A quiet wooden practice hall at dawn, with well-worn books and a folded practice jacket on a bench and a pine tree outside in soft golden morning light

Learning Qigong today: how to choose a form, a teacher and trustworthy information

ByRaymond Hackland

Evidence label: Tradition only

Evidence label: Speculative (claims about masters’ healing qi and lineage guarantees, discussed as myths)

This is a practical guide, not a research article. It reports what the old texts, official rules and teachers’ associations say about forms, teachers and training, and points to our articles on safety and on reading research. It does not rank styles or teachers, it gives no step-by-step practice instructions, and it makes no health claims. The Speculative label covers claims about masters’ healing qi and about lineage as a guarantee, which are discussed as myths in their own section.

Author: Raymond Hackland · Last reviewed: 21 October 2026 · Reading time: about 14 minutes

In short

What this is: “Qigong” is an umbrella word for many different practices, and anyone can call themselves a Qigong teacher. This article is a guide to finding your way: what the main kinds of form are for, how to think about a teacher’s lineage and certificates, which warning signs the old texts and today’s rules both name, where to read about safety, and how to judge what you read. It is the last article on the planned list of our Qigong series.

What the evidence says: Most of what matters in choosing a teacher cannot be measured in a study. What can be documented is the framework: China regulates its official Health Qigong forms and grades practitioners in a Duan system; in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, associations set their own standards; in the United States, a federal health agency notes that Qigong instructors need no licence and that there is no national standard for certification. Research on Qigong is growing, but much of it is small or limited, and it rarely tells you which form or teacher was involved.

What it means for your practice: No certificate, lineage or famous name guarantees good teaching, and no single sign rules a teacher out. It helps to know what a form is for, to ask a teacher openly about their training, to take warning signs seriously, and to read health claims about Qigong with the same care as any other health claim.

What tradition says

Label for this section: Tradition only (documented history; traditional texts; translations our own).

Choosing a teacher is an old worry. The Zhong-Lü chuandao ji (鍾呂傳道集), a main text of the Zhong-Lü tradition of inner alchemy, counts “blind teachers” (盲師) among the difficulties that keep a practitioner from the Way. It describes people who, in a hurry to find a teacher, “do not distinguish true from false” (急於求師，不擇真偽): some follow a teacher for his persuasive speech, others for his venerable looks, and “at first they think they have met an immortal; in the end they realise he was one of those who love profit” (始也自謂得遇神仙，終久方知好利之輩) [1]. The Buddhist master Zhiyi (智顗, 538–597) adds the other side: because difficult experiences can arise in practice, “a beginner must stay close to a good spiritual friend” (初心行人，必須親近善知識), an experienced teacher [2]. In our reading, the two texts agree: a teacher matters, and a teacher can be trusted for the wrong reasons. “Zouhuo rumo: when practice goes wrong” reads both texts more fully.

Lineage as tradition. In many Chinese arts, knowledge is described as handed down from teacher to student, sometimes through named generations back to a founder. Such lineages matter to how a tradition understands itself, but as history they need care. As “Health Qigong: how China’s standard forms were made” shows, even the official histories say that the movements of Hua Tuo’s Five Animals’ Play cannot be traced and that the creator of Ba Duan Jin is unknown, and scholars long ago recognised the preface that ties the Yijin jing to Bodhidharma as a forgery. A famous founder at the head of a lineage is often a traditional attribution, not a documented fact.

What the different forms are for

Label for this section: Tradition only (documented history; aims as the traditions and official bodies state them, not tested claims).

“Qigong” is a modern umbrella word, in general use only since the years after 1949, for Chinese practices that combine posture or movement, breathing and attention (see “What is Qigong? An introduction” and “The making of modern Qigong: Liu Guizhen, Tangshan and Beidaihe”). Some broad families, as our articles describe them:

None of these is “the real Qigong”. A few plain questions can help you see what you are looking for: a fixed sequence, or principles to explore over years? Movement or stillness? A group or one-to-one? A form with a documented history, or a teacher’s personal system, honestly presented as such? If you have a health condition, the first question belongs with your doctor.

Choosing a teacher

Label for this section: Tradition only (documented history; rules and standards as the bodies named publish them, not independent evaluations).

