In no particular order I’d like to present the top 10 ways to fail with your Chi Kung practice

1. Practice Chi Kung Form Only

   Forget that Chi Kung is a composite of Chi Kung Form, Energy/Breathing and Mind. Just focus on the bit you can see, Chi Kung form and ignore the rest. Yes you will look like you are doing Chi Kung, and hardly anybody will be able to tell the difference.

2. Learn only from Books & Chi Kung DVD’s

   Don’t bother making the effort to find the best teacher of Chi Kung that you can, don’t waste your time, effort and money traveling to learn from them. Forget the sacrifice of spending time away from your family and friends to learn directly from them.

   Why bother when you can pick up a book from the store, or watch a Chi Kung DVD and teach yourself?



3. Don’t follow Instructions

   If you do have a real live breathing Chi Kung teacher, the quickest way to guarantee failure is to not follow their instructions. If they tell you to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and you’re not cool with that – forget about it. Do it your way.

   I mean come on, let’s face it, you’re actually doing the teacher a favor by turning up every week, why should you bother following their instructions? The teachers a fool anyway, otherwise they’d know that they could get better results by thinking about their angels, wearing the right crystal, whilst humming the right frequency, tensing, stretching their muscles and visualizing the love of the Buddha’s – whilst practicing Chi Kung.

   Seriously, haven’t they read the book?

4. Have no idea why you’re practicing

   If you can’t tell me in a sentence or two what benefits you specifically want from your Chi Kung practice in the next 6 months and in the 12 months or so after that – congratulations. You are well on the way to failing with Chi Kung. Keep it up.

5. Be Tense

   Hey, it’s a stressful world we seem to inhabit. If you really want to fail fast with your Chi Kung exercises then make sure you do them when you are physically, emotionally, mentally and Spiritually tense. Chi finds it really difficult to flow harmoniously when you’re tense – so the tenser you are, the more likely you are to fail with Chi Kung.

6. Make sure your practice is haphazard.

   Don’t feel like practicing once or twice a day – every day. Excellent you have what it takes to fail with Chi Kung. Practice only when you can be bothered, take a few days off when ever you feel like it and just see how quickly you don’t get any beneficial results from your practice.

7. Give up

   Hey, come on, you’ve been practicing for a few weeks and nothing’s happened yet? You can’t set fire to cotton wool just by looking at it? You mean you haven’t overcome that illness you’ve had for the last decade? You don’t wake up in a morning feeling ready to jump out of bed – kick ass and take names?

   Clearly Chi Kung doesn’t work and you should give up now. I mean it’s been a few weeks already.

8. Be Addicted to ‘New’

   Forget about practicing and practicing and practicing the two or three forms you know. Forget about developing the core skills of Chi Kung by practicing, practicing, practicing. No, it’s far more fun and enjoyable to learn new forms, learn new stuff.

   A really good way to fail with Chi Kung is to never scratch the surface of it by constantly moving on to a new form, school or style.

9. Keep Thinking All the Time

   Similar to #5 – but significantly different if you think about it enough, from enough different angles. Forget about enjoying your Chi Kung and analyze every single movement, every single sensations. Approach Chi Kung as if you were going into a lab and put everything under the microscope of your mind.

   To really speed this one up, don’t just keep thinking about what you’re doing whilst practicing Chi Kung, drag in unfinished business from the day as well. Forget about relaxing and enjoying your practice. Chew on tomorrows meeting instead and what you’re doing. This way you can multi-task whilst doing your practice.

   If you can keep this up for the full 15 minutes of your practice, you are well on the way to falling with Chi Kung.

10. Distractions

    Nothing says failure like practicing in a really rubbish place. Ideally you’ll choose somewhere noisy, dirty, busy and if you want to fail super fast – you could add dangerous to the list as well.

    If you want to fail with Chi Kung forget about practicing in a place of nature, far from the madding crowd with fresh circulating air. Thats for people who want to succeed with Chi Kung!

Conclusion
It’s not difficult to succeed with Chi Kung, start by doing the opposite of everything mentioned in the list above and you’ll be well on your way.

Bye for now

Marcus

• Someone will come up to you whilst you’re in energy flow and ask you if you’re alright.
• The fire alarm will go off in the building your practicing in.
• The phone will start ringing, the answer phone picks up the call and you realise you need to speak to this person.
• You’re in energy flow and it starts to rain cats and dogs.
• You break a piece of furniture or Objet d’Art.

There are 101 other ways in which your Chi Kung practice can be disturbed.

If you’re not prepared, if you don’t know how to handle disturbances correctly the affects can be quite harmful. When you practice Chi Kung you want to be in a Chi Kung State of Mind, which is a deep meditative state of mind. Unexpected disturbances can cause your Chi/energy to become scattered.

