Qigong is not just about exercise: Although it seems that today's modern qigong is just another new age fad on exercise, traditionally, qigong practitioners viewed qigong as a way of life that incorporated so much more: diet, exercise, herbs and Chinese medicine — in fact, everything that worked towards total health and well being.

So the qigong practices I mention in these and other articles are not the modern qigong of merely exercise and belonging to a new age fan club, but of the traditional practice of holistic health. In that context, I want to discuss the fifth qigong/chi kung practice for hypertension — hydration for cleansing and detoxification: Drink lots of water.

Water cleanses the body of toxins and provides much needed oxygen. We know we are supposed to drink at least six to ten glasses of water per day, but what kind of water?

Only the cleanest, purest kind.

Why not mineral or spring water? Because it contains minerals that our body can't digest and creates mineral deposits that lead to all kinds of illnesses such as arthritic and sciatic nerve pain. These only add to the stress of toxins in our body, leading to high blood pressure and other diseases.

There are two types of minerals: organic minerals that come from plants and which we can digest, and inorganic from the soil. You wouldn't eat rust to get your iron would you? Because that is what inorganic minerals are — minerals that our bodies cannot absorb. Instead they accumulate and get deposited in our joints, our bones and in our organs and muscle tissues, causing all kinds of dysfunction, stressing out our body.

Organic minerals come from fruits and vegetables, plants that use photosynthesis to convert inorganic minerals from the earth to organic compounds and nutrients that our body can digest.

So drink only the purest water that has undergone water distillation or reverse osmosis. Water distillation is a process where water is heated and condensed, leaving contaminants behind. The distilled water undergoes further filtration through carbonated charcoal to remove other particles that may have escaped the distillation process, thus leaving water that is 99.99% pure.

Another way to get pure water is through reverse osmosis: water is pushed through a membrane that filters out contaminants, then further treated with carbonated charcoal, again leaving clean water that is 99% pure.

How does drinking water help reduce hypertension? By hydrating the body, providing oxygen to dehydrated cells, promoting cell regeneration. It cleanses the body of toxins and softens stools for elimination.

The detoxification process helps to reduce the stress that toxins load on the body, toxins that otherwise would put added stress on the body's normal functions, and we all know that one leading result of stress is hypertension.

So, oxygenate the body, flush out the toxins and you remove the stress and help reduce the high blood pressure.