The heart contracts as one inhales and relaxes as one exhales. The meditator eventually changes hand positions to hold a large imaginary fruit that glows and spins and changes size as one breathes. A basic purpose of these activities is to impose a disciplined and rhythmic pattern on one's body. We impose willed control over breathing, normally an involuntary function of the parasympathetic nervous system. Doing so helps bring the body into phase with the larger rhythms of daily life, the cycles of the days and the seasons.
Most diseases are irregularities and dysfunctions.
Put the body into phase and flow with the universe, and the qi will flow more freely. Freely flowing qi can eliminate irregularities and dysfunctions. Qigong permits a person to gain some control over autonomic functions. This form of biofeedback does not require machines. We have lost the ancient way of living in quiescence and tranquillity.