To give you an idea of what sort of diseases are treated by different styles of Qigong, this section of our website lists brief case histories.  Following case histories are collected from so-called Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong "stations" across China - showing the benefits of Five Animals Play Qigong (Wu Qin Xi).  The included diagnosis' are the ones given by their respective doctors and do not necessarily reflect the true conditions nor mean that Five Animal Play Qigong can cure such conditions.

Case 1

Condition:         Stroke

Age:                 62

Gender:            male

This gentleman suffered a stroke for a period of three years prior to considering practicing Five Animals Play Qigong.  The stroke had affected his right side and was accompanied with severe debilitation of his right arm and leg.  He was unable to use or lift his right arm and when walking had to drag his right leg.  He was unable to look after himself and was severely limited in his normal bodily functions.  For example it would take him over one hour to walk one kilometer.

When he commenced practicing Qigong, his spontaneous movements specifically focused around his waist and hips and his right arm and leg were able to do various restricted movements.  He practiced three times a day for one hour each session.  After approximately four weeks there was a noticeable improvement in the movements of his right leg and arm.  He found that he could move them again where there was no response previously.  His right arm and leg improved so much that he was able to ride a bicycle to the place that he practiced Qigong.

Case 2

Condition:         Headaches, chronic laryngitis, hard lump on throat, nephritis (kidney inflammation)

Age:                 61

Gender:            female

This lady had suffered from an uncomfortably dry throat for a period of more than 10 years.  Along with the throat problem, she suffered from headaches, a hard lump on the right side of her neck and there was evidence of blood in her urine.  She visited many consultants and medical experts regarding her problems and no form of treatment was able to assist or alleviate her condition.  She was diagnosed with chronic laryngitis as well as nephritis.  The lump on her throat was diagnosed as non-cancerous tumour.

When she started practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, she reported a stream of energy passing through her head and neck which was almost like a spinning of energy in the area and this was accompanied with a warm and comfortable feeling.  She continued to practice once or twice a day for a period of 20 minutes at a time and then after a period of 16 days the sore and dry throat disappeared.  After two months the lump on the side of her neck disappeared.  With regard to her nephritis, year-end hospital checks indicated that everything was normal.

Case 3

Condition:         Duodenal ulcer and prolapse of the stomach

Age:                 34

Gender:            female

This lady's condition manifest itself with stomach aches to the extent that she had to take pain killers to alleviate the discomfort.  Occasionally she would pass a black stool, that is typical of internal bleeding and she had a poor appetite.  Some ten days before she decided to commence practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, she experienced extreme stomach pains accompanied with vomiting, especially at night.  There was also evidence of her losing weight and no amount of normal medical treatment alleviated her condition.

After the first early sessions in practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, she started to cry and laugh and she went through some of the typical movements that often occur.  There was spontaneous slapping especially in the area of the stomach and points like ‘Stomach 36' (one of the stomach meridian points for acupuncture, around the knees).  All of the five animals appeared during practice.  After three days of practice the pains in her stomach had reduced considerably and vomiting had stopped.  Her problem symptoms disappeared gradually.  It is recorded that she stopped taking any further drugs for the condition and the difficulties have not returned.

Case 4

Condition:         Rheumatic Fever

Age:                 15

Gender:            male

This boy was unable to attend school.  For a period of three years his body temperature was extremely high (38-39° C).  Both sides of his body, especially around his knees and hips, there was a lot of swelling and pain, as a result of which he had great difficulty in walking.  He had a blood sedation of 60 mm per hour.  He was taken to many medical specialists who were unable to help him - neither reduce his temperature nor improve his condition.  During this period his weight was falling and he was very thin.  The hospital diagnosis was Rheumatic Fever and he was under treatment involving a significant number of drugs.

Then he started practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, at least once or twice daily for about half an hour per session.  After a period of thirty days all of his symptoms had disappeared.  His base body temperature returned to normal.  He was able to begin walking again and after a period of three to four months he was even able to run and participate in sport again.  It is also reported that no further drugs were required to maintain him in his now normal state.

Case 5

Condition:         Inflammation of ovaries and Phyllopian tube

Age:                 29

Gender:            female

Ever since an abortion which had taken place two years earlier, this lady has suffered difficulties.  Her lower back, abdomen and stomach were always painful and uncomfortable.  There was also evidence of a lump in the abdominal area.  She went for numerous medical treatments but was unable to gain any improvement to her condition.

