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Can anyone recommend some programs, resources, or practices that can take a person from a qigong beginner to being someone who can heal others? I understand the process likely takes many years, but I can't meditate in a cave for 20 years. So, is there a realistic, practical way for a working family man to do it?

I've seen many demonstrations of the movements but I have to find an explanation of how the chi is supposed to flow. So, what I've been doing is to visualize that I am stretching a chi ball between my hands something like stretchy, elastic taffy. Is this right? Should any visualization even be done?Any suggestions?

I have a 13 year old son who is considered Level 1 Autistic. His primary deficit seems to be a non-verbal learning disorder. I also have a 4 year old son who is (in my opinion) very coordinated. On a few occasions I have tried to teach my older son some meditation techniques to help him calm down when he has meltdowns. He has received occupational therapy in the past but his therapist thinks she's taken him as far as she can take him. A few times he participated in a yoga class with other children like him. He really liked it, but they don't do it anymore because of some changes that were made with insurance classification. A few days ago my older son said, "Dad, can we do some meditation tonight?" This time I tried to teach him how to lift a chi ball over his head then let it explode and rain energy down over him. He really liked it and said he could feel the energy. But, at first he was all over the place. I had to get a soccer ball to put in his hands at first to get him to make his palms face inward. This got me thinking, is there anything to teach tai chi to kids? I did find a few things. One was Dr. Paul Lam's 'Tai Chi 4 Kidz'. I'm still a novice but the excerpt on Youtube just looked like he was doing the Yang short form with kids behind him. Then I found Cari Shurman's 'Tai Chi For Kids'. I think this looks good. I was wondering what The Bums thought of it? Here are some links: https://www.taichiforkids.com/ Here she demonstrates some of the movements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_6TuS0ByPU Here is an overview video. It looks like more qigong than tai chi. For instance I saw Drawing The Bow from Ba Duan Jin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=jaZwO3Z8k0s I think this would be good for both of my kids (maybe even the grown-ups in my family).

I have meditated on and off for nearly 30 years using various techniques. I sit in a cubicle and write software all day. I like to be active, I've been a weightlifter for 36 years (I'm 48). I was attracted to the idea of standing meditation when I found Qigong. I bought 'The Way of Energy' by Lam Kam Chuen and watched his videos on Youtube. I have been Standing Like A Tree for about a month now and am up to 13 minutes Standing at the Stake (going for 15 tonight). My total routine takes 30 minutes with warmup (knee circles, hip circles, Lifting The Sky, Wuji and relax) and closing (Lifting The Sky, Shaking, twist and slap body, massage, walking). I do it everyday before going to bed. I'm looking for a Tai Chi or Qigong teacher. It looks like I have 2 available in my area (Greensburg, PA). In the meantime I'm trying to learn all that I can. I have been reading 'The Healing Promise of Qi' by Roger Jahnke (for some theory). I receive newsletters from Flowing Zen and Energy Arts. I just ordered 'Chi Kung: The Way of Power' by Lam Kam Chuen (I love his style, had to order used from Half Price Books), 'The Inner Structure of Tai Chi: Mastering the Classic Forms of Tai Chi Chi Kung' by Mantak Chia (I read in the forums here that this has a Tai Chi form for small spaces. I know he has his critics, but this seemed like one of his safer, more practical books), and 'Opening The Energy Gates Of Your Body' by Bruce Frantzis (gets rave reviews, seems like a must-read). I could tell quite a long story about how i got here. I'll just say I've tried a lot of things and I'm really excited about Qigong. I'm all in. I've learned a lot already lurking here in the forums. I'm looking forward to sharing in health, vitality, and spiritual enlightenment with everyone here.

Hi all, This looked like a really useful board to join as I’m trying to learn zhan zhuang and qigong and wanted to ask some questions about them (mainly Zhan Zhuang). I’m from Scotland, but live in Bangkok, and can’t find any qigong teachers here, so I am trying to learn on my own. A few people have pointed me towards videos and books, e.g., Lam Kam Chuen’s books and videos for Zhan Zhuang, and others have told me NOT to learn on my own as it can cause problems, so I’d like to dig a bit deeper on those issues because without a teacher, my only option is self-learning at the moment. Thanks Hermit

