a little advice please

[emily]

hello

 

can anyone recommend which wuld be a better practise for health kunlun or spring forest qigong?

Edited August 27, 2008 by emily

[Yoda]

While Kunlun with the seminar is plan a, there have been lots of great experiences with Kunlun without the seminar too. Kunlun is in the air these days, perhaps.

[Sahaj Nath]

greetings emily,

 

i expect that there will be a hundred kunluners who disagree with me, but i say your surest bet is spring forest qigong.

 

i've been playing with chunyi lin's system for about 8 months now, and i remain very impressed with his simplicity, sincerity, and vast wealth of foundational knowledge. his exercises are extremely simple but very energizing.

 

personally, i don't see much of a problem with practicing both, but max and mantra have advised not to practice kunlun with any other practice that deals with kundalini or the microcosmic orbit. i think you'll find that just about EVERY energy practice out there involves kundalini or the MCO. so in that sense i think spring forest qigong can give you and excellent root for a ton of other practices you may want to explore in the future.

 

it really depends on what you want. for me max's kunlun nei gung and other methods weren't supported enough with solid information, and there seemed to be a ton of contradictions and dubious claims, and though that stuff doesn't really bother me anymore, his methods are not my preferred mode of practice.

 

if you want a solid system of practice that you can easily build on and that links up readily with lots of other systems, AND you don't have the money for regular training, here's what i suggest:

 

1.) purchase spring forest qigong level one if you haven't already. get the whole thing, not just the exercise video. sometimes he can talk a little too simplistic, but he offers excellent knowledge that you can refer back to for years. he's really big on the microcosmic orbit. it's key to how he gets the results a lot of other teachers out there aren't getting.

 

2.) purchase ken cohen's essential qigong training course. it's got pretty much everything else that you might not find in chunyi lin's system. very comprehensive.

 

3.) make it your goal to get more money so you can train with a competent teacher who has real skill. you're talking about your life here. don't let money keep you from something that can totally transform your life, as it seems it already has. i would eat rice and grass for a month if it meant i could gain food for the soul that will stay with me throughout (and perhaps beyond) my life!

 

 

 

my opinion is that the qigong path is WAY MORE COMPREHENSIVE than max's kunlun path. it allows you to easily cross-reference with lots of other teachers and information on healing, spirituality, and the human physiology. thorough. consistent. down-to-earth. more credible and widely recognized. that's not to say kunlun can't do amazing things, just that i think spring forest and other systems of qigong are more proven to do amazing things. more proven to be safe. and more thorough in their teachings.

 

hope this helps. take it with a grain of salt.

[Cameron]

In my experience doing Max workshops woman open up to Kunlun very, very fast. I think men are really the ones who have more "problems" with it. That's not to say Kunlun is the only path-Spring Forest,Ken Cohen etc are all probably very worth checking out. But just feel it's worth mentioning the Kunlun path that Max teaches seems really well suited and most woman seem to have profound or even ecstatic types of experiences with it.

 

imho many men will have issues with the Kunlun path because they want more of an xyz type of program. Which it totally fair and understandable. Though some men also have a very strong affinity to it and connect with it right off the bat.

 

The only real issue I had with Kunlun was the lack of emphasis in grounding in my first workshop since the energies you can experience are really powerful and you can get a bit ungrounded. Max seems to have made teaching standing and teaching people to ground a main part of the workshops now so along with the red phoenix practice I think is a pretty complete path.

 

But check out the other stuff to if you feel drawn to it.

 

Cam

 

ps. I think Max is more liberal about the doing the other practices thing than he is in the book. In the book it basically says don't do any other practices if you do Kunlun. In the workshops and in Chris updates here it sounds like most Taoist practices are ok(he mentioned the MCO practice was fine to do several times here over several months ago).

 

Kundalini practices seem to be the one to not mix in.

[emily]

thanks for the responses.

 

hundun, thanks for the ken cohen course recommendation; seems perfect for someone learning without a teacher

 

cameron, by no kundalini, does that exclude any form of asana? im not too worried il get a kundalini awakening from doing a few sun salutes but as im doing this alone just want to check!

[mantis]

hi emily,

 

i too practice the spring forest qigong system. i was introduced by drew hempel and after a series of PM's i decided to give it a shot. spring forest was and is the first qigong system i have ever done although i have had experiences with various forms of meditations. the active exercises usually produce a considerable amount of inner heat for me which usually leads to mild-heavy perspiration, despite the fact i only do the first 3 of the 8 movements (they produce no effect for me).

 

comparing it to my previous microcosmic orbit meditations (mantak chia) i find this one to strike a certain affinity with me and i can easily feel warm tingling sensations in the area i am focused on.

 

i have no experience with kunlun but max does seem to be held in high esteem by a number of the practitioners on this forum, i suppose it boils down to what you feel works best for you.

[mjjbecker]

..

Edited June 22, 2009 by mjjbecker

[Cameron]

thanks for the responses.

 

hundun, thanks for the ken cohen course recommendation; seems perfect for someone learning without a teacher

 

cameron, by no kundalini, does that exclude any form of asana? im not too worried il get a kundalini awakening from doing a few sun salutes but as im doing this alone just want to check!

 

 

I think more like a serious kundalini yoga type practice. Not so much a regular yoga asana practice.

 

The thing he does make a point of is to give Kunlun a try by itself for two weeks. So if your drawn to it just do Kunlun(from the book) for two weeks and if you have good results and want to go deeper with it do a workshop. At the workshop ask specific questions about stuff like that.

 

Best,

 

Cam