Lineage claims and how to check them

A teacher may say they are the “nth-generation holder” of a style, or were taught by a famous master. Some of these claims can be checked, many cannot. As our article on Western teachers puts it, a teacher’s account of their own lineage is a personal account, which we present as the teacher’s own (see “How neigong came West”). What you can do:

  • Ask openly: who did you learn from, for how long, and what? A good teacher can usually answer plainly.
  • Look for traces outside the teacher’s own website: a school, an association, a book, a named teacher who can be contacted. A lineage that exists only in one person’s story is not necessarily false, but it cannot be checked.
  • Separate the story from the teaching. In our reading, lineage tells you where a teaching comes from, not whether it is taught safely and honestly.

The Tai Chi Union for Great Britain asks applicants for instructor registration to “be aware of your lineage where possible”, since all Qigong styles “have a Lineage that you should know something about, from your own teacher” [4]. A lineage is something a teacher should be able to explain, not something that replaces an explanation.

Training and certification: what exists

We know of no worldwide qualification in Qigong. What exists depends on the country and the style.

China. For its official forms, China has a detailed framework. The Chinese Health Qigong Association, founded in May 2004 after the first four forms were finished, promotes them nationally [5]. The 2024 rules require registered practice sites to have a qualified Health Qigong “social sports instructor” (社会体育指导员) or coach [6]. Practitioners can also be graded in a Duan (段位) system, introduced on a trial basis by the Health Qigong Management Center in 2014 [7]; the current rules, issued by the Center and the Association, have applied since 4 May 2023 [8]. Duan grades assess a practitioner’s “technique and theory” in Health Qigong and their contribution to its development: grades 1 to 5 for single forms, 6 to 9 for several forms together, plus honorary grades. Each grade requires a minimum time at the grade below and points from recognised training courses or competitions; instructor, coaching or judging certificates can count instead from grade 3, and for grades 6 to 8 so can teaching assignments or chief-judge duties at provincial level or above. Grade 7 also requires a theory essay of at least 2,000 characters, and grade 8 a theory exam and a research or publication record. People with grade 6 or above may teach at Health Qigong training institutions, and applicants pay a set fee for each grade [8]. A Duan grade is a statement about someone’s level in specific Health Qigong forms. It says nothing about other styles, and it is not a health qualification.

Germany. The Deutscher Dachverband für Qigong und Taijiquan (DDQT, German umbrella association for Qigong and taijiquan) sets minimum standards for its members’ teacher training [9]. Its regulations define three levels: course leader (Kursleiter), teacher (Lehrer) and trainer of teachers (Ausbilder). The first level in Qigong requires at least two years of training and at least half an hour of one’s own practice a day. Traditional, “family-style” training can be recognised case by case. The DDQT names a full, state-recognised vocational training for teachers as a long-term aim [9]. Until then, there is no state-recognised qualification; the DDQT’s standards are those of a voluntary association for its members.

United Kingdom. The Tai Chi Union for Great Britain registers instructors in Qigong and the internal martial arts. Applicants must have trained for at least five consecutive years. They submit videos of their practice and teaching, lesson plans and a risk assessment, and a technical panel assesses their practice and teaching [4]. Its code asks members to hold appropriate insurance, a DBS (criminal record) check and first-aid training, and sets out a complaints process that can end in expulsion [10].

The Netherlands. The Stichting Taijiquan Nederland, founded in 1982, describes itself as the largest association for professional taijiquan teachers, schools and practitioners in the country; it runs a teacher finder and has codes of conduct for its members [11].

United States. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) notes that Qigong instructors “don’t have to be licensed”, that “there’s no national standard for Qigong certification”, and that organisations offer certification “with differing criteria”. It suggests asking about an instructor’s training and experience [12].

What a certificate tells you. A certificate from a recognised association tells you that someone has completed a defined training, accepted a code of conduct, and can be complained about if something goes wrong. It does not tell you how good a teacher is with people, and many experienced teachers hold none. A certificate issued by a teacher’s own school is a statement about that school’s training, not an independent check.

Warning signs

Several warning signs appear both in the old texts and in China’s modern rules. In 1999, after the Qigong boom, China’s government listed what had gone wrong: groups spreading superstition, publications that “deify the creators of methods” (神化功法创编人), illegal medical practice and fraud [13]. The 2024 rules forbid, among other things, deifying individuals, using Qigong to amass money illegally, selling so-called “information objects” (信息物; the 1999 opinion describes such items as labelled with the power of a Qigong method [13]), and lectures where a master is said to transmit qi to the audience (带功报告) [6].

