Let’s get this settled in order. First, in regards to Qigong - it’s all BS. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble… well no actually I’m not. Chi/meditation/yoga all that stuff is just fine for relaxation techniques and whatever sense of inner calm they might give a practitioner. However, in claims to anything supernatural this has been debunked so many times over the past 100 years I’m always surprised people still fall for it.
Look up James Randi on Ytube and you’ll learn all you need to know about the false claims of Qigong and anything else about reading minds, walking on paper, chi powers etc.
As far as studying things for self defense I would suggest finding a legit MMA school. Minus that find a good BJJ school, preferably Gracie or anything that goes to self defense but any BJJ will work for you in real life. You can get by with a Muay Thai school or even a Krav Magra school (maybe, here). However, you will have a giant hole if a fight ever goes to the ground, which most fights do. Warning: make sure you are interested in FULL CONTACT if you do decide to join a Muay Thai gym. Also, there are two types of MMA gyms: One type is specifically tailored to train cage fighters, the other is tailored to teach people different aspects of fighting for a real life situation. Both will work in real life but you will find the former being much more demanding physically and a bit less practical on the streets (who do you know walks around greased up and wearing tight shorts all day?) Also, they won’t teach things like “make sure to turn your head when applying x so the guy doesn’t rip your eyes out.” These types of small hints.
How to tell if a gym is legit. There are a few ways. First, do they offer free or trial classes? If no, it’s not legit. Or, at the least the instructor is such a dick you don’t want to train there anyway. Long term contracts? These sometimes mark a non-legit gym. Phenomenal claims by the instructor(s)? The more bad ass an instructor claims he is, the less likely he is to be able to take money from a 4th grader. Do they let you observe classes? If so, how many times? This should be infinite. If they don’t let you watch without signing up walk away.
These are preliminary tests. Next, take a demo class or two. How does it feel? Does it feel legit? Did it feel like people respected your newness? A real gym where people help eachother get better will accept the fact you’re new. A gym out to prove something will whip on you to show you what’s what. Did you do something surprisingly well against someone only to have them give you the ol’ “I wasn’t trying…”? Bad sign.
Really, you’ll be surprised by your own ability to sense the BS of a bad gym. I think the most important thing to remember is that if you feel red flags you’re probably right.
Most of all, talk to the members. Try to discern past their obvious gym love and see if it’s actually a good gym. Fanboy responses are a bad sign. Real people responses talking about a real gym, which includes the bad sweaty smell and all, is a good sign.
Oh, lastly look at the belt progression system. In my home gym in the states I’ve trained for 4 years and I’ve seen a total of 2 black belts ever awarded at the gym (including instructors). If everyone is walking around with high belts that’s not really a good sign.
Hope this helps.