dlc123

Just wanted to start a thread here specifically devoted to Zhineng Qi Gong. I discovered this system in the spring of this year and have been practicing regularly since May. There are a few threads on here that mention it but no one thread devoted to it, so I thought I would start it up. Cheers! D

@escott she explains it a bit in the last 10 minutes

@escott I haven't learned Straight Leg Sitting. Would be curious to see what you find.

@escott I'm doing the online course "chi gong for life" which provides weekly lessons. I'm taking class with a local teacher in the northeast. Interesting to see the differences in approach - Mingtong is definitely molding the information to suit Western minds.

@escott I do Mingtong Gu's "Awakening Vitality" form, which is a simplified version of the Body-Mind form. I also do his sound healing practice which definitely stirs up some Qi. During one over the summer class we did an extended Chen Chi practice which brought some pretty intense Qi sensations and during LQUPQD I sometimes feel the Qi gathering/warming at the Lao Gong point and at the tip of the middle finger. Also during Three Centers Merge (which I only practice sporadically) I've had some strong Qi sensations in the lower Dantian.

@escott I also had an unintended Kundalini Awakening and am still dealing with some "aftermath". After almost a year of searching, I've found Zhineng to be the system that gives me the most benefits without the least "qi sickness"... However I have had some experiences of spontaneous movement/qi purification while practizing Zhineng. A teacher I've worked with who studied directly with Dr. Pang told me that spontaneous experiences are common in ZNQG, especially among people who are already quite sick or have strong blockages. Interesting discussion regarding Fragrant Qi Gong, but let's try to keep the convo here about ZNQG since that was the intention with creating the tread. In terms of @Vajra Fist comment about ZNQG being rooted in TCM, I would say based on my limited knowledge that's not entirely accurate. My understanding is that Dr Pang started Qi Gong practice at a very young age and is schooled in both TCM and Western Medicine but was increasingly frustrated with the TCM approach which led him to move strictly towards Qi Gong for healing. I believe he studied with somewhere between 15 and 20 masters of different Qi Gong styles so while there may be elements of TCM theory, there are also differences.

@JohnC what do you practice now?

@knowledgeseeker I've been doing Mingtong Gu's online program - chicenter.com and working with local teachers where I live. There are a lot of different teachers who all have slightly different approaches.

Cool, thank you @Vajra Fist. Maybe you can link Jeremy to this page if he is interested in contributing? I've only been practicing since May but have already seen significant changes in my system (albeit I was practicing in a variety of other traditions before I discovered ZNQG). The more I practice the more fascinated I become with this system.

Where can I find Dr. Pang's book?

Beginners question: When doing MGAM seated, Sifu Terry instructs us to do at least 30 repetitions of the hand supination/pronation. If I do these at a speed "slower than a sand dune", it takes 30 minutes. Is it okay to do less? Thanks, D

Just my two cents for @Antares (I am a new member of the forum and finding it fun to engage). I am no expert on Chinese medicine but I am currently a student at an Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and many of my classes focus on the fundamentals of TCM. "TCM" as a modality is only about 70 years old, codified by Mao Tse Tung after he formed The Peoples Republic of China... Before that, CCM (Classical Chinese Medicine) and any other healing traditions native to China were provincial and based on family lineage and many retained more of their shamanistic roots. All this is to say that it is quite possible that concepts like pre and post natal jing/qi have only recently been codified as foundational concepts in the medicine and were not necessarily on the minds of EVERY practitioner of Chinese medicine and/or Taoist yoga/alchemy throughout history. (Side note: many of the mores "Esoteric" elements of Chinese healing practices were erased from the TCM paradigm by Mao and his cohort.) Therefore it would be entirely feasible for a Taoist sage and master to codify a system of Qi Gong without putting any emphasis on pre/post natal qi or jing and still have that system be fully capable of deep healing. It is quite possible that someone like Feng Tao Teh could have been well aware of the ways in which qi and jing manifest and the effects that FPCK was having on qi and jing, but felt that the Qi Gong would not be made more or less powerful by including those concepts in his instruction. Similarly, many Buddhist masters (especially in the Therevadan system) are well aware of all of the energetic experiences that can be produced through meditation, but do not find dwelling on those experiences to be useful in the path to enlightenment, so they are simply left out of the formal teaching. Also, as far as dreaming, many (if not all) spiritual traditions consider dreams to be powerful tools on the path to enlightenment. Carl Jung knew this and he had studied and written about many eastern spiritual traditions as well as Kundalini Yoga. In Tibetan Buddhism there as an entire Yogic system dedicated to using lucid dreaming as a way of accelerating spiritual progress. You can check out a book by Andrew Holecek called Dream Yoga if you're interested. As stated above, just my opinion! No interested in conflict but fun to have a dialogue. Cheers

