The "gong"

[Ian]

I met a couple a month or so back who were training with a Chi kung master from Malaysia.

 

They training was organised in such a way that any practice they might do would be done for a minimum of 100 consecutive days. This period was called a "gong". (or something like that - they didn't write it down for me!)

 

The idea being that you couldn't really evaluate a practice over any lesser period because it wouldn't have a chance to properly manifest its effects. But over 100 days, when a lot of your cells have been replaced and so on, then it might start to really permeate you.

 

I did a thing called Eagle's Claw for a hundred days in 2004, which seemed quite powerful, and I've recently passed 100 days of standing meditation (just half an hour). Hard to really tell you how it's been without having kept a diary, but I do find great value in having something which I'm going to do whether I feel like it or not.

 

So, people, what have you ever done for 100 days in a row? What would you like to do for 100 days, starting now, and tell us about it? Do you think 100 days is long enough? What, generally, do you think?

 

Yours mellowed by lunch,

Ian

[freeform]

So, people, what have you ever done for 100 days in a row? What would you like to do for 100 days, starting now, and tell us about it? Do you think 100 days is long enough? What, generally, do you think?

 

great idea!

 

I must admit I'm not that disciplined... I've been doing Intuflow for over half a year now almost daily... I doubt I've done it for 100 days straight though. And I've got the same thing with the inner smile and microcosmic chi kung... although I've been doing both for a long time, there are always times where I miss a day or two.

 

One thing I would like to do for 100 days straight is Dirk's Meridian Chi Kung... I must admit I find it quite difficult, but I feel that it's something I really need to be doing... so... it being the solstice coming up, maybe it's a good time to start!

[thaddeus]

I'm not sure if I can explain this properly or not, but I've been slowly coming to a realization regarding this topic. First off, none of this stuff should be called 'work'. Now, I'm not saying we don't need to make an effort, i'm saying the connotations of the word 'work' and the consistency of 100 days is probably not natural. I'm learning that '100 days' and 'always' are really not meant so strict as we tend to be in the west. For example, for the martial artists here, when we say the spine needs to be straight or we need to move from the waist, people in the west take it sooo literally that it becomes almost silly to watch them do a form, for example. It looks contrived and stiff. Something like 'moving the waist' makes people over do a lot of things. Overdoing is a big problem for us here. My teacher, who is chinese, said they have a story about someone trying to draw a dog and they keep trying to improve it so much it starts to look like anything but a dog in the end.

Anyway, my jumbled thoughts..

T

[VCraigP]

First off, none of this stuff should be called 'work'.

 

Linguistically speaking Gong means (to the best of my knowledge) hard work done over a period of time.

So it is a bit silly not to call it work.

 

In essence I do understand what you are saying though. Rather than practice a particular "thing" for 100 days I think it is most important to do something/anything everyday which is related to your overall chikung/meditation/neikung practice. Although I would add that simple sitting meditation should be done at least daily.

 

Master Zhongxian Wu recently recommended to a fellow student that when learning a new chikung form that it is best to practice 49 days (7 weeks) before attempting to learn a new one, in order to set your system up properly with the new energy work. These Taoists love their magic numbers Interesting that this figure is just under half of the number recommended to really try out a new form as Ian mentioned.

 

Discipline. Consistency. Steady incremental progress. Sounds so easy right?

Apparently not so easy. Still not sure I buy the argument about merit put forth by Smile and Plato, ie if you had proper merit it would not be difficult at all to practice steadily, and those without merit will never practice regularly because karma is in the way, or something like that.

 

But I like to quote Mantak Chia here. "you do it, you get it. You don't do it, you don't get it."

What more can you say about practice?

 

Craig

[neimad]

[Smile]

Great idea Ian.

Here is something for those who want to print a nice calendar for that...

 

http://www.chilel-qigong.com/100daygong1a.jpg

 

[freeform]

I must admit, I'm not a fan of dictionary definitions... It's like the common denominator of hypnosis scripts... you think to yourself... "ooh - I'm not exactly sure how to be hypnotised by this word" so you look it up and the dictionary tells you exactly how.

 

It's interesting - how do dictionaries know what the 'true' meaning of a word is? Well it turns out that the makers of dictionaries have to trawl through all written publications and find the lowest common denominator of the meaning... I wonder whether in the next 50 years the difinition of 'bad' changes... "that Tai Chi shit is bad, dawg" and for that matter 'shit'.

 

The thing about "work" is that it has certain presuppositions that we aren't concious of... they're not in the dictionary, because Oxford can't get into people's unconcious (yet? )

 

These connotations are the things that tend to hypnotise us... if you pretend that 'work' doesn't really mean anything... and neither does 'play'... say 'work' - notice how it feels, then say 'play' notice how that feels - different? I dont see why you can't substitute 'play' for 'work'... because functionally they're pretty similar... they both involve 'doing something' to achieve something (pleasure? progress?)... ofcourse some people are also negatively hypnotised by 'play' aswell... you say 'play' they think of teenagers with a joystick wasting their time for weeks on end... Also some people are positively hypnotised by the word 'work'... they're the ones that jump out of bed to get to work early - coz they love it!

 

anyway - I'm suggesting what Karen suggests... the homeopathic effect of hypnosis... i.e. using hypnosis to dehypnotise yourself!

 

I think it was Neimad that suggested creating a common language for all of us to agree on, but I dont really see that happening... language is very maliable in our minds... I'm all for communicating creatively... and customising your language to the person you're talking to (it's kind of like aikido - you follow their linguistic map so that when you add to it, you can do it without much resistance or frustration)... ofcourse a forum cant work like that! so maybe it would be usefull to create some common language? well I dont know... I blame Ian for all this confusion

[neimad]

i like the word work because for me it has the connotations of service.

 

 

it is service.... service to spirit, or god, or whatever you want to call it.

 

 

it can be fun work, in fact it must become fun work.... or else we'd go looney.

 

 

but if i didn't have this navigator thing guiding me.... it's something i'd do without. i could easily spend my life in oblivious bliss of video games, pot smoke, junk food, television and all that other stuff. i just know i can never be satisfied by that.....

 

so it's work to me. something that i have to do if i ever want to satisfy this calling. and that's good.... i'm happy with it being work. i'm happy to work hard, really really really hard at this..... because that's all there is left to me.

 

so the point is, it's not really a choice i made.... it's something i was born into (or maybe i did make a choice some life somewhere at some point, whatever).

 

and just like people feel they have to go to work (a job) in order to make money, because that's just the way things are.....

 

.... so to do i feel like i have to do my spiritual work, because that's just the way things are.

and to think it's not gonna be tough, to think it's not gonna break me a thousand times over, to think that i'm not going to have to exert myself..... is all delusion.

 

so i just knuckle down and do the work with a smile on my face.

 

-----------------

 

oh yeah. it wasn't about agreeing on common language.... it was about debating on the language to have some insights or shifts about what we really think, about the attachments we have to certain words.

 

i think it coulda been valuable... but noone is interested, so i don't care.

Edited June 22, 2006 by neimad

[Ian]

great idea!

 

 

One thing I would like to do for 100 days straight is Dirk's Meridian Chi Kung... I must admit I find it quite difficult, but I feel that it's something I really need to be doing... so... it being the solstice coming up, maybe it's a good time to start!

 

I'd like to hear about that, if you do.

Have you been trying to do the whole 18 or so movements? I struggle with the 6 basics.

[thelerner]

Max, that 100 Day Gong poster prints out really nicely. Its a great find.

 

Thanks

 

Michael