Beauty in Zhineng Qigong goes far beyond surface-level appearance. In this episode of our Qigong podcast, certified Qigong therapist Tiffany Scruggs connects the dots between the Qigong practice and beauty as it emphasises that beauty emanates from within and the importance of opening the heart and mind – a core Qigong principle.

Helping individuals connect with their true self in her workshops, they naturally radiate joy, which manifests as a sparkle in their eyes. Physical Qigong movements and meditation form the basis of her workshops. Individuals set intentions while looking in the mirror and practice positive affirmations, as individuals enhance their self-confidence and self-love through self care.

Building and sharing the Qi field is another essential aspect of Tiffany’s beauty-focused workshops. In the Zhineng Qigong practice it is well know that sharing the Qi field, in numbers –  amplifies the healing potential, Tiffany uses the Qi field for promoting wellness both physically and emotionally. 
By addressing heartstones and balancing emotions through practices like Chen Qi, participants can positively influence their facial features and overall radiance and magnetism. Self-confidence naturally grows as individuals learn to accept and love themselves through these holistic wellness approaches. Posture correction and exercises like Qi squats help improve energy circulation, while heart-opening practices foster self-love and authentic living.

Ultimately, for Tiffany who is an acupuncturist & herbalist – there’s no coincidence that her teachings reflect a profound understanding of how holistic healing through Zhineng Qigong can lead to a more radiant presence. As participants learn to embrace their true selves and cultivate positive energy and self care, they discover that genuine attractiveness comes from within—a beautiful blend of confidence, joy, and self-acceptance that shines through in every smile.

Let us dive deep into the surprising connection of beauty and Qigong. Let us learn how Qigong becomes more accessible through learning about beauty. Tiffany Scruggs has made it her mission to combine both in a beautiful way, of course. My name is Torsten Lueddecke, and this is the Wisdom Qigong podcast. So I’m curious, Tiffany, where does the link between Zhineng Qigong and beauty come from? How are these two

things interconnected? Well, thank you for having me here, and this is a really fun topic. It’s truly to my heart, and I see people these days getting fillers and Botox, and really what we practice in Zhineng Qigong is opening the mind and opening the heart. And if you can truly open in the heart, it manifests in the smile and also the shen, the eyes that sparkle. So really,

beauty comes from inside. In having an open mind and an open heart, everything is lighter, everything is lifted, even in your appearance. Okay. That’s interesting. I think, for most people, would say, yes, okay, I get this idea. It’s only that we hardly ever put the focus on this. So our consciousness is obviously very important—where the mind goes, the Qi follows the flow. So if we all practice an

open heart or if we practice, you know, shining eyes, we don’t do this usually with the intention or the thought behind it that it has an effect on our beauty. But I think, yeah, by directing our consciousness and our mind in this direction, would you say it’s possible to actively enhance how beautiful you are going through the world? It is sometimes. You know, we have in Zhineng Qigong,

we focus on, you know, there’s the balance between the external and the internal. You know, you want to be too open, but you don’t want to be too closed and really finding that balance between external and internal. And it seems these days people are more focused on the external. I want to look like them. I want to be like this. I need to be like this in the

external, but really coming and accepting yourself. And I’m hosting these events, and we’re incorporating Zhineng Qigong with meditation, with movement, while we’re applying products to our phase two that are also supporting consciousness and helping balance the emotions. So it’s been really wonderful. So we first will start by adjusting the body posture. You know, things flow easier by having better posture and being more erect. Instead of looking down,

if you’re up and lifted, it’s going to help you look better. You know, the shoulders are going to be back, so just really adjusting the body posture is going to allow for Qi and blood flowing up to the head and giving nourishment to those facial muscles and supporting that and to our brain. And then the other thing is we’ll do a cleanse when we’ll adjust the mind. Always,

we’ll adjust the mind, coming in, creating a Qi field. So we’re all working together again, supporting each other in this Qi field of holistic wellness and beauty. So it’s really nice to be able to bring the two together. Then we do a cleanse where we have a mirror placed in front of ourselves. You know, it’s interesting because we have the smile three minutes, three times a day that

we practice in, in the beginning, in or even it’s a good practice, a good gong to do, just really looking at yourself in the mirror and smiling, accepting yourself, you know, connecting with yourself. So we do that in this event. And while we’re looking at ourselves, we smile. But we’ll also apply a cleanser. This is something you can do at home as you’re cleansing your face. Instead of

rubbing it in, being so fast to get to the next task, the external world, come into yourself and maybe look at yourself in the mirror as you’re cleansing. And we do this “I love you” cleanse where we do it in the shape of a heart, cleansing our face gently and very openly with ourselves. So it really eases. So it’s kind of like a meditation cleanse with positive affirmations.

