Taoist Physical Practices

[themaninthesuit]

Hey guys i hope all is well

 

Many people on these forums have much more experience then me in all aspects of taoism. And so to all those people i am wondering what some good physical practices are.

 

The past few weeks i have just been extremely tired and lacking in energy and i feel its because i have been devoting too much time to mental cultivation and not physical cultivation. So im wondering what methods you guys use and if you would recommend it for a beginner. I dont really have much money to get videos and stuff as of right now but i hope to. I appreciate the help my fellow bums.

[Aaron]

Hey guys i hope all is well

 

Many people on these forums have much more experience then me in all aspects of taoism. And so to all those people i am wondering what some good physical practices are.

 

The past few weeks i have just been extremely tired and lacking in energy and i feel its because i have been devoting too much time to mental cultivation and not physical cultivation. So im wondering what methods you guys use and if you would recommend it for a beginner. I dont really have much money to get videos and stuff as of right now but i hope to. I appreciate the help my fellow bums.

 

I don't do Qigong or Tai Chi (I am checking out a class tomorrow for Tai Chi though), but I do find that walking is great exercise and also really helps me to get in touch with the world. I recommend no i-pod, just try to quiet your mind and enjoy the world around you. The more "nature" there is, the better.

 

Aaron

[Maddie]

As one who has recently been batteling fatigue and diligently trying to come up with solutions to this leme tell ya what I've found to help.

A good general form of Taoist exercise is the 8 brocades which I try to do daily. Its good for moving the joints, streching the mucles and tendons, streching the meridians and clearing them out, ect.. As far as building the energy level standing meditation is a very good practice for this. The 8 brocades and standing meditation together are a really good combo, as standing meditation builds a lot of chi, and the brocades help circulate it.

Aside from the practices I have found Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero) to be highly effective at increasing my vitality. The homeopathic remedy "phosphoricum acidum" has also been very helpful. In the past I have used the Bach flower remedies of Olive and Hornbeam as well.

 

I hope that givnig you a lot of options will help you to find one or a few that will be usefull to you.

[Aetherous]

Zhan zhuang, standing. Check out the book Way of Energy for details (personally I found a download for it...bad Scotty! ). Practice.

[themaninthesuit]

Haha thanks for the replies, i appreciate it.

 

Twinner- My senior year of college (which was last year) i walked to school everyday and began to find a lot of joy in it. It is a good idea to begin doing that again, and i will take your advice and not bringing the ipod nailed me on that one. Let me know what you think of Tai Chi too i have always had interest in that.

 

dmattwads- I will look into the things you mention. I probably will just do a lot of googling and stuff, but are you aware of any good websites or sources the 8 brocades. Also, i am assuming standing meditation is a general term, is there different methods or stances? if so are you impartial to any? I have also been interested in trying herbal remedies, so thanks for mentioning a few.

 

Scotty- Is zhan zhuang a form of standing meditation then? Have you tried any others. And shhhhh its ok i will look for a download too. If its free its for me.

 

Thanks again for the help

[VCraigP]

I have found Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero) to be highly effective at increasing my vitality.

 

Good Idea!

 

Which brand do you use?

I advise just getting powdered Eleuthero root.

avoid the extract, it is cheap(read as BAD) and processes out much of the beneficial aspects of the herb.

 

Walking, was the first simple thing that came to my mind as well.

 

Re learning Taiji and or Qigong.

There is bad, good, better and best.

Bad is to do nothing at all.

Good is to try something, anything you can get for free off of the net.

Better is to get actual books, DVDs to get solid instruction, especially if not MA background.

Best is to find a teacher, support them, ie with actual funds, and having placed that high value upon the instruction to practice diligently what you learn.

 

Both Taiji and Qigong require gongfu. Diligent and steady work over a long period of time.

 

Craig

Edited December 4, 2010 by VCraigP

[rookie]

If you are looking for exercise I would recomend looking into some of the animal forms. You can get the basic idea from a video but it sure helps to have some feedback and guidance when you are learning.

 

Also, having a good teacher can help you keep from hurting yourself. Most beginers make some mistakes in their alignment that can damage the joints, especially the knees. And I say a good teacher is needed because some don't pay enough attention to this. Always pay attention to what your body is telling you after and during practice. Pain and soreness or inflamation in a joint means change what you are doing.