After a period of two months of daily practice of Five Animals Play Qigong the pains in her lower abdomen and back reduced and all problems disappeared.  Later medical checks showed no abnormalities and she enjoyed normal health.

Case 6

Condition:         Lower back injury, angina

Age:                 72

Gender:            female

The old lady had suffered an injury to her lower back that continued to give her considerable discomfort and pain.  She suffered from stiffness and had somewhat limited movement.  She also suffered from an angina heart condition of such severity that she had twice been hospitalised.  Due to her angina she experienced pressure in her chest, shortness of breath and insomnia, her oxygen saturation level was so poor that her lips were permanently blue.

Her appetite remained very poor during this whole period because eating seemed to exacerbate the pressure she felt in her chest.  On top of all of this she was experiencing her lower back vertebrae were being restricted either from the accident or just old age.  When examined at the hospital she was told there was nothing the doctors could do.

At this late age she decided to do Five Animals Play Qigong.  She would practice twice a day for approximately one hour per session.  The five animal movements appeared fairly quickly in the practice sessions, including even Kung Fu movements.  She continued for a period of four months, the pressure in her chest and the shortness of breath reduced.  Her sleep returned to normal and her appetite improved considerably.  She was able to move much more freely without feeling stiff and sore and her general health and metabolism improved considerably.

Case 7

Condition:         Emphysema, insomnia, under weight, depression, anxiety, duodenal ulcer, allergy

Age:                 38

Gender:            female

After suffering from bronchial asthma for more than twenty years, especially in winter and spring, her problem developed into emphysema and was accompanied with excessive sneezing, a runny nose and sore throat, which for a singer by profession is extremely bad.  She also suffered from insomnia, loss of body weight, stomach pains, poor appetite and a low energy level.  All of this caused depression and anxiety.  She visited many specialists to no avail.  The problems persisted to the point where she could no longer work.  The hospital she visited gave her four interrelated diagnosis: bronchial asthma, emphysema, a stomach condition involving a duodenal ulcer and an allergy problem.

She started practicing Five Animals Play Qigong and after only two months, her asthma and runny nose disappeared along with the sneezing.  Her appetite improved as well as her general demeanor, energy level and her sleeping pattern returned to normal.

Case 8

Condition:         Nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys)

Age:                 52

Gender:            female

For twenty five years whenever she had urine tests done, there was always protein present plus there were all the indications that her problem not just persisted but was progressing as well.  Over the last ten years prior to practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, her blood pressure increased to a level of 170-230 over 100-180 that is much too high to consider safe.  She experienced dizziness, had a low appetite level, insomnia and as a result of all this was unable to be employed or work.

Within only two weeks of practicing Five Animal Play Qigong her dizziness, insomnia and other subsidiary symptoms began to reduce.  Her appetite improved to normal and her blood pressure reduced to 140-170 over 80-100.  She continued to practice for many more months and medical urine tests indicated that her renal system had recovered to normal.

Case 9

Condition:         Lower back pain, premature aging

Age:                 24

Gender:            male

Suffering from lower back pain for many years as well as grey hair in his early twenties, he tried everything with no evident success.  At twenty-four he already looked like an old man.  Then he started practicing Five Animal Play Qigong.  Just three months down the track his lower back improved enormously and his hair started turning into normal colour.

Case 10

Condition:         Sterility

Age:                 38

Gender:            male  

I was married for more than two years, and even though my wife and I wanted to have children we were unsuccessful.  My wife went to see if she had any abnormalities and everything was normal.  Then I went for a check up and my tests showed some problems with sperm count and sperm mobility.  Plus there was slight inflammation of the prostate.  The doctor who examined me did not think it was anything serious, so he prescribed some standard pills for my condition.  However, after 3 months of treatment, there was no improvement.  At the time, I was 34 and desperate to have a child.

Then, by chance, I came across Spontaneous 5 Animals Play Qigong.  I became very interested, so I enrolled.

The first day of practicing I felt as though I was levitating and my body was slightly rocking from side to side.  The second day though, I experienced much bigger movements.  My hands started spontaneously slapping and massaging the sides of my thighs and groin area. As explained to me later, there was probably some chi energy imbalance in that area that I was spontaneously treating.  I was amazed.  How did my body know?  I mean, it was me doing the treatment but I was in a trance-like state, it wasn't me consciously doing anything.   But, that's just how this Qigong worked and I was extremely happy with it.

