"Nobody knew of qigong," said Mr. Lin, 49, a master of the age-old practice, which entails coordinating slow movements with breathing to cultivate the flow of energy, or qi, in a sort of graceful, fluid dance.

Now, he runs a qigong (chi kung) center in Eden Prairie, Minn., called Spring Forest, where he teaches to packed classes of more than 60 students — and workshops nationwide to hundreds more. "Qigong is growing like crazy in the United States in the past few years," Mr. Lin said. "People want to be more proactive with their health care."

The face of exercise is changing in America. Instead of relentlessly pursuing a sculptured physique, people are chasing longevity, stress reduction and improved health through mind-body practices like qigong.

"The realm of working out has shifted from people just wanting to build bulk and lean, toned muscles to them understanding that the inner health of the body is just as important as the outer health," said Bernard Shannon, a medical qigong therapist who works one on one with clients and sits on the board of the National Qigong Association, a trade group.

This vanguard of wellness-motivated exercisers prefers a regimen that encourages self-awareness to one with a high calorie burn.

"People want to get back to a simpler time," said Ted J. Cibik, a medical qigong therapist and a certified health and fitness instructor, whose patients include athletes. "They want to find something they can practice that doesn’t take a lot of apparatus, allows them to deal with their stress, and gives them a good physical workout in the sense that it gets them moving."

It wasn’t until recently that the ancient, gentle practice of qigong caught the attention of even the most sophisticated American exercisers.

The reasons vary. Mindful yoga has acclimated people to Eastern practices. Rising health care costs and expensive prescriptions have led people to look for alternative ways to feel vital. And an influx of qigong teachers from China has paved the way for new generations of teachers and students.

"There is a whole community of people who are intrigued by the whole mind-body shift happening in clubs, gyms and personal training centers who are now pushing these ancient arts,"

Qigong practitioners predict the easy-to-teach practice will one day rival yoga stateside. Does that mean a future of designer qigong clothes and S.U.V. ads? Not necessarily.

"Qigong probably won’t be as popular as yoga because you can’t really get a beautiful body — it’s such an internal practice," said Kimberly Ivy, founder of Embrace the Moon School for Taijiquan and Qigong in Seattle. "And qigong does not have the same cult of personality as yoga. How do you get celebrity status when you are standing still, breathing?"

WHERE TO GO FOR THE (QI) FLOW

Qigong Classes:

NEW YORK Taoist Arts Center, 342 East Ninth Street, taoist-arts.com, teaches forms like the 4,000-year-old Marriage of Heaven and Earth. (212) 477-7055.

AUSTIN Healing Tao Institute, 8516 Devine Lane, healingtaoinstitute.com. Classes include Five Animal Frolics Qigong. (512) 291-8363.

SEATTLE Embrace the Moon, 1716 NW Market, embracethemoon.com, offers classes in forms like One Thousand Hands Buddha. (206) 789-0993

LOS ANGELES Yo San University, 13315 West Washington Boulevard, has a limited number of beginner classes. (310) 577-3000.

SAN FRANCISCO Quan Yin Healing Arts Center, 455 Valencia Street, offers classes three times a week. (415) 861-4964.

Qigong Instructors

NATIONAL QIGONG ASSOCIATION, nqa.org, permits a search for an instructor by state.

INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL QIGONG AND TAI CHI, iiqtc.org, has a national and international database of teachers.

Exerpted from the original article "Exercisers Slow it Down with Qigong" by Nora Isaacs, published in the NY Times, April 5, 2007. The complete article is available by subscription to the NY Times.