Ungrounded despite grounding – is this a mismatch?

[Kati]

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve been practicing Spring Forest Qigong for over two years. I’ve stayed with Level 1 exercises, didn’t experiment, and followed the instructions carefully. I also consistently did the grounding exercises exactly as recommended and for the suggested amount of time.

 

And yet, I often felt ungrounded.

 

There were many times when it felt like the energy was shooting up into my head and getting stuck there. Even though I was only doing beginner-level practices and focusing on grounding, I didn’t feel settled in my body. Instead, I sometimes felt more “up” than before.

 

And here is something which bothered me a lot: unusual experiences(like seeing stuff which isnt there)  started occurring in the middle of the night for several weeks in a row. For some reason it happened only at nighttime. They would wake me up or keep me from falling back asleep. Over time, this led to lack of sleep — and that’s when it became a real problem for me.

 

 

That’s part of why I started questioning whether this form is truly right for my constitution

 

So now my questions feel even more specific:

 

If a practice leads to feeling ungrounded despite doing grounding exercises, is that a mismatch?

 

If energy repeatedly rises to the head and doesn’t settle, what does that indicate?

 

If unusual experiences start interfering with sleep, is that a red flag?

 

How do experienced practitioners distinguish between “normal energetic adjustment” and actual overstimulation?

 

I’m seriously considering committing to one form for 100 days — but I also don’t want to ignore signs that my system may be getting overstimulated.

 

I would really appreciate hearing from long-term practitioners who have navigated similar phases. What were your markers for a practice being stabilizing versus destabilizing?

 

Thank you for reading.

[Gerard]

Are you doing grounding work at all?

 

If not, start now. It's a MUST not a maybe. It should become a priority in your daily practice.

 

How many hours do you spend every day looking at electronic devices and or doing mental work?

 

If yes, start trimming down the excess.

[Kati]

Yes i do.

As much as is recommended. But it seemed like i needed a lot more. Therefore i spend now almost most of the qigong practice time with grounding

 

Less media, because it makes me less grounded.

 

Thank you

[justjoseph]

11 hours ago, Kati said:

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve been practicing Spring Forest Qigong for over two years. I’ve stayed with Level 1 exercises, didn’t experiment, and followed the instructions carefully. I also consistently did the grounding exercises exactly as recommended and for the suggested amount of time.

 

And yet, I often felt ungrounded.

 

There were many times when it felt like the energy was shooting up into my head and getting stuck there. Even though I was only doing beginner-level practices and focusing on grounding, I didn’t feel settled in my body. Instead, I sometimes felt more “up” than before.

 

And here is something which bothered me a lot: unusual experiences(like seeing stuff which isnt there)  started occurring in the middle of the night for several weeks in a row. For some reason it happened only at nighttime. They would wake me up or keep me from falling back asleep. Over time, this led to lack of sleep — and that’s when it became a real problem for me.

 

 

That’s part of why I started questioning whether this form is truly right for my constitution

 

So now my questions feel even more specific:

 

If a practice leads to feeling ungrounded despite doing grounding exercises, is that a mismatch?

 

If energy repeatedly rises to the head and doesn’t settle, what does that indicate?

 

If unusual experiences start interfering with sleep, is that a red flag?

 

How do experienced practitioners distinguish between “normal energetic adjustment” and actual overstimulation?

 

I’m seriously considering committing to one form for 100 days — but I also don’t want to ignore signs that my system may be getting overstimulated.

 

I would really appreciate hearing from long-term practitioners who have navigated similar phases. What were your markers for a practice being stabilizing versus destabilizing?

 

Thank you for reading.

If a practice leads to feeling ungrounded despite doing grounding exercises then the grounded exercises don't work or you're doing them wrong. 

When energy rises to the head then it means you are in fight or flight or are you too much mental focus. 

Practices should NOT interfere with sleep. That is bad, as you yourself have seen. 
 

With regards to energetic phenomena there can be positive and negative experiences, it is best to ask your teacher. Always be mindful of your own health as well, not all teachers are wise, kind or helpful. 

Too much chi in the head is usually a bad thing unless it is a specific lineage that works with it. 


Here is a copy of a message i sent to someone else with grounding issues: 
 

Because of this i have a good amount of ways to bring the energy down which you could try. 

 

1. Food, lack of food causes a stress state, a stress state influences any chi that is in the system negatively; so making sure you are eating enough is important. Red meat, potatoes, rice, bread, lots of good vegetables, heavy food is better as it directs chi down to the stomach. 

 

2. Chi goes where it is required, meaning if you spend 8hrs a day on a computer your chi will rise to your head due to the activity of the brain. With this in mind it is better to do activities that are more physical, i know you said in your post that you get pains in your joints, so you should tailor the physical exercise to meet your needs. Maybe swimming or low impact walking, even cycling if that doesn't cause any issues. Could you do deep earth pulsing in a stream or lake ? to mitigate the friction build up.

