Qigong

[sillypumpkins]

I just did a beginner routine of Qigong and really liked it!! I think I am going to keep practicing with the same video for a few days until I get the hang of it. However I'd still like to ask if anyone here practices qigong, or anything similar, and if they have any resources/experiences to share

Thanks all

[AnthroHeart]

I am a Reiki III attuned, if that means anything.

[Luigi]

Coincidentally I just started learning Qigong exercises recently. I've been learning from the "Qigong For Vitality" channel on YouTube, not sure if you learnt from there.

[sillypumpkins]

Coincidentally I just started learning Qigong exercises recently. I've been learning from the "Qigong For Vitality" channel on YouTube, not sure if you learnt from there.

yep indeed. I like the guy. he has a calm energy

sun what's your experience with reiki?

[AnthroHeart]

Coincidentally I just started learning Qigong exercises recently. I've been learning from the "Qigong For Vitality" channel on YouTube, not sure if you learnt from there.

yep indeed. I like the guy. he has a calm energy

sun what's your experience with reiki?

I was attuned to Reiki master about 10-15 years ago.
Then I got attuned again about 7 years ago.
And then got attuned to Reiki II again about a year ago.

I have forgotten the symbols though.

I usually work with anthro energy (anthros in parallel earths).
My energy is very dense. A friend tells me it feels rather doglike.

My energy field feels 20X stronger than when I touch my arm.
It's pretty dense, and sometimes causes discomfort.

Reiki is very soft and gentle. It goes where it is needed.

I usually work with a denser, transformative energy.
It causes growing pains in my body.

It's a little unpleasant, though blissful, and quite fulfilling/satisfying.
But I'm a trailblazer in some regards, so there's that.

After going for a bit I break through and am captivated in Creator's soft light.
It is beautiful.

[sillypumpkins]

sun have you worked with reiki in a therapeutic setting? just curious

[888]

Did you practice the Eight Pieces of Silk Routine on youtube?

[AnthroHeart]

sun have you worked with reiki in a therapeutic setting? just curious

I've never made money from it, but I did heal a dog remotely that was mourning loss of its companion.
After that day it stopped whining.

I have sent Reiki to those who ask for it.
I don't get much opportunity because you're supposed to wait for someone to ask for help.

[Aion]

I have been in to Qi Gong for quite awhile though I would still consider my practice to be pretty basic. My main methods come from the book Relaxing Into Your Being by Bruce Frantzis. This discusses the Water Method of Taoist meditation which focuses more on passive approaches as oppose to the Fire Method. The main crux is on meditative breathing, posture and mental focus, often through counting.

I have also always been interested in and done some work with the Microcosmic Orbit (and increasingly the Macrocosmic Orbit).

https://www.qigonginstitute.org/abstract...uohan-gong
https://www.authenticgrowth.com/microcosmic-orbit/
http://awakeningtimes.com/the-macrocosmi...h-details/
(These links are definitely not traditional but the closest I could find. Usually books tend to be a better source for Qi Gong.)

I also learned some dynamic qi gong from a Taiwanese world champion (Tai Chi) who happened to be teaching in the city I was in, I only picked up a couple movements but I find doing them for an hour or so incredibly beneficial and pain relieving. Again, big focus on correct posture and breathing flow. I also learned a basic flow and some concepts for Tai Chi.

[Foha]

Interesting. Thank you very much for the helpful links, Aion.

In my first attempt I felt a very active sensation in some areas -- reminded me of when my father used to tickle by trailing his finger up my spine as a child.
This kind of tingling/ticklish/joyful sensation was easy to feel up the spine -- but I did not feel that in what I later realized are considered the "Female, or Functional Channel".
It is much more difficult for me to sense and pinpoint these female channels.

The first practice attempt immediately made me feel more calm and healthy.

[Diana]

Qi Gong is the movement of energy just as Tai Chi is. One of the most important elements of both is body alignment. Keep your torso upright; imagine your body is made of three giant balls, and keep them aligned—even when "picking up the ball" from the ground. (The ball being a ball of energy or light.) When lowering the body use your leg muscles. Your legs are your foundation. 

Another important element is to "open up the joints." Don't kink your elbows or shoulders; when your arms are out carrying the ball, don't go past approximately a 45° angle or you shoulder blades will start to close. Open up and relax your hands. You can practice the way you hands should be open by moving them back and forth in water. 

I find the slower and more accurate the movements, the more one can feel the energy.

[Aion]

There is a concept used in kung fu that I find useful for posture and stance, and that is the 'string of pearls' visualization. The idea is that you want to stand with your knees slightly bend, leaning back slightly but also kind of stretching your head upwards towards the crown. The idea is to get the effect for your spinal vertebrae to kind of 'hang' like a string of pearls, fixed between your upward movement (like holding the top of the string) and letting your base or root relax in to the support of your knees, thereby taking the impact pressure off your spine and achieving a sort of floating between the vertebrae, reminiscent of a string of pearls.

Usually done in 'Horse Stance'.


http://chikung-unlimited.com/qigong-exer...-exercise/
Looks like they mention the thread technique too.

I agree, you should try and do everything as slow as possible, and synchronizing your breath with your movements. I was taught 4 basic cycles. When you do upward physical movement (like raising arms) breathing in, then breathing out on the downward movement. The opposite are the other two cycles. Breathing in on the down movement, and then out on the upward. This doesn't have to be 'up' or 'down' movements, but any sort of cyclical motion. The idea is to balance the breath with the motion so the peak and valley of the breath matches that of the movement.

[sillypumpkins]

Thanks aion!

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Aion, this is REALLY good s***. thanks man. Good lookin out!

