Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong vs Slower Moving Qigong Forms

[Anonymous]

I have been practicing Qigong for 3 months now, using Terrence Dunn’s Chi Kung For Health, Vol I, Five Standing Meditations (although in 2 of the meditations on the DVD you are actually moving very slowly). Mr. Dunn emphasizes using slow, deep, and regular breathing patterns in conjunction with the movements. I have also been practicing the Shibashi 18 form. I have read Bruce Frantzis’s section on Longevity Breathing in “Opening The Energy Gates Of Your Body”, and I try to incorporate those principles into both of those forms, averaging about a 20 second breath for most of the movements- a 10 second inhalation followed by a 10 second exhalation. One of my goals is to reach the bench mark of a 30 second breath, but I am in no hurry and I am not forcing anything. I am assuming, and of course I could be very wrong, that the best Qigong practice would be the one that allows you to maximize your Longevitiy Breathing, so that the movements allow you to better utilize your longevity breathing potential. I am interested in starting the Dragon and Tiger Qigong set, but I’ve noticed that the Dragon and Tiger Qigong set has a relatively fast breathing sequence, the slowest moving video of Dragon and Tiger on Youtube shows about a 12 second (max) breath cycle, a 6 second inhalation followed by a 6 second exhalation . To me, in my brief exposure to Qigong, this seems too fast for a Qigong set. But what do I know? So I would love to hear someone address this point- the (relatively) fast breathing and movements of Dragon and tiger Qigong…….

[Anonymous]

I would guess 2 things.

1) It’s aimed at beginners so there probably isn’t such a big emphasis on breathing in the beginning

2) Bruce seems to like the “separate then combine” approach where you learn the 16 neigong elements separately then put them together.

I think the fast movements in the swings is more about body momentum moving chi than the typical idea of moving chi with your mind or intent. In that regard it’s easier for beginners to grasp. That’s just how it seems to me. Not really basing that on anything other than face value observation.

[Anonymous]

hi william

ive been practicing and teaching D and T for a while now (9 years), and I have found it to be a very useful chi gung set.

although most of my chi gung training (and i would say the best) has been the EA chi gung, I had an opportunity to study (a little) several other chi gung sets, in particular, the Guo Lin cancer therapy chi gung, which also has fast breathing. in fact, the guo lin set has VERY fast breathing.

when I first did D and T, it really charged me up! I haven’t studied spiraling energy bodies, but I practice bruce’s other sets, and D and T gives me the most active and charged up feeling.

the Guo Lin method felt similar, but WAY MORE ENERGIZING. It was like getting plugged into a light socket. I was very glad to have studied dissolving and standing, otherwise, it would have been way too much.
of course, cancer patients generally have very stagnant chi, so the guo lin chi gung is very unbalanced, to counteract a very strong imbalance.

I don’t regularly practice guo lin, i’ts like eating a habanero. too much! But if I got cancer, id be doing it.

D and T is much more balanced and smooth, but it has somewhat of the same feeling, very activating on the energy. It’s good for folks who need to get unstuck a bit…

I would say that the fast breathing assits in speeding up the energy flow, but also can get people more out of balance if they push it, or are fundamentally “woobly”

Now, bruce has said, and it’s been my experience that it’s not so hard to get a lot of chi going, the hard part is making that massive amount of chi smooth and stable.
I can’t tell you how many people i have met who practice a fire method of chi gung, and they are very, well, let’s just say wobbly. Very out of balance and disconnected from their body and the present. I often see them breaking into fast, kundalini type breathing, and just generally accelerating their energy as much as possible, to their detriment.

some of these folks have come to me for assistance, and getting them to work on any of the energy gates material, getting them to develop the taoist breath, and just generally stop racing towards as much chi as possible, could get them back on track. Chi gung Tui na is also a great tool, it’s hard to get people who have been winding themselves up to start winding down until they can remember what winding down feels like.

So I think that bruce, in his teaching, is focused more on the slower breathing, cause it’s gonna help people make the best/most long term growth. I would also say that fast breathing is good to get things going, but it does not seem to really assist that much in spiritual development. this is just my idea based on my personal experience.

D and T is a chi gung set, it’s designed to quickly and safely get your chi going. the other sets are more focused, seems to me, on the nei gung.

so in short, I think that the D and T has great breathing rhythms, to be used within D and T

that said, in daily life, the deep taoist breathing is much more beneficial, and great material to work into all the other sets, in fact I think they are designed that way.

hope this helps…

[Anonymous]

Thanks Cameron and Richard-very interesting.

[Anonymous]

I have been studying D&T with Bruce Frantzis and Bill Ryan for about 6 years. What I know of breathing in D&T is that its main feature is that the breath is continuous and smooth, without holding at any point throughout the set.
The 2nd main feature is that the breath follows the flow of energy. This leads to different breathing patterns in different moves.
For example, in Move 1 you choose 1 side to synchronize your breath to. You inhale while you move this hand up. You transition between inhale and exhale while this hand turns over. You exhale while you bring this hand down and transition while this hand goes around this foot. This means that the inhale and exhale are of roughly the same length.
In Move 5, having the breath follow the energy results in a different pattern. You inhale continuously and progressively from the time when the hands start moving up the insides of the legs to the time they are back at the lower tantien. Then you let all your air come out at once while releasing all the energy out of your body (hands, arms, armpits, front of the body, legs,…).
This breathing amplifies what the D&T practice does to you (relaxes you, facilitates the flow of energy, balances the 2 sides of the body, helps you feeling the pathways contunuously,…).
There is an intrinsic limit to what you can learn from any CD. Any viewer can see only what he/she knows to look for. If you could take a class or a workshop with Bruce or one of his certified instructors, this would make a big difference in your practice, and clarify a lot of questions you may have about QiGung.

[Anonymous]

Thanks M-H J. The breathing cycles for DT Qigong are definately quite strange to me, but again, that’s because I am pretty new to all of this. I agree about scheduling a session with a certified instructor, books and dvd’s only go so far, as you say.

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