Grandmaster Tse’s Qìgōng Dào 氣功道 476

A student asked me, “When we are practising our Qìgōng 氣功, sometimes we touch the acupuncture points and sometimes we just hold our hand facing them—what is the difference between touching and not touching the acupuncture points?” This is a very good question, and I am sure many people will want to know what the difference is.

Imagine you meet someone: in one situation you talk to them, but in another you give them a hug. These are two different types of connection. It is the same with the acupuncture points. We can keep a distance between two points, for example, holding our hands so the Láogōng 勞宮 points face each other. If our Qì 氣 is strong enough, we can feel the area around the Láogōng points, and the Qì can go inside to the organs and the channels that relate to it. This is like looking at someone—you can see their face, their body, their hands, their legs, etc.

When we touch the acupuncture points, for example placing the Láogōng points on the Xià Dāntián 下丹田 (Lower Dāntián), there is more focus on the connection. Just like giving a hug to someone, you can feel them—you can feel their strength, their temperature, and you can even feel their feelings. This is because there is more contact and more focus.

So, having some distance between acupuncture points means the Qì connects with the area around the point, not just the point. Contacting them focuses more on the area.