bamboo

7-9pm is the pericardium

double

Hey, I have known for years about the two hour blocks each related to an internal organ and meridian channel. For instance 3-5am is the lung channel, and 5-7pm is the kidney channel. But never realized how to use it. So then i read on jenny lamb's website, that training at a particular time will strengthen that organ system. So i figured i'd try it out. The results were HUGE. I normally train qigong between 3-5am (Lung), then again at 1-3pm (small intestine), but i wanted to see what would happen if i trained at the kidney time. So i had dinner a little earlier, around 4pm, then trained from 5:30-6:30pm and the results blew me away. The whole body became really BLISSFUL and WARM. Totally felt like i was being renewed, far beyond the realms of acupressure and chinese herbs. I have tried a few chinese kidney tonic herbs, about the best result i had was with cordyceps, which is kidney yang tonic. Felt like a radiator had been plumbed into my kidneys. But kidney yang tonics should only be taken for short periods, or you may imbalance the organ network. Hope this is of some interest.

If that's your time frame, then there's always the 3 year, 3 month, 3 week 3 day retreat in the tibetan tradition. The 3's represent the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. I think you might need to be a memeber of their club [take the precepts] to do this one though.

Longest i did was sitting the five week winter retreat with the sangha at Bailin temple in shijiazhuang, China. Bitter cold, and didn't prepare my legs properley for 8 hours sitting a day. So by about week four, they totally seized up.

Some food for thought, cheers Atral!

Don't be so sure that was the reason behind it. After all, look at the real motives lurking behind the womens liberation movement: Don't worry, Alan Watt has a different version of the official story of events. It's all smoke and mirrors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8CnHxgYWBg I'm not saying you're wrong. But it's always best to take information with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Hey wearydreamer, You have to report to the lobby first [which you've just done], now you've checked in, you're free to go post where you like. Happy roaming!!

Cool, sorry man. I think my last message came over a little rude. All the best

Rather than just standing at the crossroads staring at the signs, i recommend you get the ball rolling with an anapana regime http://www.meditationexpert.com/meditation-techniques/m_how_to_practice_anapana.html This is a road travelled by the Buddhist and Daoists alike [and probably many others]. When you practice this you'll be cultivating your awareness, chi, and chi mai [channels]. Three for the price of one, good value Get a copy of Nan Huaijin's Tao and Longevity - Mind-body Transformations, this will give you some idea about the sensations and phenomena that might manifest. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tao-Longevity-Transformation-Discussion-Cultivation/dp/087728542X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297370332&sr=8-1

Hi Ed, no it's not available in hard copy, only ebook. I have a copy, but I'm not sure whether i would recommend it or not. A lot of the free articles on Bodri's site are versions of chapters in this book anyway. There's a couple of hundred pages spent on analyzing the 5 skandhas, which is super dry. Have to skip it every time, just can't face it. The chapter looking at 12 case studies of ordinary meditators, gauging their stage of attainment based on physical and mental phenomenon is given free on his site anyway. As is my favourite of his ebooks the 'gong-fu transformations within the physical body according to taoism'. http://www.meditationexpert.com/Stages2.pdf I guess it depends on what your practice is. If you follow Bodri's path of practice...anapana, white skeleton visualization, 9 step bottle wind and all that, then maybe it's for you. My practice is koan meditation, and qigong to kick off the body transformations, so it wasn't too useful for me. Hope there was something useful in there!

Hi taofish, I would say acupressure after zhan zhuang, because qigong is better for mobilizng the qi. Once mobilized, you can then manipulate it with acupressure. If you are using it to just mobilize the qi, then you need to use points from both the arms and legs [and maybe torso], this is much more effective than just using points on one point of the body. Here's a couple of good combinations, use them in the order listed: Large Intestine -4 Stomach-36 Spleen-6 Spleen -3 or Triple Burner-6 GallBladder-34 Stomach-36 Liver - 3 It's really effective to match points on the arm/hand with a leg point immediately after on the same axis/layer. Like LI-4 and St-36 are both on the same layer [yang ming, i think], and TB-6 and GB34 are also same layer. Another good combination is LI-4 and Liver-3, this combination is known as the 4 gates in acupuncture, and vigerously circulates the qi. Hope this helps.

Haven't practised this, but did look into it a while back. This was the best video i found. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OyiHQRpY0Y Whoops. A lot of people saying these are not the 5 tibetans on the video comments.

Hey bums, one to watch out for, due any time soon. http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Teachings-Classic/dp/1590308964/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1296657994&sr=8-2

Hi All, I just purchased a copy of chan mi gong [in book format] from amazon, havn't received it yet. I was just wondering if anyone has any experiance using this system, or could point me in the direction of some links to videos showing the form being practiced. Couldn't find any mention of it on youtube. Any information on this system would be greatly appreciated All the best.

Yeah considering it is one of the most popular systems in China, seems a little strange there's practically nothing about it on the web. Thanks for the info anyway

What effect on the qi does surrounding yourself with quartz have? Any other tips on artificially creating a better qigong practice environment [energetically speaking] indoors? Thanx

Hi all, I have just started taking a few yin jing herbs - shu di huang, he shou wu and huang jing. They are cooked powdered preperations, i got from my Chinese doctor. I am totally new to Chinese herbs and I was just wondering whether yin jing tonics cool the body down? We're having a bitter cold winter here in the UK, and i don't really want to be dropping degrees. Thanx

Hi all, Does anyone else get bad reactions from wearing polyester? I don't mean rashes or any skin complaint. I just feel as though it affects my chi circulation if i wear it anywhere near my skin, like a tee shirt or jumper. I seem to be okay with a hoody [with 20% polyester] on top of a couple of cotton layers. I can't put my finger on it, but there does seem to be something sinister about man made fibres. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Hi people, Is it possible to repair/build your jing using qigong?

I thought everyone here was doing one energy practice or another. Yes i practice qigong and have noticed that i get quite a disturbance to my chi circulation when i wear polyester too near to my skin. It's a little difficult to discribe, it's quite subtle, but still noticeable to me.

Marblehead, do you wear polyester and not experiance any ill effects to you chi circulation? I thought it might be a universal problem, just that people who do no energy exercises would not be able to detect it.

I am taking cordyceps - mildly yang jing tonic - as well. But i didn't want to become too yang, so i thought i should balance this out with some yin jing tonics. Maybe i will just stick with the goji berries [yin jing tonic] and the cordyceps until the big freeze passes.

Thanx Riyue. I kind of meant in a general way though. As in, does all qigong to some extent benefit your jing - or does it just work on the qi/chi?