Macau’s ‘Health Qigong’ gaining followers and achieving international recognition

The medal won by Maricic in the Netherlands

The Macau Health Qigong General Association recently obtained the best results the territory has ever achieved in a World Championship held in the Netherlands. Comprised of eight athletes and two judges, the Macau delegation, which was divided into two teams, brought home a total of five gold medals, in addition to several other awards.

According to Nikola Maricic, one of the athletes representing Macau, “the results show the great development that Macau has been doing in the activity.” In the previous World Championship held in Portugal, the local team only got two gold medals. The local Qigong association was created in 2005.

The “Qigong” is a millenary activity with roots that go back at least to Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). The word “qigong” results from a combination of “qi,” which means energy, and “gong,” with means exercise.

Starting as a traditional meditation exercise with numerous forms, it has more recently been organized into five new practice forms, each of them with a relation to Chinese medical principles (Yi Jin Jing, Wu Qin Xi, Liu Zi Jue, Ba Duan Jin and Shi’er Duan Jin).

The essential theory behind health qigong is the unification of body movements, rhythms of breathing, and mental state in order to exercise and regulate body functions and, above all, the mind.

Born in Croatia, Maricic has lived in Macau for the past five years, having practiced “Qigong” for 32 years now, first self-taught, then receiving instruction from several courses in areas of Martial arts, meditation, and Tai Chi.

At the 7th World Health Qigong Tournament and Exchange, held in The Hague, Holland, Maricic was awarded one of the gold medals and surpassed his previous record: “It was my first time scoring over [the barrier of] 9 points. Which is a great achievement as often non-Chinese can’t score over that barrier, staying usually over 8.5 to 8.7 points. This time I managed to score 9.05, which is my personal best.”

According to Maricic, who is also the coach of the Macau team, there are many Macau citizens practicing Health Qigong on a daily basis, although it is difficult to calculate a total figure, as “many do not frequent organized classes or events and just practice by themselves at home.” Maricic suggested that the total number should be around 500.

Maricic, who is also a member of Macau’s Team in Taekwondo, said he uses “Qigong” in two ways: a personal aspect in order to promote a state that favors “self-
healing” or relief from various physical conditions which he has had for a long time, and secondly to promote the wellbeing and “inner strength” of his trainees to “overcome their own restriction and go beyond.”

The method is often confused as “just meditation” or even more, as “Tai Chi”, but according to Maricic, it is beyond all those forms, and can be a way “to generate and canalize energy towards a goal that can be anything. [It] can be related to sport, to a sickness or physical condition or even to intellectual activity.”

As he explained to the Times, “everything generates energy… fear, anxiety, pain, stress… are all forms of surging energy which we need to learn to channel in a positive way towards our goals,” he explained, “otherwise they will accumulate and cause physical as well as mental conditions.”

Besides coaching the Macau athletes and teaching Health Qigong classes under the “Sports for all” activities organized by the Sport Bureau, Maricic uses the method in martial arts classes such as Taekwondo and Karaté, which he is also teaching currently to the young generation in the D José da Costa Nunes Kindergarten as well as another school institution at the same level.

“I use it as a form of mental training and awareness. It’s very good as warm-up to prepare the body and mind for the class [of Martial Arts],” he noted explaining that everyone can do “Qigong”, including people with severe physical conditions as everything starts with the mind and mental awareness.

“Even people that can’t move [their arms and legs] they can imagine the movements, they can mentally follow and direct their energy to those movements,” he said, further remarking that there is clear evidence in many medical studies of condition improvements that have resulted from this activity.

As for upcoming events, Maricic said the next competition or gathering (as he prefers to call it) will take place next door in Zhuhai on October 22, where Macau association members will join their Zhuhai counterparts for an exchange and joint event.

As for the upcoming World Championship, it is not yet clear where it will take place, but Maricic said the current well-positioned bidders are either in Australia or London, UK, expressing a personal wish for the first possibility.