Roger Janhke's "Ten phases of cultivating and mastering Qi"

[寒月 Hanyue]

Roger Jahnke's 10 phases of Qi. Any thoughts on this?

Best,

"[Q]igong...can be categorized into the ten phases of cultivating and mastering qi, as outlined by Dr. Roger Jahnke, OMD, in his book, The Healing Promise of Qi. Many people spend years or lifetimes ignoring and depleting their qi supply, like neglecting an empty, fallow garden. To grow a healthy garden involves clearing, planting, tending, harvesting, and storing. Your qigong practice can help with clearing away old habits and blockages, planting and growing the seed of qi within us, harvesting and moving the qi throughout the body, and storing qi for times when we most need it. Jahnke's ten phases of qi are organized into three sections: Earth, HeartMind, and Heaven.

Earth - Medicine for the Body

Phase 1 - Discover Qi: Simply becoming aware that qi exists. Observing qi in the self by bringing awareness within and discovering subtle sensations, such as warmth, tingling, flow, expansion, vibration, magnetism, bliss, energy levels, attitudes, and emotions. Observing qi in others by noticing how others make you feel or how you feel when entering a building or room. Observing qi in nature by acknowledging the cycles and instincts of animal and plant life.

Phase 2 - Gather Qi: Soaking in the qi with very little effort by opening the posture, the breath, and the mind. Qi can be gathered from food, air, nature, the cosmos, the breath, acupressure points, even the skin.

Phase 3 - Circulate Qi: Qi can be distributed through the body in two ways - passively or actively. Passive circulation, through meditation, is an allowing rather than a doing. The qi flows like water in its natural state, if not blocked or constricted. Meditation allows the qi to flow on its own, if we step out of the way. Active circulation, through qigong, uses intention and movement to distribute the qi around the body and energy field.

HeartMind - Medicine for the Mind and Emotions

Phase 4 - Purify Qi: The qi is cleansed when stale qi is released through the energy centers and channels, acu-points, breath, and skin. Qi can also be cleansed through herbs, acupuncture, massage, or by gathering fresh qi to displace the old. Qi can be purified through a dynamic focus, using movement, breathing, and sound. Or qi can be purified through a quiescent focus, using mind focus, meditation, mental mantras, or the release of blocked emotions.

Phase 5 - Direct Qi: If qi is in a balanced state, there is little need for direction of qi. However, in a state of imbalance, the mind can be used to re-balance the qi through will. Also, qi can be directed through the breath, massage, touch, acupressure, Reiki, movement, magnets, herbs, etc. Qi can also be directed toward others for healing.

Phase 6 - Conserve Qi: By its nature, qi automatically collects and circulates. However, daily life and every activity and bodily function uses qi. So throughout each day, a mental intention should be used to conserve qi, by avoiding bad habits, over-indulgences, excess, and stress. Emotions such as fear, worry, anger, guilt, and grief can deplete qi. Constant attention to balancing yin and yang will help to conserve qi.

Heaven - Medicine for the Spirit

Phase 7 - Store Qi: Qi is stored in the central channel, the twelve organ meridians, the eight extraordinary channels, the organs themselves, the three dantians, the bone marrow, and the nervous system. Phase 7 moves into the advanced stages of qigong, requiring personal discovery through practice. Once the Earth and HeartMind phases are mastered, there is less to do, and more to allow. Storing qi is more about intention than action, and allowing qi to find deep yin storage, as in the marrow.

Phase 8 - Transform Qi: At this stage, we are now a vessel of highly refined qi ready for internal alchemy. The local self is healed and conscious awareness expands. This phase cannot be done, but can only unfold by being. Internal alchemy involves the heating and firing of qi, refining it into a potent essence to become a Golden Elixir. The practitioner moves toward an enlightened self.

Phase 9 - Dissolve in Qi: To dissolve in qi is to open to your ultimate nature, merging with Dao. At this stage, the practitioner sustains direct connection with Spirit at every moment.