If this happens on a regular basis (try finding somewhere else to practice) or if the disturbance is significant enough it can result in you finding yourself feeling nervous, anxious and fearful for no obvious reason.

Here are the 3 steps to dealing effectively and safely with disturbances during your Qigong practice:

1. Be Prepared – When you are Preparing to start your practice, whilst you are walking around or making sure you are standing upright and balanced. Gently tell yourself that if anything happens to surprise or disturb you, it cannot hurt you, because it is only the phone ringing, or a friend trying to attract your attention.

   Note: If you live in a shared house or practice in a shared garden, let your friends and family know not to disturb you during your practice, ask them to take a message for you if the phone rings. These are basic ground rules.

2. When It Happens – when disturbance to your practice occurs, gently and firmly keep your composure. Tell yourself that your energy and your mind are intact and that everything is okay. Now take some slow, deep breaths and continue your practice when you are ready. Finish off as normal.
3. If You Have To Stop – If a fire alarm goes off in the building you are practicing in, or you have to stop your practice before you are ready, here’s what to do:
• Bring your attention gently to your Dan Tian (the energy point just below your belly button). Rub your hands together briskly and give yourself a quick facial massage.
• Attend appropriately to whatever has demanded your attention.
• As quickly as you are safely able to do so – have an energy flow and finish off your practice as normal.

As previously mentioned the side affects of disruption to your Chi Kung practice can be quite severe. But the ‘cure’ to this is simple when you know how. Re-read this article a few times to make sure you know what to do next time an unexpected disturbance happens next to where you’re practicing!

Kind regards

Marcus

So, with that in mind, here’s a ‘Blueprint‘ for success with Chi Kung. 7 essential components that will allow anyone to gain the benefits of Chi Kung as quickly and as easily as possible.

1) Learn from the best Chi Kung teacher you can find – I know. I am the author of a book on Chi Kung and have created the most comprehensive 22 week online Chi Kung home study course. And here I am telling you to find the best teacher you can find.

The simple fact is that the best way to learn Chi Kung is directly from a Chi Kung master, or at the very least a competent instructor. Books, DVD’s and online courses can be great reference tools, but they are poor substitutes for a real ‘in the flesh’ teacher. I wrote an article: How To Find A Great Qigong Teacher which has more details that will help you in your search.

2) Make sure you are practicing Chi Kung and not Chi Kung form – I’ve written quite a lot on this, but it is of vital importance. If you practice swimming you will gain the skill of swimming. But you will not gain the art of cycling. Obvious.

If you practice Chi Kung form, you will gain the skill of Chi Kung form and the benefits of practicing Chi Kung form – i.e. gentle exercise, stretching, increased blood flow etc.

But you will not gain the skills of Chi Kung.

You will only gain the skills of Chi Kung by practicing Chi Kung. Obvious.

3) The 3 Core skills – To succeed with Chi Kung you must practice Chi Kung and Chi Kung consists of these 3 core skills:

1. A Chi Kung State of Mind – a heightened state of consciousness, at it’s lowest level you are relaxed and alert.
2. Energy flow – let go, do nothing and LET.
3. Standing Zen – consolidate the benefits from your practice.

I’ve written a lot on the subject of the 3 core skills of Chi Kung, to find out more please read: The 3 Core Skills of Qigong.

You can be learning Chi Kung from the worlds greatest Chi Kung master in the universe, but without the next component of our blueprint, it counts for nothing. You must…

4) Establish A Daily Practice – The plain truth is that to gain the benefits of Chi Kung (health and vitality, longevity, internal force, mental and spiritual cultivation) you must practice daily. Chi Kung is not something you learn like history.

You do not memorise a list of dates and events. No, Chi Kung is an experience that you must practice daily so that you develop the vital skills of Chi Kung. Without these vital skills, Chi Kung becomes qigong form.
Let’s say you wanted to lose weight, you wouldn’t just diet for a day and then say: ‘phew, thank heavens that’s, that done!‘ – no you’d practice daily.

Because Chi Kung is an art, you must practice it daily to get the benefits of that art. Let’s say you knew all the theory of Chi Kung and TCM, but never practiced a single day of Chi Kung – all that knowledge would be useless to you, until you applied it.

To get the results of Chi Kung you have to practice daily. If you practice for 2 or 3 days, then have a day off, then practice for 4 days and then have 2 days off and so on – because your practice is sporadic, so will your results.

For more information please read: 10 Ways To Set Up Regular Chi Kung Practice.