Hello All, I just recently began practicing FPCK and I had a few questions about some details. During the standing version of Monk Gazing At Moon, should one direct fix their gaze at the "space between" the palms, or past the palms into the space beyond them? Is there a slight pause after each % exhale (before the next full inhale)? It seem's like Sifu Terry is pausing but I can't tell if he is just doing so in order to give verbal instruction. Generally, during the postures is there an intentional elongation/deepening of the lower dantian breathing? Or should one just simply put enough attention on the dantian to make sure they are breathing into the abdomen and not the chest? Very specific questions (and maybe knitpicky), but answers would be appreciated! Cheers

Hi All I'll do my best to explain what brought me here. I began having energetic experiences about 3 years ago through the practice of the Wim Hof Method. His method (for those who don't know) combines breath work with progressive cold exposure. During this practice I would experience sensations best described as "magnetic" in my hands, belly and head during the breath holds. I also began to experience light behind my forehead when I had my eyes closed. I continued this practice for a while but at a certain point I felt that it was a little too frenetic and jarring to my system. I kind of modified the breath practices by slowing down the breathing and limited the cold exposure. A year later I went on a 5 day silent meditation retreat in the Insight tradition. My experience on this retreat was profound and afterwards I began to take meditation very seriously. After about 4 or 5 months of diligent practice I began to have extremely intense bouts of crying and emotional release. These experiences were often accompanied by an intense magnetic sensation in my chest. I had a history of trauma and had battled depression for most of my life... steady meditation practice was essentially releasing the valve on my emotional pressure cooker. I was very overwhelmed by these experiences, but I eventually found a buddhist teacher and a therapist that practiced western psychology within a buddhist framework who I am still working with. These experiences really threw a huge curveball into my life, and the last couple of years have been full of really intense transition and emotional release. As I began to gain some confidence with all the energetic experiences I had been having, I wanted to learn a way to work with them, so I started learning to practice Donna Eden's Energy Medicine, and eventually I enrolled at an Eastern Medicine school to learn Massage Therapy. My most recent experience with the subtle energy happened a few months ago during a moment of intimacy with my partner. My body began convulsing, I started sobbing and I was thrown into intense flashbacks from childhood as well as "memories" that I could not recall from this lifetime. This went on for about 4 hours and was accompanied by many intense visual experiences. Since this has happened, my body has continued tremoring and I've felt a build up of energy in my pelvic floor that is sometimes incredibly difficult to manage - either causing a "hemorrhoid" feeling or intense and difficult to manage sexual energy. A few times, I've been able to draw the energy up to my crown and back down through breathing, resulting in some pretty blissful experiences, but I haven't been able to do it consistently and for the most part this energy has been very difficult to manage. So I'm here looking for some recommendations for practice - While I do have a background in the Martial Arts (Kenpo) I don't have a ton of experience with Qi Gong... I've taken a few classes and read some Mantak Chia but I've never dove into the practice, I find it difficult to learn these things through books. I live in the NY area and am definitely interested in meeting teachers or other practitioners who my experiences resonate with. I'm also happy to have a place to share these experiences where people will have more understanding and experience with what I'm going through.

Hello, I am interested in posting in the forums, however the only option when I try to post is this "welcome" forum. I'm new to this website so perhaps there is something I do not know. Thanks

Thanks Fa Xin, I will make a new post with a bit of a bio.