Qigong is a practice involving movement and regulated breathing which is designed to be therapeutic. In its origin, Qigong is a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes. Various forms of traditional qigong are also widely taught along with Chinese martial arts and are especially prevalent in the advanced training of the Neijia (internal martial arts).

Qigong relies on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has something that might be described as an "energy field" generated and maintained by the natural respiration of the body, known as qi. Qigong is then "breath work" or the art of managing one's breathing in order to achieve and maintain good health and to enhance the energy of the body in coordination with the physical process of respiration.

Attitudes toward the scientific basis for qigong vary from one another. Most Chinese and western medicine practitioners view qigong as a set of breathing and movement exercises with possible benefits to health. Others claim that the exercises can help one's spiritual development.