Phase 10 - Transmit Qi: Beyond healing and awakening of the self, transmitting qi to heal others with compassion is the next step. At this highly advanced stage, the practitioner projects qi naturally as it radiates from the self. Qi can also be intentionally directed by maintaining a relaxed focus on healing others. The practitioner can be a channel through which the qi flows and can also organize others' qi by their own harmony. Qi can be directly applied through the hands or across great distances. Healing comes when those receiving the qi are ready to heal themselves through intention and lifestyle adjustments."

[Edited for formatting reasons]

 

[Edite: Finally figured out how to change the title of the thread to make Cheya and Hundun happy ]

Healing Promise of Qi (study guide).pdf

Edited April 3, 2013 by snowmonki

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[寒月 Hanyue]

"surreptitious advertising" for SM - but SM goes beyond this 10 Points beyond Qi.

 

 

...

Edited April 3, 2013 by snowmonki

[ChiDragon]

Now, we have all these fancy definitions of Qi. What can we do with it....???

 

Who can prove that they are true or not...???

Edited July 30, 2011 by ChiDragon

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[寒月 Hanyue]

I...I...no, you've lost me. Shame.

Edited July 30, 2011 by snowmonki

[ChiDragon]

Phase 4 - Purify Qi: The qi is cleansed when stale qi is released through the energy centers and channels, acu-points, breath, and skin. Qi can also be cleansed through herbs, acupuncture, massage, or by gathering fresh qi to displace the old. Qi can be purified through a dynamic focus, using movement, breathing, and sound. Or qi can be purified through a quiescent focus, using mind focus, meditation, mental mantras, or the release of blocked emotions.

 

So, Qi is a filthy thing which need to be purified....???

[cheya]

Hey SM,
I just need to chime in that Jahnke's ten phases in cultivating qi make sense to me and I find them useful. I am biased, as his chi kung video was my first real intro to chi kung, and I did his set for a couple years way back when. It's a beautiful set and I still do his tendon-changing exercises and field brushing moves when needed. He helped me start to feel chi, and his framing of the process still seems a useful overview to me.

Thanks for posting them.

cheya

PS Jahnke's explanation of how movement and breath actually create water in the cells, which the pumping action of the breath moves into the lymphatic system, cleansing the tissues, was a revelation to me at the time. Actually, still is.

Edited August 23, 2016 by cheya

[ChiDragon]

PS Jahnke's explanation of how movement and breath actually create water in the cells, which the pumping action of the breath moves into the lymphatic system, cleansing the tissues, was a revelation to me at the time. Actually, still is.

 

FYI...

Yes, the movement and breath actually create water in the cells but indirectly. Actually, it was the glucose and oxygen that produce the water directly. However, the movement and breath do speed up the cell respiration rate to produce water biologically.

[Birch]

FYI...

Yes, the movement and breath actually create water in the cells but indirectly. Actually, it was the glucose and oxygen that produce the water directly. However, the movement and breath do speed up the cell respiration rate to produce water biologically.

Just sort of a sort of aside. Would you equate love with oxytocin/vasopressin and happiness with a serotonin/dopamine er, "balance" and family and friends with some kind of...psycophysiological (yeah, i know i missed The h, ack iPhone) equation?

 

I'm figuring you might and it's way cool that you are and i sort of hope you haven't gotten overly scientifico-biological with this stuff. Yes, I do believe yer right, but damn.

[寒月 Hanyue]

Hey SM,

I just need to chime in that Jahnke's ten phases in cultivating qi make sense to me and I find them useful. I am biased, as his chi kung video was my first real intro to chi kung, and I did his set for a couple years way back when. It's a beautiful set and I still do his tendon-changing exercises and field brushing moves when needed. He helped me start to feel chi, and his framing of the process still seems a useful overview to me.

 

Thanks for posting them.

 

Adeha

 

PS Jahnke's explanation of how movement and breath actually create water in the cells, which the pumping action of the breath moves into the lymphatic system, cleansing the tissues, was a revelation to me at the time. Actually, still is.

 

Being biased is all good : )

 

Could you say in which ways you have found the model useful? Daily practice, long term practice?

 

Thanks for the reply, best,

[Ya Mu]

Just want to say that Roger is a heckuva nice guy and very informed practitioner and Teacher. I had the pleasure of jointly presenting Medical Qigong with him and a couple of other people at a NQA conference several years back.

