Sebastian

Interesting.... Personally I find voiceless or inner sounds that you emit to carry power too. I like doing the practice below. It's the three gates of Tibetan Buddhism. You imagine a seed syllable in middle of head (white Om) then in the middle of throat (red Ha) then in the center of chest (blue Hum) What I do is "touch" the three energy centers lightly with the mind, one by one, starting at the top. And emit a soundless sound for each, as per the seed syllables. In more detail, I briefly imagine the syllable in each location, but dont hold the visualization. I just know it's there and lighting up the entire space like a lamp of a particular color. Then I emit a silent sound, and I imagine the source of the sound to be from that symbol. Then I focus only on the sound and body's vibration. In terms of breathing, you can do one breath/sound for each location or try to touch/voice all three in one breath. After a few times you will start to feel very comfortable in the body. This sort of opens up everything. Just my own experience with this practice.

You’re still doing movement 1) @Toni ? Just to provide more context in case you find it helpful.... The way I was taught do 1) is to first relax and song the entire body. We were given a visualization where you imagine each body part disappearing sequentially from top to bottom...3 times. But this was given for people with no Qigong experience. As such, you are welcome to use more advanced song techniques that you might know, it’s modular. The idea is not to rush in and be relaxed. And you need some extra song and ting to access the extraordinary meridians which run deeper in the body... these are actually accessed in the Huang I think - and not the superficial layers of fascia and Jing jin. So you need a different quality of awareness that is quite loose and penetrates. You can’t be too tight and stretchy as you do this (video is stretching way too much compared with how I was taught). After this primer phase, personally I place my hands in front of the LDT area in that 45 degree mudra and wait a bit, as a sort of charge. It’s similar to Freeform’s approach that he shared for that move. Then I just slightly bow the back, song and expand, it’s hard to explain how, but the effect is the hands reach around my back naturally and start floating up by themselves to around Dazhui level .... as the back arcs and bows ever so slightly. It’s like taking the elevator if you let your body do it, but you’re welcome to add more resistance as you song and ting deeper. My Master’s teacher told us that when doing the MCO via movement it should feel like you are subtly taking off on the in-breath, expanding, rising, and when the hands come down on exhaling, it’s like you are landing, closing, contracting. I was also taught the movement intensity differently than on the video. I was taught to bow the back slightly and later when the hands come down the front, to stay straight and literally give yourself a hug, as the hands come down in an oblique fashion to the LDT. The breathing is reverse breathing, so on the inbreath the belly button comes closer to the spine. And on the oubreath you expand the belly. Tongue is also supposed to be up touching palette on in-breath and down on out-breath. Personally this is the best physical version of the MCO I ever tried. I like to start by dolphining the spine to open the vertebrae one by one, and then I might do lifting the sky once or twice. Then I’ll bounce, song and ting and go ahead and do this move. Usually 7 times for me. Might feel like having an orgasm for the whole back. Moves 2,3 and 4 have their wonders too. Your feedback motivated me to do move 3 more. The teacher I learned this from couldn’t teach this set for 5 years, out of respect for the immortal teacher who transmitted the form and because it was too powerful. When these 5 years expired I was lucky to learn the form, although using Freeform’s tips really helped take it to the next level. I’ll keep practicing it.

The stretch you mentioned from down to up was included as part of Damo’s set of loosening exercises to “create space” prior to practice. There were also neck, shoulder and waist movements. The relevant one is where you bend and touch the toes or ankles and use the inner torso to lift you back up gradually. He clearly says not to use the hinge - it’s not a hinge based movement, but unfurls from inside.

This is really great... I learned this stretch from Damo by the way. This is going from down to up. He says to do it slowly because you can become light headed. The unfurling is coming from the core and inside of torso... feels so good. Im a bit confused about the other up to down or forward phase as you stated. When you arc down, you would inject your mind to the lower vertebra and work up ? I haven’t seen Damo teach this one, but I would have probably felt vertebras from top to bottom, since we’re going down. cheers.

maybe he can let us know why this movement is great for true back as you stated ? Movement is at 45 minutes sharp in the video.

