morning dew Posted June 5, 2017 How many repetition do you do of each movement? I started off with about three, but built up to about ten (over the years). Is this too much or too little? Can I get away with doing less? Also, now that I'm doing (Wu) Tai Chi in the mornings as well, I'm wondering if it's making eight pieces of brocade redundant (except as a brief warmup). I get the impression Tai Chi opens up the main channels anyway? Thoughts anyone? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seatle185 Posted June 5, 2017 Hmm, ten sounds good? We also do the 8 pieces as a warmup with wu style here, but its never been a set number of reps, its just however many you feel you need that day. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morning dew Posted June 5, 2017 Ah, interesting, so you still keep both brocade and wu. Fair enough. I'll keep doing what I'm doing, unless anyone else has any input. Thanks 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idquest Posted June 6, 2017 It is not a number of repetitions that counts, it is change which is important. Ideally you do as many reps until you feel some change in the quality of movements, like improved rotation of muscles, or extended opening of joints, or better twists in connective tissue. If you don't feel anything like this, then do at least 10 reps of each. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morning dew Posted June 7, 2017 (edited) Thanks, that's interesting. Some moves lead to (a little) opening/improvement with just one repetition; with other moves I don't particularly feel anything after ten repetitions. I assume it's important to keep some sort of balance between all the moves and do roughly the same number of repetitions for each move within any particular session? Edited June 7, 2017 by morning dew 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
QiBody Posted June 7, 2017 good morning dew, Maybe you are already doing this... I have a suggestion, the way I teach and practice warm-ups in my qigong classes is to first settle the mind in the breath and the breath in the mind. and preferably the breath is deep and full into the body. From this place of grounded centering let your breath animate the movement. Instead of seeking something in the movement, keep relaxing into the breath in the movement. Relax into the harmony and rhythm of your movement by being fully present without a goal in mind. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morning dew Posted June 8, 2017 Thanks, I gave this a go this morning and it was quite nice. I do do the beginnings of BKF's outer dissolving before I start doing things like cloud hands and Wu Tai Chi form. Maybe I should bring this to the beginning as well, before I start doing the brocade. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
QiBody Posted June 21, 2017 Hello morning dew, I am re-visiting this conversation after a spell so I hope you will receive this. Our conversation partially inspired me to make this video about how to come into a receptive space at the start of a practice session. The start of the video is a little bit of an explanation about qigong/nei gong and then a call to action for my video series, but then it is all about coming into presence. I would love to hear if it is helpful to your practice. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morning dew Posted June 24, 2017 (edited) Thanks again. It was very interesting. I watched it a couple of times and thought it was good (and professional). I've been trying the last couple of mornings just the beginning bits of the breathing up the legs into LDT and breathing out and down again before I start, and also this breathing for some of the moves. On the plus side, I find it quite powerful and a very good way to get right into my body and right into the moves. On the downside, it gives me a similar spacey/'loose' feeling that I used to get when I used to do qigong classes and would move energy around with my mind. I dropped Hua Gong from my morning routine for that reason. I do do things like LDT meditation with my palms in front of my LDT, and experience heat and energy moving around. I'm just an observer, however, and I don't actually move around the energy myself and it doesn't give me that spacey/'loose' feeling. It might just be the case that this kind of mind-directed energy work isn't right for me at the moment. I did find your initial suggestion quite good on its own: simply meditating on my breath before I start doing eight pieces. Even just doing this was helpful to get into my body and be more present for the practice. I shall have a bit more of a play with this, though, and see what happens over the next week or so. Edited June 24, 2017 by morning dew Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
