In the past, you've accepted the ailments, dragged your body off to work and endured the day. But on this occasion you decide to seek a change. Before the week is over, you could have the opportunity to participate in a variety of unconventional medical treatments - everything from acupuncture to massage and ancient Chinese spiritual paths.

One alternative could be Qi Gong (pronounced chee gong), a centuries-old philosophy that combines meditation and movement to promote the flow of natural energy through the body. The purpose of Qi Gong is simple, to move Qi (vital energy) to the most needy areas of your body and therefore to bring natural healing.

One of the foremost teachers of Qi Gong in the Twin Cities is Dr. Russell DesMarais, who has traveled to China twice to study the ancient philosophy. He offers classes on Qi Gong at his Turtle Island Health Center in St. Paul.

"Qi Gong is perhaps the last of the hidden information about healing that has been released to the world," DesMarais said during an interview. "If you look at the Chinese system of care, their use of diets, herbs, acupuncture, bone-setting work and massage, the umbrella of that lifestyle is meditation or working with quieting the mind. Essentially if you saw a physician in China, all of those practices would be used. So the word holistic is redundant to the Chinese because they see all medicine as whole."

DesMarais said the use of Qi Gong dates back at least five centuries but has been reintroduced in China during the past decade as Falun Gong. As adherents to Falun Gong rapidly increased in the 1990s, the communist government initiated steps to slow the growth. Eventually thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were detained and imprisoned, some people were beaten, and the ancient practice of meditation and movement became world news.

But during that same time, because of international news accounts, students of natural healing discovered Qi Gong, and many people traveled to China to study the process. DesMarais was trained in 1993 and again in 1997.

"My belief is this will be the next largest healing movement in the United States," DesMarais said. Evening classes at the Turtle Island Health Center run about two hours. The cost is $150 to $200 for a six-week session.

"Eighty percent of the people in the classes know nothing about Qi Gong before they begin," DesMarais said. "And it's rare that there is a person in the class who has not had some improvement. It delivers easily to people. The movements are not difficult, but the meditations can be complex.

"We're talking about vibration and how sounds resonate. It's a cadence, a beat - that's what we look at in healing. It's like ultrasound. So we're revving up those vibrations. It's like going to a concert at church; we feel better because the body, mind and spirit have been vibrating."

Jo Reyes, 56, a computer programmer and analyst, has spent more than two years studying Qi Gong and now practices the movement and meditation in her home once a day.

"It has done wonders," Reyes said. "It helps relieve my stress and frustration. It brings me peace. It can help with medical problems. In fact, I've lowered my blood pressure by practicing Qi Gong. I sometimes have a tendency to get my blood pressure a little high, but now it's back to normal.

"It's an entire approach to life and wellness and included in this is chiropractic, acupuncture and nutrition," said Reyes. "And as a result of Qi Gong, I started eating a bit more properly and nutritiously."

Barb Craven, 30, said she was dealing with stress issues and decided Qi Gong might have some answers for her.

"A lot of health benefits came out of my first Qi Gong class," Craven said. "If I got up early and did my meditation, I had so much energy. I was more level, balanced and not so stressed."

Craven, who attends a Protestant church, said the meditation DesMarais taught her was a natural healing technique that brings earthly and heavenly energy into a person's body.

"We would visualize a good place outside like a favorite vacation place or a special place when you were growing up," Craven said. "I did it yesterday for 20 minutes and it was great. I pictured an outside place, and I let the energy come up through my feet and then it goes through your body and out the top of your head. Then you bring in the heaven energy and you wash your body with that energy. Then you place the energy into certain spots and it heals your organs and your muscles."

DesMarais said China is such a vast country that many groups of people rely on ancient Chinese medical practices and never have contact with Western medicine.

"How do they take care of themselves?" DesMarais asked. "It's a matter of diet and herbs. They dance and sing. They have shamans, and they use acupuncture. If you're a few thousand miles from nowhere, the local doctor better know what he's doing or he needs to throw the practice out."

John Healy, director of communications for Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, said, for more than 20 years, DesMarais has been ahead of the curve in offering natural healing techniques.

"In terms of natural care, we don't believe it's an alternative," Healy said.

But when DesMarais was trained at Northwestern University, the school only trained chiropractors.

Now, according to Healy, the school has embraced most of the popular healing techniques. While only a few traditional, Western doctors fully accept these kinds of alternative methods of healing, more and more hospitals and doctors are becoming open to the idea. For instance, the University of Minnesota recently opened the Spirituality and Healing Center, dedicated to exploring these techniques.

As for DesMarais, he's been a believer in the idea for 22 years.

"The initial reaction in St. Paul was really positive," DesMarais said. "I had a community presence, and many people came into my practice. They had a sense that what I taught was interesting and worth pursuing.

And then we began to see results. And now this Qi Gong thing, it's so popular because it's a self-help tool."

Clark D. Morphew