Once you have established a daily practice habit you need to…

5) Set clear aims and objectives for your Chi Kung practice – if you know what you want to gain from your practice, you are in a much stronger position to reach those targets. The other benefit of having clear aims and objectives is that you can check your results against those you wish to achieve and see if you are moving in the right direction and make adjustments as necessary.

What cannot be measured cannot be managed. You practice Chi Kung because you want some definite, measurable benefit or result. If you do not set clear aims and objectives for your practice, how will you ever know if you are getting the most effective results for the investment of your time and effort?

Here’s a rubbish example of what I mean – let’s say one of your objectives for your Chi Kung practice is to be combat efficient against a boxer in 6 months. If you set this objective and keep measuring your progress against it, you will quickly discover that Chi Kung is the wrong vehicle for you to meet your target. And then you can start to do something about it, like learning Shaolin Kung Fu.

But, if you do not have this level of clarity, after 6, 12, 18 months you would be no closer to realising your target and you would have wasted much valuable time and energy in the process. I cannot emphasize enough that ‘clarity is king‘

Even with these 5 components in place it’s still easy to not get the maximum benefits of Chi Kung. Make sure you keep these two words close to heart when practicing…

6) Relaxed and Gentle – to succeed with Chi Kung you must keep these two ‘magic words’ close to your heart. You must remember that Chi Kung is not western exercise and therefore the ‘mantra’s’ of western exercise like: ‘no pain no gain‘ and ‘feel the burn‘ etc simply do not apply.

Pain is a signal that you are doing something wrong with your Chi Kung practice, feeling the burn is a signal that you over doing your Chi Kung practice.

In Chi Kung your movements are relaxed and gentle, even when punching in Chi Kung exercises like ‘Punching With Wide Eyes‘ from the shaolin 18 Lohan hands, you are relaxed and gentle.

Your breathing is relaxed and gentle.

And any thoughts are relaxed and gentle.

The gritting of teeth, the pushing past comfort levels is simply not a part of Chi Kung practice.

I’ve saved perhaps the most vital component of our success blueprint until last. It’s probably the second most common reason why Chi Kung practitioners fail to get the results they want. And what is this vital component? It’s…

7) You – you must be a good student – As a Chi Kung teacher, one of the saddest aspects I regularly experience is a student – who just cannot follow instructions correctly. I tell them to breathe OUT through their mouth and even explain why and they still breathe out through their nose. I explain that internal force is developed by being relaxed and gentle in their Fierce Tiger Pushing Mountains practice. And they insist on tensing and huffing and puffing.

And yet they practice daily, they are learning Chi Kung, they practice the core skills of Chi Kung, they have set clear aims and objectives for their Chi Kung practice. But they will ultimately fail. Why?

Because they are not a good student. A friend and fellow Chi Kung teacher once defined a good student this way:

• Do what the teacher tells you
• Don’t do what the teacher hasn’t told you
• Respect the teacher

I can’t really improve on that.

Conclusion
Remember, there really is no secret to success with Chi Kung. Just make sure you are practicing Chi Kung (that has the 3 core skills in it) from a competent teacher. That you are clear on what you want from your Chi Kung practice, that you practice daily. Always be relaxed and gentle in your practice and most importantly – be a good student. Then your success is certain.

Follow the 7 steps outlined in the success blue print and I think the next 3-6 months of your practice will exceed your expectations. Enjoy.

Keep this in mind as you read the rest of this post, remember it is just my opinion – not a definitive, carved in stone opinion – which I don’t believe exists anyway.

A question I get many times goes along these lines:

“Can I do more than one qigong exercise during my Chi Kung session?”

The quick answer to this question is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. But let’s dig a little deeper in this post. Here’s a metaphor I remember my teacher using to answer this type of question:

Let’s say a doctor has 3 jobs – doctor, bank clerk, gardner. His income will be much more if he just did the one job as a doctor instead of splitting his time over 3. The job of doctor gives him a much better cash flow.

This is why the results from your practice will usually be less if you do 2 or 3 Chi Kung exercises instead of just 1.

It’s our Scale of Development that’s important. Let’s take a closer look at what that means.

In Chi Kung we usually talk about 5 different ‘levels’ of practice:

1. Medical Chi Kung – overcomes pain and illness
2. Dynamic Chi Kung – increases vitality so we can enjoy our work and our play
3. Intellectual Chi Kung – mental freshness for scholarly, creative pursuits
4. Warrior Chi Kung – internal force for martial artists
5. Spiritual Chi Kung – for spiritual cultivation

Keep in mind that these levels are not mutually exclusive, we could practice dynamic Chi Kung for Spiritual cultivation, but all things being equal we would get better/faster results by practicing Spiritual Chi Kung.

