matrod

Thanks for sharing.

Just to chime in guys, I'm no expert at all, nonetheless, what I understood reading FQ materials,  is that concentrating on the Qi movement while doing FQ consumes a lot of energy, according to Tian Ruisheng, which defeats the purpose of the practice. I suppose Qi goes where is needed and the main idea is to avoid any interruption to the process. FWIW, I usually listen to relaxing music while doing Tai Chi or ZZ or FQ. I haven't watched news for a long, long time now, so no chances of any bad influence from them.

And just to add to the discussion, I studied with Sifu Jenny Lamb for 4 years and learned her Yigong for Self Healing system. I practiced it for a while and did not notice any results, so I found another teacher (Chinese) who taught me Tai Chi, Yang Style, which I'm practicing now, along with ZZ and FQ. Tai Chi has slowly made me more balanced, less stressed out and my back problems have improved a lot. ZZ has helped for my patience and joint health as well. From FQ I can't say anything yet (I started very recently), but somehow I feel it is working.

Sifu Jenny taught us to protect ourselves from entities and such, having a clear intention of doing good and healing ourselves. This has not to be the focus of your practice. If you have it clear in your mind and heart, you're protected. A fellow student, TCM practitioner, stopped practicing her Self Adjusting Qigong for the very reason mentioned above (astral entity exposure). He switched to a different practice afterwards. Tian Ruisheng mentions that if you practice with ill intentions, you will be harmed. I think I read something similar from Earl Grey in this forum a while ago, and this applies for any Qigong or energy cultivation system.

Perhaps I'm being naive, but I think everybody "knows" somehow when something is wrong and we should pay attention to this warning signals with everything we do... Even Tian Ruisheng says: "Practice this for at least 6 months. If it is not working, go find something else". My motto now is: "Not too alert but not too relaxed".

And yes, keep away from Dora at all costs...

Thanks again everybody for contributing to the discussion!

Thanks a lot! I must confess I found this file before but did not read until the end, focusing only in the exercises and explanations. There’s a lot of good information about the do’s and dot ‘say there. I’ve already started and I have felt some mild effects from the practice so far. There’s even a thread on Fragrant Qigong here: 

One thing I’ve modified is not to do the practices together, this is, I first do FQ and a while after (1-2 hours) I do Tai Chi and ZZ. I’m practicing twice per day (FQ) as recommended. Will report back.

Thanks a lot for your insighful answers. Started yesterday and I'm just trying to enjoy the practices. Will report back if anything arises.

Dear friends,

I've been lurking around for some time here and wondered if you can help me with this question: I learned the basic Tai Chi Yang Style 24 form in 2017 with a local Chinese teacher. Studied for a year more or less and I've been practicing regularly for 30-40 minutes each day now. I've been curious of Zhang Zhuang and learned the form as well, and started to practice 2-3 weeks ago for 5 minutes so far. I usually do ZZ after doing Tai Chi and haven't noticed any ill effects. Recently I read about Fragrant Qigong and it resonated a lot, specially as a way to treat certain health ailments I'm having (sleep quality, digestive issues and muscular tension) that haven't improved noticeably with my Tai Chi practice.

So I was wondering if it is advisable to combine the three of them (Tai Chi, ZZ and FQ) or not. I'm aware that you should not mix powerful QG practices because they can cause more problems than good. But having into account that ZZ is viewed as a "neutral" practice in terms of Qi generation and movement and Tai Chi is more oriented towards achieving flexibility, centering and balance, could FQ complement my routine? The plan is to practice for one hour in total every day, or a bit more if time allows.

Your comments and thoughts are most welcome. Thanks a lot.

I don't know Jenny Lamb's variant, but I would be surprised if it is not as great as the next one.

 

As you quote her saying: What's important is to stick to one and do it until you can to it while sleepwalking. After you have learned one to this extent, try the next variant or new system. Also, you should seek criticism on how your doing a form compares to how it should be done. Make sure that you get every detail right - chances are that you think you do, but you overlooked a couple of things...

 

NB Being good at qigong or tai chi does not necessarily make you a better taoist.

 

Happy training.

I completely agree with your opinion. Stick to one practice and enjoy practicing it. Change what is necessary and no more. I shall remind me of this more often

Thanks!

Never mind. I´ll answer my own question, from Sifu Jenny Lamb´s website:

Question: I already practice 8 pieces of brocade sitting and standing sets, is it okay for me to also practice your spontaneous qigong along with my other exercises? The qigong i use now is very basic, just stretching really, but i just want to make sure it is compatible with your yigong system.

 

Answer by Sifu Jenny: In general, I don’t know all other practices, cannot make individual comparisons and don’t want to waste time on that. Life is short. Why waste time on every possible choice. Instead, choose one practice that works for you and stick with it, in order to use your limited life span to obtain the most benefit and achievement.

 

Of course, it is your own decision to choose whatever you want to practice. Please read my comment on combining energetic practices from Q & A. Fundamentally speaking, there is no problem to combine eight pieces of Brocade Qigong or any other basic practice with Yi Gong. Remember the general principle, which is to drop what is harmful and keep what is beneficial.

I hope this helps anyone in the same situation.

Cheers.

Hi,

First of all, sorry if this question sounds silly or out of context. I´m a beginner in Taoism and related knowledge. I hope you all understand that.

Some days ago I (finally) decided to get an account at The Tao Bums forum. I´ve been trying to learn Tai Chi (Yang Long Form) and knew through my master some information about the spontaneous adjustment qigong (with a different name) and practicing some related exercises he taught me. A little bit later, I discovered Kunlun and finally Jenny Lamb´s system. I´ve decided to get her DVD, but before doing so, I discovered the 8 Brocades by Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming and started to practice them.

Now that I have both methods (8 Brocades and Jenny Lamb´s) and want to maximize the benefits (at this time, my kidney energy is a bit low), I was thinking in combining them to practice, let´s say, 8 Brocades in the morning (both standing and sitting forms) and in the afternoon (5-7 PM) the Qigong for Self-Healing.

For what I´ve read so far, it seems that they don´t interfere with each other, but I want to hear your opinions / experiences regarding this.

Thanks in advance for all your wisdom.