Complementary practices
Qi Gong, Tai Chi Chuan and heart coherence converge towards the same goal: the balance of the body and the renewal of vital energy, cultivated through attentive breath and conscious movement. At the White Crane School, these three disciplines are taught in their singularity — without conflating them, while letting what they share resonate.
Tai Chi Chuan
What is Tai Chi Chuan?
Tai Chi Chuan draws on the same roots as Qi Gong — the Taoist practices of daoyin, breathing and internal work — but follows the martial path, where Qi Gong turned towards health and care. Its name — Taiji Quan — literally translates as “boxing of the supreme ultimate”: a practice deeply rooted in Taoist philosophy, born from combat experience and extended into an art of living. Its slow, supple, linked movements retain the martial logic from which they arose — each gesture keeps a sense of application and displacement — while cultivating, like Qi Gong, a form of inner serenity. In 2020, UNESCO inscribed it on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Origins and history
a transmission in two stages
Two moments in history must be distinguished. Breathing techniques and Daoyin — the common root of Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan — have origins attested as early as the 5th century BCE. Tai Chi Chuan as a codified system is much more recent: official historiography attributes its founding to Chen Wangting (1600–1680), a former military commander who blended his martial experience with meridian theories and breathwork. It was not until the 19th century that Yang Luchan spread it in Beijing, giving rise to the great families of styles.
A family of styles, between health and martial art
Over the centuries, Tai Chi Chuan branched into several major families: the Chen style, the oldest, retains fast movements and expressions of power; the Yang style, the most widespread, adopts slow movements and high postures — this is the one predominantly practised for health. In the 20th century, Tai Chi Chuan also gave rise to derived forms adapted to health goals rather than martial art, taught today in dozens of countries including Belgium.
What distinguishes Tai Chi Chuan from Qi Gong
Both practices share the same roots — meridians, the circulation of Qi, breath, inner attention. But they express themselves differently in the body and in space. Qi Gong is characterised by movements repeated a few times and performed within a restricted space — at most a few steps around oneself — with full, internalised awareness. Tai Chi Chuan links together sequences that move through space over several metres, with different postures that must flow into one another without interruption — a demand for memory and coordination inherited from its martial dimension — but which places the emphasis on externalisation (movement) rather than internalisation (mindfulness).
Tai Chi Chuan at the White Crane School
At the White Crane School, Qi Gong is the guiding thread of the teaching. Tai Chi Chuan finds a complementary and deliberate place within it: where Qi Gong works mainly on the spot, Tai Chi introduces movement through space — pivots, weight transfers, moving sequences. It is also concrete preparation for practising in the parks of Brussels, where groups gather regularly to practise together, outdoors, through the seasons.
Heart coherence
What is heart coherence?
The heart, the brain and the nervous system are in constant dialogue. heart coherence is the art of consciously acting on this dialogue. By adopting slow, rhythmic breathing — typically six cycles per minute — the intervals between heartbeats become regular, forming a harmonious sine-wave pattern. This state activates the vagus nerve, which sends the brain a clear signal: the danger has passed, you can let go. The result is measurable, immediate and reproducible.
The origins of heart coherence
The observations behind heart coherence are far older than the 1990s. In the 18th century, Antonio Valsalva described the baroreflex, linking breathing, blood pressure and heart rate. In the 19th century, Siegmund Mayer recorded natural oscillations at exactly six cycles per minute — the Mayer waves, the very frequency heart coherence deliberately draws on today. In the 1980s, Russian physiologist Evgeny Vaschillo formalised the beneficial effects of this frequency on health. In France, David Servan-Schreiber popularised the method in 2003, before David O'Hare turned it into a practical method accessible to all: the 365 method — three times a day, five minutes, six breaths per minute.
What science documents
The effects of heart coherence are measurable and documented by hundreds of published studies. Cognitively: stimulation of the brain's alpha waves, improved concentration and memory, an effect on dopamine and serotonin. Hormonally: reduced cortisol and increased DHEA, promoting better-quality sleep. Cardiovascularly: reduced blood pressure confirmed by a systematic review (2021). These benefits are not long in coming: they begin after just three minutes of practice and last four to six hours.
The heart in traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine has, for over two millennia, placed the heart at the centre of its vision of the human being. In the Huangdi Nei Jing (2nd century BCE), the heart is the Emperor of the organs: it governs the blood and houses the Shen — the spirit, consciousness. When the Shen is at peace, the person is calm, their sleep restorative, their actions well-judged. Intense emotions produce Heart Fire — a state of inner overheating that Western science today measures under the name heart chaos.
Heart coherence at the White Crane School
At the White Crane School, heart coherence is the entry threshold into the practice. At the start of each class, a few minutes of rhythmic breathing at six cycles per minute allow the busyness of the week to fall away, anchor the Shen in its home, and approach movement with an already awakened awareness of breath. What then remains as the guiding thread throughout the class is attention to the breath: full, fine, deep, which directs the rhythm of movement rather than being driven by it.
A dedicated programme: heart coherence and Qi Gong
For those wishing to explore heart coherence further, the school offers an introductory programme in a very small group — three people maximum — or through individual coaching. Over three months, with one session every two weeks, six meetings allow participants to understand the mechanisms, learn to practise independently and discover the available tools. Two sessions introduce Qi Gong movements. Priority is given to people recovering from burnout.
Testimonials
Je suis du matin. La méditation et la prière font partie du rituel matinal pour moi.
Le Qi Gong m’apporte sérénité, balance et connexion entre l’esprit, le cœur et le corps. Une courte séance le matin me rend zen pour démarrer ma journée.
Katia V.
De Qi Gong lessen van Marc zijn de perfecte manier om de dag te starten. Marc heeft een fijne, rustige en pedagogische aanpak. Ik beveel zijn lessen zeker aan!
Carolien E.
Merci beaucoup Marc pour ce bon moment de détente et de connexion à soi !