If a person is suffering from pain and illness it is pointless to talk about increasing their vitality. If we have pain and illness we need to restore health and so it would be most cost effective to practice medical Chi Kung. When we have health, we want to increase our vitality to do our work and play better, so we would choose to practice Dynamic Chi Kung.

When we can do our work well, we can spend time enhancing our hobbies – become Scholar Warriors (definition – very successful in public and private life). At the highest level we may work on ‘returning to God’. This is what I mean by ‘Scale of Development‘.

When we practice Medical Chi Kung, a good example being Self Manifested Chi Flow, we use 3 Chi Kung Exercises during our 15 minute Chi Kung session. I’ll point that out again because it’s so important.

During our 15 minute Chi Kung session – whether you are using 3 exercises or 1, your practice still only takes 15 minutes.

So how can we practice 3 Chi Kung exercises during our session and still only take 15 minutes? It’s not by cutting down the number of repetitions, if anything we’ll probably be doing far more repetitions than if we just did 1 exercise during our practice.

No, we perform the 3 Chi Kung exercises as 1 set. At a much faster speed than we would if only performing 1 exercise in our practice.

We start at a slow speed and then get faster and faster. Because the exercises are performed 3 or even 4 times faster there is no way we can co-ordinate the breathing with our external movements. So breathing is what we call spontaneous i.e. you breathe in when you need to and out when you need to.

At this level we are using the ‘form’ to generate Energy Flow, which is why it is considered to be ‘lower’ level than Dynamic Chi Kung where we are using the form and the breathing to generate energy flow.

Of course ‘lower level’ is subjective. If you are suffering from pain and illness then Medical Chi Kung will be the ‘best’ most cost effective level for you.

So don’t get hung up on the different levels, they’re just used mainly so that I can talk to you about the different types of Chi Kung easily. Because their are no hard and fast rules about these levels. The reason being that the key difference, that makes the difference is the practitioners level of skill.

The same technique can be used for different means e.g. Energy Flow, directing Chi to massage the internal organs, develop internal force or ‘see’ God. The important factor is skill.

What this means is that I could practice what appears to be the lowest level of Chi Kung – Medical but my results and benefits compared with a brand new student learning a higher level of Chi Kung – Warrior – will be better. Why? Because I have higher skill.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record I’ll say it again. When it come to Chi Kung it’s skill that is important, not how many different Chi Kung patterns you know, not how beautifully you perform your Chi Kung. It’s your level of skill at entering a Chi Kung state of mind, of letting go and enjoying flowing breeze swaying willows, of standing meditation – that will dictate what results and benefits you get from you practice.

Bye for now

Marcus

Having had a keen interest in Chi Kung and practicing it for over a decade, I have to say I’ve seen this before. I’ll confess that 11 years after starting my serious practice of Chi Kung, it is still not as well known and as widely practiced as Tai Chi, Yoga or even Reiki. Especially when you consider that:

Chi Kung is easier to learn than Tai Chi
Chi Kung is less strenuous than Yoga
Chi Kung requires virtually zero athleticism
Chi Kung doesn’t require any expensive equipment

And it’s all true. I remember joking with my teacher, Chi Kung is the ‘Martini’ of the energy exercise world – “anytime, any place, any where…” remember that advert?

Here’s a quote from a recent Press Release:

“devotes believe this 5, 000 year old energy cultivation system is poised to become the new kid on the block…”

New Kid? Where’s this ‘kid’ been hanging out for the last 5, 000 years? Planet Zog?

Personally I think there is one major problem with Chi Kung, and it’s not that there’s a lack of lycra. It’s that Chi Kung is a process and not an event.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

Chi Kung is the process, while abundant energy, radiant health is the event. People want the event, but they’re not really interested in going through the process. It’s much easier to take a pill, or abuse caffeine.

The Chi Kung process takes time, it takes discipline, it takes 15 or 30 minutes e-v-e-r-y single day. It’s getting up earlier, it’s staying up later than you have to. It’s resisting the urge to miss practice and watch TV instead.

We have been programmed to love ‘events’, but not the processes behind them.

Here’s a quote from a book I’m reading at the moment called ‘The Millionaire Fast Lane’ by MJ DeMarco

“When a 20-year-old sells his Internet company for $30 million dollars, you read about it on a tech blog. The event is lauded and showcased for all to admire. Sidelined is the process – you didn’t hear about the long hours of coding the founder had to endure. You don’t hear about the cold dark days working in the garage. You don’t hear about how the company was founded on credit cards at 21.99% interest. You don’t hear about the founder and his rusty P.O.S. Toyota with 174, 000 miles.”

