Tonifying the Internal Organs, Qi Meridians and Acu-Points with SunDo Qi Flow Exercises
The Mountain Taoists, over many thousands of years, honed a powerful health discipline rooted in the rhythms of nature — the practice we know today as SunDo. The discipline’s unique rhythmic breathing and longer-held postures afforded practitioners long life and immense energy. This was due in large part to a special series of exercises called Ki Shin Bup, or the Internal Organ Qi Flow Exercises.
For millennia, secrets of the SunDo practice, like the enlivening Qi Exercises, have remained tightly guarded. Passed down from teacher to student, SunDo was seldom taught outside the confines of the most remote regions of Korea before 1970. In the spirit of bettering the world, the current generation of Taoist SunDo Masters have chosen to offer a vitality-boosting educational program to the public for the first time ever. Learn more about SunDo Qi Flow Exercises or download the program... |
Created by a Multidisciplinary Expert
In his decades as a wellness professional, SunDo Instructor Joel Dunning, co-developer of SunDo International’s new ebooklet on the Qi Exercises, has seen what both Eastern and Western medicine practices have to offer — a quest that took him across the world and back again. From a biology and pre-med degree at Saint John’s University, Dunning completed a 4-year Master’s program in acupuncture at Yo San University in Los Angeles, before interning at a renowned medicine clinic in China, and ultimately returning to the States to open his own acupuncture clinic. Additionally, Dunning is a long-time practitioner of a variety of Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and martial arts disciplines, holding a black belt in Karate.
This expansive background in search of the most powerful and fundamental practices in wellness led him to SunDo, which he has taught his own studio since 2008. One of his greatest passions is imparting the wisdom of the discipline to others.
A real ‘wow’ factor
There’s something special about SunDo and its uniquely breathful movements that surprises many new practitioners. Joel Dunning, was one such person. It took just one SunDo weekend retreat to completely shift his concept of wellbeing.
There’s something special about SunDo and its uniquely breathful movements that surprises many new practitioners. Joel Dunning, was one such person. It took just one SunDo weekend retreat to completely shift his concept of wellbeing.
“During that retreat I felt such a change,” Dunning says. “In a lot of Tai Chi and martial arts I got tons of benefits, but this retreat really stuck to my ribs; I kind of felt like a kid afterwards — that’s the only way I can really put it into words. I felt like my energy was very open and spontaneous, and just light.”
To offer prospective practitioners and instructors of various Qi Gong and Chinese Medicine disciplines a window into that “open” and “spontaneous” energy that SunDo generates, Dunning helped created an e-booklet revealing SunDo’s powerful Qi Exercises to the public for the first time. “The Qi flow exercises are a really cohesive standalone system that checks all the boxes of organ health and function across the body,” Dunning says. |
The e-booklet comprises a detailed analysis of the five elements and explanations of how they are balanced energetically with SunDo Qi sequences. Dunning, in clear language, explores how the moving postures affect the internal organs and meridian lines, stimulating critical acupuncture points, and balancing yin and yang of each organ pair.
Learn more about SunDo Qi Flow Exercises or download the program...
For example, the heart and small intestine are governed by the element of fire – SunDo Qi exercises balance yin energy of the heart and yang energy of the small intestine. Diagrams in the ebook show how the heart and small intestine meridians are stretched and acu-points are stimulated. Additionally, the instructional video demonstrates flowing, simple-to-follow movements (front and side-view) following an introduction by Master Hyunmoon Kim that explains why these movements are important for our health.
What’s unique about SunDo and the Qi Exercise Program?
“A lot of yoga and meditation systems I see are like learning to play a song on guitar – SunDo is like music theory,” Dunning says. In addition to 25 standing yang postures and 25 sitting or floor yin postures, beginners learn deep belly breathing to tap into an essential reservoir of well-being.
In SunDo, cultivation of the lower energy center — specifically the low back, lower abdominal, and pelvic floor, is an essential focus — just as it is across Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian medicine. “A huge concept is opening up and being resilient in the belly,” Dunning says.
This makes all the difference in the strength of our breathing, which often becomes inefficient with age, as well as our ability to properly circulate Qi energy and vital life force throughout our bodies.
“A lot of yoga and meditation systems I see are like learning to play a song on guitar – SunDo is like music theory,” Dunning says. In addition to 25 standing yang postures and 25 sitting or floor yin postures, beginners learn deep belly breathing to tap into an essential reservoir of well-being.
In SunDo, cultivation of the lower energy center — specifically the low back, lower abdominal, and pelvic floor, is an essential focus — just as it is across Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian medicine. “A huge concept is opening up and being resilient in the belly,” Dunning says.
