan, China, is a world-renowned qigong master and healer. He began studying this ancient Chinese art of wisdom, love, and vitality at the age of eight under the legendary monk Xiao Yao. Robert began teaching at the age of 29 and has helped hundreds of thousands find peace, health, happiness, and creativity through qigong.
 

1440: Let's start with the basics. What is qi?

 
Robert: Qi is vital energy. It's the most essential part of what makes everything as it's supposed to be—not just the material part, but the spiritual part as well.
 
We are all beings made of the same thing—cells and atoms—but qi is what makes our structure different and makes us different from each other.
 
It's also what makes the whole universe what it is. There are many kinds of qi, like guardian qi (for protection), nutritional qi (from the things we eat, drink, and breathe), prenatal qi (the energy from your ancestors passed on in your genes), and more. All these different kinds of qi come together in different ways to make us who we are.
 

1440: Could you describe one of those kinds of qi in detail so we get a sense of how it works?

 
Robert:
 
Guardian qi is the energy that holds all of your cells and atoms together.
 
As we get older, our guardian qi gets weaker. We think we're moving our whole self, but maybe your leg is a little bit behind the rest of you. Guardian qi makes you into one piece so you feel young and flexible.
 
Another function of guardian qi is to offer protection for the immune system. There are things we call evil qi—like wind, damp, hot, and cold—not because they're bad, but because they can be. They can also be nourishing. They become evil when they're too invasive and severe. Like in summer, the hot and damp can make people miserable and sick. When your guardian qi is strong, you can hold this evil qi a lot more.
 
Guardian qi is also what is strong when you see qigong masters do things to show off! When we heat up oil in a wok until it bubbles and then we drop a nickel in it and then pick it out of the oil and hold it in our bare hands without getting burned, that's the protection of the guardian qi.
 
When your guardian qi is strong, you feel at home in yourself.
 

1440: You mentioned evil chi. Is there such a thing as good qi or bad qi?

 
Robert: The energy itself is not bad or good, it's how you use it. Hitler had very powerful energy, but he used it wrong. So did Harry Potter's Voldemort. When you put a bad intention there, the qi becomes bad. When we talk about good qi, it's referring to wanting to have the qi serve you and make you feel happy and good.
 
 

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