freeform

Qi is quite a complex subject. But in very basic terms. Qi is change. It makes change possible. Without Qi there is no change. So for example - you could meditate and achieve a very still state. For that state to affect you - to make changes in you - you need Qi. No Qi - or not enough Qi, and it will just be an experience and won't have made a change in you. There are other aspects of course - like the idea of qi as a fuel. But the fundamental aspect is change. moderation is key. Not too much not too little Once your kidneys get stronger, you'll find your wet dreams will stop. Once your Jing grows still, you'll find that you're less drawn to sexual thought/imagery etc.

Ah! ok. Then you need to be quite focused with your diet. Essentially what you need to be doing is eating a lot of 'blood building foods' - you can look that up on google and get a list. Lots of dark green leafy veg (in big quantities - and always cooked)... and lots of beetroots. Chlorella and Spirulina (again in substantial quantities) are also good for this.

Your body wants to build more Qi (you're probably using it up in your training). Go for good seasonal food in your area... Fresh, nutritious and dense (not just salads and leaves)... include grass-fed beef if you can.

ouch! 'Flow' and 'accumulation' are not two different approaches to qigong... both are necessary. Just because someone has been doing qigong all their life doesn't mean they know what they're doing - sadly. Most people have been speaking a language all their life - but there are clear differences in how capable different people are in that language. There are many things that 'leak' qi - or use up qi - overdoing it with sexual thought and masturbation is a big one for men... but the much bigger drain is over-thinking (having an internal dialogue)... engaging the emotions... habitual actions etc... There are a few things that build qi... the main 'ordinary' ones are eating good food and breathing well. And most qigong systems will have (usually secret) ways of building qi in amounts that greatly exceed what is normal. Building Qi without circulation spells disaster... Circulating without building isn't as bad - it's good for health - but you won't get far in these arts without building up huge amounts of qi also.

In my experience, most people on Vipassana retreats end up processing surface level stuff - the same stuff that spontaneous qigong clears much more efficiently (in my opinion). Once you are relatively clear from the spontaneous qigong - if your vipassana teacher is capable, they should be able to lead you to touch upon the karmic seeds. By remaining still and equanimous in the face of the karma arising in you (usually in the form of aversion or clinging) - you can create the conditions for this karma to be let go of automatically. So the spontaneous qigong is able to clear many layers, to allow your awareness to penetrate 'deep' enough to touch upon the underlying karma. If you see vipassana as just meditating all day, you're clearly missing an important element - which is to allow karmic seeds to arise in the light of your equanimous attention - and hopefully, fall away automatically. "Feeling qi" is more complicated (as I explained before - you're usually feeling the side effects of qi - not qi directly). But spontaneous qigong is one of the best ways to 'activate' your energetic system and begin to move qi. Traditionally you'll later move on to more efficient methods - but they remain inaccessible if you haven't gone through the clearing process that spontaneous qigong creates.

Yes - it is amazing. But these are reasonably ‘surface’ level attachments that you release... things like traumas. It doesn’t touch deeper aspects - like your attachment to preference... attachment to time etc. It also doesn’t clear your karmic attachments - just the cause around that karma... So for example you might feel a constant constriction in your diaphragm as a result of some karma... you might clear the constriction and the other cascading sideffects of this karma - but the karmic seed is still there and given right conditions will reflower. You remove the seed with other practices usually on long retreats (vipassana or alchemy). No. I’m saying there is no magic bullet. There is no ‘one Qigong better than all others’. The rocket boosters aren’t better than the rocket fuel. You need to know what you’re doing or you need to be working with someone who does. If things aren’t changing over the months then you might be stuck. The tendency is for spontaneous to bring you to stillness eventually over time. Once you go into spontaneous state and find yourself going into stillness, that’s an indication that the process has run its course. (But you need to confirm that with your teacher)

Yeah - mental and emotional (sometimes karmic) attachments in your subconscious clearing out as your Qi pushes it through your nervous system. An incredibly efficient process. But when seen in the context of the whole of the spiritual path, it’s just a small step along that path.

I’m sorry - I’m having to do an interpretive dance to understand what you’re saying. What I think you’re saying (correct me if I’m wrong) is that during your spontaneous Qigong sessions you find yourself doing movements similar to other Qigong movements you learned. And you’re saying surely this is super efficient... Well not quite I’m afraid. That’s exactly the case. The internal arts are a lifelong process. Very intricate. Very difficult. If you’re doing it to get some effect in your life, then I would say you’re probably better off with something else. If you don’t enjoy the process, you’ll just waste your time and get frustrated. The spontaneous movements are the result of your subconscious interacting with your nervous system through the movement of Qi. So you will ‘act out’ things in your subconscious mind... including Qigong movements you’ve learned or seen... some dances... sounds... thoughts... mantras etc. These are mostly just fragments of your subconscious mind and it’s attachments breaking loose by working their way through your nervous system. If your mind latches on to the idea that the Qigong-like movements that come about is the best thing ever, it will keep recreating these movements (because your mind keeps re-attaching to this idea). And you’ll keep doing them for 20 years. This is not progress - this is simply getting stuck in the process. You’re just going in circles. There is no magic practice. There is no magic empowerment or meditation or understanding. It’s a very complex process just like any complex process that humans learn and achieve. It’s like rocket science There’s no magic pill in rocket science. Even if you discover the perfect rocket fuel - there are still thousands of details you’ll need to work out, test and perfect for you to be able to launch a rocket that lands on the moon.