 

3. Some other things that might be worthwhile would be: learning how to sink the chi (hard but probably the most useful), walking barefoot on grass, doing prostrations on the earth without a mat (forehead to the earth) preferably someplace private, Hakuin's butter meditation, not sitting for too long, sleeping before 10pm if possible, waking up naturally with the sun, sitting in a deep squat for extended periods of time, minimal intellectual activities, gardening. 

Edited 20 hours ago by justjoseph

[Tommy]

Don't know Qigong. And don't know why there are so many repeat of the same thread??

But, looking it from an outside view point, which may nothing to do with you, ...

Grounding is usually finding that one is not grounded and how to proceed from there.

Do you have a teacher?? Certain exercises should be done with fore knowledge and guidance.

Energy flows where one believes the consciousness resides. So, going for the head?

Disturbing peace and sleep? Yes, it would seem to me to be a red flag.

Still the question comes up, do you have a teacher?

 

Well, I am sorry that I can not help. Hopefully you will find a teacher who can help you to move forward in your practice.

 

[SodaChanh]

. 

Edited 5 hours ago by SodaChanh

[Kati]

wow Thank you for your response!  it helps a lot. everything made sense and motivates me to take being grounded more serious. 

 

9 hours ago, justjoseph said:

If a practice leads to feeling ungrounded despite doing grounding exercises then the grounded exercises don't work or you're doing them wrong. 

bummer, i agree, these might be the only logical reasons.

 

9 hours ago, justjoseph said:

When energy rises to the head then it means you are in fight or flight or are you too much mental focus. 

this is helpful. thank you

 

9 hours ago, justjoseph said:

Practices should NOT interfere with sleep. That is bad, as you yourself have seen. 

yes it is! thank you  i will look for a qigong style which suits me better. i need more techniques rgarding grounding, my qigong form was really simple regarding grounding. It would have helped me if the Qigong form had included cues that show when grounding is successful and that progress is being made. Unfortunately, this was barely communicated, so I’ve only learned it by chance. For example: when grounding, you can imagine drawing energy up from the Earth or sending energy down. I was already familiar with sending energy down from Qigong, but drawing it up was new to me. Also, the more grounded you feel, the more your legs feel like tree trunks. These kinds of cues were not addressed at all in my Qigong form, and they would have been really helpful.

9 hours ago, justjoseph said:

Chi goes where it is required, meaning if you spend 8hrs a day on a computer your chi will rise to your head due to the activity of the brain. With this in mind it is better to do activities that are more physical, i know you said in your post that you get pains in your joints, so you should tailor the physical exercise to meet your needs. Maybe swimming or low impact walking, even cycling if that doesn't cause any issues. Could you do deep earth pulsing in a stream or lake ? to mitigate the friction build up.

true again. some folks from here, pointed this also out

 

9 hours ago, justjoseph said:

Some other things that might be worthwhile would be: learning how to sink the chi (hard but probably the most useful), walking barefoot on grass, doing prostrations on the earth without a mat (forehead to the earth) preferably someplace private, Hakuin's butter meditation, not sitting for too long, sleeping before 10pm if possible, waking up naturally with the sun, sitting in a deep squat for extended periods of time, minimal intellectual activities, gardening. 

i am learning to sink my chi.

i think i made some progress with it.

in my standing meditations my feet and my legs feel after some time like tree trunks but this sensations stops at the hip level,

any idea what could help here? i read something about "kua"/hip opening, have to look into that.

Edited 10 hours ago by Kati

[Gerard]

And by grounding I meant a lot of physical work thst is tailored for that purpose:

 

1. Squat

2. Asian Squat and maintain that position for a while

3. *Low basin walking

4. Hiking

 

He Jinghan has a lot of grounding exercises in his YT channel. 
 

 

 

 

Ma Bu/Horse stance is very grounding too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChiDragon]

15 minutes ago, Gerard said:

And by grounding I meant a lot of physical work thst is tailored for that purpose:

 

1. Squat

2. Asian Squat and maintain that position for a while

3. *Low basin walking

4. Hiking

Your meaning about grounding seems of out of sync with the true definition. The true meaning of grounding to be keep your body in a stable condition to maintain balance. The most effective grounding position is the keep both feet flat on the floor or ground. Nowadays, any exercise with the knee passed the toes is considered to be a bad practice. It is because it puts lots of tresses on the knee cap that might cause problems. As far as I know, there were many Taiji practitioners had made this mistake and caused permanent damage at the knee joint. The correct movement is always to point the knee at the same direction of the toes and do not go beyond the toes. If the knee was not properly align with the toes will cause permanent damage to the knee joint.

[Gerard]

Grounding as in keeping the Qi down and making sure Earth Qi is rising (digestive processes and to counter act Wood controlling the Earth ---> Wu Xing theory) and to prevent Liver Yang Rising.

 

My previous post is to illustrate Kati what grounding really means.