 

Here are a couple of suggestions.

 

Fire and Water qigong by Matthew Cohen has a really good lower body workout.

 

There is a board member named "trunk" that has a website with a lot of physical practices on it.

 

If you need cardio, just get the body moving, walking, hiking, running, swim, bicycle, whatever, heart rate up for an extended time, like an hour. You don't normally get this from qigong.

 

It makes me wonder, the ancient roots of qigong came from people that were probably moving all the time and had no need for deliberate and extra cardio training to remain healthy. Most likely quite the opposite, with the demands of daily life taking all they had out of them. Qigong with its ability to gather chi could heal and rejuvinate and extend life. This is quite different from most modern day people.

[Maddie]

Haha thanks for the replies, i appreciate it.

 

Twinner- My senior year of college (which was last year) i walked to school everyday and began to find a lot of joy in it. It is a good idea to begin doing that again, and i will take your advice and not bringing the ipod nailed me on that one. Let me know what you think of Tai Chi too i have always had interest in that.

 

dmattwads- I will look into the things you mention. I probably will just do a lot of googling and stuff, but are you aware of any good websites or sources the 8 brocades. Also, i am assuming standing meditation is a general term, is there different methods or stances? if so are you impartial to any? I have also been interested in trying herbal remedies, so thanks for mentioning a few.

 

Scotty- Is zhan zhuang a form of standing meditation then? Have you tried any others. And shhhhh its ok i will look for a download too. If its free its for me.

 

Thanks again for the help

 

Yes zhan zhuang = standing meditation, and yes there are many different forms, but that book that Scotty recommened "The way of energy" is an excellent one. As far as a good source for the 8 brochades here is a link http://ymaa.com/publishing/dvd/qigong_DVD/8_simple_qigong_DVD, good luck

[Aetherous]

Scotty- Is zhan zhuang a form of standing meditation then? Have you tried any others. And shhhhh its ok i will look for a download too. If its free its for me.

 

Yes, I've tried various methods. For people with low energy throughout their day, simply standing correctly in one posture for like 20 minutes will do the trick. At least that's my experience. When the legs are slightly bent it causes energy to collect in the lower dantien. You can assist this process by deep breathing in that area, as well as keeping your attention there. In this way it's like a meditation.

 

There are various ways of using your hands in the posture, kind of like mudras. This is all dependent on which system you're practicing as well as what you're trying to accomplish in that system. It's good enough to just practice the "first position" in the Way of Energy book.

[adept]

Not Taoist but very good nevertheless Shaolin Qigong

[Non]

David Carradine's "Shaolin Stregnth Training" is pretty good. Not the old one from the 80s but the new one with the hung gar training.

 

Also you might want to check out Harry Wong's stuff too on dynamic tension since I heard its good. Shaolin Workout by Shifu Yuan Lei is good also.

 

Its all dynamic tension qigong exercises that it used for hung gar training.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JYPW0I/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002AUIFC8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R4PP45170B3HD9KNGGD

 

These are the youtubes:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdTOaMwo7sY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70M_f-794xY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pgkgBwf6uc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdAn_5kGZkQ

 

This is the Hung Gar training dynamic tension qi gong exercises:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07yCHJR4Js

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlGmlyEKl2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1kap5cwdys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W9AYrIhrwk

 

I would do any of the exercises in this video with more tension than is shown. Then it's also good to train without so much tension for fluidity and quickness, and also the slow soft type like for tai chi to work out the smooth tissue muscle.

 

Do any sort of martial arts training and you're good.

 

At my kung fu school we have a dynamic tension exercise we call Hey Gong.

 

That and stance training is awesome.

 

Do any of the things that you would help in martial arts training. Focusing on the dan-tien.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Non

[Non]

Horse stance

 

 

Keeping your back straight, tucking the tailbone, making your feet point forward, opening the legs as much as possible to make a square horse stance.

 

Horse Stance Meditation similar to the hey gung we do at school:

 

Stance training is really good. Ma bo, ding bo, kai ma bo, chun bo, gun bo, and the other one standing on one foot with the upper foot pointing down. Both hands in chamber up to the lower rib cage, and elbows back.

 

Kicks punches. All that good stuff.

 

Watch martial arts training. There's more stuff than this, this is just basics. THere are other strength training exercises but might require some equipment.

 

Always stretch.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Non