Standing spontaneous qigong

[bamboo]

Hey people,

just randomly found this site while googling spontaneous qigong. http://www.dontow.com/2009/08/spontaneous-qigong-or-zifagong-%E8%87%AA%E5%8F%91%E5%8A%9F/

 

Baically the practice is just to stand with the feet shoulder width apart, arms by your sides. I pressume the tongue is on the roof of the mouth, and breath through the nose. Just stand like that, zhan zhuang style, and after some time the body will begin spontaneous movements.

 

I did try a similar zhan zhuang posture about a year ago, like the one in the nuts and bolts of zhan zhuang on youtube. After a while areas of the body did feel like they unlocked, a release of tension, but no spontaneous movements. But i didn't practice it for that long.

 

Anyone have any experiance with this kind of spontaneous practice?

[sean]

not qigong per se, but in the realm of spontaneous movement, there are two standing postures (and one lying posture) on trauma releasing exercises that effectively trigger completely spontaneous trembling/shaking for me.

 

worth checking out for the context (and to support the authors when you can) but the gist is:

 

1. do a wall sit, arms empty hanging at sides. when it starts to approach intolerable, raise your position a few inches while looking for the trembling.

 

2. best done after position 1, lean over forward, hands in front of you to touch the floor, knees still bent, and explore slowly straightening the legs, looking for (or maintaining the already existing) trembling.

 

3. lie down in "supta baddha konasana", bottoms of feet together, and thrust your pelvis off the ground about 6-12 inches. hold this for a minute or so. then lower back down completely, and let your hips completely open and relax. after a few minutes, begin bringing your knees together, looking for the trembling.

 

there is also an excellent 4th posture for spontaneous movement, that you can find on qigong for self healing that is better left for jenny lamb to describe.

 

in all of these the key imo is to find the emerging tremble and make that the center of awareness at first. immerse in the actual sensations, the texture, the richness, and expand awareness slowly, closely look for how the trembling might also be subtly expanding or deepening and allow this, and anything else that arises, e.g., sudden thrashing, sound, laughter, tears.

 

sean

[bamboo]

Yeah, i got the yigong jenny lamb spontaneous dvd. That's a good exercise, no spontaneous movements yet for me though. Just nice warm feeling building, and chi moving up the governing vessel into the head.

 

I found a video on youtube of trauma release exercise 3 you where talking about, sorry about the disturbing polar bear footage at the begining.

 

And Dr David Berceli explaining the TRE system:

 

Thanx sean, interesting stuff

Edited March 7, 2011 by bamboo

[The Way Is Virtue]

Hi bamboo. I don't have direct experience with spontaneous movement other than minor stuff, but I know some teachers do say that one should not intentionally try to invoke spontaneous movements in qigong practice, and if they do arise to make a conscious effort to stop them or at least keep them under control, if possible. Other teachers seem to encourage it, so I don't know which is the better approach. I can say that in my own zhan zhuang practice this has not arisen, so it might be at least somewhat a factor of expectation, but I am not sure. Maybe some people are just more prone to spontaneous movement than others in zhan zhuang and qigong.

[johndoe2012]

I found a video on youtube of trauma release exercise 3 you where talking about, sorry about the disturbing polar bear footage at the begining.

 

those movements are very similiar to some of the movements in my Yi Gong practise.

 

Bamboo, have you tried Yi Gong at another time of the day? I had more movements in the evening than in the morning.

[bamboo]

those movements are very similiar to some of the movements in my Yi Gong practise.

 

Bamboo, have you tried Yi Gong at another time of the day? I had more movements in the evening than in the morning.

I've only just started the yigong, less than a week in. I practice in the morning, somewhere between 3:30 and 6:00am, then again in the afternoon around 3ish. I have tried it in the evening as well, but i think it might be too early dayz for spontaneous movements yet. Getting good strong chi sensations though.

[Master of no significance]

On 8.3.2011 at 2:46 AM, nifotc said:

I experimented with this qigong that is mentioned for a month or so. Some interesting things happened. Compared to other spontaneous qigong I've tried, this one seems more flowing and circular, sort of felt like i was doing taiji. I practiced it in a small park with trees, and after a few weeks, there was spontaneous running and spinning around the trees with my eyes closed. In addition, I never hit the trees or fell over. However, everyone's movement is different depending on their body. I have also read the book written by the Professor mentioned in the article (only in chinese atm). The article basically sums up most of the teachings, the book tends to go more in detail of what may happen and what each of the movements that may perform mean and what it may indicate. THe key i found is to really let go, listen to and feel where your body wants to move. I found it also helps to do some rocking motions with deep breathing or swaying to help kick start it if you find it difficult. For those who practice KAP, it is basically like the water chakra hip rotations and wuji qigong Santi teaches.

 

Something interesting that got me interested in it was this blog, written by someone who seemed to never have practiced qigong before, but got quite into it when practicing it. She blogs about her experiences practicing it in Taiwan. Start from Day 1.

 

Zifagong Blog

 

Hope this helps

link doesnt work...??

[Boundlesscostfairy]

Well Ive done "feel the way" qigong before.. which is to just go with the natural rythm of your chi and energy balance.. but I have yet to have any totally spontaneous movements.. though I have had surges of chi energy spontaneously..

[beingnature]

Always a controversial topic

 

For me it all started happening after ca. 7 years of daily zhang zhuang and zuowang meditation ( up to 6 hours a day) i experienced all kind of different movements and sounds.from shaking to " taiji like" movements, circle walking and running , handseals , healing sounds, movements that look and feel martial, and also new zhang zhuang postures.for me it feels demanding but at the same time very fruit bringing. I think its important not to over do it.i often have the question why some experience it and others dont and what ways are there to trigger it.

 

I have a few clips on youtube that you can find in my personal practice discussion.

 

And we also have a thread in daoist discussion that is worth a look.

[doc benway]

15 hours ago, Master of no significance said:

link doesnt work...??

 

That's a 7 year old link...

 

Zhan zhuang is very powerful but there are no short cuts.

If you practice skillful standing, many things will arise including spontaneous movement.

The key is to fully engage with the standing and connecting mind and body.

If we get focused on waiting for things to happen, nothing will happen but disappointment.

It may takes years of practice for deeper experiences to occur.

[designAlignment]

I first learned Zhan Zhuang over 20 years ago from my martial arts teacher. I hadn't kept up with it consistently though - restarting for months at a time and then letting it lapse.

 

At one point, after 6 months and building up to an hour a day, I started getting spontaneous movement - my hips would always move in counterclockwise circles (if I were standing on the face of a clock). As my qi increased, the movements became more pronounced and my head started moving in circles too.

 

I eventually stopped practicing, but since then whenever I've restarted I've always gotten the same spontaneous movements (hips moving in the same direction) only I didn't need to build up to experience them - I would get movement right from the start, even when my qi was relatively low.

 

I was already familiar with spontaneous movement from Wong Kiew Kit's Induced Chi Flow exercise for balancing energies and clearing blockages but was concerned at the time because the books I read on ZZ didn't mention this kind of movement. They also talked about ZZ as being an exercise in relaxation and stillness. But if I relaxed, I couldn't stay still!

 

I could slow the movements with my intent (just telling it/myself to "slow down" until it came to a graceful end) but doing that also slowed the energy flow in my body, which seemed to defeat part of the purpose of standing. I also got dissonant feeling when I slowed it and an intuitive sense that the movement was ok. Later I checked with a ZZ teacher who said to just ignore it and let it happen.

Edited June 14, 2018 by designAlignment