Do you mix qigong and tai chi during one session?

[Anonymous]

Hello!

Do you practice qigong and tai chi during one session? Perhaps even nonstop, in a seamless fashion.

And do you prefer one over another? Like maybe one is easier to get or gets you more involved.

Respectfully yours.

[Anonymous]

Hi, Yaroslav.

I usually do around an hour and 15 minutes of moving practice every morning. It consists of about 10 minutes of systematically working every joint in my body, from the top down. Then some simple stretching and yin yoga for about 12-15 minutes. Then 20 minutes of qi gong, now either Gods Playing in the Clouds, standing, or Heaven and Earth. Then I do the Wu long form. I’ve come to this format after a really long time of experimenting with various things, refining my practice, and observing how it makes me feel. Works for me.

Best wishes,
Matthew

[Anonymous]

Hello Yaroslav. Sometimes I practice both in the same session, other times I just work on either a qigong set, or a tai chi form, or part of a tai chi form. Which, very much depends upon: energy levels, motivation, time available, current practice priorities, space available, season and weather (I prefer to practice outside) and/or random inclination. I don’t prefer one over the other, and sometimes I’ll ‘glide’ seamlessly from a qigong set into tai chi, other times I’ll take a break between. I don’t find one easier than the other, or one more engaging, If learning a new tai chi form, it can be less demanding on the mind to work on nei gung in a symmetrical repeated qigong movement, however, once a tai chi form is learned I find there is little difference. That said, sometimes I’m happy to spend most of a whole practice session unpicking just one part of one movement or posture. Throughout, I try and honor the ‘70% rule’ and usually stand and settle, sink, dissolve to begin with. Also, I usually incorporate seated meditation on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing!

I’m asking from a position where I have only first bits of heaven and earth and old Yang style form revealed and at this point they appear quite similar.

They have the same tempo, same rhythm of opening/closing and start with similar rising of the arms.

So sometimes while performing another repetition I raise my arms and at the last moment decide whether to carry on doing H&E or switch to commencement.

[Anonymous]

Actually, you have is the complete movement of Heaven and Earth in what Bruce has presented. There are many things that will get layered in the basic movements later, applications of the various nei gung components, but he’s taught the basic movements. So you can do a set of 20 of the H&E movements and that makes one complete set. Obviously, you can concentrate on different aspects of the movement while you train, but you have a complete set already.

With the Old Yang, from commencement to single whip makes a complete subset of the form. So you could 10 of these in a row, without stopping, and get a good idea what it will feel like to do a longer form. If you start facing North, you arrive at single whip facing West. Then if you smoothly move back to the opening position and begin again, a total of 4 times through the form brings you back to facing North. I do it this way so I can get a strong feeling of continuity, without the stopping and starting to reorient.

Anyway, that’s just what I do. I remember when I first started learning a form, for the first month or so you know such a short part of it that it’s hard to know what to practice. You can come up with your own strategy.

It can be really helpful to take a class from an Energy Arts teacher because you can just practice what you do in the class. There will usually be some kind of gentle stretching or short warm up, then some standing or simple qi gong movements, then form practice, then learning the next move, then the form again. So you kind of get a feel for what you can practice just by doing what you did in class.

Good luck with your practice.
Matthew

[Anonymous]

Hello Yaroslav,

Yes,
You do “practice qigong and tai chi during one session.”

All of the above comments are pointing this out.
Each person will combine principles and form in different ways, but like you say, qigong and tai chi are SEAMLESS.

For example:
Month 1 Qigong, Qigong Section, Qigong Session 2
explains alignment.
At 6:20 Bruce explains that the spine must fall into the legs. The emphasis is on dropping down.
At 6:43 Bruce places his hand on Kurt’s tail bone and shows “here” is where the spine drops down towards the knee.
He shows how the arms line up with the legs.

It’s SEAMLESS.
Tai Chi Section, Month 2, Tai Chi Session 4,
Bruce is introducing one of the first movements in the Yang Style Long Form, Single Hand Peng.
He’s repeating the same principle he established earlier in the QiGong Section, basic alignment.
At :37 he shows how the energy goes straight down into the foot.
He says to make sure that there is no tension in the knees.
This point is Cosmic.
No tension.
Resolution of tension when there is a clean line from spine to foot.
He has Kurt moving into Single Hand Peng and keeping this clean line from arms to legs.

Once you can feel this, you know both qigong and tai chi.
At this point of resolution of tension you can modulate the energy around this point: to achieve sensitivity of your and your opponent’s balance/hollows/vulnerabilites/emotions/meditation into stillness.

I just finished a 6 day workshop.
Day One we analyzed a set of qigong exercises.
Day Two we practiced each exercise.
Day Three we spent the first hour doing the qigong exercises.
The rest of Day Three we applied the qigong principles to Ward Off (single Hand Peng).
Beginners didn’t need to know the whole form.
Just one principle: let the energy fall down through the leg.
Do it in Single Hand Peng, just like you did it in the qigong exercises.

By Day Six even beginners were experiencing the power of being aware of that point of resolution where there is no tension and you can modulate/moderate/play with/integrate seamlessly that feeling to all body parts and emotions within your container.

In six days we never went beyond Single Hand Peng.

Neither is easier or harder.
Both can get you very involved.

You’re already seeing how profound this art is.

Bob
Post Falls, Idaho

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Mathew! This makes sense.

[Anonymous]

I practice both during one session if I have the time. My schedule is very busy and prone to change, so I cut my training into modules that I will spread through the day. I prefer doing as much of it in a row, but it doesn’t seem necessary.

These Modules are Dragon and Tiger, Energy Gates standing, Energy Gates “the rest of it” and Tai Chi.

If I can, I will practive the Tai Chi directly after Energy Gates. My Tai Chi is enormously better if I do it directly after. Also, I always try to incorporate Yang Cheng Fu’ principles into Energy Gates, and all the Sinking, Dissolving and Alignment from Energy Gates into Tai Chi.

Lowest Priority is Dragon and Tiger. I do it just because it helps me really fix the physicality of Qi moving in my body – which in turn helps me with Tai Chi. Especially Fa Jin, I have found.

I am not to much interested in the health aspects of it – My other practices I learned before Energy Arts cover this more than enough. I could even happen that I drop D&T soon – when the feeling has become fully integrated.

So yes – you can absolutely combine all these practices, they are just like pieces of puzzle. With your very own personal picture in it.

So much for Energy Arts – it is different with stuff from other school. I found that the effects of other types of Qi Gong do not combine well in training. The Iron Body and internal Alchemy I do for example interfere with my feeling. I have to clearly seperate them from Energy Arts teachings. I can still have the benefits, in the end somehow everything in the body finds its connection, but I have not found any way to combine the practices.

Sorry for the long text, hope my subjective experience helps.

[Anonymous]

It’s still early days but I feel best if I:
– walk 30 to 40 minutes
– do the first four falun data movements three times each
– eight pieces of brocade, three times each
– dragon tiger eighteen times each
– six sun salutations
– heaven and earth twenty times

If I have time to do all of the above first things in the morning then I’m off to a really good start

[Anonymous]

forgot to include santisi, twenty minutes each side before calling it a day. I always fall asleep quicker and sleep better with santisi

[Author]

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