Thank you for making this opportunity available for others to share their experience in the Chinese Internal arts. My name is Eric Wilson . . . I trained and taught Chinese Kung-fu, Tai-chi, and Qigong for more than 24 years. And while I did realize a great manifestation of "internal" power, I also experienced some very strong negative effects. I am sharing my story and these experiences at the links below, and it is my prayer that these will be of help to those who also have had questions about the spiritual source of Chi and "internal" power. Thank you, Eric Wilson and family

So, like 54 days or so into my 100 days of twice daily, at least 20 minute meditation sessions, I can across a teaching of mantak chia's one night before bed, and the next day I tried it, believing it to be nei Dan. But half way through I stopped because it felt... Wrong somehow, maybe unearned? Just off....Anyway, in my best estimate, it was Kundalini I was doing under a different name, and I felt deceived in a way. So who is he? I was looking up six healing sounds to actually hear them, not just read them in a book, an the majority and most comprehensive videos are his. Is he just like every other human, and I should use anything useful from him an leave the rest, or is he a charlatan to be avoided? Thank you.

Hi, all - I’m new here, prompted to join to ask about a recent qigong practice. Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but here goes. Last week at the end of 2 hours of qigong, suddenly I felt like I would pass out - dizzy, nauseous, ears ringing like crazy. I’m getting back into qigong after a long break. Started in my new town with a new teacher who seems quite competent, having tried a few others. Had excellent teachers in the past in China and in the UK. It was a good and challenging practice. 90 min in I felt a bit dizzy (highly unusual for me), took a short break for water, and felt fine to continue. Then at the very end (30 min later), suddenly I felt like I was going to hit the floor, literally. Today I feel great but am left wondering… What was it that happened? I’d had food 2 hrs before practice, knees weren’t locked, was well hydrated, etc so no obvious explanation. I’m 53 yrs old and in good health. Thank you in advance for any thoughts or suggestions for practice to prevent the sickness feelings arising again.

I am wondering how many years of hard training you need in order to achieve higher qigong skills, like the microcosmic orbit or healing (others) abilities. I'm training quite hard every day since the last few months, but I am 33 right now. I would like to know how many years of intense training you need in order to achieve such abilities

Huge topic. But I get asked this all the time from patients, students, etc. What system should I study for personal growth? Here is my two cents from 30 plus years of professional practice and personal study. This will be a thread that I attend to in between patient load at work. Pardon if my reply is slow at times. Sol

I just tried this today and was finally able to duplicate results I'd had in the past naturally. I had to go against some useful meditation suggestions I'd been given, which I suppose is why some say this shouldn't be introduced to people as meditation or they will get the wrong idea. Anyway, I just want to check with my favorite community to make sure I'm on the right track, as I have no teacher, and the problem with looking something up online, especially something as esoteric and hidden as Taoism still manages to be is that you get a lot of different sources from a lot of different perspectives, difficult to discern. So I fall back on you guys. All I did differently from regular meditation was clear my breath out of my lungs first, and start stoking my belly like a bellows, first shallow and fast, but then longer and still fast, focusing on pushing out and letting it draw in naturally. Then after I felt some heat there, I settled into stillness and observed for a moment. Once I was able to focus on the LDT and let the thoughts drift away, I began to observe how the breath in expanded the perineum and the breath out let it contract. Building from this, I started to squeeze it in with the exhale and let it expand with the inhale. This was extremely clumsy at first, but I have practiced squeezing the perineum quite a bit in my life for sexual reasons, so it came quite easily to me I think. Anyway, basically this: fire, pull water in, steam fills the body,keep pumping, more heat, more steam, fire grows. When it got to the heart I panicked and stopped, but continued back on for a bit before sitting back and just observing how I felt, which was warm, pain free without medication (a miracle) happy and...whole I guess, like I was my whole body and not my thoughts, and at moments the sound of falling rain became indestinguishable from the "sound" of my own body buzzing, both in distance and as an object apart from my self. TL;DR- pumped my LDT and squeezed my perineum, felt with everywhere. Just looking for guidance and thoughts, or encouragement if it's due. Practical advice basically.

i practiced spontaneous five animal qigong and haven't been able to stop spontaneous movement and when making conscious movements it feels like my body is moving on its own and when i mentally try to do a conscious movement my body starts moving on its own for example when i want to say walk to the bathroom or somewhere else just my intention of doing it causes my body to walk on its own unitl i have reached where i want to go and its been like that for over 30 days i have done the closing exercise and tried various different things to stop but it hasn't been working. i have tried focusing on kidney1 and mentally saying i want to stop moving and while mentally saying i want to stop moving i have tried focusing on kidney 1 for 5-10 seconds then baihui for 5-10 second, have tried imagining weight on shoulder well point, pinching shoulder well point and middle fleshy part of middle finger, focusing on navel, focusing on dantien, reverse breathing. if any one can help me that would be greatly appreciated thanks

after practicing five animal spontaneous qigong i havent been able to stop moving for over 30 days how do i stop?