This makes all the difference in the strength of our breathing, which often becomes inefficient with age, as well as our ability to properly circulate Qi energy and vital life force throughout our bodies.
The Internal Organ Qi Exercises strengthen these functions further by focusing conscious physical and mental attention on the major organ systems across the body: the kidney-bladder, heart-small intestine, liver-gallbladder, lung-large intestine, and spleen-stomach pairs, specifically.
“They really focus on each organ individually, their internal function, and natural energy flow across the body,” Dunning says. “For example, when we’re working on lungs, we’re pressing down, which is what the lungs do in the body, so a similar physical motion combined with the acupuncture-like stimulation of the meridians truly fosters the energy of that organ system, which is good for everyone.” |
Why do we need the Qi Exercises?
One of the major binary issues of the aging process is that yang floats up and yin sinks down. Many of us get weak lower backs, our reproductive and adrenal systems languish, our legs get flabby, and our digestion weakens. “And the upper body gets kind of cooked” Dunning says — “people get anxious, high blood-pressure, hot flashes, ringing in the ears, insomnia — it’s all that fire–yang going up.”
These forms of dysregulation occur gradually over time as the result of years of unconscious neglect. SunDo Qi Flow Exercises are a great balancing force that strengthens our internal ecosystems at the core level to prevent these issues from manifesting in the first place.
Learn more about SunDo Qi Flow Exercises or download the program...
People will come out of the program with more body awareness, balance, and overall flexibility,” Dunning says. “The movements cover the whole body, opening up muscles, joint mobility, and energy pathways across it.” Additionally, the exercise set emphasizes the highly important strengthening of the legs through its low stances that allow for greater stability in all movements.
Practitioners will also see mental results in the form of stress reduction, feeling lighter in the body, and more open and fluid with motion and thought. They will experience an overall better flow of energy with greater adaptability and mental resilience. “Each of the organs work together and touch on every physiological process, so in a key way you’re helping everything,” Dunning says. |
How do the Qi Exercises Ground us in nature through the Cosmological Cycle?
The Qi Exercises are a powerful force of equilibrium in the body because they mirror the rhythm of life in the natural world — what’s referred to in Taoism as the Cosmological Cycle.
“The generative and controlling cycles we often hear about in Chinese Medicine and meridian theory are working with things that are already manifest. These cycles just counterbalance, making sure everything is in harmony in the present condition,” Dunning says. “The cosmological cycle is about bringing things from nothingness — from the void — into existence.”
Much like the analogy of a seed penetrating downward with its roots before sprouting from the ground and ultimately bearing fruit, the Qi Exercises take us through this natural ebb and flow of life. In their final stage, a “fruit” is formed that the body can use in the form of Qi energy flow made available across the organ systems.
“It’s not a purely mystical thing, Dunning says. “Blood is really like how lava acts in the surrounding world, with our own bodies being a kind of microcosm. The blood is a warming agent; if we can put that heat, warmth, and blood flow into the belly it really depressurizes the upper body and, at the same time, recharges the lower body, adrenals, and lower back.”
We see this on a bigger scale every day when the sun penetrates into the earth allowing things to grow. Through the Qi Exercises we are stimulating a cycle in our own microcosms that plays out endlessly in the natural order of life all around us. |
Who is the program intended for, and what will they gain from it?
SunDo’s Qi Flow Exercises are an invaluable asset to anyone concerned with their physical and mental wellbeing in the long and short term. As a focused, roughly 10-minute breath, visualization, and movement routine, the Qi Exercises act as an accessible meditation module that can easily be integrated into any wellness practice for improved results. “It’s a very approachable system, but it isn’t watered down,” Dunning adds.
If you teach: Qi Gong, Tai Chi, yoga, a martial art, or practice acupuncture, your clients will love the way they feel after a session with the addition of the Qi Exercises, thanks to their unique ability to optimize energy circulation across the body.
You can perform them after a hearty workout for stretching and flexibility benefits or as an effective way to practice moving meditation. The exercises are also fantastic as a preventative measure — bolstering the health of the five element and organ pairs: water: kidney-bladder, fire: heart-small intestine, wood: liver-gallbladder, metal: lung-large intestine, and earth: spleen-stomach.
How do I get started?
You can purchase the Qi Exercise Program on SunDo International’s Website for the price of $125. You will receive both the instructional video and ebooklet. Download the program or learn more... SunDo offers retreats in Vermont four times a year. Get details on attending a retreat by visiting the SunDo Retreat Center or view the Retreat Calendar... |