According to Traditional Chinese Medicine the phrase “Tong Qi” refers to ventilation of part or all of the body. In Zhan Zhuang “Tong Qi” refers to the time when the Qi becomes heavy enough to plunge through the Low Dan Tien, down through Huiyin point, CV-1 and descend through the legs and travel out under the feet, all without the use of any intention on the part of the practitioner. This is a result of the abundance of cultivated Qi “ventilating” the entire body. This being one of the major goals in Zhan Zhuang, it often takes decades of dedicated and correct practice to achieve. But Tong Qi in itself is also a gateway into various forms of what feels like emptiness, as though the body were hollow or transparent or like there are no boundaries between our body and our surroundings, the air or even the ground.
