Qigong Basics: Gathering Chi?

[bigstick]

I've been trying to study chi-gung for some while now and there is so much information with most of it leaving out the basic mechanics and instead focusing on forms and saying "do this" without giving a clue how. So how do I pull and gather chi from nature into my body? I understand it supposedly has something to do with visualization and using intention.

[bigstick]

Is it such a newbie question that it doesn't warrant a response?

[Kar3n]

Is it such a newbie question that it doesn't warrant a response?

 

I am going to move this to Daoist discussion. You will likely get a response there.

[RiverSnake]

Put your awareness on the LDT, then go up to a tree and ask it to train with you. 

[bigstick]

Put your awareness on the LDT, then go up to a tree and ask it to train with you. 

 

Got something that doesnt involve talking to trees? lol (yes plant consciousness might be a thing I know)

[Aetherous]

It's not too basic of a question...

One method: inhale with the feeling that you're drawing in fresh qi...that feeling will physically modify the way that you take the inhale, which will lead to increasing the qi taken in from nature.

Another method: gentle to moderate movements can increase the qi, as well as its flow throughout the body.

Third method: always chew your food so much that it becomes liquid, and don't ever stuff yourself...that will cause the body to create good qi. Food is from nature.

 

Fourth method that I almost forgot: being out in nature (away from civilization) means that you pay attention to it naturally...anything we pay attention to becomes part of us and there's an exchange of qi between us and it...so that way you can get nature's qi. By being in it.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Aetherous

[RiverSnake]

Got something that doesnt involve talking to trees? lol (yes plant consciousness might be a thing I know)

 

Just meditate on the LDT then, i only added that because you talked about gathering natural energies and trees are pure sources. Gift of the Tao is also a Neigong system that focuses on gathering external energies. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by OldWolf

[bigstick]

Good info guys. I'll look into GotT, OldWolf. I feel I've got a ways to go.

If anyone feels like adding to the discussion so as to build a wealth of knowledge on this topic not only for myself but for others I think that would be a service to the world. There isnt much usefulness that turns up when you google how to gather chi.

[Brian]

I would second OldWolf's Gift of the Tao recommendation (and his tree qigong recommendation, too, BTW...)

[awaken]

Focus your mind on your body, not on what you are thinking about.

 

Your focus of thinking is one of the source of the chi, the most important part.

 

So if you do not concerns on the object what you are think about, you just aware your body.

 

The chi will appear.

 

And chi will keep on changing.

 

You can feel how it change.

 

Try not to use any methods.

 

Just to feel it.

 

To see the trend how it changes.

 

You will find a tendency

Edited December 18, 2016 by awaken

[Brian]

Qi gathering depends on what you want to do. If you want to activate parts of the energy body by bringing qi into them, you can gather qi from the environment.

 

If you want to cultivate the golden elixir, you would need to gather and refine (internally) generative force.

 

These methods do not really overlap--though they can possibly benefit each other.

Yes, the two can create a constructive feedback mechanism in which they reinforce and help to accelerate each other if the energy patterns drawn in mirror the internal patterns.

[Brian]

I guess I haven't experienced that....

Perhaps you have. You seem to have intuited it, at least.

 

This is the basis of GoT, you see. The movements are reverse-engineered from the energy patterns revealed internally.

[awaken]

The chi often start from hands or feet.

 

It is easy to feel the fingers.

 

It is easy to start from skin, too.

 

These are the most outside of our body.

 

The chi will start from outside.

Edited December 18, 2016 by awaken

[gendao]

I've been trying to study chi-gung for some while now and there is so much information with most of it leaving out the basic mechanics and instead focusing on forms and saying "do this" without giving a clue how. So how do I pull and gather chi from nature into my body? I understand it supposedly has something to do with visualization and using intention.

I would start with active physical "gong fu" jibengong before you even bother trying passive metaphysical "qigong"...

 

Because you can't be "song," much less truly surrendering to "wu wei," when your body is so tight you are like a drawn bow.

 

There will be no point in smoothly swimming through the air in slow-motion to "allow" qi to run its natural courses, when they are all clenched up like angry fists.

 

Note Bodhidharma's 2 infamous Shaolin manuals were first the "Muscle/Tendon Change Classic," followed by the "Brain/Bone Marrow Washing Classic."  IOW, the common starting point is your muscles/tendons, and particularly in your kua region.

 

So the first step to qigong, is basically "gong fu" warm-ups, lol...

Edited December 18, 2016 by gendao

[子泰]

Drawing qi from the outside is simple. Just think about something, and your qi will align with it. If you think about your cat, your qi will align with your cat's qi, if you think about the sun, your qi will align with sun qi. Be careful what you intentionally connect to though, because some things have worse energy than others. Stars (north star, even the big dipper) generally have very highly refined qi-- in the head. Don't do it too long though, it can cause stagnation. Connecting to yourself is the best practice

[Papayapple]

Slightly off topic, but  Apeiron&Peiron

What does it mean to receive a transmission? is it simply a long training session with a master?

[phil]

Slightly off topic, but Apeiron&Peiron

What does it mean to receive a transmission? is it simply a long training session with a master?

