I’m posting this episode on my annual summer retreat/vacation/recharge, where I assess my practice and teaching from the past year and plan courses for the coming year. This year, in the midst of big changes at Brookline Tai Chi, I’ve been wondering a lot about the way qigong practice informs your encounters with change in other areas of your life. Of course, I always like to think that there’s a strong connection, but this year everyone at Brookline Tai Chi is truly testing whether the art of smooth change in the classroom manifests itself in real life as well.

We live in a culture where doing more, having more, and working harder are valued above pretty much everything else. This is a dangerous attitude, a linear approach to life that denies the need for rest and renewal. Of course, if you constantly push yourself, you know it will lead to burnout. If you operate as if you have an infinite capacity to do and never rest, sooner or later you will get the message in some form that it is time to slow down.

In this episode of Qigong Radio, I thought I was going to get a report about the Dragon and Tiger instructor training. Yes, the six instructors who joined me for the episode talked about the training. If you missed Maui, you’ll get a sense of what it was like. But they also shared some true qigong gems with us, that I think you’ll be able to apply to all of your energy practices.

From the outside, standing qigong can look calm, peaceful and meditative. On the inside, if you don’t ask yourself these 3 essential questions, standing can be grueling. Your muscles ache, you tremble and sweat, and in burning discomfort you strain to see how much longer you must endure. It doesn’t have to be torture, though, if you adopt the right mindset as you practice.

Over the years, I have learned many different standing qigong techniques from my teacher Bruce Frantzis, but when I practice what he’s taught about mindset and attitude in standing qigong, I’ve had some of my biggest breakthroughs.

We just started summer classes at Brookline Tai Chi this week, which means new students are coming in for the first time and experienced students are coming back after a break. That means there are lots of good questions floating around about getting started, making progress, and the frustrations you encounter along the way. In this episode of Qigong Radio, I hope to address some of those concerns. Specifically, I discuss:

What do we mean when we say we “put our mind inside our body” when we meditate, do qigong, or Tai Chi? Dr. Cathy Kerr helps us understand this question from the perspective of modern neuroscience. In addition to being a Tai Chi practitioner, Cathy is the Director of Translational Neuroscience at Contemplative Studies Initiative and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Brown University. Drawing on a growing body of research from mindfulness meditation, her own work on sensory processes, and ancient texts, Cathy explains these Eastern practices develop your Western brain in areas that span physical health as well as mental and emotional well-being.

The Spiraling Energy Body Qigong set is one of the toughest in the Energy Arts system, so I asked Energy Arts Instructor Isaac Kamins to tell us about his experiences with this practice. In this episode of Qigong Radio, Isaac explains how as a teenager he came to appreciate the counter-intuitive approach that the internal martial arts take to fighting and how the energetic sensitivity he has developed doing Spiraling Energy Body qigong has influenced how he interacts with other people and the world around him, far beyond the martial arts.

The most popular discussion topic in the Inner Form coaching section for April was the question of how to integrate qigong and meditation. The original poster asked, “What are the benefits of doing qigong prior to meditation? I would think that doing qigong before meditation would help to have a deeper meditation practice and vice versa? Is this true ? Does it depend on the set or practice you are doing?