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.
When you set out to develop your internal energy using standing postures, there are two main ways you can go about it: by feel or by form. Now, there will be a lot of overlap in these two broad approaches, like aligning your body with gravity without collapsing internally and progressively releasing and relaxing as you stand, but when it comes to the role of the mind, form and feel can be very different.
Next month, we’ll be starting a new Energy Gates course at Brookline Tai Chi, focused on Outer Dissolving and working through the Gates of the body. When you work on dissolving the gates, you will inevitably be fighting the urge to: visualize instead of feel “chase” energetic releases, untethered from the physical body wonder if you are really feeling anything at all
In this episode of Qigong Radio, I’ll give my recommendations for avoiding these pitfalls and for setting up the conditions for actual energetic resolution.
We tend to think about our energy level like the money we have in the bank. You wake up in the morning, look in your energetic wallet and say, “I’ve got a lot of energy today” or “Man, I need 7 cups of coffee.” Or, to put it another way, thanks to this New Yorker cartoon:
In qigong, we think about “having energy” a little bit differently. Often, it’s not just how much or how little, but how well is your energy circulating?
Dan standing in New Mexico, not Vancouver (yet!). Do you live in or near Vancouver? Are you willing to travel to refine your Energy Gates practice? At the behest of a few eager Vancouver locals, I wanted to reach out and see if any of our Northwest-oriented readers would be interested in a spring 2014 Energy Gates seminar. Date and exact location haven’t been nailed down yet, but if there’s enough demand, I would love to come out and do some Energy Gates with you.
It looks like Energy Arts is releasing another set of The Tai Chi Mastery Program. This is a short message to those of you who have the program sitting on your bookshelf, collecting dust, or still pristinely packaged: Let’s open it up and get to work! Now, if you’re not familiar with this program, take a look at this: That’s a lot of DVDs! What’s Inside The Tai Chi Mastery Program?
Recently, the question of “should I rotate my spine in Tai Chi” has come up frequently and led to a lot of confusion with some of our students. We are told to maintain the “Four Points” - a sort of internal frame that runs between the shoulders and the hips, forming a box that keeps the spine from rotating or side bending while you practice Tai Chi. Some people hear this rule and think, “
Checking in with one of my favorite sculptures at the Art Institute I was thrilled to be able to share a weekend of Tai Chi in Chicago earlier this month, thanks to Energy Arts Instructor Chris Cinnamon and his students at Enso Tai Chi. Chris just posted an incredibly detailed report summarizing the workshop here. If you read between the lines a little bit, you can come up with some great ways to structure your own practice.
