elephant

Yes, I think I follow. It took me some experimenting to get the sense of “leading” on the K1 side as I had fallen into “leading” with the heel side. However, I find it seems more effective that way, and is more consistent with the instruction to put most of the weight on k1.

Thanks Victor. I have been doing PQ for some time now. I would say it is my most consistent practice, and I do it almost every day. I do it even when I feel I can do nothing else, because I just put myself into the flow of those graceful movements and it just carries me through the form. However, I’ve never felt that I’m getting the depth of…[Read more]

I haven’t tried that, but it seems like a reasonable extension of the basic practice. I suspect that anyone who works with these practices over time will at some point find themselves introducing some smaller or larger variations into the practices. Viktor has shared some of his experiences with this. And I confess that I have experimented on…[Read more]

Thanks Steven. Can you suggest any dosage guidelines for Goji and He Shou Wu?

Interesting. Thanks Viktor. I’ll experiment with this.

Yes, I agree there are deeper factors. I haven’t got to the thrusting channels yet. It’s on my list 🙂 What do you mean by “cleaning the spleen”?

Got it. Thanks. Yes, that makes sense. What I’ve been calling “yin practice” is the main process described under #6 in the handout, but now I gather that it is not in any sense reserved for yin issues. And I recognize the expansion “trick” from the audio, though I didn’t initially make that connection to handout.

I’ve just gone back to look at a couple of Steven’s posts on this. In one of them he suggests that MOST of the weight is resting on the K1 point. That is significantly different from how I’ve been doing it, so I’m experimenting with that. As far as “focus”, that part seems relatively clear: it should be dropping into the center of the earth on…[Read more]

Thanks for your thoughts. So far I don’t really notice a difference by making small changes in the physical form (as I mention in the previous post). The key really seems to be in the way the attention drops to the center of the earth. Nonetheless, if there are technical details, alignments, etc. that are part of the teaching of the form, I would…[Read more]

Thanks for your comments. The way I’m doing it, foot B (non-weighted) lifts onto the ball of the foot as the weight is shifting to leg A and leg A bends. So the ball of foot B sort of functions to push the weight over to leg A, and foot B is already poised on its ball by the time the straightening of leg A begins. I tried doing it the way you…[Read more]

I have this all the time to some extent. Mostly I just keep going and I don’t find it prevents me from doing the practices. Occasionally it does get bad enough to hinder. Doing the practice “in the energy body” (i.e. do the practice in an expanded, visualized body) often has the effect of clarifying the visualizations, for me. It also occurs to…[Read more]

I second that. I’m finding very significant benefit from my qigong even at the basic level on which I’m practicing, and I feel like that has been made possible by the guidance Steven is putting out on the forum. Very greatly appreciated!

Well ranted. “there is no evidence for tapering” – that’s funny, or would be, if it wasn’t tragic.

Thanks Steven. A bit of a digression on grounding practice if I may – I’ve started studying Marie Favorito’s DVD on Tai Chi 1 (Tai Chi Chi Kung short form) and while it includes a brief focus on grounding early in the form, I have a hard time conceptualizing this as “grounding practice” per se. In other words, it seems that the grounding…[Read more]

Interesting. Thanks. I also had a flare up that was bad enough to get my attention. Systems of dietetics are numerous. The one I’m experimenting with advises carb restriction, HCL supplementation, and rehabilitating the gut biome, among other things. Ayurveda seems to have a pretty sophisticated understanding of the energetics of digestion, and…[Read more]

Thanks Steven, as always. I have reread your post and the original article several times. What is not entirely clear to me is whether Michael is talking about the same problem that you are – that of the qi getting “lost”. And I can’t help noticing that in the advanced version, having dismissed the risks, you yet include a countermeasure against…[Read more]