Qigong, do you practice and if so, why?

[oldtyger]

Do you practice Qigong for health, martial arts, spiritual reasons, medical etc? What kind of qigong do you practice?

When I do have time to practice, it's a form that my taijiquan teacher learned from a qigong master. He just calls it Master Wei's Hunyuan qigong. There are 3: standing, moving, and sitting--although the last was developed by my teacher and his brother, who was also a qigong student of the same qigong master.

If it's for:

1 Health: How does qigong help your health? Does this practice increase qi? If so, what are the mechanics of increasing qi, how does it work?
Basically what Michael said above. In our practice some people can actually measure another's qi, quantitatively. I can only do it qualitatively i.e. I think I can tell if a person's meridians are open. The more you practice the more qi one can develop, which is good for overall health. Also the better one can get at reading another's qi and possibly using it as well. Some people are naturally gifted at this--not me.

2. IMA: How does qigong help your IMA? Does the practice help structure? How does qigong help your IMA?
My teacher says it helps improve one's sensitivity, so it could help with tuishou. It has nothing to do with structure although you do have to have a correct structure to do qigong. It might help to strengthen since the standing can last 30 minutes to an hour--and I do feel it in my arms and legs after.

3. Spiritual: Big question here but feel free to answer.
I don't think this necessary. Unlike Michael above, I am actually a skeptic, having been trained in Western scientific methods. Yet I can not explain how my teacher can know certain things e.g. that my other friend's tongue was not on the roof of his mouth(the mouth is closed--look in the mirror and see if you can tell any difference), that another friend was pregnant when even she did not know, etc. Despite my skepticism, I can actually develop my qi( at least it's apparently grown according to my teacher) and I can actually sense qi in others--albeit in a limited way.(And I haven't had a chance to really test this with my teacher to see if what I sense is the same as what my teacher perceives.)

4. Medical: Do you use qigong in a medical sense? To help ppl regain their health?
Yes, I used a different version once to help me when I got sick on a car ride from LA to Vegas. It actually worked and I got better in a few hours. Maybe that was coincidence. I'm not good enough to use the qigong I am learning now--you need to be able to sense each meridian and I can only sense "in" or "out" in general. Then you need to be able to manipulate the meridian e.g. if I could sense the kidney channel was blocked, then I might be able to open it. Once again, I'll admit I'm a skeptic but I respect my teacher so I have tried to learn the qigong since he values it highly.

As far as IMA and qigong, most of my teachers have regarded qigong as better for health than any IMA, simply because that's the sole purpose of qigong. Qigong, by itself, will not make you good at IMA. I have heard that some of my teacher's best qigong students are pretty bad at tuishou--but their focus is on the qigong.

IMA usually need to be practiced in a certain "correct" method. Similarly I think the same is true for qigong. Just watching my teacher test a person's qi I find it humorous that almost all of the people who have done qigong before, sometimes for years and years, apparently have not done it correctly because he ends up telling them that their channels are blocked. However one person, in particular, had very strong qi and he practiced qigong before--I never asked him what kind. Since qigong is one of those mysterious arts, there is no way to know if my teacher is right in his assessments or his practices.

[Craig]

I do relaxed zhan zhuang, with natural breathing. This is useful as a health practice and also for martial conditioning. It promotes body awareness, improves balance and teaches relaxation.

There is more besides that you can do with ZZ, but I think most of the benefits are found in the basic practice.

I agree. I tend to use ZZ and qigong together for maximum effect. Open with qigong to gather energy and get the body to the desired state, and then use zz to cultivate and strengthen this state. Both practices have also done wonders for my cardiovascular fitness.

[Haoran]

Michael,

Good answer!! This is kind of where I'm going with this thread. Most ppl associate breathing as the main catalyst of qi generation in qigong practice. Few identify structural alignment between heaven and earth.

Over the years I have learned many different types of qigong exercises from many different systems. Most employ a combination of movement and breath. Less use structural alignment as the key to qi generation or accumulation. The reason I'm bringing this up is I keep coming back to one particular qigong practice, Wuji qigong as taught by Cai Songfang.

I met Cai's good friend and student back in the late 80s while attending college in central Florida. He is a doctor of Chinese Medicine and we just by chance met. He was the first to teach me Wuji qigong and he later introduced me on several different occasions to Master Cai himself with whom we practiced Wuji for a good period of time.

The key to this practice is structual alignment. Standing between heaven and earth like a battery being charged between two poles. The direct effect of this alignment is two fold, an expulsion of dirty Qi and an infusion of universal Qi and, on the physical level, an increased functionality of the stomach and spleen (transformation and transportation).

I think it's key to understand the methods one's particular qigong exercise uses as it can be applied to other exercises or martial arts they may have.

For instance, only one other person have I found to have Cai's level of Qi development and that was a Wu style Taiji Master. He understood and used the same alignment mechanics as Cai and carried them over to his Wu style Taiji. His name is Tony Ho.

