Which combo of qigong instruction? Advice appreciated.

[Jainarayan]

The biggest risk is that you start to do things with your head, like worry about your energy or whether or not your Dantian is filling up.

 

No, that's not a concern.

 

If you can spend 10 min a day just feeling the weight of your flesh hanging from your bones your whole world will change with a deep authentic experience that all the visualization in the world can't bring.

 

My goal.

[Jainarayan]

So how does Master Lam's The Way of Energy compare to SFQ Fundamentals http://www.springforestqigong.com/index.php/sfq-fundamentals-course ? Similar, different, one better than the other? I understand Master Lin is also a good teacher.

[Jainarayan]

Btw, sorry to be a pain in the ass about all this. I have no access to a teacher where I am (central NJ is culturally bankrupt); there's only 3 Hindu temples and 1 Buddhist temple in a 40-45 mile radius, and this area is called Little Delhi). You guys are all I have for learning anything, for which I am very thankful.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Jainarayan

[doc benway]

That was one of your preconceived ideas; don't you think......??? Let me go find my video of show you....!!! brb.

No - actually I'm referencing multiple posts you made in a previous thread on standing.

Comments such as:

 

"Keep the legs strong to maintain body balance is what Zuan Zhuang will do for you."

 

"It is mainly building up good muscle tone for the leg muscles."

 

"I just want to emphasize that ZZ is only a simple method to strengthen the legs muscles. Thus there is really nothing else more than that."

 

"Zhan Zhuang is mainly a prerequisite for those who have weak physical condition to build up their body strength."

 

"Zhan Zhuang is to make a structured and holistic body for a person. Period."

 

"Zhan Zhuang is standing on a pole. Later, people stop standing on the poles for this practice because it is very dangerous from falling off the poles and get hurt."

 

"How do people ended up calling it as "standing meditation" that I don't know."

 

"The word "meditation" basically implies to be sitting down in a quiet place to go into a deep concentration of some kind."

 

"If somebody says "standing on a pole", then the practice will be standing on a pole without meditating. However, if somebody says "standing meditation", then the practice will be standing and meditate. BTW To me it would be difficult to meditate while standing or walking."

 

"If you practice the stance everyday, then increase decrease the bending angle from 180 degrees progressively inweeks or months. Until you can bend your legs to 45 degrees even with the knees passed the toes and able to stand for a long time without having the legs shaken and no pain, then you are considered to be accomplished the course of Zuan Zhuang."

 

"For martial artists, they would like to practice ZZ until they can stand with the bending angle of 90 degree as the shaolin monks."

 

"THE PURPOSE FOR ZHAN ZHUANG IS TO GET RID OF THE SORENESS IN THE MUSCLES. SO EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE THE KNEES PASS THE TOES, THEY WILL NOT HURT."

 

"Until you can bend your legs to 45 degrees and EVEN with the knees passed the toes and able to stand for a long time without having the legs shaken and no pain. Then you are considered to be accomplished the course of Zuan Zhuang.

When you were told not to have the knees pass the toes, that is only at the beginning of the practice. However, It may not be able to not to pass the knees beyond the toes during a combat situation. Use your common sense. The reason for the practice was to allow the knees to be able to pass the toes without pain. So, the legs are more flexible to handle any adverse situation."

 

 

"The reason I agreed to do ZZ by standing in front of the TV is to take advantage of the time to do something meaningful. It is better than sitting down on a sofa and become a couch potato."

[ChiDragon]

Steve...
Thanks for keeping track of my posts. I couldn't do this better myself; and I do mean every words that I had said, unless you have better words to rebut them.

Edited July 26, 2013 by ChiDragon

[BaguaKicksAss]

Btw, I think everything ChiDragon has ever said about ZZ is a bit off topic .

[Bubbles]

@ChiDragon:

 

Here is the post where you shared the video of you doing Zhan Zhuang:

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/25579-the-significance-in-height-of-of-the-upper-thighs-of-zhan-zhuang/?p=377843

[NotVoid]

Hi Jainarayan. I would recommend that you take all advice and comments etc. that you receive on the internet or even from books or others with a grain of salt. IMO, there is often a lot of outright nonsense and bad or questionable advice getting thrown about. IMO, books can be good to at least get an overview of a topic, but books can vary widely in quality and accuracy of course, and books cannot cover all variations of conditions from person to person.

 

There are external/hard style martial arts and practices and internal/soft style martial arts and practices. Although there can be a lot of variation and even a lot of overlap between those two classifications, in general the way these two divisions of martial arts approach training can be quite different. Although both divisions of martial arts obstensibly use qi to improve health and strength and increase martial arts performance, the internal martial arts schools will ususally train quite differently. In true internal martial arts, emaphasis is typically on completely relaxing and avoiding tension and stress in practice and training to allow free and unobstructed flow of the qi through the meridians throughout the body as much as possible. It is said that one needs to train this way in order to build up one's qi to a high enough level to be used as the main source of power in martial arts or healing, etc. In external martial arts, although they also often train with qigong, they will often use a lot of tension and stressing in their qigong training, and their main emphasis is to strengthen the muscles and tissues and bones of the body with qi to increase their martial arts ability and power. In practice there is a lot of overlap in training methods between the two different classifications, and it is more like a continuum in the the range of practicing methods and approach, with some martial arts containing both hard and soft training methods, or with some martial arts being softer or more internal than others. Even in the same martial art, such as bagua or tai chi, some teachers will emphasize complete relaxation at all times while other teachers will add more external training methods to the practice. The point being that you are going to encounter a lot of variation in training methods and advice depending on what the source is. I think however that practicing zhan zhuang as Lam Kam Chuen teaches it should be fairly safe to practice as long as you keep the practice completely relaxed and natural as you can.

 

Another thing to be aware of is many qigong teachers may not teach people with mental conditions, as students may not practice as directed or such student's conditions may even worsen through qigong practice. At any rate you should be able to email or phone the teacher and ask their advice about you practicing their system given your situation and see what they recommend. In any case I think for a person in such a situation it would be wise to consult the teacher, and if the teacher is not sure then you may want to consider matters very cautiously.

 

All the best.

Edited July 26, 2013 by NotVoid

[ChiDragon]

@bubbles.....

Thank you for your assistance to find the video..........

Edited July 27, 2013 by ChiDragon

[三江源]

.

Edited July 25, 2014 by cat