Greetings friends of Qigong! Welcome to the birth of my blog. I admit, I haven’t read very many blogs, so this is a very new adventure for me into the cyber-void. My intention for this blog is to create a platform where people can ask me questions, share their experiences, and health-related news. I plan to share wisdom on the subjects of qigong, intuition, shamanism, herbs, seasonal tips, women’s health issues and whatever else is inspiring me. I receive a large amount of emails and so I would like to use this blog as an opportunity to address some of the common inquiries and popular themes. I encourage you to use my blog to share most of your questions and ideas and only email me if it’s really personal.
I am excited to begin the Water Snake Year by initiating a group Qigong Gong. A “gong” is traditionally 100 days of consecutive practice. By committing to this concentrated practice you will cultivate more Qi (energy), feel stronger, more focused and an overall greater sense of well-being. I just had a student email me saying that she’s been practicing daily since my workshop last spring and is “in love with life and Qigong!” This in an inspiring example of the enthusiasm that we all would like to feel!
My suggestion is to pick an amount of time (15 min. minimum) that you intend to practice daily for the gong. A half hour is ideal, but the most important thing is to choose a time that will realistically fit into your schedule. The next step is to set an intention. Ask yourself what it is that you would like to achieve? (For example: stronger arms, more flexibility, reduced stress, more energy, etc.) As you probably know, the more clear you can be in stating your intentions, the easier they will manifest.
I would also encourage you to choose one form or stance that you resonate with and will focus on. If you don’t have very much time to spend then just choose a stance and set a goal for your time. Begin slowly, with 1-3 minutes, and then build up in incremental steps so that you will gradually get to 10 minutes or more after 100 days. Focusing on a stance is beneficial, since stances build the body’s energy and overall health more than any other qigong. Stances also quiet the mind and liver Hun, which is the spirit of the liver that likes to fly off in dreams and can have a hard time staying rooted in the body. (I will expand more on this topic another time!)
Please feel free to share your challenges, concerns, and pains as well as your revelations and joys with the group. I am really looking forward to sharing this with my new online circle.
We will begin the gong on Monday, Feb. 4th. I welcome you to share your intentions and what you are focusing on during the gong and we can all offer support for each other as a Qigong sacred circle.
Best of luck on your practice!
Great idea, love to join. I’m committing to a stance with the goal of 15 mins!!!
Great! The stances are the best way to build your energy, stamina and overall health. I began my qigong apprenticeship with only one stance and no other exercises. I had to stand for 1/2 hour in the 3 circle pose (similar to hugging the tree stance) in horse stance before Dr. Wang would take me on as a student. It was tough but this is the surest way to commit to your health and qigong practice.
As the I Ching says “Perseverance furthers”! Good luck!
Deborah i
Iam commiting toa stance for 20 mins a day.to do each morn when wakingwhen i dont have an early start and 2×10 mins when i do.Fond Regards Chris
That’s quite a commitment. Let me know how you do. I like the idea of splitting your stance when you don’t have time in the morning. I often will do it in the morn and afternoon. I find it very grounding and centering for my day whenever I stand.
Cheers to you in Australia 🙂
Because I read your blog Monday evening, I decided to catch up by slipping in a qigong practice that night. It turns out I love qigong at night, in the dark, facing west and more darkness through the window. My intention is to continue with 97 more nights–tree and goddess stances in beautiful grounding blackness. Thank you so much for the inspiration. –May all our footprints pool with love and light.
So poetic! I love your description. I’ve never done stances at night but it is the time of our deepest yin, and the feminine. Let me know if it wakes you up or if you sleep more soundly. Bringing in the night to nourish our goddess essence is an intriguing concept. Keep me posted
Well, it has been beautiful. Some nights, I resist, “Oh no, I almost forgot! I have to do my qigong before I hop into bed!” But once I get started, I just want to keep going. The stances at night are very powerful, and the perfect way for me to shift from day to sleep. I’ve also been practicing Heron — big wings flying through the night. When I finish my practice I am a little invigorated, but just enough to read a few more pages than usual, or stay awake for a tad more of a guided mediation. Once I do fall, it is long, dreamy and very restful. Ahhhh. Many thanks again.