That is really interesting that you do that. So the workshops you are running are focused on beauty. People would sign up and say, yes, I want to do Zhineng Qigong, but the focus is not like for most of us, health, well-being, or higher consciousness. They come because they say, why don’t I use this as a way to become more beautiful? Obviously, knowing that everything you’ve described will support

us in our health and well-being will support us in creating a higher consciousness, it’s only that the angle you’re using is slightly different than most other trainings I’ve heard of, right? Yes, it is. And it seems like these days, you try to think, how do you bring other people in who may not be as open to Zhineng Qigong? Or you think maybe many people will come to Zhineng

Qigong or focus on healing medicine at a devastating time in their life, so why not more preventative or in our daily ritual? So I’m trying to bring this into your daily ritual. As you know, when we wash our face in the morning, at night, we can have a different perception and really think of adjusting the body posture and a mindset and a positive mindset and looking at yourself

and smiling in the mirror, accepting yourself, which will help open up that heart. Just the, I love the heart, and everyone, they’ll smile when they’re doing this. You know, smiling, looking at their self, making hearts on their face. So they really love that. I think this is a really great concept that you’ve developed there because, as you said, not everybody is, to most people, when they hear Zhineng

Qigong and they first learn about it, it sounds so heavy, and it always has to do with our disease maybe or something serious has been going on. But that is not what Zhineng Qigong is. Yes, we can use it as a tool, you know, when we have a serious problem, but you know, it’s so much more. You bring people in here from an angle that is fun, and

you know, who doesn’t want to be more beautiful? It’s fun to go through life and, you know, having this radiant beauty and shining and being attractive to people through your energy, and that’s a wonderful thing. So I love how you introduce Zhineng Qigong in this subtle way. But it’s also, you know, I’ve been discussing this with the people at the Zhineng Qigong Students Hub. How can we reach

young people, like, you know, teenagers? And yeah, when you talk to teenagers, they’re not worried about, you know, whether they’re still fit and healthy when they’re in their 70s. Right now, they’ve got other issues going on, and there are things that, for them, are important. And, you know, being attractive is obviously important to a teenager. So it’s also a great way of getting young people excited, thinking, wow,

this is maybe something I could try. But I can’t praise that idea enough because when I just listened to you and you explained how this becomes part of your daily routine, this is also so nice. Just by doing your morning cleanse and you do this heart, it means you’re automatically in the Qigong state. You’re automatically reminded of Zhineng Qigong and of the power within. So I think this

is a great concept, and I’m glad we’re talking about it. So how did you—how did you actually…? Yeah, please. Oh, go ahead, go ahead. No, no, it’s you. I’m trying to bring this Zhineng Qigong. It’s just not something you have to do like going to the gym or a chore, but Zhineng Qigong is a way of life living. You know, we practice Qigong. I practice Qigong throughout the

day. Something happens, you know, maybe it’s not so good. It’s like, okay, you know, you kind of. I’m in the ritual. It’s like, okay, well, that’s fine. It always works out better in the long run. So what am I going to learn from this and move on? So it’s really a daily practice, and how do we bring people are. So you look in drugstores or in department stores.

