soaring crane

You can still post it on YouTube but don't name it in any meaningful way and don't use keywords that people would search for. This way no one will find it if they search for it.

Oh, that's a good idea, thank you. I've never posted anything on youtube yet. The video is pretty long. Right now it's one long mpeg that somebody made from teh original vhs tape. Unfortunately he loat the audio track when he made it but there wasn't really anything special on it in that regard anyway. I have to first edit it into segments. Fanhuangong has 8 main figures plus he does a self-massage and some spleen-walking at the end.

Actually, first I have to get it back the guy I loaned it to... Sometime this week.

 

See a Brief Bio on Xu Mingtang @ http://www.zyqigong.com/organization.htm

Yup, he has a website, too

I attended a weekend seminar with him. For me, the most valuable info came during the lunch breaks. He's very open to discussing things and helping with problems.

man, the stuff that pops up on this website is amazing. I never knew this was a recognized meditation style but it developed itself in me spontaineously once while I was running. My vision turned inward and I really saw my hip joints, my whole pelvis and then my leg bones running down the road. I looked at my rib cage, my arms, neck and skull. It was just fun, really, but it's something I turn on once in a while when running because it relaxes me and fixes flaws in my form.

It never occured to me to include it my Qigong practice but, well, there ya go. Got some more stuff to experiment with now. Thank you Neijia for digging this out of the Taobums closet

If you want to come to Germany once in a while, I know a good teacher. Xu Mingtang has signed on to the training program of the German Qigong Society and holds bi-monthly courses in his system called Zhong Yuan Qigong. I think he goes to the deepest levels you're looking for. And has vast knowledge of the levels he doesn't actually teach. He lives in Washington state (because of the herbs, not the climate or the Starbucks!) and speaks very good english.

This is a photo of Prof. Cong, practicing in Germany:

He was in his mid eighties when this was taken and unfortunately, he's been missing in China now for a number of years. He had political troubles and religious troubles and nobody knows what happened to him.

I have an impromptu video of him practicing Fanhuangong, which I doubt anyone outside of his circle will recognize, but I think many would find very interesting. I'd like to post it for this group but don't want to use Youtube or anything with too much public exposure. Any suggestions?

 

Here's a picture. They are called so many things.. swiss balls, yoga balls, stability balls, etc.

 

Ok... yep that's the standard old gym ball. Gotta get a new one. I had no idea they were SO useful! wow...

my god this has to be the coolsst website I've come accross yet, thanks to all of you.

I've tried renmai stimulation with slapping and rolling "tacky" balls up and down but haven't done it for a while now. Thanks for the inspiration!

The bouncing sounds pretty dangerous for someone who isn't already very tough and I don't think I'm going to try that for a while. But I want to to find some similar balls and experiment.

I was wondering - are "Swiss" balls the same as basic gymnastic balls? That's what we call them in Gemany, anyway, if it's the same thing. Do they have a certain texture to them?

Maybe I can give you all a cool little trick. For an effective huiyin massage, find a pair of socks that you can roll to just the right size and just sit on it all the time. It has to be the right to fit you and socks can be very flexible in that regard. But maybe your Mikasa balls would work as well. I sit on a pair of socks and gyrate my huiyin cavity on it all the time, in connection with small huiyin/weilu/migmen/dantain inner rotation. The bulge has to be in just the right spot, obviously.

I saw the link to the prostatemassager in Plato's blog and thought, huh, why didn't I think of that sooner? A pair of socks might be even better than that thing, though.

what a wonderful thread, thank you all for such wise insights!

Taomeow's words ring true to me and are similar to what my own teacher has expressed in his more candid moments.

The gas in the car image comes up often but I see it as inaccurate, regarding Jing or Qi. A car drives with the same power whether the tank is full or empty. This doesn't fit the lifeforce model where the power slowly recedes and then peters out. What's the difference between a car and a human? Shen.

I was taught to recognize Jing and Qi by their functions and to avoid trying to define them as entities unto themselves. So, the function of Jing is vey similar to the function of what western scientists call hormones and also dna. Ho hum. Are all the memories of the universe stored in our dna? Well, maybe. I think so, yes. And the dna spiral looks suspiciously like the spirals of qi that formed it...

When everyone thinks positively, there'll be nothing left to attract.

Hi again

no... I hadn't read all the McKenna links. But I've gone through them a little now and, well, I really can't say I find it convincing. Your story is interesting for sure. Will you take it?