I think Freeform knows a lot about Qigong in general and in depth... he didn’t know this particular form but his insights on it or any others are always welcome.

i don’t do anything fancy these days. let me think .... Morning stretch and baduajin type stuff, swinging arms practice, bouncing, dolphining the spine, Zhan Zhuang, Qi running, but mostly keeping mind and body integrated and flowing with Tao during the day. Practice is just the spice of my life, my life is the main practice. And I try to live it fully.

By the way, I meant *superficially* open the 8 channels. I don’t mean the form by itself can be a wonder pill. This form will open the 12 meridians indirectly by subtly influencing the 8 meridians. Nudging them open maybe.... To get a real opening, it matters most how you are doing the form, and what practices outside. Freeform can provide more details about that. But supposedly the form comes from immortal masters and will have a powerful effect on all meridians. Looks like crap though, and I can understand people coming from that perspective. But you can try it on and see the effects for yourself.

I love the first one too.... it is embodying the small universe, although I do it with much less intensity than shown on the video. I just gently bow the back and then come back to default stance and don’t bend over forward like in the video when the arms come down. If I do, it is subtle. This is the way I was taught. Number 3 is like a baseball pitch in slow motion. It is supposed to open all the interlinking meridians in one pitch. All the weight is shifted on the leg opposite to the pitching arm. So one leg has double the weight and the other is floating inside, yet still touching the ground. When you come down with the arm in the wake of the pitch, you slightly touch the big toe of that leg which has no weight. And the entire time you stare at the middle finger of the pitching hand.... It’s a strange movement that does a lot at the same time. Of course this was before baseball was invented. Which makes me think the Taoists invented it lol.

What do you like about it ? If I may ask ?

Hey Shrondinger, Welcome. Sometimes it feels like we are starting from low, but the only thing that matters is that we are making forward progress. Clearly, it seems you took the decision to better yourself in every way, which is inspiring. So not much to add, ZZ is very good to “recharge” but maybe consider adding a daily affirmation practice to solidify your momentum, and maintain spiritual fortitude. You can do it praying to the Sun every morning. Something like: “Dear Sun, or dear Energy that animates me. You’ve never let me down, even in times of hurting like this and I am so grateful. Help me become stronger so I can respond to my life again. I want to turn myself to your light and dissolve all my mental blockages and fears in your light. They are too much to handle for me, so I surrender them to you. I trust you. I want to trust myself too. Help me see myself in a new light. Make me a new and stronger person every day with a soul free from its shackles of the past. I vow not to look at the darkness anymore, or if I do, I vow to never forget that there is light in darkness. Make me more like you everyday. You are my true vitality, you are my will to live on this planet and to love. Stay with me at all times, remind me at all times. And once I’m healed, may I use my life to serve you and help others facing the same problems I am currently facing”. And then imagine your body filled with solar light. Include your mind as part of “the body”.... imagine the light is soothing your mind and thoughts into a state of balance and homeostasis. You can do this before ZZ too. Good luck !

Hi Toni. I’d say it has evolved slightly, and still a great pick me up Qigong. Yup, I still do it, I’ve done this one as an adjunct to my Qigong practice for many years. I say I evolved it because I focus on the principles more - rereading this I was focusing on the technical aspects, but they can only take you so far. So I song and ting with this form now and focus on the principles more and the form not that much. But the form is still as potent as ever. yup the one you mention is good for opening the lower back and stretching the sides of the torso. The entire set is really good for the back, which makes sense since it’s going after the 8 extras. i don’t really know why, I can’t stop doing this one. Always feels good and balanced, breathing drops to really low, and have a good sleep afterwards.

