If you read last week's post on standing qigong and the Energy Gates book, or better yet, you can stand comfortably "just feeling" for 15-20 minutes, you're probably ready to embark on the downward dissolving process.

This week, I want to help you get started.

I recorded a guided practice mp3 to get you through the first workout in the Energy Gates series: Feeling the Gate at the Crown of the Head.

Remember, in this phase, you want each practice session to have a clear structure, so that you release stuck energy in a systematic way. Here is my advice from the last post on "the form" of an Energy Gates standing session:

For example, in week 1, it could look like this:

• Settle In - 5 minutes
• Feel the Crown of the Head - 5 minutes
• Scan Down through the Body - 3 minutes
• Storing Chi - 2 minutes

But week 11 would look something like:

• Settle In - 5 minutes
• Feel from the Crown of the Head down to the Solar Plexus - 5 minutes
• Feel the Solar Plexus - 8 minutes
• Scan Down through the Rest of the Body - 5 minutes
• Storing Chi - 2 minutes

In other words, you should spend a substantial amount of time on whatever gate is the "gate of the week." However, your practice session should always start with settling, finish with gathering, and have an easy flow down to the "gate of the week" and then from the "gate of the week" down into the ground after the main focus time.

You'll notice that as you go through the process of the gates, your standing time can go from 15-20 minutes during the first few weeks up to 45-60 minutes towards the end of the process. If you can only manage 15-20 minutes and slowly adding more feels like too much of a strain, I recommend that you stick with the feeling method and not worry about the gates.

Of course, if you're just setting out on this process, you're probably thinking, "how am I supposed to be relaxed, feel into my body, and become more sensitive to my chi if I have to remember all these details??"

That is exactly why I created this follow-along audio practice.

Check it out and let me know how it goes!