These are useful outside China too. Take care if a teacher or school:

  • Promises cures or health results. Qigong is not medical treatment. The NCCIH’s advice is plain: don’t use Qigong to postpone seeing a health care provider about a medical problem [12].
  • Claims special powers. Claims that a master can send qi into others, heal at a distance or pass on power in a ceremony were central to the Qigong boom. As “What is Qigong? An introduction” says, we know of no reliable evidence that such a force exists.
  • Puts the person above the practice. Be careful where a teacher is treated as beyond question, or where the teacher’s name is offered as a guarantee of the method’s power. China’s rules forbid exactly this [6, 13].
  • Uses secrecy to bind you. Teaching step by step is normal. Secrecy as a selling point, teachings you may not discuss with anyone, or the claim that only this teacher can explain what you experience, are something else.
  • Puts pressure on you: to keep going when something feels wrong, to push through dizziness or panic, to sign up quickly for the next level, or to cut off other teachers, friends or advice.
  • Makes money or dependency the centre: rising payments for “higher” levels, objects said to be charged with qi, or a relationship you feel you cannot leave. The Zhong-Lü chuandao ji already knew the teacher who loves profit [1].

No single sign proves bad intent, and good teachers make mistakes too. Taken together, though, these signs describe the kind of teaching that the traditions themselves warned against.

Practising safely

Label for this section: Tradition only (documented history); the safety advice is the hub’s own, as in our safety articles.

Qigong is often described as gentle, but that does not make every practice right for everyone, and intensive breath work and inner practice need more care. If you have a health condition or are pregnant, start with “Who should be careful with breathing practices”. “Zouhuo rumo: when practice goes wrong” looks at what the old texts and modern psychiatry say about inner practice going wrong.

A good teacher will ask about your health before you start, will tell you that you can stop at any time, and will never treat dizziness, numbness, chest pain or rising panic as a sign of progress. If something feels wrong during or after practice, stop and breathe normally; if the feeling does not settle, talk to a doctor or another qualified health professional. If you have, or have had, a mental health condition, talk to your doctor or therapist before you start a new practice.

What science says

Label for this section: Early evidence (research on Qigong is growing but often small or limited; no study compares teachers or ways of choosing one).

What research can tell you here. We know of no study that tests how to choose a Qigong teacher or compares certified with uncertified teachers. Research can describe the forms themselves; “Qigong and tai chi: what systematic reviews say” gives an overview. The NCCIH’s summary for the public, last updated in 2022, repeatedly describes the research on particular topics as small or limited and calls for more high-quality studies [12]. It also notes that there is no research on the safety of Qigong during pregnancy, and advises pregnant women to talk with their health care providers first [12].

“Qigong” in a study is not one thing. A study that says “Qigong” may not tell you which form was practised, how, or who taught it. Even for a fixed form like Ba Duan Jin, practice in studies varies, and the Health Qigong Management Center has funded research on its own forms from the start (see “Health Qigong: how China’s standard forms were made”). That is normal for a sport body, but worth knowing when you read the results.

How to judge what you read. Much of what people read about Qigong comes from teachers’ websites, books, videos and news stories. A few questions help:

  • Who is saying this, and do they gain from it? A school selling courses, a publisher, or an independent researcher?
  • What kind of evidence is it? A personal story, a before-and-after observation, a randomised trial or a systematic review? “Study types explained: from anecdote to meta-analysis” explains the difference, and “How to read a health study in 5 minutes” gives a checklist for a single study.
  • Does it name the form, the study and the numbers? “Qigong helps with X” is too vague to check.
  • Does a traditional idea become a medical promise? That a sound is paired with an organ is traditional theory, not anatomy.
  • Is lived experience offered as proof? What practitioners notice is worth telling honestly, and our labels give it a place of its own (🟣 Lived experience), but it is not proof, and not a promise that you will notice the same.

A further article in our Reading the Evidence series, Spotting a misleading health headline, looks at how health news can mislead.

Where popular claims go beyond the evidence

Label for this section: Speculative.

“An authentic lineage guarantees authentic teaching.” A lineage tells you where a teaching comes from, if it can be traced at all. Many famous founders are traditional attributions (see “Health Qigong: how China’s standard forms were made”), and the old texts themselves warn against teachers who impress by their looks [1].