The beauty section is huge. People are so into beauty. But really, if you look at people and even when they’re older, in their 90s, they may have some wrinkles or things, but they have. If they’re happy with life and they have their family and they’re very positive and of course, taking care of themselves, eating right and movement, for sure, it’s holistic. But they, they look good. You know,

they have this sparkle. You don’t pay attention to all these things. They are not paying attention. So really being in acceptance of yourself and that’s the real big thing I think that I try to bring up in these classes. Then we also do some movement when the body. We do Qi Squats. We usually do that to help move the blood. Move the Qi. The Qi squat will also

calm the nervous system. You know, when you’re tense, you’re going to have tenseness in the face. When the emotions are out of balance or there’s too much sadness, there are maps. We have maps for face reading. There are areas where it may get sunken in. Here, you may have lines coming down this area. On the side of the cheek are the lungs, and the lung… Emotion is sadness,

so we can bring in, in this next workshop, we’re doing a balance of your Yin and Yang. We’re moving from a hot time of the year into the Yang season, into or from the Yang season into the Yin, into the cold. So sometimes people have mental depression. I hear my clients say, “Oh, I get so depressed going into the cold season.” So they’re kind of already on the

downer, kind of things are… I think of the face kind of going down and going like this, and sadness, the emotion is the mental element. Fall is sadness. So that’s what we’re going into is fall right now. So I’m calling it “Balance Your Yin Yang.” So we’ll incorporate some movements. We’ll do the Qi squat. We will do Chen Qi, of course, to open the heart. It really helps

move the Qi. It helps induce the Qi in the heart and lungs. The heart, love, and joy. Spreading love and joy throughout the body. And smiling is going to help lift the face. So I incorporate all these things in the workshop, because these are easy things that people can do in their everyday life. And that’s what I’m really trying to make the connection— we can practice a Qigong

mindset and Qigong living daily with everything we do, and in our nourishment, how we look at ourselves, how we are respectful to other people. When you smile to other people, greet other people with a smile, they smile back. So we can spread beauty and positivity for ourselves but throughout other people, so everyone can look good. And then we’re doing a meditation. I always bring a meditation, and we’re

going to do balance the emotions. So, balance your Yin Yang. I have a facial mask, one’s black and one’s white. So you think of yin and yang. And so what we’ll do is we’ll be interactive. We have mirrors and we’ll paint, and I have different ways we can use this for what you’re trying to achieve with the facial mask, black and white. And what we’ll do is, while

the mask is drying, we’ll go into a meditation, balance the emotions with the Five Zang Organ Meditation. I find that when I use this meditation with my clients, they really love it, and everyone always asks, “Where can I find this?” So I need to make some recordings of this. But it’s really an easy meditation for anyone and even with teens and it’s if you can balance these emotions

which you can see these emotions in the face on face reading but if you can balance the emotions internally, the body is going to function better but you’re also going to look better bringing this and everyone kind of like a light bulb goes off. And so I’m really trying to bring this interconnection of wholeness and holistic well-being and holistic beauty with Zhineng Qigong. We have a way you

can discover Qigong. So at the Zhineng Qigong Student Hub, we know that understanding Qigong is very important and also that Zhineng Qigong in itself has various nuances that people can’t easily comprehend. So we’ve approached it in the style of a video game. On this page, discover Qigong, you can select your character. So you can either be a beginner, a practitioner, or a holistic healer or self-healer, and you

click on your character, and it takes you to these different sections. In these sections, you can explore the nuances, and when you click on a card, all of the resources pop up. We’ve made it really fun, and not many people know about it. So if you are interested, have a look and discover Qigong. So when I listen to you, even though the topic is beauty, your workshop is

not at all superficial because you’re doing some really deep exercises there. And when you talk about topics like self-acceptance, that is usually quite something for most people. So you are going deep with Zhineng Qigong and still coming from an angle that is fun and a little more light-hearted than maybe most of us would run a workshop, right? Yes, exactly. Even when we are beginning in the mirror, we

will set an intention and light a little candle, placing it in front of our mirror. So I really make it special, really opening to yourself, and so that people can do this and they really love it. I think they just need to be—people need to be directed a little bit—that it’s okay to look at yourself and smile. And you know, we have this gong, and it’s a practice

that we do in Zhineng Qigong—smile three minutes a day, three minutes, three times a day. So we will practice that. Maybe in our next one, we’ll smile for three minutes. But there’s also something that comes up in Zhineng Qigong. Through my therapist training, we did an “I am” saying, “I am this,” “I am that.” And rather than I want to be this, I want to be that or