I’m in!! I am committing to 20 minutes/day of QiGong. My intention is for more flexibility and being able to do 20 minutes flowing through different moves without looking at a book or video. I’m still working on committing to a certain stance.
Looking forward to it. Thanks for the opportunity to also work on consistency!
Hi Kathy
No need to commit to a stance…20 minutes of qigong is enough. To practice without a DVD or book will really change your practice where you can feel the qi and allow the mind to rest instead of figuring out the moves. Enjoy!
Thanks for doing this, Deborah. I’ve tried it before on my own, but I always get sidetracked. I’m hoping this cyber qigong circle will keep me committed and motivated! My husband is doing it with me, and some of my friends from my library class might join in as well. I made a 100 Days of Qigong chart to share with my class, if anyone else would like a copy, I hope this link will take you to it: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5s_JPOUDtYsR1JRaWhlOEp1ek0/edit.
I have 3 intentions: 1) to practice qigong for a minimum of 20 minutes for 100 days, then 101, then 365, then 366 days—to infinity and beyond! In other words, to make qigong such a habit that not doing it will feel like not brushing my teeth. 2) At the end of 100 days I want to be able to stand like a tree for 10 minutes. 3) This one is a little less measurable, but at the end of 100 days I would like to feel more aware of my “place in the family of things” (to borrow a line from Mary Oliver). I want to feel like I’m part of the natural landscape, not separate from it. This seems to be one of the subtle things that qigong offers—I’ve had a glimpse or two of it and I want more. Thanks again, Deborah. I look forward to future posts!
Happy Snake year Holli
I love your intentions, especially about becoming a place in the family of things. That’s what it’s all about. I especially feel this when i’m practicing in our beautiful park here in Ashland Oregon with old pine trees, a stream passing through and scents of flowers infusing my being. Animals always come around and visit while I’m doing qigong. Once I had a little fawn sit about 4 feet behind me..I could feel this gentle presence. Of course it’s a challenge to practice inside now..but spring is right around the corner. Thanks for the chart and lending a support to everyone.
Cheers!
Thanks Deborah for setting up this blog and thanks everyone for your inspiring posts! I’m committing to 35 mins. a day (15 in the morning and 20 in the afternoon). I’m focusing on spleen and liver energies, so I’m doing the healing sounds for these and the Qigong spleen walk and awkward stance (I’m up to 2 mins. but they’re really looong mins!). I’m also doing the snake form (or parts of it) and shoulder shrugs. I’ve managed to practice outside almost everyday (with a few exceptions because of rain & snow). I practice above a small cliff overlooking a lake and mountains with geese on the lake and crows (my spirit-guide animals) in the trees above, so it’s really a relaxing experience (except for the awkward stance). (Hi Holli–I see you practicing in red!)
Dana! I’m so glad to hear from you and so glad we are doing this together! I wrote a haiku for you after our last conversation at Kripalu that I never got to share with you:
woman astride bear
teaching her girl-self to ride
neither is afraid
(for Dana)
Thanks so much for the Haiku Holli! It reminds me of the bear dreams I had the year we were at Kripalu (Those were really generative dreams!). It also reminds me of the need to reclaim parts of my ‘girl-self’ right now—the self that felt so much more courageous and fearless than I sometimes feel at the moment. I think those parts are still there; it’s just a matter of cultivating faith that things will be OK rather than fear.
Happy Snake year Dana
Sounds beautiful where you practice. Wish I could join you there. I would just add something for your kidneys like the 6 healing sound or a few moments of breathing healing light into your back. I was recalling our exercise at Kripalu last year and intuited that you need a wee bit more energy and protection there!
Great you’re doing so well.
Yes, I’ve had a bit of soreness in my lower back lately. Building up the kidney energy is slow going for me. I did do the healing sound for kidney today and worked on breathing healing light into my back this morning. I’m eager to see if this helps me sleep better. Thanks Deborah for these suggestions!