“The older the form, the better it works.” Age is not evidence. The Health Qigong forms most people learn today were compiled from 2001 onwards, from old sources plus new elements (see “What is Qigong? An introduction”). Neither age nor novelty says anything about effects.

“Officially approved, or certified, means proven to work.” Approval of a Health Qigong form is a decision by a sport body, not an independent clinical evaluation (see “Health Qigong: how China’s standard forms were made”). A Duan grade or a teacher’s certificate says something about skill and training, not about health effects [8, 9].

“A real master can heal with his qi.” We know of no reliable evidence for “external qi” sent from one person to another (see “What is Qigong? An introduction”). China’s own Health Qigong rules ban the events and objects built on such claims [6, 13].

“Strange experiences mean progress, so push on.” The traditional texts and modern safety advice both say the opposite: don’t chase unusual experiences, don’t force, and stop if something feels wrong (see “Zouhuo rumo: when practice goes wrong”).

How this relates to the Six Healing Sounds, Qigong and neigong

Label for this section: Tradition only (documented history); my own approach is marked as mine.

The Six Healing Sounds, Liu Zi Jue, appear in this article in two ways: as one of the four original Health Qigong forms, and as the older breathing method that the form was built from. Everything said above about forms, lineages, certificates and warning signs applies to them as much as to any other practice, including my own.

How I relate to these forms. I learned the traditional forms I practise directly from my teacher, Bob Lowey. Bob in turn learned from teachers including Professor Zhang Guangde, so those forms come to me through one teacher and his lineage, not from studying with those masters myself. The Six Healing Sounds form I share is my own; it doesn’t come from Bob. It is inspired by Liu Zi Jue but is not the Health Qigong form, and the way I share it is not a rule of the tradition or of the standard form.

How I practise the sounds. My practice is breath-led: you breathe in quietly through the nose and breathe the six sounds out through the mouth, “voiced through the breath”, not sung, working over time towards a silent exhalation. The breathing stays slow and controlled throughout, with no breath holds and no fast breathing. In my immersions we practise the sounds standing, in the wuji posture (无极, “without limit”), for those who are able to stand comfortably. Neidan is not part of my immersions; we use neigong and visualisation.

In my immersions, there is never any pressure to keep going. People settle in quickly: they feel comfortable, they trust the space and the group, and they find a quiet security within themselves that lets them simply feel at home. Anyone can stop, sit down or breathe normally at any time, and I’m always close by. If something feels uncomfortable, you’re welcome to tell me, before, during or after a session, and we take it from there together. Your own sense of what feels right always comes first.

Resonance Heritage Qi is a personal, music-assisted practice inspired by Liu Zi Jue: connected to it, not a replacement for the traditional form or for study with a teacher of that tradition. No study has tested it, and we make no claims about its effects. Where we use music, tuning forks or particular tones in sessions, these are aesthetic choices and an invitation to listen closely, not health claims. If you want to learn a Health Qigong set or another Qigong form properly, look for a qualified teacher of that form.

Where this journey goes next. This is the last article on the planned list of our Qigong series. If you missed them, read “What is Qigong? An introduction”, “The making of modern Qigong: Liu Guizhen, Tangshan and Beidaihe” and “Health Qigong: how China’s standard forms were made”. The other articles on that list are still to come:

  • Qigong fever: the boom of the 1980s and 1990s and how it ended (coming soon)
  • Baduanjin, the Eight-Section Brocade: the history of a form (coming soon)
  • Wuqinxi, the Five Animals’ Play: from legend to the 2003 form (coming soon)
  • Yijinjing, the Sinew-Changing Classic: texts, legends and the modern set (coming soon)
  • The Six Roots of Qigong

