Shih Shui Gong training with James McNeil
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:25 am
I recently finished shih shui training with James McNeil.
The training took two hours per day for ten days. It was remarkably practical and spent very little time on theory. It combined aspects of breath retention, body locks, a unique take on the six healing sounds, self massage, wire beater exercises and, of course, swinging.
Mr. McNeil has a reputation for repairing students injured by other teachers and not hurting his own students. I support this view based off of my experience with him.
All instruction was one on one. No video recording of any kind occurred. All discussions were both private and very frank.
His system consists of a unique form of the Eight Brocades exercise, extensive self massage, the hanging/swinging, and wire beater exercises. The Six Healing Sounds utilized are completely different from what I've seen, or read about, anywhere else. They also incorporate a very soft form of energy packing that I've never seen with these as well.
The approach he takes is very conservative. He only recommends increasing weight after three, or four, sessions of using the same weight for 100 swings in which no tension swinging the weight occurs. If pain occurs at any point, you stop immediately. Using this approach, it could easily take a year to swing 50 pounds. Unlike many other systems I've seen that do it in 100 days.
He maintains that the peak effect from the practice occurs at 50 pounds of weight. Everything after that is a nice metric, but reduces many of the effects as you cannot swing as much with higher weights. At his peak, he used over 200 pounds, so he speaks from a position of authority. He is also in his late 70's and looks damn good for a man his age.
A lot of the training is tailored to the individual, which is why he does not have a video, or distance learning, option. This includes how the weights are tied down as well. By tailoring the training it reduces the rate of injury.
Basic training takes 100 days of daily practice. After that it can be reduced to three days per week of swinging and still progress. At two times per week, you can maintain the effect. The full set takes about 90 minutes to perform. Of this, roughly half is self massage. Swinging itself may take 90-120 seconds.
I will post lab results on endocrine system function over the next year at 90/180/270/360 day intervals.
The training also requires revision once per year for one day to correct mistakes and add exercises as needed. He will be teaching for two more years and is currently certifying long term students to teach as well. Senior students stopped by while we were training and many of his students have been with him over two decades. At no time was anyone in the room with me, except for Mr. McNeil, while I was undressed. All of which are good signs.
Overall, he is a very nice man with a solid system. Well worth the investment for those interested.
If anyone has questions, feel free to post here or PM me.
The training took two hours per day for ten days. It was remarkably practical and spent very little time on theory. It combined aspects of breath retention, body locks, a unique take on the six healing sounds, self massage, wire beater exercises and, of course, swinging.
Mr. McNeil has a reputation for repairing students injured by other teachers and not hurting his own students. I support this view based off of my experience with him.
All instruction was one on one. No video recording of any kind occurred. All discussions were both private and very frank.
His system consists of a unique form of the Eight Brocades exercise, extensive self massage, the hanging/swinging, and wire beater exercises. The Six Healing Sounds utilized are completely different from what I've seen, or read about, anywhere else. They also incorporate a very soft form of energy packing that I've never seen with these as well.
The approach he takes is very conservative. He only recommends increasing weight after three, or four, sessions of using the same weight for 100 swings in which no tension swinging the weight occurs. If pain occurs at any point, you stop immediately. Using this approach, it could easily take a year to swing 50 pounds. Unlike many other systems I've seen that do it in 100 days.
He maintains that the peak effect from the practice occurs at 50 pounds of weight. Everything after that is a nice metric, but reduces many of the effects as you cannot swing as much with higher weights. At his peak, he used over 200 pounds, so he speaks from a position of authority. He is also in his late 70's and looks damn good for a man his age.
A lot of the training is tailored to the individual, which is why he does not have a video, or distance learning, option. This includes how the weights are tied down as well. By tailoring the training it reduces the rate of injury.
Basic training takes 100 days of daily practice. After that it can be reduced to three days per week of swinging and still progress. At two times per week, you can maintain the effect. The full set takes about 90 minutes to perform. Of this, roughly half is self massage. Swinging itself may take 90-120 seconds.
I will post lab results on endocrine system function over the next year at 90/180/270/360 day intervals.
The training also requires revision once per year for one day to correct mistakes and add exercises as needed. He will be teaching for two more years and is currently certifying long term students to teach as well. Senior students stopped by while we were training and many of his students have been with him over two decades. At no time was anyone in the room with me, except for Mr. McNeil, while I was undressed. All of which are good signs.
Overall, he is a very nice man with a solid system. Well worth the investment for those interested.
If anyone has questions, feel free to post here or PM me.