A lot have people a sense of pending doom, but a lot of people always have. I know one guy that's getting his things in order. He's amassing debt and looking for property. His theory, I don't know where he got it from, is that the earth's polarity is going to reverse. Apparently, the African continent is supposed to be one of the few safe areas left to live after 2012.

I'm really not into this at all, though, and probably shouldn't have butted into your thread.

 

Hi there soaring crane ~

 

Thanks for the input. Just to clarify things a little, though, regarding my question to the Oracle, I did not ask It

if the world would explode in 5 years. I asked It if "this world, in which I presently live," will "come to an end in

December 2012?" There's a big difference between the two, if you ask me.

Hi Yen,

Hmmm... I don't really see where your phrasing of the question changes the spirit of the query. Your question is still based on the catastrophic predictions of the Mayan calendar. Would you have asked the same thing regarding, say, 2009? 2525? No. You picked 2012 very specifically for a reason.

My thing about the world exploding wasn't meant literally, it more like hyperbole, I guess. Seemed good at the time but now it looks pretty silly.

At any rate, I ask you to read the

above Oracle carefully and tell me if it strikes you as a "misleading or even sarcastic answer" to my question.

 

It starts out talking about the danger that "lies ahead" and how that if my waiting is stedfast, correct and

balanced, that I will take my place "in the order of Nature." In Hex. 5-Line 1, it talks about waiting on the

outskirts for this impending danger, and in Hex. 5-Line 6, it talks about going into a cave. In Hex. 57-Line 6,

it talks about possibly losing my resources and tools. The way it seems to read is that mankind, in general,

perhaps myself included, will survive, but be reduced to "the hunter and gatherer" status of primitive man.

Now, does that necessarily strike you as "misleading or even sarcastic"?

 

In the spirit of Tao,

Yen Hui

#5 can simply be interpreted as a the begining of a new phase for you. Losing the axe means having trouble making decisions and coming to conclusions. The axe splits the stump into two easily identifiable pieces. Going into the cave means taking time out to consider things from a solitary perspective, without a lot of distractions. Natural order doesn't imply a return to the stone age.

Yeah... it sounds to me like the Yijing may have ben having fun with you. But you have to judge the judgement, of course. And I'm very, very much a layperson.

There's lot's of "danger" in the Yijing but it's not always referring to, well, danger. It's like the death card in Tarot, people see the scary picture and get worried something terrible will happen but it's all about ending and starting new phases.

I admit to using the "Complete Idiot's Guide to the I Ching" and, although the title is horrible, the content is pretty good. Also R.L. Wing's I Ching Workbook which is alright but a little too subjective at times. I also have Wilhelm in German, W/B, Cleary and my best scholarly translation is from Richard John Lynn. The last one is always the first one I consult and return to after reading the others. I don't find anything in any of them to suport the notion that your life as you know it will indeed end in 2012, physically or metaphorically.

 

Could you describe this pivot in more detail? Does it have a representitive shape or pattern? Thanks for your reflections on standing.

 

Spectrum

Good morning

I can't really think of a way to describe it in text in more detail. The most common representative shape (great term, thank you) is the big water basin. But I never really understood it until my teacher said very simply, "lengthen the lower back", and then a lot of what he'd already tried to describe made sense. That kind of thing happens a lot. We just need to hear it phrased in a way that resonates with our condition at the moment and then... click, we got it.

The thing is, all you really have to do is find those hip joints, really loosen them, do some slow, intentful circling around them, do some figure eight movement around them, imagine them being "well oiled"... and then sink into the center of the circle or the eight.

The "leisten" (hip flexors?) should remain soft, the thigh bone and pelvic bone should feel kind of "separated" or independant of one another. This is very important and one of the major first steps in opening the Qi flow (as I've learned it and in my own experience, but there ae plenty of other techniques out there).

The tip of the sacrum, Weilu, can be used as a pointer. Point it to your toes, or rather to the area bewtween your toes.

Your weight will tend to sink into your heels when you do this, that's good. Some Taiji practioners will call it sloppy because you'll tend to lean ever so slightly forward as a way of balancing. But I sometimes concentrate on exactly that - the balancing.

In some other thread I mentioned that I discovered "dynamic" standing. This whole settling into the pelvis and heels happens on the exhale. On the inhale, the attention can shift upward and the body will raise up. The curve returns to the lumbar and the whole spine becomes a Qi pump. The knees straighten out slightly. Mingmen is very important here...

Realax, it's so important.

The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened.

