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View Full Version : Rate my potential qi-gong program



Former castleva
11-10-2002, 09:52 AM
Your honest opinion,straightforward or not.
Just don´t be too hard on me :eek: :rolleyes:

Without any instruction available,I´ve taken my time to practice from books.However,I try to do my best when into training.
I have not been training at all for a while,I´m trying to kick myself to a start (will cause a few bruises...)
If you have anything to add so far,I´m more than open for listening.Any tips,advice or methods to improve performance...

Here´s my program so far:

Eight sections of Brocade (popular set among gong circles I think.Various versions include but I think basics go the same. This one by Yang Jwing Ming)

I consider this sort of a beginner set,most of the movements do not offer much "challenge" which I´m all positive with,besides a few moves which are too bizarre and uncomfortable to do which I have to skip.
Includes both sitting and standings sets-I don´t know if one rates this as "soft","medical" or whatever exercise,main appearance is gentle and common.
I find it hard to concentrate for an entire set,in most cases I will not complete an entire piece.I usually skip and ramble around different exercises and try to do most of them as much as comfortable.I may move from exercise to another.
If a certain exercise as an example,requires 30 reps of single movement,I may only do about 15 and then skip to another and maybe complete that one later.

White Crane Qi-Gong (This one by Yang Jwing Ming too.This is notable in size,entirely martial set based on the art.
Includes both hard and soft gong.
Soft-Each side includes lots of flapping,"flying" and related crane like moves which are in many cases,hard to perform because of their detailed appearance (Not to say all would be like that,I try to practice all I can) Bending and twisting etc. there is not much accurate descriptions on effects,besides improving martial performance there should be more strength and flexibility and coordination.
Hard-Lots of stuff introduced in "soft" goes the same,this one includes plenty of hard,dynamic tension exercises designed to build strength,qi li and size of muscle&tendon.
Abdominal breathing is presented to a point,to use it and how much to is quite hard for me to say (I try to apply abdominal breathing whenever possible&comfortable enough,at times certain sounds are used.

Again as previously said,I skip and move from tech to tech a lot since plenty of it is a bit hard to grasp.
I try to do both hard and soft to not hinder each other while developing the other to keep in harmony with ying/yang and especially not to invite health issues.
I´ve heard hard qi-gong may not be a wise pick if in form of self-study? I try to be as careful as possible with it too and emphasize various areas as once again,previously mentioned to get best results.
I don´t have joint or heart issues which could clash with this type of qi-gong either.

breath coordination is one thing I´m mostly concerned of.
It is said that in Eight pieces gong one should not worry of breathing too much,it should be allright to stay loose and I tend to use the principle of inhaling while relaxing and exhaling while moving (as if raising arms,tensing etc.) which is also recommended in a book a bit.
I wonder if abdominal breathing would beat thoraxic breathing?

Crane gong is another thing then,I try to put emphasis on abdominal breathing when it "feels right",it may be slightly pushed at first but I´m trying to best of my ability to coordinate.

I tend to change from breathing trough mouth to breathing trough nose at times subconciously when it feels too tough to go on with certain way.
I wonder if I should go with nose oriented breathing generally or is nose-inhale,mouth-exhale type good enough?
There seem to be differing opinions within these things?

These are the main things,I´ll also be adding sitting meditation exercises and more basical breathing exercises to a point.


Any input greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

dezhen2001
11-10-2002, 11:19 AM
hey fc, how goes? :)

i would take guohuens advice as he has a lot of experience :)

For me i wouldnt do any moving qigong or especially hard qigong without a teacher... my skills seem to be different to the yang jwing ming stuff though, but generally if u dont do the breathing and movements correctly, you can damage yourself.

Actually i wouldnt really try to do anything without a teacher... but thats just me. i did before try and learn one of our sets form a book, but when i met Sifu i found what was ACTUALLY happening was different to what i thought :p

most hard qigong skills also have a softer aspect anyway to balance... mine for example has many powerful movements and breathing techniques, but also requires a lot of meditation to balance the heat u create inside the body... training both hard and soft qigong can have a lot of benefits though, as long as it is clear and u dont mix up...

as a side not: 8 pieces brocade does seem popular, but actually i have never practised it, as my skill is not from shaolin origin lol seen it before though :p

dawood

prana
11-10-2002, 05:08 PM
guru is a very good idea , FC

Former castleva
11-11-2002, 05:19 AM
Special thanks to everyone.

guohuen,
At first,eight pieces is pretty much still,you either stand or sit and only move from grounded position which includes torque etc.
Don´t know if that was your point though.

Quite a lot of that goes for crane too,it is a bit more "active",however.
I must be missing something around here...
:rolleyes:

Dezhen,
Going downwards as usually,classic lines. :confused:

"most hard qigong skills also have a softer aspect anyway to balance... mine for example has many powerful movements and breathing techniques, but also requires a lot of meditation to balance the heat u create inside the body... training both hard and soft qigong can have a lot of benefits though, as long as it is clear and u dont mix up..."