It’s the same with the footballer who makes big news for landing a gazillion dollar contract, the event (the money) is all over the newspapers, but the footballers process, of late nights, of sacrifice, of repetition is ignored.

The bottom line, whether you want to make a million dollars, be a best selling author, a world class cook, or succeed with Chi Kung is this – if you’re not prepared to go through the process, you’ll never get to experience the events.

Here’s a snippet from a post made at Qigong365 –

“We live in a society of instant gratification, instant meals, instant information, instant on demand TV, instant money – it’s everywhere we look. No wonder so many of us start practicing Qigong looking for instant solutions to our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual problems.”

And yet isn’t it curious that ‘process’ type films like Rocky – his struggle, the trials, his determination to get to the top – are so popular? Maybe watching 90 minutes of someone else going through the process confuses us into thinking that we can also attain great success in a short time? I don’t know. But it does seem to me that successful people in ANY endeavour are not put off by process – or paying the price for the event.

If you’re not allergic to ‘process’, if you’re prepared to put in the necessary time and commitment required then I encourage you to step up and practice Chi Kung.

I believe the process is a tiny price to pay in return for the events Chi Kung has to offer you. But always remember, ‘Qigong is no 30 day miracle cure’.

I really do look forward to some major ‘A-list’ celebrity crediting Chi Kung with their abundance of energy, healthy glow and zest for life. My office is on standby and ready to deal with the tidal wave of new students. It’s long over due in my opinion.

Kindest regards

Marcus

This type of person is just as bad as the person who believes that only western medicine has the answer to mankinds illnesses and disease. They’re both just flip sides of the same coin.

So forget which is best.

A much better question to ask is which addresses the immediate needs best?

For example, let’s say that I am suffering from too much stress and am depressed, personally I’d prefer to practice Chi Kung exercises than take medication. But if I was suffering from some kind of bacterial attack, I’d be beating a path to western doctor. For a fuller explanation why see this post: Chi Kung Healing – Why it works

Sometimes I’m accused of being anti western medicine and this simply is not true. I like to have the best of both worlds. Western medicine is just one way of looking at health, there are others – equally valid. It’s just a shame that too many people believe that the western medical approach to health is the only approach.

In his book 21st Century Medicine, Dr Julian Kenyon writes:

The idea of biological energy is developed to a grater or lesser degree in different therapies, but probably finds its most sophistical expression in traditional Chinese medicine where the energy is termed chi…. It comes as something of a surprise to realise that conventional medicine is the only medical system ever known to man which has no concept of biological energy.

I believe that today, at this moment in time, we are very lucky to be able to benefit from many different approaches to health, vitality, happiness and well being.

I remember watching a documentary on Tui na (Chinese therapeutic massage) in China and was amazed to see that western medicine techniques were being side by side with TCM techniques. There certainly didn’t seem to be any: ‘Our model of medicine is better than your model of medicine…” going on.

Just lots of people benefiting from both.

I’ve always been a fan of having my cake and eating it, embracing the best of TCM and Western medicine, is in my opinion the best way to proceed. We are so lucky to have access to so many healing traditions. Work out what best serves your immediate needs and go for it.

Bye for now

Marcus

Here’s an extract from Deepak Chopra’s book ‘Quantum Healing’ 1989 to set the scene:

Let us say that a doctor takes a patient’s X-ray and discovers a malignant tumor, then a year later another X-ray is taken and the same tumor show up. The doctor is in fact not accurate in calling this the same cancer, because the cells that showed up the year before have been entirely replaced. What he is really seeing is the result of a memory that has persisted, reincarnating again and again in a new tumor.

There is also a lot of information on the Internet that 98% of our atoms change in a year, or that in 7 years all your cells are replaced – but I’m not totally convinced by anything I’ve read on this subject so far. For me the important message here is that of ‘memory’.

I personally believe that what we think about our health and our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual capabilities is of vital importance.

I remember being labeled as Asthmatic at about 12 years old, I was told by medical experts what I could and couldn’t do – and I believed every single word. This wasn’t good for my health and it took nearly two decades to break this belief of who I was and what I could do as an asthmatic.

I find it fascinating that if we get a cut, or a cold for example our body will naturally heal itself. You can see the cut ‘scabbing’ over and the skin knitting itself back together again. Left alone our bodies capability to self heal is remarkable.

Photo by Net Efekt

Your mind is so powerful and can easily get in the way of your bodies natural healing capabilities. It’s one of the reasons why I believe the skill of entering a Chi Kung State of Mind is so vital to success with Chi Kung exercises.

Here’s the point of this post. If you want to speed up the healing, the energy, the mental or spiritual benefits of your Chi Kung practice then you must remind yourself daily that you are doing something that is proven to improve your health, increase your energy, cultivate spiritually and mentally.

