GreenCord

Thanks all for the details! I will work on anchoring the breath and try to find a teacher for guidance. Regarding the anchoring the breath exercise, I wanted to ask if you had any recommendations regarding how to sit. I carry a lot of tension around some points in my spine which gives rise to those kinds of spontaneous movements if I sit long stretches on time with my spine straight, even if I do it on a chair. I was wandering if the exercise can be carried out as well laying on the floor or if it's important to keep the spine straight for it. Thanks!

@virtue Thanks for the information and for the methods to stop the movement! @Desmonddf What I was doing was probably not proper Qigong. But I was applying some of the principles I read about Qigong, basically standing in Zhan Zhuang with my hands in front of my body at hip level, palms pointing down, and try set the expected feet, hip, shoulder and head alignments. Then try to do Sung Breathing in my abdomen while doing "active relaxation" of any tension I found without applying too much intention. From doing this I was getting spontaneous movements, mostly circular movements of the shoulders, with my arms coming up to a "hugging the tree" position or going around the body. Some circular movements of the neck and unwinding of the upper back around the spine. Sometimes extending towards my legs or my forearms but mostly centered around my shoulders, upper back and neck. I have quite rigid shoulders, both in my chest as in my upper back from bad posture and sitting too often. I felt that this spontaneous movements were helping to release deep tension and gain mobility on my shoulders better than regular stretching exercises. I felt it also was helping with slowly release tension at the hips and around the shoulders. At some point I tried to learn the "Ji Ben Qi Gong" basic exercises from one of Damo Mitchell but adding movement only seemed to make the spontaneous movements more "active" and "aggressive" so I stopped and tried to keep the practice calm just at standing practice and whatever spontaneous movement that arises gently. Now I have learned that this is not recommended so I'll stop until I hopefully can get a teacher at some point to continue with proper guidance. Regarding your last comment about checking the source of the spontaneous movement, what type of specialist should I consult about this? Is there an online source where I can find this type of specialist near in my city or my country? Thanks!

I have been practicing unguided spontaneous Qigong for a while. I thought it was good for releasing muscle tension and there was no danger in it as it's just allowing natural movements that come out without forcing anything or adding anything foreign to your body. I have been told recently that spontaneous Qigong is bad for you, will create Heart fire and should not be practiced unless advised by a teacher. Is this correct? Is it advised to stop practicing this completely? In that case, would you recommend any methods to suppress those spontaneous movements when they arise? An easy method to suppress them is to add muscle tension, but that seems like a bad idea. I was wondering if there is a way to stop the movements while keeping the relaxation and not adding tension. Thank you!

@freeform thanks, I'll try to keep away from meditation or internal work for now. @Master Logray the warm water with salt seems to help quite a bit. Thanks! Also found that eye rolling stretch during the day helps remove quite a lot of the tension on the head. Probably spend too much time reading and working on computers, so part of the tension probably comes from there plus meditation increased the issue.

@freeform would you recommend stopping all Qi Gong exercises or only meditation? I was finding a lot of benefit when it comes to stretching, releasing body tension and improving body posture that I don't get from other types of exercise, and it will be a bit difficult to see a chinese medicine expert until the lockdown is stopped. @forestofemptiness thank you! I will check the instructions in the video you shared. @dwai thanks, sleeping more doesn't seem to help, for some reason I always wake up tired and recover energy as the day progresses. I'll check the book you recommended, does it explain general health practices or is it only Qi Gong oriented? @Master Logray I was doing concentration meditation, keeping the attention at the sensation of the air at the tip of the nose, with a slightly open awareness so not too forced. Just keeping it there without moving it to other parts during the breath. I seems like in general the recommendation is to stop meditating, should I stop also grounding exercises and things like that? Are there any books that may help me diagnose the issue better before I get the change to visit a chinese medicine practitioner that may help?