His writings are full of good wisdom.

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[cheya]

Could you say in which ways you have found the model useful? Daily practice, long term practice?

 

Hey, Snowmonki

First I'd like to say that Jahnke's phrase is "ten phases of Cultivating and Mastering qi", so the shortened title of the thread may be misleading folks about what he's talking about.

 

The value to me is periodically checking in with his model to see where I am with my practice, what needs more attention, what I may be glossing over or skipping entirely. I remember back when I could barely feel qi, and that was the big deal. I needed reminding that there was more to it than just feeling it!

 

Looking at his list now, I realize I've kind of skipped over gathering, but I'm doing really well on circulation, especially since I started doing Tai Chi Ruler (Masterworks International version) 2 months ago. Now I can feel and circulate qi very easily, so it's time to look for the next focus. Again, there's more to it!

 

At my current level, circulating qi seems to automatically purify it, just like flushing fresh water through a stagnant stream cleans it out. I'm not real clear on the difference between circulate and purify in practice, or why Jahnke made them into two phases. I've gotten pretty good at directing qi, but Conserving qi, that's another weak spot! All the stirred-up qi can get my mind going really fast if my attention lapses. It's extremely seductive because I can have these great thoughts when my mind is busy siphoning off all that qi! For me, controlling thinking falls under learning to conserve qi. It's really funny watching my run-away mind when it grabs the reins!

 

Storing and transforming lie just over the qi horizon.

 

I really like Jahnke's rudimentary map for the qi journey. Helps me take an occasional look at the whole process from a larger perspective than the one that's occupying me at the moment.

 

Adeha

Edited August 1, 2011 by cheya

[fizix]

So, Qi is a filthy thing which need to be purified....???

Not in its primordial or naturally healthy state, no..... but, for example... binge on IV heroin everyday for 6 months straight and tell me your qi isn't filthy.... stagnant.. qi has the potential to become 'filthy' in a way through unnatural effects inducted unto the body, but of course it can be cleansed/transformed/replaced or whatever with healthy vibrant qi through both external and internal exercise, both are necessary.

[Sahaj Nath]

Hey, Snowmonki

First I'd like to say that Jahnke's phrase is "ten phases of Cultivating and Mastering qi", so the shortened title of the thread may be misleading folks about what he's talking about.

 

my thoughts exactly!

 

 

the only reason i clicked on the thread is because i teach from Jahnke's book and i know that he specifically uses the word "phases," and so i figured maybe the thread starter just did a bad job of shortening the title.

 

i'm a BIG fan of Roger Jahnke. his book, The Healing Promise of Qi, is the best qigong text book i've ever come across, and i've read more than a hundred of them. each phase of qi cultivation has its own chapter in the book, so there's a LOT more information and explanation for each phase than can be thoroughly understood from these little paragraphs.

 

the book is an easy read. very simple, clear, and beautifully written. it's totally demystified and yet full of magic and wonder.

 

Jahnke and i part ways on maybe 3 issues, and even with those issues, i understand his intended audience and his purpose for taking the position that he does, like his stance against trusting teachers who claim to offer energetic empowerments.

 

i think every qigong practitioner who could benefit from a little more perspective or a little more direction should own his book. i become a MUCH better teacher as a result of studying his way of breaking it down. it surprises me that i only know of one other teacher who uses it as a standard text book, and that's Michael Rinaldini in Sebastopol. i'm sure Ya Mu knows him as well.

 

but yeah, Jahnke's Healing Promise of Qi has been my standard textbook since 2007. i should have earned a percentage of his profits by now!

[hagar]

In line with the original post, my own experience, both with the work of my teacher, and my own practice is that qi really does not work in such a cummulative manner, nor transforms in such a progressive way.

 

The reason I feel this is relevant is that in the forms of practice I work with these days I really do not feel any qi at all. Or when I do them the way they are supposed to be done nothing really happens. There is really no change in the body as such, and the only precievable "effect" is that of a coming back to my self. It is just standing there, gathering back the light that is allready there, yet at the same time calling it back to itself. If this sounds silly, standing there without any percievable effect of what you do feels equally silly. Pointless. It challenges my fundamental perception of myself as an "agent" in the world. Yet its the most profound practice I have done.