Thank you Deborah, and everyone who joined the circle. I love practicing with all of you. Since last May (from Kripalu) dedicated to do the form; now I added the Ren Chong breathing meditation wherever I am, and the sound healing to the organs. I ask and I receive immediate healing, have deeper healing dreams, more light is coming and shifting my structures around and things in my life show up in hours/couple of days later. While the eastern snowstorm was freaking everyone out, I was able to stay collected, calm and relaxed. Felt so good not to have electricity running in the house, so I had nothing else to do just practice qigong! How can it get any better than this?
Q: what form / breathing would be the most effective to shift deep ancestral energies?
Thank you.
Hi Agnes
Sounds like you’ve really deepened your practice. I got relaxed just by reading your experiences! For ancestral healing I’d suggest doing kidney exercises since the kidneys hold our ancestral Qi. If there was sexual abuse then work with the uterine palace and pelvis. My favorite way to heal ancestral energies is through Hellinger Family Constellations. It’s very powerful work that’s done in a group. Check it out online and see if there’s anyone in your area that leads workshops. It’s difficult to describe but a very potent vehicle for ancestral and personal transformation.
I received your DVD just a few days ago. Both my husband and I have been using it and we both love it. We haven’t committed to the 100 day plan but we’re finding a few minutes almost every day. Your presentation is informative, aesthetically pleasing, low key and genuinely inviting.
I do have a question. This question also came up for me when I took Yoga classes. When told to release anger, depression, frustration, grief, etc., I don’t know what to do. For me, those are abstractions, words that don’t conjure up anything. I need imagery. So then I try to picture a situation or person who may be causing one of the negative emotions and try to un-picture it/him/her, to release the emotion. This is cumbersome, confusing, and not helpful. So then I just do the exercise and feel the flow of it. If you would describe what you mean by releasing one of these emotions, I would appreciate it. Thank you for your time.
Hi Marjorie
When you first start qigong, often emotions can emerge while doing the exercises. I’ve had people spontaneously cry while practicing lung qigong who had been unable to grieve a loss. Often images or memories can emerge in dreams or just pop up during the day. Just pay attention and you might notice some things percolating to the surface. You don’t have to feel each emotion while doing the 6 healing sounds. Most often I don’t but I do the qigong to heal and regulate the organ systems. However, if I am angry I’ll do “push the mountain” (on DVD-wood) to release the emotion from my body and mind. It helps me deal with the situation in a more appropriate manner. So just continue with the Qigong, enjoy and see how you feel in a few weeks.
Just read this blog and I feel inspired. The power of the group will provide energy for us all to flow adn swim. The beginning date of this gong is my mother’s birthday, so I will dedicate the practice to her. She insnpires through wisdom, resilience, health, humor, compassion, and persistence. Pal Dan Gum, and some lung releasing is what I will move with. Thanks
Deborah, Can you tell us a little more about the Qi Gong intensive in September at Kripalu. This is really calling me. Love to share Qi Gong with my tai chi students. And they love it too.
Hi Suzanne, I haven’t figured out my Sept retreat at Kripalu yet. I’m thinking of teaching Tiger qigong for the lungs and liver along with a nourishing meditative form to balance the yang aspect of the tiger. If you have a request then let me know. I’m off to Kripalu next week! I always love teaching there–it’s so nurturing and beautiful. Hope to see you in the fall
This is going to be fun. For 2 years I have been teaching Qi gong. My master teacher is Lee Holden. I am an R.N. and teach in a variety of hospital settings. There are not very many Qi gong teachers in Baltimore – I welcome this community opportunity. I have your book and DVD and benefit from your teachings. I practice Qi gong every day. Just like our muscles have a memory for movement I have found that we can develop a “calmness memory” that we can call on in challenging situations. My intention is to continue to create a sense of calm and harmony internally and to leave a “calm calling card” behind wherever I go.
Namaste and much love, Donna Rae Smith