@anshino23 thanks I'll try those exercises. @thelerner I usually try to do some exercise, some times I've tried to push it and do it more often, but it ends up leaving me quite tired with regard to mental work for the next days. Lately I've been doing mostly just stretching daily and cardio for 1 hour for 1-2 days a week. It's good but I don't think I can push it further right now. Not sure with regarding grounding, I've tried some Qi Gong exercises like "sinking down" (basically standing and slowly tracking your body from head to feet with your awareness), but it hasn't helped much so far with regard to sinking down the tension on the head. @Apech Thanks for the recommendations regarding buddhist meditation that doesn't raise tension. I'll look into it! @freeform Yes, I have headaches and brain fog more or less every day, but I had them before I got these sensations, and when I get the sensations they don't really make the headache or the brain fog any worse. The sensations may just be energizing and increase tension if I pay attention to them, but very easy to let go. Yes, I have the sensations more or less always even without practicing. If I am doing something that involves physical tension or movements, they go away or I don't notice them, but if I am for example sitting and I take a deep breath they appear almost immediately.

@Earl Grey thanks for the info! I'll look into it. @anshino23 Looks very interesting the video but I am a bit wary of doing any organ work without a proper diagnostic first, as I was told that you could be boosting an organ that already has an excess of energy. I'll try to look into the Yang Sheng Fa principles you mentioned, seems like it could be a very beneficial area to explore for me.

@RiverSnake thanks! I'll DM you. @Earl Grey thanks for the links! I had seen those videos by dragongatetaichi regarding Dragon Sickness, but they seem to discuss which problems you may run into once you incorrectly start moving Qi, but I haven't done any advanced practices like that yet. I was curious about what to do if energy arises without any advanced practices and how would I diagnose myself with Dragon Sickness if that was the issue. I'll check the links you sent in detail to see if I can find some orientation. Thanks!

Hello, I am new to this forum! Looking forward to learn from all of you. I started doing Damo Mitchell's exercises from the book Daoist Nei Gong and his video series "Foundations of Qi Gong Practice". The basics are just Sung breathing for release and 8 simple Ji Ben Qi Gong exercises. My current goal is just to learn proper body alignments and gain vitality and clarity of mind. I may pursue more advanced stuff down along the line but it's not my current goal. I have been working on the exercises above for some weeks and I released a lot of tension in my upper back with a lot of spontaneous readjustments of the spine and shoulder tendons. The problems I am having are: I did some buddhism meditation some years ago. Basically just following the breath at the nose. This caused a lot of energy raising to my head that I can feel sometimes as bubbles in my face, sometimes as lines in my face, and when the intensity goes up it turns into involuntary body movements, like neck turns, shoulder movements, face movements or spine twisting. This continued after I stopped meditating and comes up very quick as soon as I do any concentration work. My sleep is very bad, I sleep all night no problem (8+ hours) but wake up tired. I had this even before the energy blockages mentioned in the previous point. Got diagnosed with sleep apnea and fixed it, but it didn't help, still wake up always tired. Those blockages come up when I try to do standing in Wu Ji posture in Qi Gong. I don't get them when I do dynamic movements. Usually when I get those involuntary movements I just let them do their thing and stretch my body however they want. My question is, are there any beginner books that explain how to gently work with energy at this very basic beginner phase? The books I read say not to work with energy at an early stage until your body has been shaped for it, but it comes out automatically and I don't know what to do with it. Thanks!

Hi, have a topic from 1st of April that wasn't approved, not sure if older topics are not available anymore and should be sent again! Thank you!

Hello, I am new on this forum! I don't know much about Daoism or Qigong, I was pointed towards these practices due to some of my interests and areas of improvement that I'm pursuing at this moment. I started with buddhist meditation some years ago (basically following the breath at the tip of the nose), at some point I developed strong sensations on my face and involuntary body movements which hindered my practice. I couldn't find much information in this regard from buddhist sources so people pointed my towards Qigong. I have body rigidity and lack of good sleep that hinder me when trying to pursue different physical activities. Some Qigong practices also seemed useful to improve in those areas. I have started practicing for a few weeks exercises from Damo Michell's book "Daoist Nei Gong", mostly the 8 Ji Ben Qi Gong exercises detailed in the book and the Sung Breathing exercise. I had a lot of success regarding my body rigidity issues, specially with the Sung Breathing exercise, I got many involuntary movements that have slowly untangled some rigid parts of my back, and released my spine in points that seemed too rigid. But I haven't had much success regarding the blockage issues on my face that hinder my meditation. I got some recommendations for Zhan Zhuang and some other "grounding" practices, but they don't seem to do much to reduce the tension and even strengthen it in some sitiations. Would be interested in learning from this forum more about other people's practices and possible methods that could help improve my meditation. Looking forward to participating in this forum and learning from other people!