And that alone will help you to overcome any ‘negative’ mental imprints you may have. But you know what is even better?

Enjoy your Chi Kung practice. When you are you are entering a Chi Kung State of Mind, doing your Chi Kung exercise, letting go and enjoying energy flow, maintaining cosmic balance in your standing Zen – enjoy it. Enjoy your breathing in, enjoy your breathing out. Enjoy every aspect of your practice.

No matter where you are on your life’s journey, it’s likely you’ve picked up a few unhelpful self beliefs along the way. Enjoying your practice is the most powerful way to overcome them. Remember this next time you practice.

When I say the Root I mean this is the main problem or cause and when I say Branch I mean the symptom or the result of the main problem.

Here’s an example. The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) viewpoint on obesity is that it is caused by hormonal imbalance. Obesity is the symptom, or result of the main problem – hormonal imbalance.

We can go a level deeper here, because from the Chi Kung perspective the Root is always a problem of energy or a malfunction of harmonious energy flow due to blockages in the meridians of the body.

Now the really brilliant part of practicing Chi Kung exercises is that we do not need to know where these blockages are. We generate energy/Chi flow and then let go and LET the Chi flow to the area of low energy = where the blockage is.

I’ve placed emphasis on the word ‘LET’ because too many students try to be smarter than their own Chi/energy! Here’s an example:

I have pain in my knees, so when I generate Chi flow, instead of letting go and doing nothing, I try to be smarter. I focus on my knees (the symptom) – Chi/energy flows where attention goes, so your Chi travels to your knees.

3 months later your knees are even more painful! What’s going on you may ask yourself. Well the answer is simple. Knee pain, is usually a symptom of a malfunction of energy with or to the Kidneys. i.e. knee pain is the Branch but the Kidneys are the Root.

Instead of LETTING your Chi travel to the Root, you have been moving it to the Branch! No wonder your knees haven’t got better.

This is why I advise all my students to ‘Let go and enjoy their Chi flow’. It’s not a suggestion, it’s a vitally important instruction.

Whilst were on this subject, this brief exploration of Root and Branch raises another interesting reason why Chi Kung is so brilliant.

The Grand-daddy of all Root causes is a malfunction of energy or Yin/Yang disharmony, which can manifest as a million and 1 different Branches or symptoms.

If you practice Chi Kung correctly, i.e. you have the skill of Energy/Chi flow and you can let go and do nothing during energy flow – then it doesn’t matter which of the 1000′s of different Chi Kung Exercises available you practice. As long as you have energy flow – that’s what is important for healing.

So why are there so many different Chi Kung Exercises? Well, let’s say you wanted to go to London, you could walk, you could ride a bike, you could drive a car, you could travel by plane. You would choose the best mode of transport based on your needs.

And so it is with Chi Kung Exercises, if you know that there is a problem with the Kidneys then it is most ‘cost effective’ to practice Reverse Hands Bend Waist (a.k.a Nourishing Kidneys) than Second Son Carrying Mountains. Yes Carrying Mountains will still ‘solve’ the cause, but probably not as quickly as Nourishing Kidneys.

Whether you have diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, or any other ‘symptom’, the Root is Yin/Yang disharmony (a malfunction of energy). Energy flow helps to restore harmony and if harmony can be restored fully then good health is the result.

But I must go on record here as stating that Chi Kung is not capable of curing all illness. If an illness has been left treated for too long, or if the blockage is too severe, it may not be possible to fully restore Yin/Yang harmony or harmonious energy flow.

A Chi Kung healer will usually seek to treat the Root, but if the Branch is serious or life threatening then it may be necessary to treat the Branch first.

Armed with this information I’m hoping you can see another one of the many reason that make Chi Kung such a powerful tool for living a healthy, happy and long life.

Marcus

3 Components of Chi Kung

• Form
• Energy
• Mind

Form is obvious; it’s the bit you can see. You can watch a persons form and say: “Oh, they’re doing lifting the sky”. But as we know if they are just doing the form then they are only doing lifting the sky form and not Chi Kung.

Energy – Chi Kung means to work on energy. An excellent way to work on energy is through the breathing. Chi Kung is not the Art of Breathing, but breathing is an excellent means to generate Energy Flow. It is energy flow that removes blockages to the Meaningful flow of energy through our bodies. When we have a meaningful energy flow we have good health, vitality and long life.

