soaring crane

lol, you are correct!

That's good english?

Funny, I would tend to phrase that the other way around.

heyyyyyy..... I got them downloaded, wow, thank you so much, Rootless!

lol, sounds like you're right. I never did any of this more esoteric stuff (well, I dabbled), but I learned to raise Huiyin as though it were fastened to a string from the inside. It's a very gentle movement coordinated with the breath, upward (inward, actually) on the inhale, it releases on the exhale and "breathes" continuosly when I practice and often when I don't think about it, but no problems with it. Mingmen and Qihai do essentially the same thing - inward on the inhale and release on the exhale. I wouldn't want to be going through yangluchan's experience now. Sounds incredibly uncomfortable

I don't think it's so abstract, not for me. I'm very clear on it and my personal experience has been constant for years. The term "energy" is abstract, it's a form of measurement, it's packaged in "units". Calories are energy, a Frenchman invented the formula that measures them. When human life disappears, so will "energy". Qi will still be around though. And maybe some other species will evolve that will find new ways of measuring it without really identifying it. I do remember reading an article about "quantum fields" that sounded eerily as though modern physicists are on the verge of determining that, according to their abstract calculations, yes, "Qi" must exist. What they do with the info is anybody's guess. I prefer to get my learning from people who have known about it for 5,000+ years

Well, Qigong meditation always involves motion, even if you're standing like a tree. It's about moving Qi. You're right, to an extent, that it's possible to do this without actually "moving" the body, all you need is the intent to move and the Qi will flow the same. But that won't happen until you've reached a tremendous level of development (and have gone through a lot of ups and downs in your practice). For the time being: Qigong movements all have a specific purpose behind them, they all activate one Qi stream or another, or groups of them, or points along a meridian, or move Qi from one place to another, and many other Qi-related concepts. Read up on Qi. Ken Cohen is good. You might really enjoy Roger Jahnke's book, "Healing Power of Qi" (I think that's the title, might be a little different) as well. But from a more practical standpoint, repetetive motions aid the meditation process in that they give you a focal point to keep your mind centered in the here and now. It's easier and more relaxing than "still", better said "static" meditation. Also, you have a body, it's there to be moved. Your body wants to move, a lot. Why work against that tendency? Doesn't make sense to me. Qigong walks are even more meditative and relaxing than sitting sessions, because then really everything falls into place. Your mind is still, your breath is soft yet your body gets something to do as well. Fwiw, I always do a little vigorous exercise before starting the slower practice. Vigorous exercise clears the head and warms the body, it's relaxing. The bulk of my personal Qigong practice these days is in the form of organ-strengthening walks. Xi Xi Ho... Take your time and enjoy the journey! edit: Added a few words here and there and realized I'd phrased something clumsily. I don't really like to say we "move Qi", but it comes out that way sometinmes if I'm lazy. I think it more accurate to say we move the obstacles that obstruct the natural flow of Qi. And that we do with our intent. And then the Qi flows where it's needed.

ahhhhh, ok, I see now. If he's lifting the foot, then I assume that that leg is the passive one, it's relaxed, make sure of that. The only tension in that leg will come from the psoas area up top, the only muscles needed to actually lift the leg like that. The foot should hang limply, empty. When settling it down, it'll be toes, balls (Yongchaun) and then the heel last. It's like a Soaring Crane The knee of the leg that isn't raised will also have to be bent somewhat, to maintain balance and better support. Which makes more sense now... You might get more Qi moving and generate more warmth with the version I described... would be interesting to compare, I never made the connection even though I practice Crane walking which is essentially the same thing but different. They're very sexy animals, btw