So, I while I still practice other forms of qigong, I think Wuji is one of the simplest and one of the best I have found so far. I practice for the accumulation, generation, and storage of Qi for health and longevity. I also carry the alignment principles over to my Bagua practice.

[WujiRob]

Haoran, when you refer to "wuji qigong" is this wuji stance/meditation, or are there additional "special" (secret ) techniques involved? Thanks!

[Haoran]

Hey WujiRob,

This is the standing meditative Qigong which is a form a Zhan Zhuang called Wuji qigong.

This is outlined in the book Warriors of Stillness by Jan Diepersloot (I think it's out of print right now).

It involves alignment between heaven and earth and to put your mind intent at the wuji point. Teacher Cai told me for heath maintenance stand 20 minutes a day. For more, practice up to an hour. For me, he recommended two 45 minute sessions a day. Practice for 45 minutes, relax for a time, then practice another 45 minutes.

No other secret techniques.

[Haoran]

opps... looks like I was wrong:

http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Stillnes ... 0964997606

[WujiRob]

Thanks! Yes, I should definitely get that book. Mate of mine has it as well, and likes it a lot.

[Michael]

xxxxx

[Haoran]

Just to clarify, the system of qigong I practice and teach does not rely upon any alignment, but I have practiced others that do.

Hey Michael, Thanks for that clairification. I didn't believe you did but others might.

There are millions of ways to get the job done. We're really amazing creatures that automatically heal and regenerate: even partial knowledge of almost any method is enough to help us restore our health or advance our spirit.

On that I would say it depends on the individual and his/her body type or issues arising from birth (energetically). I've learned many, many different styles of qigong and most have not given me results like Wuji. In fact, most have taken me in the opposite direction. So, I would accept your words with a note of reservation.

For example, I was seeing a TCM doctor who also is Taiji/Qigong Master in California. He was so confident, so sure of himself, that massage and meditation would do the trick for anyone. He spent more than a year with me and at the end of it all I was the same as when I arrived with him. I had no stress, and a relaxed lifestyle. The problem was he was over confident in himself so much he didn't look further.

Anyway, getting off topic. I've found qigong helps regenerate, build internally from a tcm point of view and I found it invalueable in my practice.

[Michael]

xxxxx

[Haoran]

The mind is where it all happens. I've helped many people with lower back pain, instant results, no muss, no fuss, voila, pain gone. Came to China, met a very friendly bi-lingual Cantonese man who spent about 20 years in Canadia who had severe LBP. Told him I could help, "Oh, really, I don't think that will work on me," he says. As soon as I touched him, I knew it wasn't going to work [because he didn't want it to], and although I gave him the treatment, it didn't help. So while in pain, at least he was right.

Yep, been there, done that and I"ve never said, "that won't help me". I've had results in practice but it's important to give the right exercise or combination of exercises to the right person, for the right body type/personality (IMO). I've done tranquil sitting, daoist meditation, etc.

I've had results in treatment (qigong) or standing with a teacher for an extended period of time (several weeks) but it always dissapates after some time. The problem IMO is the teaching or lack thereof. I find most qigong teachers to be absolute horrible teachers due to the way they learned. The hard way. In fact, one of my teachers (or exercise sources) is a doctor of Chinese medicine (a white boy) with 30 + years of MA experience and 20+ years of qigong experience and who has not been sick at all for over 20 years. I would say he is not one of the best teachers by far.

That's one of the reasons I started this thread. To see what knowledge is out there. To get a dialog going, to spur interest..

I know in the book Tranquil Sitting the author gained a lot through sitting meditation so I understand your point of the mind. However, he practiced 8 hours a day in 2 hour segments.

So, Michael, is your practice only a practice of the mind?

[Adj]

thetaobums.com for more information about your interest in CHigong.

[Michael]

xxxxxxx

[KEND]

Qigong practice consists of energizing the three tan tiens. The lower is associated with self help, it makes the transfer of energy to the organs more efficient.The middle tan tien is for projecting energy drawn in from the outside[heaven/earth] to help others. The upper is for 'spiritual ' it connects you to the outside via the bai hui or the third eye
Each is a separate discipline, and should not be confused.Using the lower tan tien to heal drains you of personal energy[often the case through some made up western therapies]MA qigong has a different intent but in many cases parallels 'medical' qigong.
Most routines we see out there exercise the body increase blood flow and loosen joints to convey energy to the extremities
I practice the art to stay alive with all my senses

[everything]

yes for reasons already stated.
1. health, yes certainly feel healthier.
2. ima, seems to be an indicator of mentally and physically being correctly relaxed, and ideally, in the "zone" or "flow".
3. spiritual, no not really.
4. medical, I would like to get into it, definitely.
how: usually just some taiji forms or zz overlapped with qigong.