Mind is the most important part of this rule of 3 and probably the one I have to work the hardest on. From my own experience I have discovered that one of the best ways to get my mind into the best state to help my Chi Kung practice is through entering into a really powerful Chi Kung state of mind. I’ve found that a good Chi Kung state of mind helps to keep the ideal chatter and static that fills my inner airwaves whenever I start to do “inner work”

Higher levels of Chi Kung like Dan Tien breathing, Small Universe, and Big Universe etc require your mind to focus on specific actions. But for dynamic Chi Kung patterns like those from the Shaolin 18 Lohan Hands and 18 Shaolin Exercises a good Chi Kung state of mind is more than enough to aide you in getting all the results and benefits of practicing Chi Kung.

All high level Chi Kung is a harmony of Form, Energy and Mind or in other words: form combined with correct breathing performed in a Chi Kung state of mind.

3 Treasures of a Human

• Jing
• Chi
• Shen

In the west we tend to think of Total health in terms of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being. In Chinese these terms equate to Jing, Chi and Shen.

Jing – This refers to the subatomic particles that make up the human body. Jing is inherited from our parents and after birth we acquire Jing from “Air” and food. Jing produces marrow (stored in the bones) and creates blood. Jing is vital for growth, successful reproduction and to live a long and healthy life.

Chi – Vital energy that works the body, it is what makes things happen. Chi warms the body, enables it to be nourished, defends it from external pathogenic invasion, and maintains the correct position of organs and blood. Chi promotes movement (keeps us alive, keeps cells dividing, keeps our brain functioning), transports essential items and blood around the body and promotes the functions of all organs meridians and tissues. So you can see why a harmonious strong flow of chi is so vital to good health. You get chi from food, drink and air and inherit Yuan Chi (original energy) from your parents. Shaolin Chi Kung is the best way to make sure you get the most from your chi.

Shen – In the West we would call this Spirit, Mind, Soul or Consciousness and you can see it in a person’s eyes. Strong Shen equals peace of mind and is produced by Jing and Chi and nourished by blood and body fluids. If Shen is weak, Jing and Chi will be weak and need nourishing. Shen helps you to articulate your thoughts, be creative, remember things and is vital for intelligence. Be warned: excessive thinking or worrying can weaken your Shen, leading to mental problems, insomnia, lack of vitality, depression and a lack of “Spirit”.

3 Golden rules of Zhan Zhuang

• Relax
• Relax
• Relax

Zhan Zhuang is a powerful form of Chi Kung for building internal force. Unlike “Dynamic” types of Chi Kung (18 Lohan Hands, 18 Shaolin Exercises) that are made up of a number of different moves – Zhan Zhuang consists of adopting a stance (e.g. Horse Riding Stance) and then holding it for a period of time. So if you get the stance wrong, you get the whole exercise wrong!

Zhan Zhuang contrary to popular belief is not an exercise in endurance; it is an exercise in relaxation. In order to progress with this type of Chi Kung you must: Relax, relax, relax!

3 Requirements of Success (in pretty much anything!)

• The method
• The teacher
• The student

First you must make sure you have the right method. If you want to have a body like the hulk you need to find a method that is proven to give those results. If you want to compete in sparring competitions and you only practice Chi Kung, then you have chosen the wrong method.

So for whatever area you want to gain some (preferably specific) result in, you must do your research and find a method that is proven to give the result you want.

Secondly you must find a master (or at least a competent teacher) of that method and beg them to teach you. Again, you do your research and aim to learn the method from the very best teacher you can find, afford or convince to teach you. This will usually involve you having to travel and make certain sacrifices.

Finally and most important in this Golden rule of 3 is YOU! You can have the best method in the world, the greatest master in the universe teaching you, but if you do not practice you will get no results.

I see this a lot with Chi Kung students, and as a professional instructor who loves the art I teach, it breaks my heart. Great masters and teachers are hard to find, but I sometimes think that good students are perhaps even rarer.

3 Hallmarks of Shaolin Arts

• Simple
• Direct
• Effective

There is nothing else I want to write about this Golden rule of 3.

3 Treasures of Shaolin

• Shaolin Chi Kung
• Shaolin Kung Fu
• Chan/Zen

Shaolin Chi Kung is the art of energy. It uses gentle, simple, external body movements co-ordinated with the breathing whilst performed in a Chi Kung State of Mind, to generate an energy flow. This energy flow removes blockages to harmonious Chi flow and promotes health, vitality and longevity – which are the 3 main aims of Chi Kung.

Shaolin Kung Fu – when performed correctly is also Chi Kung. In that movements are co-ordinated with the breath and performed in a Chi Kung State of Mind. It also consists of many Chi Kung exercises that specifically develop internal force. The aims are similar to Shaolin Chi Kung with the addition that sincere, dedicated practice results in combat efficiency.

