Starting Qi Gong

[Anonymous]

Hi

I’ve been reading several of Bruce Franztis’ books about Taoist meditation, longevity breathing and Qi Gong, and I was hoping I could ask you a couple of questions before deciding if I want to start Qi Gong classes:

Bruce talks about the difference between the Fire and Water traditions in one of his books, and it would seem that the Fire tradition, which he doesn’t teach anymore, is very similar to a lot of techniques that are in use in modern life and that I use for my general wellbeing – things like working out, doing visualisations, and pranayama.

Is it the case that combining these “Fire” techniques with Qi Gong and longevity breathing is a bad idea? Are they complimentary, or can you cause health problems by combining them?

I’d like to try Qi Gong, but I’m not keen to stop the other things that have been helping me.

Relatedly, I’ve read a lot of posts on the EnergyArts forum, and a number of people seem to have had disturbing experiences when they started working with their Chi – headaches are one example example, as is the feeling that they are subsequently unable to settle their Chi. Is this a common issue, or can you point to something specific they are doing wrong?

Any advice or input you can give me on these topics would be appreciated so I can decide if I should go forward with Qi Gong and longevity breathing.

Thanks
Tom

[Anonymous]

Hi Tom,

Water and Fire traditions have different methods for working with qi.
As you may have read in his books, the water method tends to be safer for the general population especially those without close guidance from an experienced teacher.

From my experience, which has been mostly without the guidance of a live teacher, the water method practices that Bruce offers are very safe, effective and the perfect antidote for today’s fast paced hyper yang society. I have also never experienced any negative qi reactions that you spoke of. Water practices for me have been quite the opposite.

I don’t think you need to stop the things that are helping you, you just may need to find out what works best for you and what feels right.
If you dig a bit deeper and give Bruce’s material a shot you may be surprised at how they can help.

Hope this helped in some way.

Kevin

[Anonymous]

Best bet is to try a little, especially if you are attracted to it. If you like it continue. If you like it more than it will start to take the place of ordinary life stuff … because it is simply better.

Water methods are eventually about surrender into the tao. You recognize that it’s not just about little me trying to win, but that life is about co-operation with existence and eventually entering existence, merging with it, flowing with it.

When you stand you flow down into the Earth, eventually it is supporting you and you are no longer alone.

But it happens bit by bit, if ChiKung proves itself to you then you will do more. Simple.

Pranayama : the Indian tradition is going up the spine to illuminate the head chakra … that’s their idea. The Taoist tradition is going down into the deep earth.

Personally I do gentle nadi shodana and also nauli kriya. But beyond that I would not do because it would conflict with Chi Kung.

In my opinion the meditations like Atma Vichara / Mahamudra from India are superior for awakening consciousness, but for everything else including surrender to the source of existence Taoism is superior and the Taoist tradition has many beauitufl and natural techniques.

Whereas yoga is mostly about getting out of here in a brutal ascetic way.

[Author]

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