Qigong questions

In a previous post in this forum, someone warned against practicing qigong without a teacher. I definitely agree to this with intermediate and advanced qigong but I'm wondering if it's okay to do beginning qigong techniques without a teacher and instead just follow a good book. (I am relatively new to qigong and am a beginner. Yes, I intend to find a teacher later.) The book I have is "Qigong Empowerment" (by Liang and Wu). It outlines practices for five main qigong types: Medical, Daoist, Buddhist (Tantric), Emitting /Absorbing/Healing, and Wushu/martial arts (i.e. iron shirt). The authors say that you won't get hurt going through the book in order and practicing without rushing and at the beginning forming a solid foundation (for later work) of medical qigong (composed of: first relaxing, then qi permeating technique, then health maintenance with organ work).

Is it okay for me to do the Medical qigong without a teacher? What about the later parts in the book? Do I need a teacher for all qigong work? Is anything safe enough to practice alone? The techniques that I plan to do (from the Medical qigong section) are the following (in order):

For relaxing:
1) "Basic relaxation technique" (Fangsong Gong)
2) "Relaxing the body and calming the mind" (Song Jing Jianshen Gong)
To harmonize the mind, body, and qi:
3) "Qi permeating technique" (Guanqifa)
And for health maintenance:
4) Qigong of the lungs... the kidneys... liver... walking and lying down qigong... heart... stomach and spleen... and triple burner

Right now, I'm doing the first technique (Fangsong Gong) and it works well. In general, if I do qigong, are there any precautions I should take (i.e. eating, ignoring the lights/flashes, visions, hallucinations, breathing, general attachments, etc.)? What pitfalls should I avoid and how do I know if I'm practicing correctly (i.e. any signs such as health, energy and emotional statuses)? Furthermore, in specific, are there any "traps" I should beware of with the introduction techniques I listed above?

Also, I want to practice Zazen (Zen meditation). Are there any qigong techniques that are incompatible with Zazen? Is there a recommended timing if I want to do these together in one night? What about adding exercise (such as jogging) to the program? Is a certain order and timing of these activities most desirable? Can anyone come up with a good, complete, evening-by-evening program for me including intro qigong, Zazen, and possibly jogging? (Keep in mind, I need energy left over for my homework.)

I am willing to follow any good suggestions. Thanks very much for any advice or input to any of the above concerns of mine. Feel free to email me.

go2tom@hotmail.co

1. Don't mix tecniques, never ever, unless you are a master
2. Beginning is the most important. Train with a sifu. He/she will guide you to a technique suited to you.
3. Zen is extremely difficult (simple) but requires discipline, you should seek a teacher to accelerate progress. It is difficult to just question yourself who you are. A teacher would be able to tell where you are and what you need to be questioning. Fortunately, teachers are everywhere.

Guides.
1. No attachment
2. No aversion
3. As is, everything is as is.
4. Watch your thoughts, just Baware, no reaction.

seek a teacher hehehe

Breathe till there is no breath...

Prana is dead on... The beginning is the most important; that is when the foundation for your practice and knowledge is put down, and ****ing it up by learning the wrong stuff can set you back YEARS if not actually cause you some harm in the process...

NEVER MIX METHODS OF QIGONG. Ever. Period. When you have developed sufficient skill and insight, many advanced methods start to blur at the edges of their definitions, and that is one thing. Again, the foundation is important, so you can't try to do several significantly different methods simultaneously.

If you are doing qigong, focus on qigong. Don't worry about the meditation thing for now. Do one thing at a time, and take them slowly. Don't try to do advanced waikung (i.e. iron shirt, etc.) until you have strong enough neikung to do it. Practicing iron shirt isn't the healthiest thing anyway, and doing it without a strong internal environment could be hazardous.

And finally, if strange stuff happens, ignore it and keep on with your qigong. It is easy to get sidetracked by pretty lights and all, but focusing on them will only hamper and retard your development.

Get a teacher.

Good luck.

Matt Stone

Buy the book: The Way of Qigong by Kenneth S. Cohen. A number of very simple and safe Qigong sets are presented. Clearly stay away from the Wai Dan hard stuff.

As far as I've found, Qi Gong teachers are few and far between. In fact, I've found only maybe 3 total that have had any quality and of those 3, one that really could explain what's going on. True Qi Gong Masters are very rare as far as I've found. It's not like Kung Fu schools all over the place. I would love to find a Qi Gong Master to study under but where to find quality in material and instruction?

I'm in Southern California. Can anyone give a suggestion?

There is no spoon. "The Matrix"
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. "The Matrix"

Woliveri, check with any of the Hsing-i schools. They have a lot of Qigong in their system. Most traditional KF schools will have Qigong. This is what seperates us from the Karate bunch; among other things.

www.hsing-i.com/msgboard.mv

Mike Patterson and a lot of the members of this board are in the infamous S.CA.

so what you just said in your last post was this

you found a teacher.

I know of someone where I used to live but that is on the east coast. I'm on the West Coast now. One of the benefits of learning with a Qi Gong Master is because of their high Qi level, they can help the student's progress greatly. A student can progress much faster in the presence of a High Level Master while at the same time receiving instruction. This is very important for someone who is very weak internally who would otherwise take forever to make small progress. I know of only one Master who is open to such a relationship and that guy is in China. I would love to find someone here who would accept such an arrangement. Although I haven't visited Mike Patterson's school yet I have seen two other schools in my area and they were lacking in what I was looking for in a Qi Gong Teacher. It seems Qi Gong is a side exercise rather than the main event in those schools. Also, If I remember correctly I called Mike's school when I first came here and requested to come down on a Saturday for a visit and the woman on the phone said the school was closed to non-students on the weekend. Since I live about 2 hrs away, it was difficult to get down there during the week after work. I have an array of Qi Gong exercises, standing, sitting, moving but to practice under a Master is what I'm looking for.

There is no spoon. "The Matrix"
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. "The Matrix"