Greetings fellow daoists so i have been practicing qigong for a week now and i think i have been sensing a bit of progress but as a beginner as I am(and self-taught too), there are just minor questions that is bothering me that just have to be answered. 1. Is it okay to practice qigong for the whole day? excluding the time for sleep and eating of course. 2. sometimes when I do abdominal breathing there are gurgling sounds, what are those? 3. sometimes when I do breathing exercises, my inhalation makes whistling sounds and my nose feels heavy or numb, am I overdoing it or is it ok? 4. do i need to do abdominal breathing when I am doing a dynamic qigong(if it is called this way)? I can't seem to do this when I'm putting my hands up(e.g. lifting the sky). 5. It seems I am more active and sensitive(to qi) at night than in daytime, is there a problem with this? any other thoughts for this matter? 6. any solutions for nasal congestion? the other part of my nose seems blocked while the other is doing okay. this only happens sometimes. 7. I am doing breathing exercises lying down, does that makes difference? 8. do I exhale in my mouth or in my nose? based on articles ive read and videos i watched there are those exhaling in the nose and there are those that do it in their mouth, or there are specific exercises for those? 9. As a beginner, i can only sense qi mostly in my palms using la qi(the one where you rub your hands). does this work in other body parts too or are there any other technique similar to this for other body parts? opinions are greatly appreciated

Hello fellow daoists, I just read that I should make at least one post here as a newcomer so here it is.😁 My main interest here is to learn things about qigong. Just as I am new here, I am also a beginner in qigong. I just started teaching myself by reading online articles and watching videos so if you happen to know and share free tips(in this forum and qigong) that are helpful for beginners, you have my gratitude. Actually my interest in qigong came from reading too much martial arts manga, wuxia, xianxia etc., you know gaining powers, stuff like that, I know its very exagerrated (or maybe possible if you reached higher level). My goal is actually not to learn martial arts , I am more fascinated in healing (you know mysterious doctors in fantasy novels something like that hahaha) and probably impress and teach my friends and family when I gain apparent results. PS . english is not my main language so excuse me if there is something wrong there

So about 36 days ago, I got out of detox at a medical treatment facility. And as they taught me that spirituality was the only thing that has worked for them, I went back to my spiritual roots which I'd had as a teenager. Thus, I began practicing Qigong and meditation everyday. I search YouTube and settled on a thirty minute Qigong routine for beginners by Merissa from Yoqi. I have been doing that every day in the morning, except when I'm running late, and then I find time to do what I can remember of it. As for meditation, I just go off of descriptions I have read from many sources, such as Zen, Alan Watts and of course Taoism. The other day when I was meditating,I almost stopped after about 15 minutes do to intense back pain, as I suffer from scheuermann's disease, a rare form of deformity which causes kyphosis during growth, like during puberty. Anyway, I pushed through the pain, and eventually got to a place where I could no longer feel pain or my body. I was seeing colorful lights of purpleand yellowand green dance before my eyes, and eventually I felt like I was flying, that I was in the sky and clouds,almost that I was the sky. I didn't attempt to control any of this. The last thing I did before it happened was, I was to a point in my meditation where my mind was clear, and I felt like my consciousness was this golden light floating in my head. I started trying to expand that consciousness below my chin, and once I did, itookit above and beyond m head, and that's when everything happened. I also, after the sky, started seeing these tunnels surrounded by rings of purple and yellow-green light, black in the center, with maybe a glint of light in the center. What I would try to focus on them, they'd almost dissolve, but when I relaxed, I traveled down through it and then this feeling of expanding consciousness rolled out before me like a landscape of serenity and pleasant peace. My questions are many, but I guess I want to know what happened there and what I should do. I need guidance. What is your advice? What should I be practicing as far as qigong and meditation? I'm studying the Secret of the Golden Flower in depth, cross referencing other texts and translations, trying to understand what it is saying. I just need guidance. My experience frightened me and it's made me hesitant. I had someone tell me that I was doing so ething wrong and I should be moving that light through my body. Please help. Thank you all so much.

