For hundreds of years, the Shaolin monks had a reputation that bordered on myth. Undefeated in combat, physically extraordinary and capable of feats that defied what the human body was supposed to be able to do. And while their martial skill was legendary, the monks themselves understood that the real source of their power wasn’t what happened in sparring. It was what happened in the quiet hours of practice that most people never saw.
One of the most closely guarded of those practices was the 18 Lohan Qigong.
A secret preserved through fire
After the burning of the Shaolin Temple, the original scriptures of the Lohan Qigong form were rescued and carefully, secretly handed down through the generations. This wasn’t a system you could find in a book or learn from a stranger. It passed from master to trusted disciple, inside closed lineages, preserved by the few people entrusted to hold it accurately.
That lineage eventually reached Master John K. Saw, an inner chamber disciple of Grandmaster Chen Yong Fa and an internationally recognised authority on Lohan Qigong. Master John has spent decades ensuring the system is taught accurately and represented in the tradition that was handed down by its founder over 200 years ago. It is through him, and through Sifu George, that this practice is now available to a wider audience.
The fact that it exists today, intact and authentic, is something worth not taking for granted.
What Lohan Qigong actually does
The 18 Lohan system works by activating and circulating Qi through the body’s main energy channels. But understanding why this matters requires a brief detour into how traditional Chinese medicine views health.
In this framework, health isn’t simply the absence of disease. It’s the quality, flow, and balance of energy moving through the body. When Qi is abundant and flowing freely, the body functions as it should. When it stagnates, when channels become blocked or depleted, illness, fatigue, and emotional imbalance follow.
Lohan Qigong addresses this at its root. The form works on the spinal gates, key energy centres in the spine whose opening and closing governs the flow of Qi through the entire system. It uses breathing techniques to revitalise the organs and calm the mind. It incorporates standing meditation, known as zhan zhuang training, to build inner stillness, ground the nervous system, and develop the kind of focused awareness that most modern people have never experienced.
Then there is the silk-reeling work, chan si jin, the whole-body spiralling movement that develops internal strength and energetic connection simultaneously. It looks gentle from the outside. The effects are anything but.
The nervous system connection
One of the reasons Lohan Qigong is so effective for people dealing with burnout, anxiety, and chronic stress is that it works directly with the nervous system in a way that conventional fitness rarely does.
Most exercise is sympathetic nervous system activity. It’s effortful, stimulating, demanding. That has value. But if you’re already running on empty, adding more stimulation to an already depleted system doesn’t restore it. Lohan Qigong, by contrast, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest-and-repair function that allows the body to heal, integrate, and recover. This is why practitioners consistently describe feeling both deeply calm and quietly energised after practice, not wired, not exhausted, but genuinely restored.
The body was designed to heal itself. Lohan Qigong creates the internal conditions that allow it to do exactly that.
Who this practice is for
Lohan Qigong for healing isn’t just a traditional claim. Practitioners consistently report genuine restoration within weeks of regular practice.
The genius of Lohan Qigong is that it meets people wherever they are. Someone recovering from illness or injury will find it gentle enough to begin immediately and profound enough to keep returning to for years. A martial artist will find it deepens their internal power in ways they hadn’t expected. A person who has never moved intentionally in their life will find it accessible, grounding, and surprisingly transformative within weeks.
What it asks of you isn’t athleticism. It asks attention,consistency and a willingness to slow down enough to notice what’s happening inside you.
That, for most people, turns out to be the hardest part. And the most valuable.
Ready to experience it for yourself? The 18 Lohan Qigong course is available online, taught step by step by Sifu George Michielsen through the authentic lineage of Master John K. Saw. Explore our courses