huh, that's really interesting to me. It sounds, as does the description of the sixth Tibetan above, similar to an exercise that, ahem, kind of appeared to me once during practice. I then incorporated it into my clases as part of the warm-up routine, to get Qi flowing and to hopefully help the participants have a better "Qi experience". The thing is, the way you describe it seems to have contradiction in it, which I'm sure isn't really one. Oh wait a min... I've now re-read it a few times and it clicked with me. It's the same basic concept. It was this wording that got me confused: "the one hand which corresponds to the side being shifted to (and legs being bent) goes down, and you imagine compressing the energy which is flowing through that leg, is being drawn from the the earth coming up the other leg which is being straightened and stretched by the soft internal grip it has on the ground." It sounded like the Qi would be compressed and drawn up on the same side, which didn't make sense to me. I would describe it this way, hope I'm not highjacking or being rude: Maintain the central axis between Bahui and Huiyin, and shift it to one side. The actualy movement is a pelvic motion to the side where the pelvis itself remains level (not strictly 100%, but close). Doing it this way will automatically cause the knee receiving the weight to give a little, there's no way to do it otherwise. The leg that does not have the weight will remain straighter. Your center of gravity is now settled on one side. The side the weight gets shifted to becomes the "active", Yang leg, while the the other side, equally important, becomes Yin, passive, empty. That's important because the side with the weight is going to direct Qi downward, and, as you said, at the same time cause Qi to be drawn up into the "passive" leg on the other side. If the "passive" leg isn't relaxed, it won't be empty, and can't be filled. Most people forget about this. We're so active and strong, so Yang fixated, that we forget the Yin over there waiting for a little attention. Right. And then it's just a matter of shifting the Central Axis to the other side. This has to be done in connection with the breath. While "compressing" one side, breath out. When the exhale is done, inhale, straighten up, move your COG to the middle, and on the next exhale, shift the pelvis and central axis (Zhong Mai) to the other side and "push" lightly downward. The hands are a great addition. I just direct both Laogongs downward and let the hands move accordingly, they'll also go through the same yin/yang phases as the legs/feet. Yongchuan obviously plays a central role in the whole thing. Make they've got good contact to the floor the whole time. The way I kind of spontaneously described it once was that the expelled Qi would go down into the Earth, the great recycling center, where it would be filtered and cleaned and made ready to be drawn up into the leg that had emptied itself previously. Works for me It gets a lot more detailed, though, where you follow the exact flow of the Qi through the groin from one leg vessel into the other. And then the arms as well. And the most intense experience starts when the Qi is felt more as a ball that circuits through the process. You can follow along as it travels progressively down one leg and up the other. Also, the hands become very charged up after a few sessions and the arms will usually start some spontaneous movements, which I consider beneficial. Ok, sorry this got so long. When I start writing about this stuff, I realize there are so many little details, all of them important...

And what was the answer three years ago? I don't really know "what" Qi is, Qi just is. As opposed to "energy" which isn't. So, you see, I agree with your subject line I can rattle off lists of definitions of "what Qi is", and anyone can search it and get some info, but none of the definitions express my own experience with it. It's a substance. It's Yang exhaling and Yin inhaling. It was there before either of them. Qi is.

I think I'm starting to understand Taomeow's Homer Simpson thread a little better...

Wow, how did I miss this earlier? It's a beautiful video, the whole package, the sailboats, the colors, the slightly transparent cloth, the waves... everything. Oh, and the Qigong! I know a slightly different version of the sequence as well, it's wonderful Thank you for the inspirational post DZ!

I know this beautiful little cottage available not far me, near a stream in a mountain forest between the German and Czech border... What would that be for you? 6,000 miles? That'd work

huh, good question, Old Man, and I honestly can't say why I used that word specifically. I did say almost, though. And I did say that I hadn't even seen the film. What I was remembering was the interview with the producers and their reluctance to take a much more radical stance in calling the industrialists out for the fiends they really are. They were speaking nicely, giving the industry a chance, not really wanting to step on toes too firmly. And that turned my stomach (a little, I don't want to exaggerate). They were just movie-makers where I was expecting to see activists. I think that's what I was recalling when I posted last time. Again, there's nothing new in this film. I know that without watching it. I've read enough descriptions and reviews at IMDB and Amazon to be familiar with pretty much every scene. The truly shocking thing to me is that so many Americans are shocked by it. That really speaks volumes about the success of the industries and their tactics. edit: I came back to add this: You're right, "cowardly" is unjustified and you were right to call me on it

Although there is a lot of wisdom and valuable advice in the other replies, I have to agree with this, and I really got a kick out of this post because it feels so familiar to me, though my situation was completely different. No depressives but a couple genuine kooks who had a lot or power over me. I want to add something: when you move out, move far out. A good distance (with me it took roughly 3,000 miles and one ocean), allows you to really view the situation as a whole, like viewing the forest instead of a small cluster of trees. Over time, you'll see the causes and effects that have been taking place the whole time, and they'll lose their power over you. You'll change, you'll grow in your own direction, drop a lot of baggage, find your center and settle down into it. Doesn't mean you'll have a wonderful life with nary a difficulty, but the issues with your family will recede, or at least fall into a less destructive perspective for you. Also, there is no rule of law, natural or otherwise, that says we have to love our families. A lot of us put oursleves under too much pressure when we try to love according to form but we can't fake it forever, at some point we either have to admit the reality of the situation of wait for reality to come along and bite us in the ass. edit: added the first statement that begins with "Although..."

