Hello

[NJBob]

Hello tao bums,

 

I have been lurking for a long time, and finally joined. I'm fully retired for about 4 years and living with my wife in NJ. We have family and grandkids nearby. I first read the Tao teh Ching (John C.H. Wu version) in the early 1970's. In those pre-computer days, I used to browse nearby book stores several times a week as a way to unwind after getting off work. I've read many versions of the Tao Teh Ching since, but John C.H. Wu's version always seemed to resonate with me as the translation that speaks to me. For those who don't know it, a free online version exists here: http://terebess.hu/english/tao/wu.html

The terebess.hu site has many other online translations of the tao and many other great works of philosophy and literature. It's a wonderful free resource.

For those of you who may be looking forward to retirement at some point, I can say it's a pretty good deal. The most important part of it may be to follow the advice of Charles Dickens who said to be sure you spend less than you earn. Once you got that figured out there is the challenge of staying healthy and finding stuff you love to do.

One of the reasons I joined the group was to ask a question. I know there are many who are experts in tai chi and QiGong here. My own experience has been limited to having attended some Aikido and Shoto Kan Karate classes many years ago. I came to the conclusion within a few months of studying each style that the chance of injury in class was much greater than walking the streets of NYC and Brooklyn where I lived and worked, and riding the subway alone. I've since become a solitary practitioner with the help of VHS videos on Tai Chi and Qigong. I recently have been using Qigong for health by Dr. Paul Lam, and very recently obtained (via a torrent) "Michael Winn-Qigong Fundamentals 1-5 Animals do the 6 Healing Sounds".

Here's my question. Dr. Paul Lam ends each session with washing the chi (i.e. gathering it in). Michael Winn seems to end each form with casting the chi off. Winn is saying this is discarding the used or burnt out chi. Lam seems to be saying all the chi is valuable, keept it all. My gut is telling me Lam is making more sense to me. Any thoughts on this?

[Protector]

Welcome

Chi is the energy that powers intention, it's the reason behind things

If something is doing something, it has energy to do it

If something is doing nothing, there's a reason for that, too

In some healing Chi Gong, chi that causes the symptoms is being pulled out, maybe that's what Winn is talking about, otherwise that makes no sense to me

Energy needs to be purified into pure energy and put into Dantien so your body could use it for other things

[Elliot]

Welcome NJBob

[konchog uma]

it makes sense to gather and store qi, and to get rid of stagnant qi. Why not do both? I incorporate both into my own sets, and i wouldn't want to have to choose between one or the other.

 

Although for a close down, i usually gather the abundance to my dantian or bone marrow, depending on the set.

 

Welcome!

[NJBob]

Hi Anamatva, Elliot and Sinfest,

 

Thanks for your welcomes and replies. Happy to be here. I think I will stick with Dr. Paul Lam's Qigong for Health set for now. It's straight forward and uncomplicated and I can feel the chi in my hands while performing the set.

And it's geared for senior citizens such as myself.