 

Because the boy was no longer living an imitation. He couldn't.

i get a feeling of tension in the abdomen and back area.

well... this is pretty subjective and probably not very useful but the back area is pretty important. You might be feeling sensations in Mingmen. But you describe it as "tension" which is not a very positive word and means you may just be too tense to do Qigong. Relax a little, don't take it too seriously. As soon as you learn to do that, and forget about sensations and perfection, your Qi will begin to flow, and that's what it's all about.

Mirrors and photos and walls really are more of a hindrance than a help (in my experience, ymmv). They all send Qi to your head. Try directing it to your feet.

If you're not relaxed, nothing will move. First learn to relax and then slowly add one aspect of the form at a time. Learn to focus on one element at a time. It can take quite a long time but it's a fun journey.

But, to your specific question, find Baihui on your head. It's toward the back and if your body is totally limp and I fasten a thread on baihui and pull on it... Your neck vertebrae are going to open and your chin is going to tuck naturally inward. Your upper spine is now perfectly aligned.

On the other end, find your hip joints, very important, and huiyin, even more important. You have to learn to pivot in your hip joints and let the sacrum truly sink without forming a "humpback". It'll take the curve out of your lumbar spine and aim the tip of the sacrum roughly to the toes. Now your spine is opened to it's maximal length without actually "stretching".

Head, chest and lower belly are like three big balls balanced atop one another. Keep them balanced. Concentrate on one and then another and then two and then all three...

I'm not a fan of a wide stance (but I come froma very soft perspective), I think it creates more tension in most of us and actually blocks the flow of Qi. But if it's your goal, try turning your big toes inward a tiny bit and your knees outward. It's the one version I ever enjoyed, lol. The horse stance provides you with stability "from outside" - physical stability. But it really should only be applied to martial arts, for the purpose of not getting knocked down, lol.

I tell people in my courses that we stand with the feet relatively narrow so that we have to rely more on inner stability. But basically, it's just softer and I feel allows for a far better Qi flow.

Ankles and knees relaxed, shoulders sink, elbows pushed slightly outward to open the armpits, hands relaxed and bowl-shaped, Tiger Maul (between thumb and forefinger) soft (very important), FACE relaxed, forehead smooth, a little smile on the lips... and about 50 more things we can think about when just "standing there", lol

Have fun and goodnight from central Europe

oh yeah... don't forget to breathe!

 

Also I would assume a loving partner would be needed to get someone started down this path of enhancement anyway.

well, like I sort of implied, it isn't really about sex and relationships. It's about Qi, and ultimately, Shen. Sex and relationships tend to become a drag on both after a while.

Why would one participate in experiments such as discribed with no appreciation to be bestowed for the results?

Because it isn't about bestowing, it's about growing, and living a very long time. This kind of technique is one of the things that led to the Daoist saying, "120 years is too young to die". It's one of the fundamental steps on the road to immortality, to put it bluntly.

But then, a valid question may be, why bother living that long if you're not gonna get laid? I don't have an answer to that one and I make no claims to having perfected the system, either, lol.

"the" most important thing doesn't exist (I had that formed before reading Ian's insightful post).

The most important moment is right now. And that's about it.

It's important to keep old threads alive, though, lol.

Hi,

I wrote this a couple years ago at the request of a physical therapist who wanted me to hold classes at his practice. He said the newspaper wanted two pages but when I submitted it, they said they only wanted two paragraphs. So, it got chopped down to the most basic statements, which may have been an improvement...

This doesn't really represent my approach to Qigong but rather my approach to appeasing a physical therapist who was trying to exploit me to get people into his practice amidst tough competition. But, it is a real article

Reading it over now for the first time in a long while, I realize how much of it was influenced by Roger Jahnke's book, "The healing Promise of Qi" (a book I owuld include on my "highly recommended" list). I hope my article isn't too derivative.

Here it is:

What is Qigong?

Qigong (pronounced Tschi-Kung) is an ancient Chinese approach to attaining and maintaining health and achieving a long life. It's closely related to, and is sometimes referred to as the mother of the better-known art of "Tai Chi". The history of Qigong lies somewhere deep in Chinese pre-history. The earliest Qigong texts go back about 3000 years and the sophisticated descriptions of the art from that period indicate that it was well developed long before writing appeared in China. It developed out of shamanistic spiritual dances, most of which closely mimicked animal movements and were an attempt to build up physical energy and gain a closer relationship to nature. Indeed, Qigong excercises can be more accurately compared to dance than to aerobics or gymnastics.

