While Medical Qigong is undoubtedly one of the most effective forms of medical intervention known to man, it is also, not surprisingly, one of the most intriguing and challenging to embark upon. It also the most demanding in terms of the time and effort needed to master it. Such seemingly “miraculous” potency could not be otherwise.

Objectives of Medical Qigong Training
The main objectives of Medical Qigong training are to cleanse, purify, refine, sensitise, increase and potentise one’s Qi to thereby enhance one’s treatment capabilities and effectiveness.
The Qi transmitted (especially if “directly” i.e. without intermediary instruments or other intervening factors) to the client/patient must be the cleanest, purest and most potent possible.
Since MQG “Emitting External Qi Treatment” means that the practitioner is, effectively, sending his/her own Qi to the patient, the quality of the practitioner’s Qi has direct bearing upon the treatment’s effectiveness. The healthier the Qi the better the treatment.

Development of Medical Qigong Training in Europe
Since 1999 the ICTCM has been organising professional training in Medical Qigong for fully qualified and trained practitioners of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and was thus the first TCM College in Ireland to enable its practitioners to study and practice Medical Qigong (MQG). Up to now this full professional training has only taken place in China while a number of Introductory Workshops in Qigong, and Modules in Medical Qigong, have been run by the ICTCM in Ireland since 2002.

The Lic.MQG (as well as the MQG post-graduate programmes) are run under the auspices of Professor Xia Shuangquan who is the Honorary President of the Qigong Department of the ICTCM. In addition to being a renowned Master of Medical Qigong he also holds the post of Professor of Medical Qigong at Guangzhou University of TCM, Guangzhou, China – one of the leading TCM Universities in China.

The training programme for the Licentiate in Medical Qigong is based on Qigong Master Professor Xia Shuangquan’s many years of experience of Qigong practice and his systematic development of - Science of Potential State Qigong. This Science of Potential State Qigong was created and compiled, in co-operation with Professor Song Xinhong, in response to a request for specialist Medical Qigong training from the Director of the ICTCM, Professor Tom Shanahan, in 1999. During the following 6 or more consecutive years, a comprehensive system of teaching materials of Qigong theory and practice was created. It is a unique teaching system with its own distinctive characteristics which are found nowhere else in the world.

Professor Xia Shuangquan and Professor Song Xinhong taught this system of Qigong to selected graduates and Faculty Members of the ICTCM from 2000 to the present, in China, and in 2005 signed an Teaching Authorisation Agreement allowing the ICTCM to teach Qigong according to the systematic programme, in Ireland. It was on the basis of this programme that the Lic.MQG and MQG Certificate and Diploma Courses were designed and developed.

If you are a qualified Acupuncture or TCM Practitioner and wish to go directly to our Post-graduate Professional Training in MQG click here.

Undergraduate-level training in MQG - Licentiate in Medical Qigong (Lic.MQG)
Now, in 2006, we are launching full professional training in Medical Qigong in Ireland, to enable students to learn MQG as it is taught in China. This Lic.MQG programme requires no prior knowledge of Acupuncture, TCM or Qigong.

It is a very intensive part-time course which runs for three years. There are twelve teaching weekends per year. Teaching sessions in the first two years are approximately monthly, in the third, Clinical, year fortnightly. Unlike other institutes, the ICTCM ensures that all teaching sessions are held only on Saturdays and Sundays. The Licentiate course is structured to enable students who are currently working full-time, either in the home or outside it, to attain full professional training. Considerable emphasis is placed upon extra-curricular study and related academic activities such as student seminars, practical work-shop sessions, Qigong training practice, discussion groups, home study, as well as upon in-house formal academic and Clinical training.

The Lic.MQG Syllabus
Common Core Curriculum. There are two parts to the Lic.MQG syllabus – a common core curriculum and a specialist Medical Qigong curriculum. Acupuncture and Medical Qigong share many of the same theoretical TCM foundations. Equally many of the practical skills of patient/client communication and management are common to both specialisms. Thus, there is a common core curriculum which is shared by the two Licentiate programmes.

All technical TCM and MQG terminology is taught in Chinese.

Click here for more information on the common core curriculum.

Specialist MQG Curriculum
In addition to the common curriculum shared between the Lic.MQG and the Lic.TCM, Medical Qigong students will also study the specific MQG curriculum developed and expounded by Professor Xia Shuangquan. In general terms, this includes but is not confined to:

• The theory and purposes of Medical Qigong.
• The theoretical foundations and history of medical Qigong (those specific to Qigong).
• Medical Qigong clinical methodology.
• Practical Qigong exercise methods.
• Practical Medical Qigong treatment techniques
• Medical Qigong clinical management.
• Special Qigong medical diagnostic methods.