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and my primary reason for joining is that I am looking to learn more about how Qigong can be used for applications of physical healing. 15 months ago I got struck by some unknown neurological disorder which involves 24/7 full-body tingling/crawling and burning pain as well as numbness and imparied coordination and motor function. I've gone through a neurological investigation and they find the symptoms in terms of coordination impairment but I am all clear with the MRI and nothing is found in spinal fluids - which is a blessing. In short, this has turned my life upside down and I am in search of some way to hopefully cure/fully reverse or at least stop progression and alleviate the pain and. The reason I have turned to and started practicing Qigong ( ~2 months of daily practice ) is that I found a TCM acupuncturist and that has helped in partially reversing sensory symptoms and also helped to some extent with the numbness. So far the Qigong has helped me to regain the fine-motorskills of my fingers as well as my ability to walk smoothly with my left leg and I am very interested to see what will be the result as I continue to practice and slowly increase the time of my daily sessions: Being new( both to forum and Qigong) I have a few questions to start with: In general - In what part of the forum would it be most suitable to ask questions regarding qi cultivation and medical applications of Qigong? Further - Does anyone have any personal experiences from healing "chronic" health problems (neurological or others) Qigong/Taichi etc.? I have read quite a few stories online regarding for example Wisdom Healing Qigong and Spring Forest Qigong among others and those results in combination with my own promising results (given the short timeframe) leaves me hopeful that there might be something to this.

I notice that when my Middle and Upper dantiens are full, I'm very aware, comfortable, loving, and perceptive. HOWEVER, I'm way more vulnerable to the negative external energies. When my lower energy field exclusively is flowing and the upper two aren't as pronounced, I am energetically invulnerable. I believe this to be because of the Qi belt. Any advice?

A big hello to everyone here from South Africa! By way of introduction, i have been captivated for quite some time with eastern philosophy; the spiritual, martial and medical elements and practices; the alchemical and esoteric mythology and everything in between. i hope to gain a better insight and understanding from all of the scholars and teachers here at [Dao Bums] as well as share where i can. Looking forward to conversing with all of you soon ....

Greetings from pcl in North Carolina.....I studied a hard external Kung fu style for many years and moved to the internal as I got older. I now practice and teach both tai chi and qigong. I have no questions, I don’t think there are any. I have no answers, only you do. I am simply honored to be among those who smile at the face of the Tao. peace pcl

Hi, I'm wondering what music to use while practicing spontaneous movement qigongs. Some use music (Christensen - Mongolian ; Chen - various; Keeney/Goodman - Tribal/Shaman Drums; Tiangong - "heavenly language singing") to help start the process, others don't. IF you use Music, what works for you? Any recommendations for Shamanic Rhythms avaliable for free in the net? (PLEASE not the"Wellness-Synthesizer-esoteric-angelic-...-Type!")

Greetings. I've read the forums from time to time & found good information here in the past so decided to join proper. Have taken many ideologies from different places throughout my life and have constructed a belief system that is again in transition. Been practicing Yoga and Qigong regularly, many years of different Yoga styles, Qigong is new. Have been practicing the Spring Forest method and would like to learn more traditional methodology to have the option of weaving the two together or practicing another form. I am interested in a spiritual wellness as well as mind-body wellness. I've begun meditation over the past 2 years which really isn't a lot of time. Focusing on breath work. Have worked with TCM practitioners quite a bit over the years though my knowledge feels limited. I wish to more fully participate from a more informed mind. Am happy to read on different modalities a roots of said practices. Am interested in learning how things are connected from Taoist perspectives as have found some of my beliefs and practices here in the past. I feel the need to look deeper. Pleased to be here. Moon Yin

Good evening all, Thanks for having me. I'm a Medical Qigong Therapist, about to start the Master's first seminar and very excited about it. Also been training in Wing Chun for the last 5 years, and about to start tai chi. Very happy to have stumbled upon this forum :0)

Has anyone heard of this series? Specifically this http://www.martialartsmart.com/dvd-yz110.html. I found this in an old box. I have heard people say generally good things about him.

I'm all for self-message. Please share your experiance and suggestions. I think this is a nice video to start with: