Iron Fist...

[Sam Wiley]

The Iron Shirt exercises I practice do not involve pills or having to eat immediately afterward, nor am I restricted to a time limit or repetition without being able to do a shorter time or smaller number of reps. While I practice different exercises than the ones probably you are talking about, it seems to me like the people giving out the instruction are a bit cracked.

It's a general rule that you don't eat anything for a while after qigong or forms practice or whatever, and people generally recommend waiting an hour. Many advanced qigongs feature advanced breathing methods which can cause things like reflux if you eat before or immediately afterward, so it's advisable to wait. And I've never heard of having to take a pill, though it's probably an herbal pill, and there are some programs, usually in external arts in my experience, where herbs are used to supplement the training. However, I won't discount the practice within internal arts as well. But if the only place you can get the pill is through them, I would be wary. And the part about not being able to do a smaller number of reps is completely absurd, unless they mean that you must keep up the same intensity for the duration. However, while I have heard of Iron Palm programs where, once you start training, you cannot stop for more than a certain number of days without having to start over, they tell you that you have to start over and don't leave you hanging wondering the reason you can't stop training for over 3 days, for instance.

I'd ask the people for more in depth information, to clarify issues like these and if it's not forthcoming, I'd forget about it and move on to someone else's teachings.

[IronFist]

Thanks for the reply, Sam. The school is Green Dragon studios in Ohio. I'd like to ask them for more info, but while they say they respond to letters, it's been over 4 years since I wrote mine and I still haven't heard from them. Like I said, I'm not going to actually do the Iron Vest set, I was just curious about some of the rules they had set up... espeically the eating one.

Anyway, I appreciate the reply. Maybe someone here has experience with them and can explain stuff better.

Sam, you've studied with Erle Montaigue, right? I seem to remember that for some reason... hmm...

IronFist

[Sam Wiley]

Maybe you should try writing them again or calling them even, at least if you think you might want to practice the stuff in the future. It may be that the message or letter was lost. Sometimes that happens.

Anyway, I have to wait about an hour after practicing many qigongs now, because they involve either prenatal or tortoise breathing, where instead of the abdomen moving in or out as a whole, the top half moves out, for instance, while the bottom is moving inward.

As for your question about the direction of qi...I can't say for sure why the two different directions. I read somewhere that males should visualize it one way (up the back and down the front I guess) and females the opposite, but that since you cannot reverse the flow of your qi through visualization, only stimulate it, either one was okay. Personally, I have only ever been told the one way, and it's only recently that I have even heard of any other way.

And yes, Erle is my teacher.

[IronFist]

Maybe you should try writing them again or calling them even, at least if you think you might want to practice the stuff in the future. It may be that the message or letter was lost. Sometimes that happens.

I might.

Personally, I have only ever been told the one way, and it's only recently that I have even heard of any other way.

Which one way? Up the back and down the front? And I would assume it's inhale for up the back and exhale for down the front?

And yes, Erle is my teacher.

Cool. He's always been a nice guy with answering my emails and stuff. I have his long Yang form video, and the corresponding book from his website. Good stuff.

IronFist

[Braden]

I've never heard of circulating energy up the front and down the back, although have heard advice against trying this.

Herbal supplements are very common in conditioning methods of external systems, but not internal.

The recommendation of not eating in the time around internal exercises has a number of reasons. Any sort of exercise is likely to draw increased blood to the appropriate areas during this period. If you're interested in a classical understanding, qi and blood are linked, so this also implies energetics. When you eat, blood is shunted away from the rest of your body and towards where it's needed for digestion. You could think of this as impairing any benefits you might get from the exercise, as well as sending confusing/conflicting messages to your body. I've never heard of being told to eat right after training; although often heard advice against this.

As for the rep thing, again I've never heard that associated with internal methods before. Unless you're changing more than just the rep-count.

If you're interested in advice in the Green Dragon methods, you might try the other forums. It sounds very much like their methods are external style. External style also talks about qi and has conditioning like iron palm, but the methods are different.

Sorry for posting here, but thought it would be best to consolidate everything in the one thread. Good luck with the training.

[Sam Wiley]

Yes, it's inhale as it comes up the back, and exhale as it goes down the front. It just feels natural that way. I've never tried it the other way at all.