I felt great after every session - light, relaxed and full of energy.  After a month of practicing, I experienced the 5 different animal movements - tiger, bear, monkey, deer and crane.  I was told that when that happens it signifies that by then all my health problems should be healed which I strongly believed since I felt better than ever before.  Two months later, my wife was pregnant.  Nine months later she gave birth to our healthy baby boy of 4kg, bringing great happiness into our home.

Case 11

Condition:         TB, asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease

Age:                 40

Gender:            male  

I used to be quite healthy until I contracted TB several years ago.  After that my health went downhill rapidly.  In less than a year I developed asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease, plus I lost a lot of weight.  All day long, I would experience headaches, dizziness, a stabbing pain in the chest area, shortness of breath, pain in my joints and my breath smelt pretty bad.  I would often cough blood and thick mucus.  At night, my sleep was restless and I felt weak and exhausted during the day.

I consulted many doctors and specialists but, in the end, not only did my condition not improve a bit, I also spent all my money on treatments and lost most of my furniture because I had to sell it.

Luckily, I came across Master Liang Shi Feng's Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong and after hearing about its incredible therapeutic properties, I simply could not wait to start practicing.  It worked from day one.  The very first time I practiced it, my body started moving spontaneously.  First I shook my head, bent my back and knelt down several times, then I started slapping my body all over, especially along energy meridians and acupuncture points.  Even though all that was happening while I was in a trance-like state, I was still aware of what I was doing.  It was interesting, I noticed, that I would use my fists instead of my palms to hit large muscle areas while I would use my fingertips for sensitive areas like face and neck.

After 3 months of diligent practice, my health improved dramatically.   My headaches, dizziness and insomnia disappeared completely, my memory improved, my lungs got stronger, the pain in my chest and joints decreased, my appetite increased and I felt much stronger.  All that was beyond my most optimistic expectations.  My confidence in my complete recovery was definite.  In less than a year I basically got rid of all my health problems.

Then, one day, all of a sudden, I discovered I developed some psychic abilities.  If I would put my hands over an animal or human I would feel strong, magnet-like sensations in my palms that I could trace to their energy meridians and areas affected by disease.  Also by intuitively pressing and massaging their acupuncture points I could treat many illnesses.  Since the results I was getting were so good I decided to make it my new profession.  In the last few years I successfully treated many patients from all kinds of illnesses.  Five Animals Play Qigong gave me a new life, picked me up when I was so weak and desperate and turned me into a strong, healthy person that's now helping others with their health problems.  For that I'll forever be grateful.

Case 12

Condition:         brain tumor,  congenital blindness in the left eye

Age:                 62

Gender:            male

My name is B. Zhou and I am a 62 year old farmer.  Before practicing Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and I have been blind in the left eye, since birth.  After practicing Five Animal Play Qigong for about a year, I had experienced spontaneous fasting - bi gu twice during that time.  The first time it was during the hottest part of the summer and it lasted for eight days.  I not only ate nothing, but I also drank nothing.  When I normally practiced Five Animals Play Qigong, I would always move spontaneously during the practice, but during this time, I went through the process without moving at all.  I just sat in lotus position and my breathing felt extremely slow (this is known as Xu Wu level of Five Animals Play Qigong - for more information, please see Qigong Chinese Health magazine, issue no. 1, page 11 or read the article Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong).  In winter of the same year, I had another seven days of spontaneous fasting.  During that time I did not need to sleep at all, I meditated and, several times, had out of body experiences.  Out of curiosity, I attempted to eat a couple of times, but every time I did that, it felt like fire was burning my throat and then I vomited.

Before I started practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, the doctors had suggested I have an operation on the brain tumor.  I was extremely reluctant to do so.  However, after these two experiences of bi gu, my condition improved remarkably.  After another seven months of practicing Five Animals Play Qigong, during the practice I would spontaneously pull the third toe of my left foot. (Editor's note: in foot reflexology, the bottom joint of the third left toe is connected to the left eye and the tip of that toe to the brain).  Not only did the brain tumor completely disappear, but I began to see with my left eye, for the first time in my life.

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And a couple more interesting case histories:

Case 1

A patient who had received excellent results from practicing Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong, almost spoiled it all by breaking the rules.