There is an end to the process - as in you wouldn’t be doing spontaneous movements for 20 years. It’s a process that runs it’s course and ends eventually. Not at all - it’s a great process and clears a lot of stuff - one of the most efficient methods for the early stages. (I’m assuming your spontaneous movement is what I’m familiar with - it may be something different like interpretive dance type of thing...) But no one method will get you all the way. Im afraid you need to find the motivation inside yourself. This is a really difficult path. There’s a story about one of the Yang family members who tried to commit suicide because of the extreme discomfort of internal training. Another one tried to run away... Of course you’re probably not subjected to the rigorous level of training that the Yang family had, so you’ve no excuse Just remember the resistance you feel is a resistance to change. It’s normal. Training isn’t pleasant - but that resistance is irrelevant. Just do what’s required and you’ll go far

Well the focus will be different for each exercise. Also in the beginning your focus is on getting it right - on the details of the posture on the sensations in your body, on trying to let go and release tension etc. Some exercises will use your Yi or intent to direct your mind - whether to your breath or to the Dantien etc. In your Falun Gong exercise focusing on energy going down is not visualisation or imagination. I suspect they mean ‘sink the Qi’ which sounds simple, but is very tricky. You sink Qi by letting go and releasing your mind and it will start to settle and then sink by itself. Simply moving your internal focus downwards won’t actually sink your Qi. You must do what the exercise calls for. If the exercise calls for extensive visualisation (particularly of Qi movement), I’d argue that the source of the exercises may not be authentic.

Sounds pretty ideal! But I’m pretty skeptical about modern systems! Yes spontaneous qigong (Zi Fa Gong) is a very powerful process that is great at clearing, purging and transforming of your body, mind and emotions. It works on the channel level. It doesn’t ‘build’ - you won’t be building your ‘internal’ body or generating Qi - but it does clear and smooth things out which helps your body work more efficiently. There is an end point to it though. It’s easy to get addicted to. Your teacher needs to be able to see it’s effect on you and assist you to move through the process as quick as possible. Transformation is change - from one thing to another. If I understand you correctly, I’d call that ‘internal movement’. Meaning you use something other than the normal muscular system. That’s the correct way to move your body in the Daoist internal arts. For example many people in early stages find that their arms float up by themselves during qigong - that’s an aspect of internal movement. But also considered an error - you must move past floating. It’s usually the first sense people get that there is another way that your body can move - and it feels great

Thanks. Yeah the initiation aspect suggests to me that the skill is gained at the shen level. Like an empowerment for a mantra... the mantra can affect your Qi but the reason it works is established at the shen level. Wei Qi Liao Fa works at a much more mechanistic level - no empowerments, initiations or spiritual contracts - just basically having a ton of excess Qi that can be used to heal others.

exactly. It doesn’t matter. Don’t try to move sensations around - just follow your training and don’t add or remove things. its very difficult to feel Qi directly - and in my opinion you don’t even need to. There are many sensations that come about as a result of Qi - but that’s the result of Qi, not the Qi itself. So a sensation is an indication of Qi moving but the sensation is not the Qi itself - just your nerves reacting to Qi.

from my experience this sort of thing happens at the level of Shen rather than Qi... It’s usually a sensitive person picking up on your intent and surrendering to the influence. But there are certainly exceptions. For example Reiki does achieve a low level Qi transfer very quickly... although there is almost always a two-way transfer of pathogenic Qi too. (Meaning be careful of sick people doing reiki on you and visa-versa.) But I think Reiki works at Shen level (spirit-contract - like how fu and talismans work) to achieve this transfer. Along the lines of sorcery. Wei Qi Liao Fa - traditional healing through Qi emission should only be done when your body is so full of Qi that it overflows - and you use the overflow to heal. If you squeeze Qi out, over time you’ll get ill and it will change your mental quality. Qi emitted through wei Qi Liao fa is often quite different - very strong and often painful and causes spasms and so on Sometimes much more gentle - but almost always causing some spontaneous movements:

Visualization only moves your ‘existing Qi’... meaning it’s at a shallow level. Like if someone touches the back of your hand with a finger and holds it there, your attention and in turn Qi will start to concentrate there at the level of the nerves. Visualization, in some people can do the same. But this is not the Qi of Qigong... it’s not able to transform - but it could maybe be used for healing. Think of the volume of water the tides in the ocean move vs the volume of water we can move with a bucket or even a big tanker. It’s incomparable - even though yes, some Qi is moved in both cases. The Qi of Qigong moves by having a correct structure (from years of practice) and then letting go. Only through letting go do any profound transformations take place. Visualization and imagination is the opposite of letting go. can you expand on that ? i get in general that the body is made of qi - what do you mean the body becomes one big channel - is it in the end stage after years of practice , or is it just the way of practice from the start ? seems better to do that be one big channel than just some in parts of the body no ? Sure. Yes it is an ‘end stage’ - or rather a very advanced stage (almost impossible to get to stage 😃). It means your entire body becomes a transmitter... rather than lines moving through the body. An analogy would be: untrained person: your hand is your hand and is relatively unconnected with the rest of your body. Well trained Taiji player: the hand is connected through lines running within the body to the ground. As you push against their hand, your force travels through the connected lines in the body and eventually meets the ground. When they push, similarly the force travels through the channels. super advanced: the hand is the ground. And not only the hand... any part of the body... also not just ‘the ground’ - but anything this advanced student wishes it to be - it could be hard and unyielding like the ground or transient and not really there like a cloud. This is so immediately on contact - there is no force travelling through anything - it’s right there on contact. This is the very beginnings of whole body as a channel. There’s no better or worse... it just depends on your aims. You don’t need to develop your whole body into a channel if your aim is a spiritual one. Your time would be better used elsewhere.