MQG Clinical training
In the third year Clinical students, who have successfully completed all academic and practical examinations, transfer from the College to the Teaching Clinic. Under the supervision of an experienced Clinical Director, with first-hand knowledge of working in top hospitals in China, and experience of MQG treatment in Chinese Hospitals, students will undertake their clinical training. For details of this click here.

MQG Assessment and requirements
The same assessment methods and requirements apply for the Lic.MQG as for the Lic.TCM. For more information click here.

However, in addition, considerable emphasis is also placed on regular practical Qigong training, coaching and assessment.

As Professor Tom Shanahan (himself a student and practitioner of MQG for the last 6 or more years) has observed:

“In purely practical, down to earth, everyday terms, MQG is a discipline - with all that that notion implies. Medical Qigong (like Martial Arts Qigong) demands seriousness, dedication, appliance, pains-taking practise, patience and perseverance to achieve proficiency. It is no idle plaything for the dilettante, nor pastime for the mere dabbler. The Chinese term “Gong” embraces hard-work, constancy, and promise of gradual attainment. It should be approached neither by the pusillanimous nor the faint-hearted. Since its attainments are precious, its costs are dear.”

Qualification and Certification At the end of the Clinical Training session those students who have satisfied the requirements of the course will be awarded the Licentiate in Medical Qigong qualification, along with the appropriate certificate. On successful completion of the Lic.MQG, graduates are automatically eligible to apply for entry to the Professional Register of Traditional Chinese Medicine – Medical Qigong section and thus to take up a profession as a practitioner of Medical Qigong.

They are also then eligible to take part in Post-graduate training with the ICTCM and its affiliated colleges. The Licentiate is deemed to be a Batchelor-level equivalent course by our TCM partner University in China and qualifies graduates to apply for a Masters-level qualification. Indeed, as the first TCM specialism in the Master of Medicine Degree will be Medical Qigong, those with a Lic.MQG will be pre-eminently suited for entry to the Masters Degree programme.

Medical Qigong practitioners
While Lic.MQG graduates will be qualified Medical Qigong specialists they will not systematically learn the Jingluo system nor the Acupuncture points, nor will they learn needle technique and other aspects of Acupuncture/Moxibustion therapy. Thus, they will NOT be qualified to use such methods at the end of the Licentiate in MQG and will be expressly forbidden to do so by the terms of their insurance cover.

Anyone wishing to practice Acupuncture and TCM as well as Medical Qigong is advised to complete the Lic.TCM Course and then do a post-graduate qualification in Medical Qigong. However, for those wishing a career in Medical Qigong but not in Acupuncture, the Lic.MQG is ideally suitable.

To request a Lic.MQG Prospectus click here.

Additional benefits of studying and practising Qigong
In addition to the stated medical benefits to one’s patients/clients of undertaking training in Medical Qigong, course participants will keep a Qigong journal to monitor and evaluate their own personal progress and benefits of regular Qigong practice.

Medical Qigong stresses the importance of the health of the practitioner, so, improvements in the practitioner’s own health is a prerequisite for the treatment of serious illnesses with MQG. Refining, cleansing and purifying one’s own Qi (and at a later stage one’s own Shen and Dao De), and activating and potentising one’s own Potential Energy has wonderful health benefits not only for one’s patients but also for oneself.

The hidden treasures of Qigong are said to include not only improvement in health, vitality and recuperative power but also in happiness, longevity, beauty, refinement and spiritual development.

As Qigong Master Professor Xia notes, “Your experience will let you know if this is true”.

Post graduate courses in Medical Qigong
We are now launching full professional post-graduate training in Medical Qigong in Ireland, to serve the needs of TCM practitioners based in Europe who wish to learn Medical Qigong (as taught in China) without the burden and expense of leaving one’s own TCM practice for a length of time (up to four or five weeks each year) to study MQG in China. These courses will begin later this year - 2006.

There are a number of options:

• Master of Medicine Degree (specialising in Medical Qigong)
• Post-graduate Professional Certificate in Medical Qigong – Cert.MQG
• Post-graduate Professional Diploma in Medical Qigong - Dip.MQG
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Medical Qigong

For more details of the Medical Qigong Post-graduate programmes click here.