This is a true story about a patient who was introduced to Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong through a neighbour friend of his who practiced the style but wasn't qualified enough to teach it.  Still, within the first few days of practice, he experienced the involuntary movements, that included spontaneously moving like the 5 animals, manipulating the acupuncture points and the establishment of the Small Universe.*  After continuing the practice for a few months, he got rid of all his chronic conditions.  Even the one he never imagined would ever correct - a crippled foot due to an old injury that was twisted 90 degrees inwards.  During his practice on one occasion, he stepped strangely on it, heard a large crack and felt he'd damaged it even more somehow.  But when he stopped the practice and checked his leg he was surprised to see it back in place.  What joy it brought him!  He thought he could do anything with this Qigong.  He even started developing some psychic abilities.

So, he started increasing the practice time to 3-4 hours at a time and made some "adjustments" to it.  He felt he could activate his energy instantaneously any time he wanted without going through all the, what he thought "unnecessary" steps (a big NO, NO in Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong) so he'd go straight into the yang part of the practice.  Now that wasn't very wise.  Without yin preparation, going straight into the yang part risks the prospect of not being able to stop the spontaneous movements once they start to occur, and the more one tries to calm down and stop the stronger they become.  And that is exactly what happened to him.

"Oh my God!" He thought to himself.  "What am I going to do now?"  still shaking and moving he went to ask his neighbour, but the neighbour had no idea either.  He panicked.  For three days and three nights he was constantly moving his arms, legs and other parts of his body involuntarily.  In the end he took a train to Guangzhou City to go and ask for help from Master Liang Shifeng who first introduced the style publicly.  It took Master Liang more than three hours to stop him from moving.  What a relief! 

Now those who are familiar with Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong would know about this phenomenon and would prevent it from happening in the first place.  So, when the shaken man finally stopped his involuntary movements and sat down to rest, he noticed there were some "problems" with his sight.  He enquired to the master that there were different coloured aura-like layers around people and other living things.  The master distributed his chi energy to his hands and asked the man to tell him where the aura was the thickest around him and the man said around the master's hands.  Then he tested him by doing the same with other parts of his body, and the man would always guess it right.

Well it seemed, after all, the naughty Qigong practitioner went not only unharmed by this unplanned trip but he had even developed the ability to see auras around people.

In this case, it worked out well but only because he was lucky enough to have received assistance of the master. Prevention is always better than cure and the same applies to Qigong.

*  Small Universe - something that occurs to one's energy when practicing 5 Animals Play. For more information, please refer to issue 1 of Qigong Chinese Health magazine (page 11) or read the article Spontaneous Five Animals Play Qigong.

Case 2

Dear Qigong Chinesehealth,

I just thought I'd send you a note to let you know how we have been since learning and practicing 5 Animal Play Qigong daily.  Previously, I needed to visit an Osteopath for spinal manipulation to relieve pain and complicated symptoms that affected my central nervous system.  Usually, I would need to go at least fortnightly and had also started receiving acupuncture and Chinese medicine treatment.  I had stopped working as a nurse 18 months ago and had been sick and incapacitated for two years.   We moved to the country and have a quiet life, wishing to recuperate.  My partner has a degenerative disease in three lumbar vertebrae and had constant pain in his left leg and heel. 

Now, I have only mild discomfort that never amounts to anything.  I take no pain killers and have only been back for treatment once.  It was quite a healing crisis which was hinted at with psychic messages of Chinese characters each day when I would do 5 Animals Play Qigong.  By coincidence (!)  I saw jewellery in a shop and the girl looked up what they were:  Monkey and Fire - Chinese astrology and element pendants.  I'd been feeling really nauseous for a few days and went for Chinese medicine treatments.  Of course, there was a spleen imbalance with lots of dampness.  That day, during my practice of 5 Animals Play I had a huge violent "monkey rage", bashing things on the ground and screeching.  Then I laid down and massaged deeply under my ribs, on the left and right side.  The Qigong practice balanced the problem. 

I had a lovely dream about my grandmother (who has passed on) that night and she said she was happy I was better now, because I had been sick like that since I was a little girl.  There has been something incredible like this everyday.  I am very psychic - sometimes picking up what ails people and I am very connected to plants and animals.  This has increased, normalised and is much more practical since doing 5 Animals Play Qigong.  At times, it used to make me wonder why I could feel like that, but now it's very clear messages and ends up helping someone.  My neighbour's dog turned up and I ended up feeling streams of chi energy coming out of my hands when I patted it.  Later, I found out it had run away, didn't have its medication - it's epileptic.  When it got home, it slept for two days and was OK. 

Thanks and see you again.

Leonie, NSW.