I wish my face, I don’t like these wrinkles, I don’t like this, this, this, but I am. So we do a little exercise in okay, look at yourself and what do you see? And I start kind of on the negative side, but I have a little notebook for them. And they write down, I ask them, what are the features? Think of the features that you’d rather change or

maybe you’re not so happy with on your face. And people are writing, they just nonstop. I want to fix this, this, this, this, this, this. It’s easy, and they’re laughing at this. And then I said, okay, now we’re going to switch gears. Look at yourself. Smile. What do you see that you really love about yourself and your features? And there are some interesting comments that come out, but

people are not writing as fast when they’re looking into the mirror, when they have to pick the features that they really love. And so then we’ll move on with your neighbor, your person next to you, ask them, what do you love about my face? What features are beautiful? What do you like about my face? And the comments are, there’s usually a lot of things. When someone else looks

at you, you smile. Their neighbor has a lot to say. It’s like, oh, I really love your smile. My mom was in the last workshop, and she says, you know, Tiffany, I really never—I never liked my smile. But such and such said, oh, I really love this about your smile, and it helps radiate your face, and it’s just so inviting. So she now looks at herself, at her

smile, with different eyes. And it’s all about really opening the eyes. When we get back to. We open the mind, we open the eyes to see new things. So it’s really. We get a little deep, but. It’s light and it’s fun, and we’re in this Qi field of support, and I really bring that in. The Qi field is we’re all supporting each other for wellness on the inside

and reflecting beauty on the outside. You don’t. Do you offer this also online, or do you have to be in person to do this workshop? Because it sounds a little bit like in person works better. Yet, it is in person. And I’ve been developing these workshops. This year, I have my fifth one. They’ve all been a little bit different, which I can bring in different practices with Zhineng

Qigong and different movements on what we’re trying to feature. Maybe we’ll do Chen Qi for a longer period of time, but we’ve done Mental Beauty, balanced your Yin Yang, and the beginning of the year. Oh, I have one coming up in December, which will be Holiday Lift. So I have Holiday Lift. You know, everyone wants to lift everything for holiday parties, but really, how can we lift our

mood? How can we do this from the inside out and really bring the shen, the spirit of the heart, coming out and sparkling in the eyes and manifesting in the smile? So that will be coming up. And then the new year in January, we have radiant resolutions. So really using your mind to direct your year in this new year, how would you like to have this year? What

would you like to do? So we do that, but I can’t remember the other ones, but it’s been really fun. I think it would be fun to do this online, but I’ve been. I’ve been getting really great feedback in person, so if you’re interested, it’s an invitation for anybody who always wanted to get to know California to come and combine it with one of the workshops that you

run there, right? Yes, and I would love to come to Europe. Oh, okay. And maybe some retreats, bringing Mental Beauty and Zhineng Qigong and beauty together. Maybe we can offer this and bring Master Liu. I’m sure this will be a question for Master Liu to have some of his input on beauty. He does mention beauty, you know, when your emotions are balanced and when you’re happy and you’re

smiling, you’re going to be more beautiful. So if any of the listeners here want to organize a workshop in cooperation with you, get in touch. Your contact details will definitely be in the show notes, obviously. So maybe we are creating, you know, a new, a new movement of Qigong and beauty here today. Who knows, right? It is. It’s a way that I can invite other people who may

not be as open to practicing Qigong, but really, everyone is really focused on how they look. So this is a way that I can bring this in with just daily rituals and daily routines, things we do in Zhineng Qigong every day. But they can start incorporating that into their daily lives with a face cleanse and just looking at themselves in the mirror with a smile. Now, I have

to ask you this, Tiffany. How did you get into this whole topic of Zhineng Qigong and beauty? Was there a personal experience that, at one point, you said, “Wow, I think really something is missing here, or something like this should be on the market”? Or how did you, how did you get about that? Well, I noticed, you know, we always have our personal story. Through some difficult times

in my life, I noticed that, you know, my eyes were—everything was just kind of down, you know. And this is where I really found Zhineng Qigong and many hours of practice, and for months, or daily. Then I noticed that I would look in the mirror and it’s like, wow, things are a little lifted, you know. I’m smiling more. So the practice of learning Qigong, kind of as you

