Article ID: CBB497022846

Attentiveness to Nature in Learning Qigong in Norway (2017)

unapi

This article discusses a style of medical qigong, called “Biyun qigong” 碧雲氣功 (Azure blue clouds qigong), that has become popular in Norway and Scandinavia. The gathering of health-enhancing “life force” (qi) from the environment is a notion at the core of Biyun practice. This notion of qi is, however, largely unknown to most people in Norway. Against this background, the article seeks to explore certain aspects of the recontextualization of Biyun into a Western cultural context. The examination highlights that the establishment of Biyun qigong in Norway takes place in a context where outdoor activities (in Norway commonly referred to as friluftsliv, which literally translates as “free-air-life”) are highly valued and very common in everyday life. Drawing on my ethnographic data from fieldwork among participants of Biyun, the article argues that experiences and perceptions of nature derived from friluftsliv contribute to the shaping of Biyun practice in Norway.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB497022846/

Similar Citations

Book Hilary A. Smith; (2017)
Forgotten Disease: Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine (/isis/citation/CBB891109049/)

Book Zhan, Mei; (2009)
Other-Worldly: Making Chinese Medicine through Transnational Frames (/isis/citation/CBB001231968/)

Book Dinges, Martin; (2014)
Medical Pluralism and Homoeopathy in India and Germany (1810--2010) (/isis/citation/CBB001551723/)

Book Kohn, Livia; (2008)
Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin (/isis/citation/CBB000951855/)

Article Craik, E. M.; (2009)
Hippocratic Bodily “Channels” and Oriental Parallels (/isis/citation/CBB000931185/)

Book Unschuld, Paul U.; (2009)
What Is Medicine? Western and Eastern Approaches to Healing (/isis/citation/CBB001031527/)

Book Bridie Andrews; (2014)
The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850-1960 (/isis/citation/CBB980033671/)

Article Paster, Gail Kern; Strathern, Andrew; Stewart, Pamela J.; (2001)
Pulse, Muscle, Blood, Breath, and Colour (/isis/citation/CBB000100397/)

Article Unschuld, Paul U.; (2007)
Ein Recht auf Gesundheit? Medizintheoretische Erörterungen im Kulturvergleich Europa---China (/isis/citation/CBB001021455/)

Article Harrison, Henrietta; (2012)
Rethinking Missionaries and Medicine in China: The Miracles of Assunta Pallotta, 1905--2005 (/isis/citation/CBB001202139/)

Article Wilcox, Hui Niu; Kong, Panyia; (2014)
How to Eat Right in America: Power, Knowledge, and the Science of Hmong American Food and Health (/isis/citation/CBB001320893/)

Book Barnes, Linda L.; (2005)
Needles, Herbs, Gods, and Ghosts: China, Healing, and the West to 1848 (/isis/citation/CBB000600584/)

Book Tamara Venit Shelton; (2019)
Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace (/isis/citation/CBB229326361/)

Authors & Contributors
Unschuld, Paul Ulrich
Daidoji, Keiko
Zhang, Qiong
Zhan, Mei
Wilcox, Hui Niu
Taylor, Kim
Concepts
Medicine, Chinese traditional
Medicine
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
East Asia, civilization and culture
Cross-cultural comparison
Medicine, traditional
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
Medieval
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
Places
China
Europe
United States
East Asia
Japan
Italy
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment