Anyone familiar with this rare Qigong form ?

[Toni]

On 18/01/2021 at 10:29 AM, Sebastian said:

Number 3 is like a baseball pitch in slow motion. It is supposed to open all the interlinking meridians in one pitch. All the weight is shifted on the leg opposite to the pitching arm. So one leg has double the weight and the other is floating inside, yet still touching the ground. When you come down with the arm in the wake of the pitch, you slightly touch the big toe of that leg which has no weight. And the entire time you stare at the middle finger of the pitching hand...

This is the best exercise i know of for stretching the back. If done regularly it can bring many benefits

 

Maybe @freeform knows more about this qigong, as you mentioned earlier

[Sebastian]

2 hours ago, Toni said:

aybe @freeform knows more about this qigong, as you mentioned earlier

I think Freeform knows a lot about Qigong in general and in depth...  he didn’t know this particular form but his insights on it or any others are always welcome. 

[Sebastian]

maybe he can let us know why this movement is great for true back as you stated ? Movement is at 45 minutes sharp in the video. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Sebastian

[freeform]

28 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

maybe he can let us know why this movement is great for true back as you stated ? Movement is at 45 minutes sharp in the video.

I imagine it’s probably touching on some area of stagnation in @Toni’s lower back.

 

The first move is also very good for the whole spine actually. 
 

When bending forward use your mind to move each individual vertebra one by one from the bottom up. Take a lot longer than he does it. Then speed it up as you get used to getting your mind in the spine like that.

 

On the way up, get your mind into the front facing part of the spine - (like on the inside of the torso) - and again unfurl the spine vertebra by vertebra from the bottom up - but on the front of the spine... (don’t just lift yourself up.)

 

again do it very slowly for some time, getting quite exact (but gentle) and unwavering with your awareness in the front facing portion of your spine.

 

That’ll do some good for your back  

 

Get ready to get rather hot too  

 

[Sebastian]

6 minutes ago, freeform said:

On the way up, get your mind into the front facing part of the spine - (like on the inside of the torso) - and again unfurl the spine vertebra by vertebra from the bottom up - but on the front of the spine... (don’t just lift yourself up.)

This is really great... I learned this stretch from Damo by the way. This is going from down to up. He says to do it slowly because you can become light headed. The unfurling is coming from the core and inside of torso... feels so good.

 

Im a bit confused about the other up to down or forward phase as you stated. When you arc down, you would inject your mind to the lower vertebra and work up ? I haven’t seen Damo teach this one, but I would have probably felt vertebras from top to bottom, since we’re going down.

 

cheers.

[freeform]

1 minute ago, Sebastian said:

I learned this stretch from Damo by the way.

Oh he teaches this form? That’s great - I bet he can offer way more insight on it than I can. I’m just going by mechanics that are familiar to me from similar forms.

 

4 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

Im a bit confused about the other up to down or forward phase as you stated. When you arc down, you would inject your mind to the lower vertebra and work up ?

Yes indeed. I know it doesn’t make logical sense, but it works when you try

 

5 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

I haven’t seen Damo teach this one

If he teaches this form differently - I would definitely defer to his principles! 

[freeform]

6 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

The unfurling is coming from the core and inside of torso... feels so good.

oh and if your jing jin are awake (as I’m sure yours are)... when you reach standing let the tissues on the front of the torso take over and stretch you to create the back bend...

 

(though this is a different approach to this form than what we’ve discussed - using YJJ principles, not the Huang - you’re probably beyond this stage I imagine)

[Sebastian]

7 minutes ago, freeform said:

Oh he teaches this form? That’s great -

The stretch you mentioned from down to up was included as part of Damo’s set of loosening exercises to “create space” prior to practice. There were also neck, shoulder and waist movements. The relevant one is where you bend and touch the toes or ankles and use the inner torso to lift you back up gradually. He clearly says not to use the hinge - it’s not a hinge based movement, but unfurls from inside.

 

7 minutes ago, freeform said:

Yes indeed. I know it doesn’t make logical sense, but it works when you try

Edited January 23, 2021 by Sebastian

[freeform]

@Sebastian ah ok - I misunderstood. He included this principle in some other exercise set.
 

It’s a general internal mechanic used for getting upright from a front bend in a few different qigong sets I’ve learned.

[Sketch]

45 minutes ago, freeform said:

@Sebastian ah ok - I misunderstood. He included this principle in some other exercise set.
 

It’s a general internal mechanic used for getting upright from a front bend in a few different qigong sets I’ve learned.

Damo stresses this stuff in "Complete Guide".

 

Started this, got lazy, and came back to it as a beginning to seated practices. Like changing guitar strings, it makes all the difference in how diligent/enthusiastic i feel about practice. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Sketch

[Creation]

2 hours ago, freeform said:

@Sebastian ah ok - I misunderstood. He included this principle in some other exercise set.
 

He does teach the stand alone standing spine stretch, along with spinal waves, in week 22 or so of the Academy.

[Sebastian]

You’re still doing movement 1) @Toni ?
 

Just to provide more context in case you find it helpful.... The way I was taught do 1) is to first relax and song the entire body. We were given a visualization where you imagine each body part disappearing sequentially from top to bottom...3 times. But this was given for people with no Qigong experience. As such, you are welcome to use more advanced song techniques that you might know, it’s modular. 

The idea is not to rush in and be relaxed. And you need some extra song and ting to access the extraordinary meridians which run deeper in the body... these are actually accessed in the Huang I think - and not the superficial layers of fascia and Jing jin. So you need a different quality of awareness that is quite loose and penetrates. You can’t be too tight and stretchy as you do this (video is stretching way too much compared with how I was taught).

 

After this primer phase, personally I place my hands in front of the LDT area in that 45 degree mudra and wait a bit, as a sort of charge. It’s similar to Freeform’s approach that he shared for that move. Then I just slightly bow the back, song and expand, it’s hard to explain how, but the effect is the hands reach around my back naturally and start floating up by themselves to around Dazhui level .... as the back arcs and bows ever so slightly. It’s like taking the elevator if you let your body do it, but you’re welcome to add more resistance as you song and ting deeper.
 

My Master’s teacher told us that when doing the MCO via movement it should feel like you are subtly taking off on the in-breath, expanding, rising, and when the hands come down on exhaling, it’s like you are landing, closing, contracting.
 

I was also taught the movement intensity differently than on the video. I was taught to bow the back slightly and later when the hands come down the front, to stay straight and literally give yourself a hug, as the hands come down in an oblique fashion to the LDT.
 

The breathing is reverse breathing, so on the inbreath the belly button comes closer to the spine. And on the oubreath you expand the belly.

 

Tongue is also supposed to be up touching palette on in-breath and down on out-breath.

 

Personally this is the best physical version of the MCO I ever tried. I like to start by dolphining the spine to open the vertebrae one by one, and then I might do lifting the sky once or twice. Then I’ll bounce, song and ting and go ahead and do this move. Usually 7 times for me. Might feel like having an orgasm for the whole back.
 

Moves 2,3 and 4 have their wonders too. Your feedback motivated me to do move 3 more. 
 

The teacher I learned this from couldn’t teach this set for 5 years, out of respect for the immortal teacher who transmitted the form and because it was too powerful. When these 5 years expired I was lucky to learn the form, although using Freeform’s tips really helped take it to the next level. I’ll keep practicing it. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by Sebastian