The Very Venerable Bodhidharma is the first Patriarch of Chan (or Zen). The aim of this practice is to gain “enlightenment” in this lifetime. It’s practice is deceptively simple: “Sit in lotus position and don’t think of anything” yet incredibly difficult.

3 Core Skills of Chi Kung

• Chi kung state of mind
• Flowing Breeze Swaying Willows (energy flow)
• Standing Meditation

There is a big difference between Chi Kung form and Chi Kung. There are 3 core skills essential for the practice of Chi Kung, regardless of which school you practice.

Probably the most important is a Chi Kung State of Mind – A Chi Kung State of Mind sets the tone for you to get the optimum amount of benefit from your practice.

Think of it as being a higher state of consciousness, the two crucial aspects are that you are relaxed and focused. If you are not relaxed, you cannot let go. If you are too busy focusing on things going on around you, you are not relaxed and you cannot let go. If you cannot let go, then you cannot enter Flowing Breeze, Swaying Willows (or chi/energy flow).

It is Energy flow that gives us the benefits of Chi Kung “Life is a meaningful flow of energy“. When this “meaningful flow” of energy is blocked – pain or illness is the result. The techniques are just the techniques; they are the means to help you get the end result. Not the end result in themselves. It is Chi Flow that restores the meaningful flow of energy and gives you health. It is the continued practice of Chi Flow that increases your flow of energy and gives you vitality and longevity. These form the 3 fundamental aims of practicing Chi Kung – Good health, Vitality and Longevity.

Standing Meditation is the Yin (stillness) to Energy Flow’s Yang (movement). It is vital to “Enter Silence” to bring around cosmic harmony and consolidate your practice.

3 Rules for Practice

• Don’t worry
• Don’t intellectualize
• Enjoy your practice

When you are worried you cannot relax, if you are not relaxed you cannot get the best (if any) results from your practice.

Thinking whilst doing your practice is the equivalent of performing lifting the sky whilst gritting your teeth and tensing your muscles. You just wouldn’t do it. Whilst it is easy to see if you are physically relaxed. It is much harder to be mentally relaxed. Resist the urge to analyse your practice (are my arms straight enough, was that 10 reps or 11?), do not think about other tasks and things you need to do, do not play out fantasy scenarios inside your mind whilst practicing, just relax!

Now is a good time to show you another important rule of 3 before we finish off this one:

3 Causes Of ‘No Benefit’ From Your Practice

• You intellectualise
• You tense
• You are distracted

All of these prevent chi flowing and as we have already discovered it is Chi Flow that gives us health, vitality and longevity.

Now, perhaps the most important rule of 3 in this section is the last one: Enjoy your practice. It’s certainly my favourite. If you find it difficult to stop thinking and worrying during your practice, focus on enjoying your practice instead. When you breathe in enjoy your breathing in, when you lower your arms really enjoy lowering your arms. Think of your practice as your “Sacred Me Time”, time when you are doing something of immense value for your future health and wellness.

I always tell my students to enjoy their practice, and fortunately with Shaolin Chi Kung this is easy to do because it gives immediate enjoyable results like feeling deep relaxation, freedom from stress or worry, feeling mentally fresh and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done something good for yourself.

3 Components of Shaolin Chi Kung

• Form
• Energy
• Mind

Form is obvious; it’s the bit you can see. You can watch a persons form and say: “Oh, they’re doing lifting the sky”. But as we know if they are just doing the form then they are only doing lifting the sky form and not Chi Kung.

Energy – Chi Kung means to work on energy. An excellent way to work on energy is through the breathing. Chi Kung is not the Art of Breathing, but breathing is an excellent means to generate Energy Flow. It is energy flow that removes blockages to the Meaningful flow of energy through our bodies. When we have a meaningful energy flow we have good health, vitality and long life.

Mind is the most important part of this rule of 3 and probably the one I have to work the hardest on. From my own experience I have discovered that one of the best ways to get my mind into the best state to help my Chi Kung practice is through entering into a really powerful Chi Kung state of mind. I’ve found that a good Chi Kung state of mind helps to keep the ideal chatter and static that fills my inner airwaves whenever I start to do “inner work”

Higher levels of Chi Kung like Dan Tien breathing, Small Universe, and Big Universe etc require your mind to focus on specific actions. But for dynamic Chi Kung patterns like those from the Shaolin 18 Lohan Hands and 18 Shaolin Exercises a good Chi Kung state of mind is more than enough to aide you in getting all the results and benefits of practicing Chi Kung.

All high level Chi Kung is a harmony of Form, Energy and Mind or in other words: form combined with correct breathing performed in a Chi Kung state of mind.

***Continued in the next post***