There is much truth in this. You need Qi to change the quality of mind. The mind by itself can not see... You can view it this way.... The mind is the function of life, but Qi is the substance. Most people stick to the function and try to fix mental problems with the mind.... but thankfully there is another way. We can cultivate Qi, the substance of life. If you respect the substance of your mind, naturally the Qi will affect the mind. It’s like a cup of water. If you just let it settle and clear, and stop creating ripples on the surface, then it will naturally reflect. Eventually the substance of your mind will be so whole and complete, it can think thoughts for you without your conscious involvement if that makes any sense. The problem is when we mistake the function for the substance. The mind is a useful tool for many things, but we should recognize that it’s not the end of the spiritual world. In fact, it’s a latecomer. The spirit was there first.... As a child you lived for many years without mental chatter. And Qi is its mother...How else could we have thoughts. What are thoughts made of ? Even if we don’t believe in Qi, maybe folks could give this perspective a try and see if it has any merits. Stick to the Qi, to the body, and not the thoughts. Respect the wholeness of your Qi and energy. Don’t worry if thoughts appear though, just come back to the substance of the thoughts, and of your body. just some other thoughts.

Hey oglights, First, thanks for sharing and I wish you success on your meditative path. Some minor suggestions maybe, but it seems you’re focusing a lot on the context of your meditation, and less on the content. Just know that whatever intent, suggestion or preparation you bring to your meditation will usually have a big impact on the outcome. Even if you are angry that day, in a rush... all of these disturbances will be reflected in the outcome. This is what I mean by context. Another example is the story that no matter how much you try, you can’t seem to break through the pull of thoughts. This subjective perspective defines context for the meditation too. And the meditation just basically confirms the perspective. It just follows/confirms the original intent. It’s hard for you because your trying to solve your problem with the same energy that created it. You need a new energy, a new vantage point to do your meditation. That’s why I think the inner dissolving you are doing is great. Shift the vantage point of the meditation from the mind to the body. Even if you end up caught in thought, just return to the body. And be careful that it’s really the body that is “meditating” and not the mind still controlling everything. You aren’t a performer, and being a performer hasn’t worked as well as you wanted up to this point. So drop the effort, drop the perspective of being a “failed meditator”, and start with a different perspective. Maybe with the intent of curiosity, the intent of just letting go of all your mental defenses and projections and releasing them all into the body, maybe with a great sigh of “I don’t know”..... maybe try that. But remember, from the perspective of the body, outcomes don’t matter, there is no performer, there are no mental problems. You just show up basically and sit your body down.... and that’s all there is to it. So how does this fix your problems then ? It doesn’t directly, but it relaxes the mind. Instead of it being compressed or focused on something narrow it expands and unfurls like a flower. You become your awareness, your body, fresh again, and open to any possibility, potential. Because you haven’t defined yourself, you are open and receptive. Then the quality of your thoughts will change. Anyways, just some ideas.... I also struggle with this and can learn from what I wrote as well.

This is indeed a complex question.... And I’m no expert, but since I have some experience with this system, I would say it is maybe like an approximation of the Taoist system of alchemy. I don’t mean this in a negative way, because the goals are different. Mostly health as you stated. So if you start from that perspective, you first see what lower hanging fruits people need most in terms of health. Then to continue along this perspective, if most of your users are moderately sick or incapable of going through the strenuous traditional training, you are going to adapt or evolve the teaching. You’re not going to “weed them out” because you are elitist, you’re going to try to help the most amount of people, even a little bit each, because that’s where you feel you can do the most good. I believe this was Master Lin’s mindset when he started the company. And to answer your question of “how do the healings work” more specifically.... on top of the movements, the Master of that system always speaks of the power of “light and an open heart”. This comes from a certain understanding of healing as it relates to spirituality, one that isn’t too common, but that Master Lin and his Master have honed to remove blockages. Personally, at one point I realized I wanted to study something more traditional, where health isn’t the end goal but more of a side-effect of correct practice. I wanted to focus less on the form and on the formless more. But for healing through form, I think SFQ is really wonderful in terms of effectiveness. To live with the formless, I mean just basically live a balanced life in harmony with my conscience. This includes mind/body integration. This is more about living with Tao. So at different stages, we all have different goals I think. And at that point, I also mostly dropped the use of visualization. I think this is good turning point actually. Do we need to project our spiritual energy outwards to see what’s behind the projection or can we just look at whats doing the projection ? Post heaven is great for healing, but my interest is in in pre-heaven now if that makes any sense. As dmattwads said, look at your goals and go from there. Good luck