5 Elements already gave you your answers but I want to add something. The more want something, and the more you focus on getting it, the faster it's going to slip away. The best thing to do is learn a good Qigong system from a good teacher (the good ones are humble and they smile a lot), just do your meditations and your exercises, forget the sensations, don't focus on anything but happily perfecting the Qigong. The proper results, the ones you need, as opposed to the ones you want, will occur all on their own. Edit: Something else: regarding Qi itself, think of it as a superfine substance, not some form of "energy" or bioelectricmagneticquantumhoopla or whatever. Just call it Qi, understand that it functions like water, it's always there, everywhere, condensing and expanding, breathing, always transforming, moving, animating, living... and your Qigong experience will have a better quality to it. I promise

I agree, but, 'tweren't mine I try to keep things experientially-based, and include anecdotes from my life and experiences, yet I skirt around the truly personal stuff. I don't reveal much about myself online, or offline. I probably come off colder than I am, but that's ok, I'm cool with it

Hi Non, question: how would the hands being either yin or yang affect your practice? From a TCM POV, roughly, the yang meridians run along the (harder) back of the hand and fingers and yin meridians are on the (softer) inside. Laogong is part of the yin pericard meridian. But if you observe the hand isolated from the rest of the arm and body, the lower half, the heel, would be yin in comparison to the yang fingertips. The further "out" you get the more yang you're looking at, and vice-versa. Likewise, the hands as a whole would be yang in relation to the the yin lower arm, if you only observe from the elbow down. The whole arm in relation to the torso would be yang. So, it's all dependent on your POV and what exactly you're trying to accomplish. An example: We rub the hands 81 (a super yang number) times before we massage the uber-yin kidneys, in order to bring as much balance to it as we can. But we rub 24 (a yin number) times before massaging the yang face/head region. The intention has to be there for it to work. Something interesting that people ask sometimes: If yin qi is the tendency to flow upward, then why are the yin meridians in the arm flowing downward, from the shoulders to the hands? The answer is too stretch your arms above your head, palms forward, then you have everything aligned with yin rising up the front and yang sinking down the back. Something else that comes up a LOT is which hand is yin or yang and is it different for men and women? People get passionate about this because it affects how we close Dantian after practice. The dogmatic technique says women have to lay the right hand on the abdomen and left hand on top of the right. But, I tell people to lay "a" hand on the DT and the other one on top, let intuition guide the process. And more than 2/3s lay the left hand on the abdomen first, with no difference between men or women, in my experience. People will say that women tend to intuitvely close with the right hand but real-world practice doesn't bear this out at all. Re: Dantian. It's basically the same thing. The torso as a whole is Yang in relation to the legs. But the lower torso region is yin in relation to the upper regions. And so on, ad infinitum. The "borders" are not razor-sharp, they're more like the progression of one season into the next. A difference between men and women in this respect would be new to me.

Ever evolving Yet some things remain sacred It's five, seven, five (sorry, bedtime here, lol - but then, I guess "every" can be counted as two or three - I counted two )

Twoness transcended Wuji remains undisturbed In every Yang, Yin

In the west, everything originates with the brain, because it's so easy to identify and isolate. I read an article, though, about some studies that surprisingly determined that the hormonal/chemical system worked even faster than the nervous system. It's all wired together of course, and I can't recall all the specific language of the article but basically, the chemical processes are put in place before the brain sends a signal to act. When you want to move a finger, changes have already occured before the brain "thinks" about it. The timing is nano-second close, but the brain isn't the first one out of the starting gate. The origin of the wish, well, they didn't find it, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were somewhere down below the navel, or in the glands themselves. Or the spine. Or the organs. Or everywhere at once. The brain is the big information processing and data storage center, but maybe it's not the origin. Maybe it's not the seat of thought. I know I can move my arms around in all kinds of ways, by simply pushing Qi out my lower Dantian up through the middle and out to my hands. What exactly they do is sometimes quite unexpected. Doesn't make much of a difference in the long run, though, I guess. Not where the CIA is concerned.

Breathe deep, live simply A horse in the stall, steaming The rider walks home

Same here in a big way. My eyes glaze over when I read directionless posts that never pull themsleves out of the theoretical or religious dogma to move into solid practice. This is really what attracted me to Daoist methods in the first place. The methodic experimentation (in the search for the pill and or mushroom of immortality), the willingness to research new ideas, adapt practices from other cultures, keep the good, discard the bad, re-test the norms and adjust them as needed. No sacred cows. Sacred cows clog the road. Now, sacred birds, well.... lol. Repeated for emphasis, can't possibly add anything to it. It should be posted at the top of the website in boldface.

Hi Matt - Keep an open mind and you'll do fine