Qi Gong 2 years on

Yay, I have been doing Qi Gong 2 years now.

I have kept up the 8 pieces of brocade and it is very rare to skip a whole day of that. I even do it twice a day sometimes. (I do that if I have flagging energy later in the day, or the first session was not that good - maybe I had not calmed my head enough perhaps but still carried on).

Benefits still to be had are warm hands. Circulation has got better. My room was 14.9 o C the other day and I was not really feeling discomfort. I have had migraines before when it has got to 15 o C and used to turn on heating when it was getting to 17 o C. < So good circulation is a plus then. My Sister had visited from overseas and she had twisted her ankle. I out my hands on her ankle and she noticed that the hands were warm. Good :> I cannot claim I healed her, however. I think ibuprofen helped her swelled ankle, rather.


I also picked up a new routine from a DVD by Michael Cohen. I got this DVD as it was cheap but had good reviews. Amazon.com in fact had so many good reviews I wanted to see what it was like. At first I was a bit skeptical as I am used to working with books where the theory is explained and then I seek out a DVD / video to watch the moves to complement the text. Here I gave it a good go.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gong-Fire-Water-Matthew-Cohen/dp/B000TGL9XC/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1513212556&sr=8-9&keywords=cohen+qigong

This video was interesting has he had 2 workouts. One fire and the other water. They last about 40 mins each so I could not do both. I chose 'water' as I wanted calm rather. I stuck with this and my legs got better at doing his shapes. This tired me but was helping me sleep. I started to recognise the moves in books I saw and this gave me more confidence in the routines. For instance Bruce Franzis's Tiger and Dragon book has moves that looked similar, so I knew these moves must be good; and possibly see where Cohen would have got his insights from. (Cohen's moves seem eclectic from various Qi Gong styles).

Cohen has shapes in his DVD that are like some of the poses from standing like a tree, which I had started out with. I used these and my knees did not hurt. Good. I do not really stand for long time as a tree however but to see some of the poses being re-used is reassuring. Overall my wu chi stance has got better. I know when I am in a good stance and it is having some calming effect on me, I really want to be able to say I can feel the qi moving about but do not want to be deluded. I can feel a fizzing in the hands sometimes when a session is 'good'. (Good means calm head and good breathing, no racing thoughts. NO rushed moves. Rushed moves is like a rushed dinner). I do get a feeling in the dan tien area and when I project the qi or think about moving it to my feet I can get a slight sinking feeling like I am going down a hill fast.

Even if this is just improved circulation and breathing that enough is good for well being effects, I feel. The stances have other benefits that can assist martial art balance.

I bought more books. I got one on the Qi Gong sounds and it came with a CD too. That is for the future. I need to do that properly or not at all. Same with Dragon and Tiger Qi Gong. That book looked very well written with good diagrams. I want the videos too that go with that. Again that needs research and full dedication to do and I have 2 things on the go already, so wont rush in a third routine.

I may take a jpeg of my books so far.

This is a good thing to get into. I should have done this earlier as health and mind are important. The control over your body is always good to get into and even minimal movements are hard to master with breathing and correct intent in the head too. [In fact I now see why in the Standing like a tree book the author  (see post Nov 2015) leaves it a year before you start imagining too, to accompany the moves. Doing all 3 things at once is not easy at all. The cow gazes back at moon with breathing and thought force is the hardest of all the moves I found and always have to concentrate extra hard for that one). Using colours to think and visualise with too adds variety. Green for the liver and dark blue for the kidneys for instance adds something to the thought patterns in the moves. (Each organ has its own colour).

If anyone reads my posts I would always welcome comments.