There's more

The term "Qigong" should be viewed as a generalization as opposed to a specific system of excercises. It's a term as broad as "science" or "music". Strictly defined, Qigong means "concentrated care and maintenance of one's energy (or life-force)". The energy being described is "Qi", a concept that modern western physicists have determined for themselves should be called, among other things, "Quantum Fields", a kind of magnetic field that permeates and supports everything in our universe. Points in these fields of pure energy condense and result in substance and "life". Indeed, it's more accurate to view Qigong as applied Physics than to correlate it to western medicine. Qigong practice will usually include excercises to make this energy, the Qi, experiential, to activate it and to develop the ability to guide its flow through the body.

The water principle

For practical purposes, it's probably best to compare Qi with water, or water mist. Water collects in pools and oceans, moves through mighty roaring rivers and bubbling mountain streams and finds its way into the tiniest crevices on the planet. It also fills the air, continually changing its form from ice, to water, to misty clouds, and returning to Earth in a continuous cycle. We don't need to do anything to make water flow, just be patient and allow it to bring its gift of life when it's ready. What we can do however, is disturb the flow, interfering with its natural tendencies, holding it up from bringing its benefits where they're most needed.

And Qi?

All of this is true with Qi. Qi flows, it sinks from heaven to earth and rises again, it collects in pools and flows through channels, in the environment and in the body. Qi is always present, it flows through everyone and everything, and changes its form continually. Qi is a powerful, life-giving energy but its flow can be blocked easily, and that's what we humans are particularly good at. With our stressful minds, unnatural diets, and distancing ourselves from the natural world, we create trouble and energetic stagnation where there should be free-flowing Qi and happiness. Small blockages in the flow of our lifeforce may reveal themselves as chronic muscle or joint pain, or mood swings, or through a whole host of other "minor" symptoms. When the Qi stagnation becomes too extreme, however, the results can be traumatic, ranging from tumors to heart attack and any other severe illness imaginable. A total breakdown of the Qi flow in the body can be compared to the violent bursting of a dammed river or a massive landslide caused by unthoughtful, unnatural irrigation systems. Wise prevention is not difficult, in land management or in personal health.

Passive Qigong?

We were all born with an equal claim to an unobstructed, happy life. We came to the world open to the natural flow of universal lifeforce and have learned over the span of our lives, mostly through the paradigms and standards of our own societies, to close ourselves up, to resist our natural, internal inclination for simple harmony. Qigong is a method we can use to undo the damage caused by the misleading lessons, and prevent further damage. So, Qigong's ultimate goal, it could be said, is not to "increase" the "amount" of life-giving-force, but rather to minimize the obstructions to what is already there, to return to our original, simple state of being. For this reason, the mental aspect, the relaxation and breathing techniques, are inseparable from authentic Qigong practice. And when we practice enough Qigong, we build up a defense to breakdowns in our energetic structure, i.e., we become healthy and we remain healthy. In the west, we would simply call this boosting the immune system, but in actuality, the "boost" goes much deeper than the white blood cells. We also become immune to emotional sicknesses like depression and over-excitability.

For everyone? YES

Although some forms of Qigong become quite complex and physically challenging, Qigong is much more meditation than gymnastics. It demands a different perspective on what it means to be "fit". We move ourselves differently, guiding the movement from deep inside, it isn't just aerobics or dance in slow motion. Indeed, at the advanced stages of practice the movements become less and less necessary for effective Qigong practice and the simplest movements can become the most effective when perfomed at a deep level with sincerity. This means that there need be no physical limitations to Qigong practice, literally anybody who isn't severely mentally damaged can practice Qigong effectively.

Theory? Or Logic?

Gentle, slow breathing coordinated with equally slow, gentle physical movement and mental concentration are the three main elements of all Qigiong routines, whereby the movements can be replaced with simple posture corrections. Each component has an equal effect on the other. For example, good posture can ease our breathing, which can help to still a distracted mind. And we can optimize our posture by applying creative concentration. For example, we'll stand straighter and taller when we envision ourselves being lifted to the heavens by a golden thread gently pulling us upward.

Qigong is Natural Science

Because Qi is a product of the natural world, or better said, the natural world springs from the unobstructed, natural flow of Qi, most Qigong practitioners prefer to practice outdoors, among the trees, the blue sky and the green grass. A simple Qigong exercise can involve not much more than an aimless, relaxed walk along a winding country path, observing colors and sounds and breathing in the atmosphere of the surrounding environment. But, because we can't always depend on good weather, Qigong courses generally will be scheduled indoors.

I'm really enjoying this place! It's wonderful to see that there are even some Yijing scholars here. Wow.

I spent a number of years discovering that I'm just too stupid for the depths of the Yijing but I think I learned enough not ask huge questions involving destroying the whole world.

