• Relaxation Qigong (Fang Song Gong). Sophisticated methods of progressive relaxation that may be practiced standing, seated, or supine.
  
  
• Bone Marrow Cleansing (Xi Sui Jing). The classic system of purification qigong, attributed to Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Bone Marrow Cleansing sends healing qi through the bones. Studies suggest positive effects on the immune system.
  
  
• Healing Sounds (Liu Qi Fa). Beginning and advanced levels of Healing Sounds, an integration of sound and posture to drive toxins out of the lungs, heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys. The advanced set includes exercises to detoxify acupuncture points and meridians. The Healing Sounds are widely prescribed in China and have an excellent clinical record.
  
  
• Primordial Qigong (Hunyuan Gong). An exceptionally rare and powerful qigong from the ancient Taoist tradition and transmitted today by renowned Taiji Quan Master Feng Zhiqiang. Professor Cohen learned the system from one of Feng's senior students, 83 years young Madame Gao Fu. Blend the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth with the energy of life within the body.
  
  
• Coiling Silk Qigong (Chan Si Gong). Coiling silk refers to the uncoiling of a cocoon as you gently pull a silk thread. Coiling silk movements open and close the joints and stimulate the qi to reach dense, congested, or tight areas.
  
  
• The Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi). The most ancient healing exercise still practiced today. The Five Animals were created by Hua Tuo, the father of Chinese Medicine, in the second century A.D. The Five Animals are the Crane for relaxation, the Bear for strength, the Monkey for flexibility, the Deer for grace, and the Tiger for power.
  
  
• Taiji Ruler (Taiji Chi). The first person to teach this technique publicly, Zhao Zhongdao lived to age 118. Taiji Ruler is attributed to Taoist recluse Chen Xiyi and was until the 1950s a secret of the Chinese imperial family. It consists of easy-to-learn rocking movements that build qi in the feet, lower back, abdomen, and hands. It may be practiced for self-healing or to increase the power of healing touch. The QRPC is one of the few schools in the world that teaches the complete system of Taiji Ruler, including the solo exercises, two person exercises, strength training techniques, and meditative Ruler.
  
  
• Standing Meditation (Yi Quan Zhan Zhuang). Standing Meditation is the foundation of qigong practice. The students learns to stand in meditative postures for a period of time in order to improve posture, deepen the breath, and increase the body's structural integrity and strength. We teach the complete Yi Quan Standing Meditation System of Wang Xiangzhai, generally considered the greatest master of Standing Meditation of all time. In addition to learning standing techniques, students learn a system of balanced, meditative walking and two person exercises to develop peng jing (rounded, resilient energy). Peng jing is the secret to preventing sports injuries.
  
  
• Muscle/Tendon Transformation (Yi Jin Jing). Dynamic isometric exercises combined with respiratory techniques. Builds strength and power without muscle mass.
  
  
• The Eight Brocades (Ba Duan Jin). The eight brocades is a simple qigong warm-up and stretch routine that students learn in one or two classes.
  
  
• Eighteen Monks (Shi Ba Luohan). Vigorous stretching, strengthening, balance, and conditioning exercises to improve sports and martial arts performance.
  
  
• Self-Massage (An Mo Gong). By lightly chafing the skin over specific meridians, acupuncture points, organs, muscles, and joints, stagnant qi is dispersed and circulation improves.
  

Qigong Visualization and Meditation

Healing Imagery is cutting edge medicine in the west. Through imagery, the mind communicates with the body. Neuropeptides (chemicals of consciousness) are released that directly affect organ and immune function. Qigong includes the most extensive and ancient system of healing imagery techniques in the world. We offer training in:

• Gathering Energy from Nature: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, Trees
  
  
• Lesser and Greater Heavenly Circulation: sending qi through meridians, to clear them of obstructions and restore health
  
  
• Turtle, Crane, and Deer Meditation, to refine Spirit (Shen), Breath (Qi), and Sexual Vitality (Jing)
  
  
• Cultivating Stillness (Ru Jing)
  
  
• Embryonic Respiration (Tai Xi): training the breath to become Slow, Long, Deep, Smooth, and Even. As the breathing rate drops, the mind becomes relaxed and attentive.
  

External Qi Healing

An External Qi Healer uses gentle touch or non-contact treatment to reach the client's life energy (qi) and bring it to balance. It is different from western Therapeutic Touch in that it includes a sophisticated method of health assessment and a systematic training for the healer to increase the effectiveness of his or her treatment. External Qi Healing (EQH) is valuable for health-care providers or anyone who wishes to deepen his or her understanding of healing energy and its effect on others.
Scientific research has demonstrated that EQH is not dependent on the client's belief system or cultural bias; it is effective in vitro and in laboratory animals. Patients treated by EQH have less frequency of recurrence of disease than those treated by acupuncture. Yet, the system is easy for a Westerner to learn as it does not require knowledge of Chinese medicine. The objectives of this course include:

• learn self-healing exercises and meditations. The healer must learn to take care of his/her own health so there will be no danger of either transmitting diseased qi or being depleted when working with the ill
  
  
• find a core of inner strength. Create appropriate boundaries yet maintain compassion.
  
  
• open the body/mind to the universal well of healing power in Nature. By tapping a transpersonal source, the healer reaches an unlimited supply of qi.
  