This is a Video by Michael lomax projecting qi, which should be more or less Important when beginning the got practice

https://youtu.be/fWu1E9Vq74g

Edited December 18, 2016 by phil48

[Papayapple]

This is a Video by Michael lomax projecting qi, which should be more or less Important when beginning the got practice

well that looks... scary

[awaken]

When chi appear

 

Focus on the chi

 

When the focus of mind is totally attracted by the chi

 

Become no thoughts but ego still exist

 

Then stop the fire to go into Hun-dun to dissolve the Ying

 

The state make ego hide

 

Only ego is hidden

 

The Ying can be dissolved

 

After the Ying is all dissolved

 

The emptiness is opened

 

One yang appear 一陽生

Edited December 18, 2016 by awaken

[YiYinYiYang]

Personally, i prefer this kind of cultivation.

 

 

内外一体

 

Watch it Awaken, it's a very interesting documentary.

[phil]

The transmission I was talking about was one that is supposed to create a starter energy ball in the dantian. The video was Wei qi liao fa, which is different.

I thought the same after I posted it, but waited for someone to correct me ;-) thx for the clarification

[Brian]

The initial transmission does include creating the dan tien along with other information. Each transmission, including the first, is tailored to the recipient. As with practice itself, each recipient responds differently. This varies from session to session as well as from transmission to transmission. Why would someone assume that an initial transmission is limited to creating dan tien or that subsequent ones are limited to Wei Qi Liao Fa? That may be part of any invited interaction, of course, but there is much which can be imparted energetically besides "healing."

Edited December 19, 2016 by Brian

[Astral Monk]

I've been trying to study chi-gung for some while now and there is so much information with most of it leaving out the basic mechanics and instead focusing on forms and saying "do this" without giving a clue how. So how do I pull and gather chi from nature into my body? I understand it supposedly has something to do with visualization and using intention.

 

You are doing this all the time every second of your existence without any further effort.

 

Each breath bring in and releases energy.

 

Every bite of food is adding energy to your body from nature.

 

The wind the rain the sun the moon...you cannot possibly HELP but get qi into your body all the time.

 

The question 'how do I gather qi' is more about 'how do I get myself to feel a strong flow of qi?'

 

Qi is always there, everywhere, all the time.

 

You dont need to tune in to something specific to 'get at it'.

 

Getting strong feeling of qi isnt even the best goal to have. When energies are balanced in the body one doesn't feel vibrant sparkling etheric energy 24/7--one feels like strong and healthy and awake. Often when we feel qi strongly its because there is a blockage causing friction (so to speak) and thus a build up of excess. We use heat to indicate qi flow initially, but heat is a damaging thing, and indicates more of a forced movement. Getting strong qi flow all the time doesn't mean you will feel super hot 24/7.

 

In qigong especially, motion is not as important as intention. Intention is a difficult thing when applied to moving energy. Because we think we are moving something that is separate from the rest of our body. There is a disconnect. Just plain old moving activates qi, no need for special tricks.

 

But special exercises try to move qi in different ways, with various goals to get various effects. Unfortunately, there is only a small benefit from this type of post-heaven work. That is, small in terms of lasting impact. Qigong practice might have a huge impact and benefit on your life as you see it. But that's not about the quality of energy per se. Post-heaven work (qigong) doesnt have any mechanism to 'save' or 'store' the energy you create through movements and intentions (and living and breathing and walking and circulating etc). You gotta keep doing the exercises daily for more and more time as you age just to try to stay even. When a qigong master says they practice 3-4 hrs daily, you better believe it. But they HAVE TO, otherwise there's very little benefits. But is that practical?

 

Remember, qi is already moving in and through you. Settling down and focussing on breathing--like Spring Forest Qigong's 'energy breathing' where you just focus on allowing qi to come in through every pore of the body--will help you relax and tune in to your natural rhythm. Dont get hung up on thinking that breathing in qi is anything different or distinct from normal everyday breathing!

 

Qi is like a river of water. Who looks at the river and asks, how can we get this water to move? It's already moving, nothing to do! If you want to stop it or redirect it you have to adjust the materials around the river--the rocks, the soil, etc. And even then you only direct the flow, dont stop it, just hold it for a moment in time.

 

8)

[LaoZiDao]

Tip number #1, don't practice methods people randomly told on forums.

[Brian]

I didn't say that the first *was only creating a dantian and I also didn't say that all others are wei qi liao fa (though, they actually are since that is a very general term...they might be more as well, but they are all at least wei qi liao fa---as is even the first one). I will admit that my last sentence was a bit too abrupt to properly represent the nuances of the words, though.

 

My thought was that the initial transmission would be similar to Pangu Shengong's initial transmission in that it will include something that preps and configures a student's system to respond a specific way to the exercises, when they're performed. I haven't received a direct transmission of that kind for a specific qigong system---not with any knowledge of it, at least. Which is why I speculated that it was probably necessary in order to derive full benefit from a specific set of exercises that deal primarily with external qi....

 

Without any specific informational stuff in your energy to make the external gathering correspond to internal alchemy, I don't think that there is much direct that will happen in terms of internal alchemy. Those are very specific processes. It might be able to happen with an information field that is transmitted to you. But, in general, a lot of the external gathering tends to help with expanding the energy body and clearing it out and raising the vibration of the energy. That's all good stuff. But it's not the same as the specific refinement processes that are done in, for example, Taoist Yoga.

 

It might have similar...Possibly even some of the same effects. But I really don't think that it will accomplish the same thing without a very specific informational template that finely tunes the results of the movements.

 

edit: *was

It will be interesting, I think, to see if/how your opinion might change if/when you experience such a transmission.