An example of a more concise, useful question might be, "Am I spiritually prepared to face the end of the world if it comes in 2112?" or something even narrower along those more personal lines. But just the basic premise, that the world may explode in 5 years, is the kind of thing that will get you an unserious, maybe misleading or even sarcastic answer.

The answers are in your subconscious (that's my amateur conclusion) and your subconscious probably communicates with everyone else's subconscious and with the subconsciousness of the whole history of the human race on some level, but most of all, it communicates with you.

That you drew a misfortunate line really doesn't confirm that the world will end in 2112, don't worry. The Yijing tends to give unreliable answers to unreasonable questions. The misfortune could also imply that you didn't get the answer you were hoping for.

Btw, anyone using the Yijing for divination might want to get a biotensor to draw the lines with. I've had much better results that way than with the coins or even milfoil stalks.

Also, I'm going to be collecting milfoil in the late spring as gifts for some friends. We have some very nice crops of it here. Hopefully, the lack of any winter this year won't affect it negatively. If anyone would like to have a set, let me know.

Check my reply to the penis slapping thread. Daoist "sexual techniques" aren't about having better sex. In fact, they're (sorry) not about having sex at all, or better said, about not having sex at all. Rather, they're about converting the sexual urges into pure Qi. In the western sense, as mentioned above, it's a form of hormone therapy. And, no, it really ain't easy.

Face the wall for 100 days... is that more Buddhist?

If someone is willing to do all this, then by golly, they deserve to have a longer penis.

T

I believe you are profoundly correct in your conclusion.

I forgot to mention that the method I described is supposed to be more effective when performed with a loving partner, though I haven't yet had the pleasure...

"It is wise to remember, that but for one trifling exception, the entire universe is made up of others"- Oliver Wendall Holmes

too many great replies for me to reply to here so I want to just give my own unfettered impression.

"Still" to me means, as implied in other posts, the stilling of the mind or perhaps of teh will. The body can, and will, and probably should move. The Qi will move and burst though blockages and and the body will respond acordingly. Anything can happen. I've been with someone who seems to turn into a werewolf and I've turned into a snake, my spine being elongated and pushed backward to some insane position that I could never get into without really hurting myself. I've had my breathing go beserk and my arms extend above my head for thirty minutes. All kinds of sensations... they come and go... can't, and shouldn't analyze them.

I used to do this a LOT when I was learning Soaring Crane Qigong. It's the sixth "forbidden" movement of the form. At that time, my hair lost most of it's grey and I felt very good with very little sleep (which is more amazing than the grey hair trick in my case). But I couldn't maintain that level of mediation for so long. Somehow, I just kind of got out of it.

But Sean wrote in his original post, "By "stillness meditation" I mean a meditation in which one consciously chooses to remain relatively still..." and this I interpret as "static" meditation. This is what I do at the end of all my Qigong sessions. I do repetitions of our "shogun" movement, scooping Qi into my Tianmu third eye and guiding it downward, through breast and stomach, pelvis, legs, feet and deeper through Yongquan into the ground.

With every repetition, every exhale, I sink deeper, legs gowing heavier, but head getting lighter (on the inhale). Heavy on bottom, light on top. Roots and earth below, leaves and air above. And then I gather Qi in one wide circle at about head height, "hug the big tree" we say in German, and guide my hands down the tree trunk to the center of the action, lower Dantian.

And then I concentrate a few more times on "heavy under, light above". And then I stand still, intentfully. Like a tree, no judgement, but no movement. Anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.

I find that, with increased practice, I can gather the same level of Qi in a shorter time. Which is kind of cool

Happy Valentine's Day all

great replies up there

Regarding penis slapping, I think you'll get better results with testicle binding and pulling. If you bind them and pull the binding through your legs to the back, you'll notice how much longer your penis grows, because the deeper root is exposed. If you then stimulate it almost to the point of ejaculation but then let off the tension, stop the stimulation and concentrate on the lower Dantian until the sexual desire subsides, about three to five times per session without a single ejaculation, you'll probably be pretty satisfied with the results, very quickly.

If you slap it in the engorged state, you'll understand a little better what the slapping does. I think of the result as a defense mechanism the little guy uses. He gets stronger and stronger.

The problem of course is subduing the sexual urge and fantasies...

And dantian breathing is probably a must-learn technique before you'll really start to accumulate Qi, which is what it's really all about, as opposed to impressing the ladies or feeding your ego.

For binding, silicone saltwater-aquarium air hose is good. It's not without risk, though, so use caution. A safer, mini-version without the binding is just to pinch your testicles between your thighs.

Peace and cold water