 

The energy as we percieve it is not really percieved directly. We only percieve its effects and symptoms.

What this means is that the transformations is much more about the way qi interacts with the substantial world, or the world of form, meaning both inner and outer form.

 

So the way we as practitioners handle and work with our own energy and that of the surroundings is much more a transformation of our bodily and mental structure so that energy is conducted and emancipated. Energy in and of itself is insubstantial, and the "impure" energy is not essentially different from pure energy. Its just conditioned into a certain interaction with matter.

 

The essential quality of what we call qi is fundamentally always the same; empty, silent, still, spacious. In its conditioned state, it interacts with its opposite and becomes yin and yang. Yet the original state is always present, and fundamentally always just there. Only our own perception of anything being "blocked" or stuck makes it so. My experience is that when my perception changes the energy changes.

This is not engineering, not even a process. Either we percieve it in the natural way or not, to any degree.

 

I may be barking up the wrong tree here, as this has been a Roger Janke post, so sorry for any hijacking if any.

 

h

Edited August 2, 2011 by hagar

[寒月 Hanyue]

First I'd like to say that Jahnke's phrase is "ten phases of Cultivating and Mastering qi", so the shortened title of the thread may be misleading folks about what he's talking about.

 

Well the posted article is the posted article I didn't write it

 

And it does explain the full title in the article itself, so. If people actually read the article they should get it no?

 

Thank you for the helpful and enlightening response about your use of Jahnke's work.

 

I agree with you about purifying and circulation as the two seem the same to me. To circulate is to flush out the stagnant qi which purifies the channels etc. I have not delved deeply into Jahnke's work so I may just mis-understand his point

 

Best,

Edited August 2, 2011 by snowmonki

[寒月 Hanyue]

Wow! always with the little digs huh . Sorry my posting skills do not live up to your approval . See my post above.

 

As for the book explaining it all a lot more, well of course it does. I posted articles about the concept that are meant as an introduction and state where the material comes from, or do you think people should break copyright and just post his entire book to get feedback on his ideas ?

 

but yeah, Jahnke's Healing Promise of Qi has been my standard textbook since 2007. i should have earned a percentage of his profits by now!

 

I'm glad you like his book, the fact its your bible now actually makes a lot of your perspectice make more sense. Happy practice,

 

Best

[寒月 Hanyue]

In line with the original post, my own experience, both with the work of my teacher, and my own practice is that qi really does not work in such a cummulative manner, nor transforms in such a progressive way.

 

The reason I feel this is relevant is that in the forms of practice I work with these days I really do not feel any qi at all. Or when I do them the way they are supposed to be done nothing really happens. There is really no change in the body as such, and the only precievable "effect" is that of a coming back to my self. It is just standing there, gathering back the light that is allready there, yet at the same time calling it back to itself. If this sounds silly, standing there without any percievable effect of what you do feels equally silly. Pointless. It challenges my fundamental perception of myself as an "agent" in the world. Yet its the most profound practice I have done.

 

The energy as we percieve it is not really percieved directly. We only percieve its effects and symptoms.

What this means is that the transformations is much more about the way qi interacts with the substantial world, or the world of form, meaning both inner and outer form.

 

So the way we as practitioners handle and work with our own energy and that of the surroundings is much more a transformation of our bodily and mental structure so that energy is conducted and emancipated. Energy in and of itself is insubstantial, and the "impure" energy is not essentially different from pure energy. Its just conditioned into a certain interaction with matter.

 

The essential quality of what we call qi is fundamentally always the same; empty, silent, still, spacious. In its conditioned state, it interacts with its opposite and becomes yin and yang. Yet the original state is always present, and fundamentally always just there. Only our own perception of anything being "blocked" or stuck makes it so. My experience is that when my perception changes the energy changes.

This is not engineering, not even a process. Either we percieve it in the natural way or not, to any degree.

 

I may be barking up the wrong tree here, as this has been a Roger Janke post, so sorry for any hijacking if any.

 

h

 

No hijacking at all, will repsond properly later.

