Study Guide: What Is the Best Qi Flow for Health and Long Life?
Speaker: Master Mikel Steenrod
Main Topic
What is the best energy distribution in the body for health and longevity?
Key Concepts from the Talk
1. Qi Distribution Should Be Natural
The ideal energy pattern is reflected in the name of the practice: Natural Form and Essence.
“Natural Form” refers to how energy (qi) should be distributed in the body, not manipulated artificially.
2. Modern Habits Disrupt Qi Flow
Day-to-day activities and habits determine how qi flows.
Qi naturally goes where the body directs it based on daily motion and need.
This adaptability is useful—but can become problematic in modern life.
3. Mismatch Between Modern Life and Human Design
Our energy system evolved under Stone Age conditions: daily movement, diverse activity, full range of motion.
Modern industrial life introduces repetition, immobility, and external task focus.
These patterns misdirect qi, often concentrating it in the upper body (e.g., arms, head).
4. Repetition Alters Energy Priorities
Example: Someone who repeatedly uses one hand to assemble parts.
Qi supports the hand and shoulder doing the work.
Over time, this leads to imbalanced energy support.
Even intellectual or screen-based work causes the same issue—energy stays high and doesn’t settle.
5. Most Motions Are Not Truly Your Own
Many daily actions are performed:
For money (job tasks)
For convenience
To distract from internal discomfort
These motivations externalize motion and disconnect us from natural qi movement.
6. Stillness Is Not the Enemy—Unowned Stillness Is
It’s not about blaming technology or stillness, but about understanding why you’re still and how often.
If stillness is frequent and externally compelled, it reduces the natural responsiveness of your qi system.
Practical Insights (from the speaker’s examples)
Be aware of repetitive motions—they condition your qi to favor specific areas.
Long periods of mental focus or screen time push qi upward.
Qi tends to go where energy is needed most—and that’s not always a good thing.
Healthy qi flow requires restoring range of motion and reclaiming bodily awareness.
Summary Quote from the Talk
“Most of the motions that you engage in during the day, you don’t own… that’s the issue we have to be careful of when we’re talking about qi.”
Transcript: What Is the Best Qi Flow for Health and Long Life?
Speaker: Qi Gong Master Mikel Steenrod
Organization: Water Mountain
Below is the full transcript of Master Mikel Steenrod’s talk on how qi should flow in the body for lasting health. This reference is ideal for students and seekers of Qi Gong insight.
Introduction
Hello, I’m Qi Gong Master Mikel Steenrod with Water Mountain. And our topic of the conversation today will be a simple question: What is the best energy distribution in the body for overall health and longevity?
So if you want a good, healthy life that lasts for quite a while, what should we be looking for, all of us? What should we be looking for when it comes to the flow of Qi or the flow of energy in the body?
The qigong that I most commonly teach is known as Natural Form and Essence. And the answer to that question is in the name of that qigong. Natural Form refers to how the qi should be distributed in the body.
How Qi Is Usually Distributed
First, before we get into what is effectively the solution set, why don’t we look at how the qi is usually distributed in the body?
Qi distribution is strongly influenced by your day-to-day activities and habits because the qi system moves to support what you are doing—which makes perfect sense, right? We want our energy to be able to go to the tasks that we have at hand and that we’re doing on a regular basis. We don’t want them unsupported. So that’s a good thing on the part of the qi system.
Mismatch Between Evolution and Modern Lifestyle
The problem is the difference between a more industrial lifestyle and our Stone Age roots. Humans spent the great majority of their developmental time in the Stone Age, which means they had a lot of exposure to nature, they did a wide variety of tasks, their bodies moved every single day, and they had a really wide range of motion.
This is the story of a human being for most of human history. And then we have the gradual movement into farming, the Industrial Revolution, and the more extensive domestication of human motion and the human process.
Modern Movements and Qi Support
If you think about it, most of the motions that you engage in during the day, you don’t own. You perform them because they’re for some other system—usually, for example, for the purpose of money. Because you have to earn, right? Or for the purpose of convenience. Or somehow to address your own inner turmoil, you stay fixated in front of, let’s say, a console or another device.
This is not an anti-console talk. It’s an anti-movement talk. Regardless of the driving or compelling reason for it, it turns out to be the issue that we have to be careful of when we’re talking about qi.
Example: Repetitive Assembly Work
Now, why is that? Well, let’s take a person that’s working at a sedentary job or even an active job. They assemble something. So they’re using their right hand and their left hand—maybe their right hand more than their left hand—to put together a machine. They do so repetitively throughout the day.
Now what’s going to happen? Well, the qi system knows that your motions are important and that they have to be supported. So it starts to concentrate energy there.
Over time, this creates a skewed energy pattern. One arm may be stronger or tighter. There’s a concentration of support—of qi—in those areas to the detriment of others.
Mental Focus and Energy Drift
The same principle applies if you’re using your mind a lot. You’re working on a screen or constantly analyzing, and your energy begins to stay high in the head and shoulders. That leads to burnout, headaches, and fatigue.
When energy is constantly directed to the upper part of the body, the lower systems become undernourished energetically. It’s not balanced.
Conclusion
So the issue becomes: Can you recognize how your energy is being distributed right now—and how much of that is based on your modern behavior?
When we consider the best energy distribution for health and longevity, the answer is simple: It should be natural—not artificially focused by habits of stress, repetition, or compensation.
That is the principle behind Natural Form. Not imposed movement. Not directed qi. But recognizing and allowing the return of the natural energetic baseline.
End of Transcript