  
• learn the theory and practice of EQH, including methods of assessment, projecting specific forms of therapeutic qi, and how to integrate EQH into the healing/helping professions.
  

Inner Martial Arts (Nei Jia Quan)

The inner martial arts are martial arts that have a strong qigong component and may thus be practiced for their exercise benefits or for self-defense. They include:

Taiji Quan
Taiji Quan means the martial art (quan) that harmonizes yin and yang (taiji). The practitioner learns to balance the spiritual and physical dimensions of yin and yang:

Spiritual: inside with outside (self with nature), lower body with upper body, female with male, subconscious with conscious.
Physical: passive with active, soft with hard (suppleness with strength), slow with quick, high postures with low.

Taiji Quan looks like a slow motion choreographed dance, with 108 postures each flowing into the next. Professor Cohen teaches the popular Yang Style of Taiji Quan, noted for its gentleness, and the original Chen Style Taiji Quan, with dynamically changing rhythms-- like crashing waves and slow retreating tides. Students may also learn Taiji Sensitivity Training (Push Hands), Taiji Self-Defense, and Sport Weaponry (Staff, Sword, and Saber).
The Taiji Quan martial artist learns to move away from aggression, "neutralizing" it like a stream flowing around a rock.
Taiji Quan has proven effects on pulmonary function, cardiovascular health (especially blood pressure), and balance. It was the first Chinese self-healing art to appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association and other peer-reviewed journals.


Bagua Zhang
Bagua Zhang trains the body and hands (zhang) to move in circular patterns (bagua). It is generally considered the most mysterious of the Inner Martial Arts. The founder of Bagua Zhang was nursed back to health by Taoist priests who taught him their healing and martial art. Bagua Zhang is a superb art for cultivating flexibility and rooted strength. When applied to self-defense, the Bagua boxer imagines that the attacker is the center of his or her circle. She whirls around the attacker with a combination of ingenious locks, throws, and strikes.


Xing Yi Quan
Xing Yi Quan (Body Mind Boxing) is based on five linear strikes, each related to one of the Five Elements of Chinese philosophy:

Splitting moves like an ax chopping wood (Metal Element) and benefits the lungs.
Crushing darts out like a wooden arrow (Wood Element) and benefits the liver.
Drilling coils like a meandering stream (Water Element) and stimulates the kidneys.
Pounding explodes like a canon ball (Fire Element) and is related to the heart.
Crossing trains diagonal footwork (Earth Element) and benefits the spleen. After learning the Five Elements, students progress to the Twelve Animal Movements: Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Chicken, Sparrow, Hawk, Lizard, Horse, Phoenix, Snake, Eagle, and Bear.
As a martial art, Xing Yi Quan is the opposite of (and complement to) Taiji Quan and Bagua Zhang. The practitioner never retreats. He or she drills into the opponent, defending and counterattacking at the same time.


Special Interests

Therapeutic Qigong
Professor Cohen has presented qigong to Head Injury Clinics, Chronic Pain Clinics, Breast Cancer Groups, and other health-care provider or patient associations. Therapeutic Qigong courses are designed to teach practical techniques and supportive research that address specific health concerns.

Sports Qigong
Golf Gong anyone? Qigong can dramatically improve performance in any sport. One golfer improved his drive by 50 yards after a month of qigong. A tennis pro found a new way to teach hand-eye coordination, weight shifting, and waist flexibility. A qigong football player uses Taiji Quan principles to effortlessly knock down the opposition.

Business Qigong
Presentations and courses with Julian Gresser, including how to shift from hurry sickness to slow time, qigong and business management, qigong and negotiation skills.

Qigong for Seniors
Ken Cohen has taught at various senior centers for many years and finds that seniors' enthusiasm, dedication, and willingness to question put younger students to shame. There are qigong techniques suitable for athletic seniors as well as for the most physically challenged.

Qigong for Kids
They already know it! If parents practice qigong, they will be more sensitive to their children's needs. When little people express interest in learning qigong, then they are ready to learn with the big people!

Qigong for the Disabled
The Qigong Research and Practice Center was one of the first centers in the world to offer qigong to the physically challenged. As early as 1973, Ken Cohen was tutoring the blind in Taiji Quan and had developed a method of teaching through gentle touch and detailed description. During the 1980s, students sometimes rolled into class in wheel-chairs and were thankful that they were accepted and encouraged. By including an illustration of a paraplegic man in his book, The Way of Qigong, Professor Cohen hopes to change the closed door policy that Chinese qigong masters have generally had towards the handicapped.

"After age thirty, we lose thousands of brain cells per day. We are all brain damaged and handicapped, it's only a matter of degree!"


Qigong Lecture Classes

Qigong Diet. An East-West approach that combines Chinese medical theory with western nutritional science and orthomolecular medicine.

The Dance of Dragons: Chinese Sexual Qigong. A lecture course in methods of improving personal sexual health and finding greater harmony with one's partner.

Taoist Philosophy. Focusing on the Tao Te Ching as an ancient guide to meditation and healing.

Qigong Research. Lecture course or slide-show presentation on qigong as complementary and alternative medicine, including the latest research, clinical and experimental evidence, benefits and risks, the need for critical thinking, and measurable aspects of qi: biochemical and bioelectric.