Yeah,heat is one concern.
Even though I´m not really too fire oriented person at all times :p
(actually metal,which fire can be hard on) rapid rising of fire/heat and heart qi possibly can get annoying.
I guess if I were to strive to do it right,I should balance different types of gong into a certain order but that is just my beginner opinion and does not cover this entirely.
How are you btw? I wonder if you caught my pm which I sent a while ago?
See you around,right... :)

prana,
Now you leave me wondering if you are just referring to a teacher of qi-gong or to Indian origin of...? :)
Which is something I´m unable to reach but I hope to change that situation as time passes.

prana
11-11-2002, 03:17 PM
guru as in a teacher, not neccesserily of Inidian Origin :D :)

woliveri
11-11-2002, 03:45 PM
You guys seem to be implying that it's easy to find a Qi Gong Master (a Master being different from a teacher). Perhaps you can offer some Master names as I have found it extremely difficult to find a Qi Gong Master and I'm living in Southern California.

3step
11-11-2002, 08:10 PM
since you have been doing his exercises,maybe if you contact Dr. Yang's organization they can put you in contact with someone in your area.

Former castleva
11-12-2002, 03:22 AM
Thanks again.

Someone insert that "bow" smiley from martialtalk.com .

Former castleva
11-16-2002, 04:12 AM
Respects to poll posters.
Over 80 views makes more than 7 votes,does not it?
:)

[Censored]
11-16-2002, 02:50 PM
Be careful! There are only two kinds of qigong:

- Completely worthless
- Potentially dangerous. :eek:

dezhen2001
11-16-2002, 04:14 PM
hi FC :)

i got your pm thanks but my internet conneciton is being strange these days :(

i would say most (complete) qigong skills are balanced - thats the aim after all right? So mixing and matching to 'balance' doesnt sound good to me...

i know when i train i follow my Sifus advice not to mix and practise seperately. That way i know things are clear :)

Censored: what do you mean?

prana: g'day ;)

dawood

Former castleva
11-17-2002, 06:59 AM
"i know when i train i follow my Sifus advice not to mix and practise seperately. That way i know things are clear"

I wonder if your saying that your set includes both sides of the coin or is it just more comfortable to stick with soft gong?

"i got your pm thanks but my internet conneciton is being strange these days "

That´s all too bad,besides that you received those PM´s.
I´ll keep sticking to wishful thinking you know,load some coal and it will be allright.
;)

Ganbatte.

ZIM
11-17-2002, 07:58 AM
Great to be curious and to resolve to work on it all.

Consider the order in which you intend to do it. A good order would be to do some serious standing/stance work first, coord'ing breathe and relaxation, then 8 brocades, then soft qiqong, thenn finally hard...after you get one fairly down, you move on, maintaining practice. I mean, don't even touch doing the next up until you've done the previous one for a long while. Progression, not quantity, and quality and precision, and etc. isd what gets results.

Meanwhile, you keep looking for a teacher. You said none available- thats ok, just be wary of the books, for all the above reasons. One type of teacher you might consider is a yoga instructor- they can show you a lot of things that will help immensely. Kundalini is good.

Finally, consider closely visualization and meditation practices- do up some reading and practices on that, then search for someone to get that piece down with. A major problem with not having one teacher is that you have to find at least three others to cover bases, fill gaps. Yoga, MAs, meditation, etc. and youre still reinventing wheels.
.
This is all IMHO, yup. :D Oh yes, its all much too dangerous...LOL But seriously, watch yourself and get some kind of help with it- and not from kfo.

Former castleva
11-17-2002, 09:17 AM
Thanks for the replies.

sweaty_dog
11-17-2002, 09:22 AM
I think 8 sections of brocade is pretty safe without a teacher (from what I've heard). For the rest, if you want physical strength etc with no impact but don't have a chi gong teacher, why not do swimming or something until you do?

ZIM
11-17-2002, 10:02 AM
SD-
LOVE the sig. I knew this one aiki-wannabe/nipponophile who had a katana in his room for all those reasons! LOL!:D

dezhen2001
11-17-2002, 01:23 PM
hey fc :)

well, of course hard qigong although its called 'hard' it has to balance with some softer aspect and meditation... like i said to help you find your centre. soft qigong serves a different purpose so both have all they need already :) i dont really like using the terms hard and soft, as they immediately limit things - kinda like internal and external.

As for visualization... personally i dont really use any. our skill just does things more naturally, we just try to relax.

hope u can find a teacher soon mate! :)

dawood

Former castleva
11-18-2002, 03:07 PM
Thanks.

prana
11-18-2002, 06:37 PM
IMHO, the only safe qi-gong one should perform without a teacher is "mind" only. Such as, placing ones mind solely watching thoughts, or watching a part of ones body, or "who is breathing" etc.

Even then, I am concerned... hehehehe

Then again, I havent heard/seen these qi-gongs you guys mentioned, so I shant make conclusions.... :)

[Censored]
11-20-2002, 06:52 PM
IMHO, the only safe qi-gong one should perform without a teacher is "mind" only. Such as, placing ones mind solely watching thoughts

LOL that is the one I would have most strongly recommended against. Who knows how he could interpret "watching thoughts"? :eek: I think "navel-gazing qigong" probably has the lowest risk of side-effects. ;)