innerspace_cadet Posted July 21, 2008 I live in Colorado Springs, and I am hard pressed to find a qi gong teacher. But I have a book called "The Way of Qi Gong" by Kenneth Cohen. Is it safe for me to practice the exercises directly from the book? Or is it a good idea to find a Qi Gong teacher first? I don't have a teacher at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sahaj Nath Posted July 21, 2008 I live in Colorado Springs, and I am hard pressed to find a qi gong teacher. But I have a book called "The Way of Qi Gong" by Kenneth Cohen. Is it safe for me to practice the exercises directly from the book? Or is it a good idea to find a Qi Gong teacher first? I don't have a teacher at all. ken is one of the most respected qigong teachers in the country. i don't have that particular book, but you can trust that if he's comfortable teaching it in a book, then it's pretty safe to practice it on your own. he has a course called The Essential Qigong Training Course that you can get on Amazon.com. very thorough foundation for your beginning practices, and it comes with 3 DVD's, 5 audio CD's, and a workbook. many people think that this course contains just about everything you can accomplish without an in-person teacher. also, as i'm sure a ton of others will mention, check out spring forest qigong. totally safe to learn at home. just google it and check out the website. there are some practices that are a bad idea to play with on your own, but you're pretty safe with ken cohen and chunyi lin. also check out Wong Kiew Kit's book The Art of Chi Kung. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junbao Posted July 21, 2008 Howdy! I live in Colorado Springs also and have been wondering the same thing lately. Found this taichicolorado And this 4 branches Though I might check them out. I took Kung Fu for a while at Black Lotus studio and they also do some Qigong sets there. 4 branches looks cool, and the instructor is also an acupuncturist so I assume she has some good understanding of internal energies. I also have both courses that Hundun mentioned. I am just about to check out Spring Forest and see how that resonates with me. I'm sure if you really wanted you could borrow one of them from me. You can send me a PM if you want. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiliconValley Posted July 21, 2008 Hundun, Any inputs on Flying Phoenix Chi Kung taught by Terence Dunn? He has three DVDs out for a few years now. Anyone else have any idea about Terence or Flying Phoenix Chi Kung? Thanks in advance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mwight Posted July 21, 2008 Hundun, Any inputs on Flying Phoenix Chi Kung taught by Terence Dunn? He has three DVDs out for a few years now. Anyone else have any idea about Terence or Flying Phoenix Chi Kung? Thanks in advance I highly recommend the spring forest qigong course levels 1-4, Robert Peng's course, Astral dynamics and Energy Work by Robert Bruce, and The Tao of Meditation: Way to Enlightenment by Jou Tsung Hwa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emily Posted July 21, 2008 also, as i'm sure a ton of others will mention, check out spring forest qigong. totally safe to learn at home. just google it and check out the website. beat me to it!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
innerspace_cadet Posted July 22, 2008 Thanks everyone for the responses. I will definitely check out the resources you guys pointed out to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sahaj Nath Posted July 22, 2008 Hundun, Any inputs on Flying Phoenix Chi Kung taught by Terence Dunn? He has three DVDs out for a few years now. hmm... don't know anything about the guy. sorry. i just went ahead and ordered his tai chi long form video. if his tai chi video turns out to at least be decent, i'll buy his other DVD's and then make a post about what i think of them. thanks for bringing him to my attention. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiliconValley Posted July 22, 2008 (edited) hmm... don't know anything about the guy. sorry. i just went ahead and ordered his tai chi long form video. if his tai chi video turns out to at least be decent, i'll buy his other DVD's and then make a post about what i think of them. thanks for bringing him to my attention. He has three DVDs for Chi Kung. I got on from Netflix. :-) Edited July 22, 2008 by SiliconValley Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bindo Posted July 22, 2008 Hundun, Just wondering if you're going to Ken Cohen's Five Animal Frolics seminar, in Sacramento, in september? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sahaj Nath Posted July 22, 2008 Hundun, Just wondering if you're going to Ken Cohen's Five Animal Frolics seminar, in Sacramento, in september? doubt it. i already know the form. i'd like to meet him, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gerard Posted July 22, 2008 I have no idea about how good visual materials are. But if you practice internal energy arts make sure you start with a thorough warm-up (minimum of 30 min) and a thorough cool-down including a sitting/lying meditation session to settle down "chi"at in your lower tantien (another 30-45 min). The warm up and cool down have got nothing to do with the Western way of exercising. If you fail to address these you are putting yourself under high risk. Fire type Qigong (i.e. Iron Shirt) should never been practiced without direct supervision, Water type Qigong is okay but sooner or later you need direct instruction when problems start to show up. Qigong is best learnt in a one-on-one scenario. I wish you the best of luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jedi777 Posted July 22, 2008 Master Ken Cohen lives in Colorado--go see him! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Prince... Posted July 22, 2008 Sorry to be late responding to you. This sounds very exciting! Unless you absolutely want to stand in Tennessee...you might consider Colorado areas. There are some active Daoist schools there, some of which do martial arts....We don't have anything like that in Nashville....We have martial arts, of course, but companioned with study under a master of dao....not at all. Best of luck to you....and please give my warm regards to Sid...we are friends! I just thought I would share an email I recieved from Dr. Littlejohn who teaches courses on Taoism at Belmont University here in Nashville, TN. I am not sure if you are looking for just a Qigong teacher, but you may be in the perfect place to find a teacher if you are interested in Taoism. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sahaj Nath Posted July 25, 2008 Hundun, Any inputs on Flying Phoenix Chi Kung taught by Terence Dunn? He has three DVDs out for a few years now. Anyone else have any idea about Terence or Flying Phoenix Chi Kung? Thanks in advance hey, i just checked out Dunn's Yang Taiji Long form. weak sauce, IMO. is structure is awful, and his instruction takes into account none of the nuance of the form. so at the moment, i have no inclination to check out his flying phoenix dvd's, even if it IS a cool name. maybe it's just me because his Taiji video got really good reviews on amazon, but i just don't see the skill in his movements. i would be interested in your thoughts on his qigong stuff, but i'm not going to pay money to find out for myself. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiliconValley Posted July 25, 2008 (edited) hey, i just checked out Dunn's Yang Taiji Long form. weak sauce, IMO. is structure is awful, and his instruction takes into account none of the nuance of the form. so at the moment, i have no inclination to check out his flying phoenix dvd's, even if it IS a cool name. maybe it's just me because his Taiji video got really good reviews on amazon, but i just don't see the skill in his movements. i would be interested in your thoughts on his qigong stuff, but i'm not going to pay money to find out for myself. His QiGong is somewhat simple. Most of it breathing and holding air for different percentages of time. I do three of his seated meditations and find them calming. I have not tried the other stuff... The greatest issue with his DVDs though is that there is hardly any instruction, tips, explanation etc. One just has to see and copy the movements. You get it right, you're right or you never know. Edited July 25, 2008 by SiliconValley 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