[AnthroHeart]

There is a concept used in kung fu that I find useful for posture and stance, and that is the 'string of pearls' visualization. The idea is that you want to stand with your knees slightly bend, leaning back slightly but also kind of stretching your head upwards towards the crown. The idea is to get the effect for your spinal vertebrae to kind of 'hang' like a string of pearls, fixed between your upward movement (like holding the top of the string) and letting your base or root relax in to the support of your knees, thereby taking the impact pressure off your spine and achieving a sort of floating between the vertebrae, reminiscent of a string of pearls.

Usually done in 'Horse Stance'.


http://chikung-unlimited.com/qigong-exer...-exercise/
Looks like they mention the thread technique too.

I agree, you should try and do everything as slow as possible, and synchronizing your breath with your movements. I was taught 4 basic cycles. When you do upward physical movement (like raising arms) breathing in, then breathing out on the downward movement. The opposite are the other two cycles. Breathing in on the down movement, and then out on the upward. This doesn't have to be 'up' or 'down' movements, but any sort of cyclical motion. The idea is to balance the breath with the motion so the peak and valley of the breath matches that of the movement.

I agree on going slow. The energy flows slowly in a captivating sort of manner to me.

[Aion]

If you want the good stuff you gotta ask for the right stuff. For books I would recommend The Way of Qi Gong by Ken Cohen, it is fairly popular but a good digest from a westerner who learned traditionally. There are tons of resources available, although obviously if you can find a more versed teacher is good. I really only know the rudiments.

In particular you will see a ton of a 'gate' systems. These are similar to the idea of chakras but instead are usually considered more to be on the surface than internal. (An astute observer may notice they often line up with the external vortices extending out from the chakra cores though.) This follows along the idea of energy meridians like all chinese medicine. (In Yoga, pertaining to chakras, these energy lines are called nadi.)

The number of points and gates vary, but they're all based on the traditional meridian system.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...0110600143

Another useful thought that many are not aware of is the traditional view that chi/ki/qi flows with the blood and while the energy moves along the meridians is correlates with the actual qi moving along the blood channels similar to the way electricity doesn't actually go 'inside' a wire but rather uses it as a guide to travel along.

Another key element to Qi Gong is working with the 3 Dantian. This is actually one of the most fundamental Qi Gong visualization practices and to understand it is important to get the most of Qi Gong.

https://taichibasics.com/three-dantians/

You see, Qi is only one of the three primary parts of energy working and corresponds to the Middle Dantian of the body, also the breath. Below that in the Lower Dantian (where the root chakra is) is an energy they call Jing which is equivalent to the 'vital energy' of the Ra Material and is considered exactly that in qi gong as well. In the Upper Dantian of the head you have Shen which is like 'divine energy' or related to spirit and consciousness.

In the conception of qi gong, Shen is not generated but rather is produced from Jing by circulating it with Qi, through breathing and the like. This is by bringing the Shen down and circulating.

The Chinese character for Qi actually reveals a deep understanding in Qi Gong.



What is depicted here is actually a steaming pot of rice. Steam is actually what corresponds with the idea of Qi in the cycle between the Dantian. You have the rice which is the Earth element, contained in the Metal element (since Chinese tradition uses the Wuxing, 5 element system). Below it is the Wood element. You have Shen which is the element of Fire, and Water in this case actually corresponds with both the mixture of the rice and the steam. The steam in this sense is considered a combination of Fire and Water.

There is a bit of an interesting note here that in old Western esoteric tradition Water and Earth were often coupled up as a single element, both as a way to obscure secrets and as a hint to their intertwined nature. Fluids and Solids.

So you have your set up here. The exercise of Qi Gong is to bring the Shen down (usually visualizing coming down the front), this Fire is set to the Wood element and this ignites the flames and boils the water (this is seen as drawing energy in to the Lower Dantian and concentrating it). As this energy concentrates, and movement begins to go through the system from it. You begin to feel the 'steam' or the movement of Qi moving up from the Lower to the Upper, like steam rising. Then, when it rises to the top, it condenses in to a Shen cloud and returns down to the Lower to transmute again. Actually, when you bring Shen down it becomes Jing, as the Lower Dantian becomes charged to overflowing it rises up as Qi and this cycle 'cooks' the rice, or does the work upon the Earth.

Remember when you breath in deep you are 'drawing in the fire'. It can be seen in one sense that the steam is a synthesis of the rice and the water acted upon by the fire, the catalyst.

These can all be seen as parallels to the idea of a Hermetically Sealed vessel working upon the Azoth or First Matter and transmuting it. In short, it is Chinese alchemy. Another useful note here, you can't use too much heat, or you burn your rice. Likewise, the old advice of the alchemists is that you must use continuous, steady heat. "Soft heat". An idea here that transmutation comes with gradual change and too much or too little doesn't produce the gold. Balance, as in all things.

Happy cooking.

[sillypumpkins]

Wow Aion, you seem very knowledgable for someone who "really only knows the rudiments"! ;-)

all the talk of elements reminds me of Franz Bardon's book Initiation into Hermetics

thanks again

[Aion]

That just tells you the depth of the practice, there are many nuances and different systems, and literally countless visualizations and techniques to make use of. Some don't use visualizations though, or aren't meant to.

https://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/ea...an-zhuang/

Although this link is not exactly the way I was taught, the practice I am most familiar with and fond of is Zhan Zuang or Standing Like A Tree. It is very beneficial for health and is really a complete practice unto itself. There are many variations so don't worry too much if you have the 'right one'. I think sincerity of practice, good posture and proper breathing are more important than specifics of movement.

Hermetics is another field I 'dabble' in, you could say.