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Sources

  1. 鍾呂傳道集 Zhong-Lü chuandao ji, section 論魔難第十七 (“On demons and difficulties”). Chinese text, Wikisource edition, accessed 21 October 2026. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/鍾呂傳道集
  2. Zhiyi 智顗. 修習止觀坐禪法要 Xiuxi zhiguan zuochan fayao, chapter 8, 覺知魔事 (recognising the work of Māra). Chinese text, Wikisource edition (from the Taishō canon), accessed 21 October 2026. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/修習止觀坐禪法要
  3. Jia Haihong 贾海红, 2026. 清单做”加法”，服务做实事——健身气功新版功法目录发布 (New list of Health Qigong forms published). China Sports Daily, republished by the General Administration of Sport of China, 28 August 2026. https://www.sport.gov.cn/n20001280/n20001265/n20067533/c29891430/content.html
  4. Tai Chi Union for Great Britain C.I.C. (Tai Chi Internal Arts), 2024. Guide for Instructor Member Applicants (document 24.11c), accessed 21 October 2026. https://www.taichiunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/24.11c-Guide-for-Instructor-Member-Applicants.pdf
  5. Xinhua, 20 May 2004. 促进健身气功健康发展 中国健身气功协会成立 (Chinese Health Qigong Association founded). Republished by the Health Qigong Management Center, 27 May 2004. https://www.sport.gov.cn/qgzx/n5401/c666481/content.html
  6. General Administration of Sport of China, 2024. 健身气功管理办法 (Measures for the Management of Health Qigong), in force from 1 October 2024, articles 18, 26 and 29. Text as printed in China Sports Daily, republished by the General Administration of Sport, 28 August 2024. https://www.sport.gov.cn/n20001280/n20745751/c28054753/content.html
  7. Health Qigong Management Center, 2014. 体育总局气功中心关于印发《中国健身气功段位制(试行)》的通知 (Notice issuing the trial Chinese Health Qigong Duan system), published 9 April 2014. https://www.sport.gov.cn/qgzx/n5402/c665855/content.html
  8. Health Qigong Management Center and Chinese Health Qigong Association, 2023. 健身气功运动水平等级（段位）评定办法（试行） (Trial measures for grading the level of Health Qigong practitioners (Duan)), in force from 4 May 2023, articles 2, 4, 7–8, 11 and 15. Covering letter dated 4 May 2023, published 27 June 2023: https://www.sport.gov.cn/qgzx/n5402/c25738671/content.html ; full text as republished by the Center, 25 February 2026: https://www.sport.gov.cn/qgzx/n5405/c29442014/content.html
  9. Deutscher Dachverband für Qigong und Taijiquan (DDQT), 2024. Ausbildungsordnung (training regulations), version of 5 September 2024 (in force since 30 September 2022), foreword and sections 2.5, 3.1, 3.3, 4.2 and 5.2. Accessed 21 October 2026. https://ddqt.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DDQT-Ausbildungsordnung-Version-2024-09-05-V4-min.pdf
  10. Tai Chi Union for Great Britain C.I.C., 2024. Standards and Ethics for members, November 2024, accessed 21 October 2026. https://www.taichiunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/24.11-Standards-and-Ethics-v01.pdf
  11. Stichting Taijiquan Nederland (STN). Lid worden? (membership page), accessed 21 October 2026. https://www.taijiquan.nl/stn/lid-worden/
  12. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), National Institutes of Health, 2022. Qigong: What You Need To Know. Last updated February 2022, accessed 21 October 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/qigong-what-you-need-to-know
  13. General Office of the State Council, 1999. 国务院办公厅转发国家体育总局民政部公安部关于加强健身气功活动管理有关问题意见的通知 (Notice forwarding the opinion of the General Administration of Sport, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security on strengthening the management of Health Qigong activities), 国办发〔1999〕77号, 29 August 1999 (opinion dated 18 August 1999). https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2010-12/29/content_6566.htm

Source quality note: [6], [8] and [13] are official Chinese regulations, and [7] an official notice of the Health Qigong Management Center; [3] and [5] are Chinese news reports republished by the sport administration. They show what the rules say and how the official bodies describe their own system, not how well the rules work in practice. [9], [4], [10] and [11] are the associations’ own documents and pages, used only for what each association says about its own standards; we have not assessed how these standards are applied, and the list of countries and associations is not complete. [12] is a public information page of a US federal health agency, a secondary summary of research; we use it for its statements on regulation, safety and research quality, not for the individual study results it lists. [1] and [2] are traditional texts, read in the Chinese original; the translations are our own. Statements marked “see” with a link rest on the sources of the linked hub article. No source here evaluates Qigong teachers or ways of choosing one, and none studied the Six Healing Sounds.

Disclaimer

This article is for general education only. It is not medical advice and does not replace diagnosis or treatment by a doctor or other qualified health professional. Qigong and the Six Healing Sounds are traditional practices; we make no claims that they cure, treat or prevent any illness. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, or are unsure whether a practice suits you, please talk to your doctor first.

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