balance the emotions and things are opening inside, working through those heart stones, it really reflects in the face. People would mention things to me, and it’s like, oh, you look so great and this and that. I really bring it to Zhineng Qigong, and really balancing the emotions was the biggie, because if you can balance your Five Zang Organs and support them through the meditation and through the chanting,

it was really huge for me. Doing the Five Zang Organs meditation, but with the chanting, the sounds of the organs, to really enhance the physical organ and the functions of the organ. But also, it’s going to help balance the emotions. Emotions are my wheelhouse. I’m a very emotional person. My mentor, he would comment, oh, you’re so emotional, you’re so emotional. So I embrace all the emotions. What I’ve

learned in Zhineng Qigong is really to try to find balance. Even the wall behind me is. You can see the wall behind me. There are kind of abstract faces, and this reflects the ocean, the emotions, and in the center. My mentor, he painted this for me. And he texted to me and he says, tiffany, do you like this painting? The title is the Heart. And I said, “

Oh, my goodness, perfect”. So on my wall, I had nothing in the middle. He sent me this painting, painting “the heart.” So the heart really is it. You know, really the love and joy of the heart, again manifesting in the smile, coming up in the shen and the spirit in the eyes. And so that’s… The emotions are really a biggie for me, and that really helps, I think,

for the function of the organs, the flow of Qi in the body, but also balancing the emotions. I would love to show a chart of face reading with the emotions. I’ll send that to you. Okay, thank you. Maybe we can add this to the show notes if we get that. I think that would be great. Okay, cool. Then I had a question. Now, when you talk about balancing

emotions, that is, as you said, a big one. Not just for beauty. Do you often have it that in your workshops, people come because they say, well, yeah, that sounds great? Let me be a little more beautiful and let me do this workshop with Tiffany. Then, you know, they make progress on so many other levels as well. They do, and usually, when I mention balancing the emotions, I

get a great response. Oh, wow, I need help with that. I’m so stressed out. My emotions are all out of whack. My hormones are all out of whack. Just all of these things. So, really, balancing the emotions with this meditation will help balance your hormones. The functions of these inner organs are going to support the inner organ Qi, which is going to reflect in those neurotransmitters, better brain

functioning, and also with cortisol levels. You know, the emotions directly affect our hormones, so they’re very open and receptive to balancing the emotions. It’s just a matter of doing the work daily. I find that the hard thing is in practicing it. So that’s why I’m offering these workshops every couple of months. Because it’s fun, and if we hear it enough, they can do this. But usually, people are

really open to balancing the emotions. Very good. I think that answers most of my questions I had about beauty. I’m a little sad that I’m 10 hours’ time difference to California. So it’s not so easy for me to just pitch and do my little beauty exercises with you. I’m sure there’s going to be an opportunity one day because I love the concept for various reasons, as I mentioned,

and one of them is that it can. I’m sure it’s doing great work for whoever participates, but it also makes Zhineng Qigong accessible to people that would normally not be drawn toward Zhineng Qigong. Then through the discovery process of what’s possible, they might just get hooked and say, wow, this is a great life skill. This is a way of living. Let me explore that further and then benefit

in all areas of their lives. So I think it’s fantastic work that you’re doing and I love that you’ve come with this very innovative approach. I also love how you keep developing these workshops and adding new things and twisting it and coming with new concepts. So I think there’s a lot of room for expanding this idea and taking it to many, many more people in the future. So

thank you very much, Tiffany. You’re welcome, Torsten. Thank you. I’m very excited about it. And it’s just really helping a lot of people and having the connection. You know, things happen in life. We have all of these speed bumps in life that these are things that they can pull on and practice. So it makes life much easier to live, and it’s more positive, and life becomes more enjoyable

and happy. So thank you so much. We trust you enjoyed this conversation, and we invite you to subscribe to our podcast so we can stay in touch and notify you of future episodes. We will end today’s episode with the Eight Verses Meditation performed by Zhineng Qigong teacher Katrien Hendrickx. Enjoy. To get your free eBook on the Eight Verses Meditation, please check the show notes below.