 

Best,

[Sahaj Nath]

Well the posted article is the posted article I didn't write it

 

And it does explain the full title in the article itself, so. If people actually read the article they should get it no?

 

True. but i think the point that we were both making [i could be wrong] is that some folks who might be interest in the article might never click on the post because they think it's about something different. you titled it "10 phases of Qi," but a more accurate title would be "10 phases of cultivation." folks who think the thread is about 10 different types or manifestations of qi might never click on it.

 

I agree with you about purifying and circulation as the two seem the same to me. To circulate is to flush out the stagnant qi which purifies the channels etc. I have not delved deeply into Jahnke's work so I may just mis-understand his point

 

Best,

 

circulating can be a part of purifying, but at the heartmind level of cultivation purifying also has to do with habit patterns, emotional hang-ups and the like. so something like forgiving a person such as myself for the way that i write/talk would also count as a form of purifying qi. the book is very clarifying on why he broke up the phases the way he did, but he also leaves plenty of room for you to re-interpret and reorganize however it best speaks to you. most of the purifying methods discussed are also in line with circulation, so maybe it would be more clarifying for some to call the more heartmind-related stuff something else. it's just a working model, and it adds to the alliteration of the chapters. for instance, "transform qi" accomplishes many of the previous phases at once, so folks who practice spontaneous formless forms might find that phase to be more in line with their experience, even if they are not particularly advanced or experienced.

 

 

 

Wow! always with the little digs huh . Sorry my posting skills do not live up to your approval . See my post above.

 

yes, always with the little digs i guess. i'm just a bit of a jerk that way.

 

As for the book explaining it all a lot more, well of course it does. I posted articles about the concept that are meant as an introduction and state where the material comes from, or do you think people should break copyright and just post his entire book to get feedback on his ideas ?

 

um... i wasn't making a criticism there. i was just encouraging people to pick up the book if they liked the ideas. it's well worth owning.

 

no hard feelings intended.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Hundun

[寒月 Hanyue]

True. but i think the point that we were both making [i could be wrong] is that some folks who might be interest in the article might never click on the post because they think it's about something different. you titled it "10 phases of Qi," but a more accurate title would be "10 phases of cultivation." folks who think the thread is about 10 different types or manifestations of qi might never click on it.

 

Yeah I get that, my bad if you know how I can change it I will but I can't see how to on this forum

 

 

circulating can be a part of purifying, but at the heartmind level of cultivation purifying also has to do with habit patterns, emotional hang-ups and the like. so something like forgiving a person such as myself for the way that i write/talk would also count as a form of purifying qi. the book is very clarifying on why he broke up the phases the way he did, but he also leaves plenty of room for you to re-interpret and reorganize however it best speaks to you. most of the purifying methods discussed are also in line with circulation, so maybe it would be more clarifying for some to call the more heartmind-related stuff something else. it's just a working model, and it adds to the alliteration of the chapters. for instance, "transform qi" accomplishes many of the previous phases at once, so folks who practice spontaneous formless forms might find that phase to be more in line with their experience, even if they are not particularly advanced or experienced.

 

Ah, helpful, thank you. That makes a lot of sense. I have the book on order through my library, I read it years ago but don't remember it all that well. So I'll see what I get from reading it this time round.

 

yes, always with the little digs i guess. i'm just a bit of a jerk that way.

 

Your nature is your nature, which is about as Zhuang Zi as you can get. You can't be anything else Sometimes personalities just clash

 

um... i wasn't making a criticism there. i was just encouraging people to pick up the book if they liked the ideas. it's well worth owning.

 

Fair enough, and I agree completely. Which in part is why I started the thread, if people found the ideas helpful or interesting then hopefully they'd check out the source and get a better understanding.

 

no hard feelings intended.

 

None taken. The energy of your posts often literally feels like a slap round the face to me, but I'm slowly getting used to it I just sometimes forget and get surprised.

 

Best,

[LBDaoist]

The list seems more like ten phases of qigong practice, as opposed to ten phases of qi. I was anticipating something perhaps more akin to the "qualities" of qi. Heavy, light, pulsing, steady, floating, sinking, etc.