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Hello,
Ive been practicing Dragon Tiger on its own regularly for nearly a year with the help of the instruction manual and dvd. I feel like I know the movements fairly well and am continuously looking for things I can improve on. Im unable to attend the DT event at BTC this year and travelling to seek instruction elsewhere is not an option. I hope to learn the set well enough to be able to teach it to people here in canada one day. Does anyone have any tips or personal experience that could possibly help to refine my DT practice even further?
Kevin
I’d take a look at the meditation practices taught in the book “Relaxing Into Your Being”. Simple stuff, but direct.
Hi Charles,
Thats a great book, I pick it up every now and then; when I do it seems like somehow I always learn something new. Thanks.
Hi Kevin………from my understanding, in many ways the hands are the ‘engine’ of D&T and although the system is very forgiving in the sense that it has been developed for people who are very unwell, it’s effectiveness can be optimised over time. E.g., in addition to attending to the meditative elements, the softer and more relaxed you can make your hands the more sensitive they will become, and the more you will feel what’s going on, and so the more you will be able to attend to aligning your intent with activity. Similarly, the more accurate you can be in positioning your hands the more energetic connection there is likely to be. There are many other attributes that you can hone (e.g., opening and closing) although they are best done under guidance in person from someone who really knows their stuff (unlike me!).
Hi Kevin, I read your post with interest. What do you think of the DT set?
Just a few thoughts:
The tracing of the meridian lines by the hands is always emphasised in D&T, and especially feeling and moving the chi of these lines in the external aura to influence the internal circulation of these same channels.
Have you felt this external aura with your hands? Do you believe that such an external aura exists? If you plan to teach in Canada, how do you propose to get around the sticky problem of explaining this generally alien concept to your audience?
Hi Kevin, this is the third time I have typed this message and it has not got through – these wretched computers.
I read your post with interest – you obviously enjoy the movements of D&T – someone once commented to me that they remind him of the dance of the pink elephants! Ha ha, funny joke, but you have to admit….
But seriously, as it was taught to me, the main emphasis of this practice is the tracing of the meridian lines of the body with the hands in the external aura. By influencing the external qi outside of the body in the aura or energy field, the internal qi of the body is affected, with therapeutic benefits.
Have you felt the qi of this external aura with your hands? Can you feel it as easily as you would feel a table or a chair? Do you believe that such an energy field exists? If you plan to teach in Canada, how do you propose to present this highly alien concept to a generally skeptical audience?
Good luck with your practice, and I would be interested to hear your thoughts, and what is that you are holding in your picture?
Regards, G
Hi Guy, Thanks for your reply.
I can definetly feel qi clearly; and know that it exists. There have been many people Ive met along the way that are either completely unaware what qi is; or its importance in overall health.
Also, educating them that this seemingly alien concept has been tried and tested for thousands of years as a personal health maintenance system. Qi is not a pill you pop or some health gimmick. Its real, its free and its your birthright.
My passion and enthusiasm for qi practices and meditation continues to grow each day.
I see so many people here in Canada that are stressed out, ill and angry to name a few. Tai Chi and Chi Gung are mostly directed towards the 50 crowd generally through the YMCA or community centre. Im 30 and my mind and body feels at its best. There are people of all walks of life that could be benefiting from Chi Gung that are completely unaware of its impact. We all know that Dragon Tiger is great for beginners and I could see directing its benefits towards people through schools, youth groups, resorts, old age homes/clubs, businesses, gyms, handicapped people, moms and dads that are on the verge of a nervous break down and those who are healthy and want to get healthier.
I think it can be come at from a different angle and it is NOT being utilized as much as it could and should be where I live. I want to share my stoke for Chi Gung and be a part of helping people help themselves get healthier.
Thanks for picking my brain, Guy.Thats a brick of Puehr Tea Im holding in my hand. Another one of my favorite things.
Kevin
Hi Kevin, Wow! You sound like a man with a plan, and more grease to your elbow!
Two comments of your’s have really stuck in my mind. Firstly, that this “alien” practice has been tried and tested for thousands of years. For hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, men believed that the earth was flat, and if they travelled too far, they would fall off the edge! In fact, the whole of human history is stuffed full of beliefs and rituals that have been shown, in our modern enlightenment era, to be nonsense.
Secondly, you say you can definitely feel qi clearly and know that it exists. I will leave to one side for the moment that a salesman will hardly say that he disbelieves in his own product.
However, I cannot feel it. Let me tell you, I have attended four instructor trainings over the past four years, and have practiced every single day, yet at this point in time I cannot feel qi, and cannot say for certain that it exists, even though, from my very open-minded view, I can formulate a very cogent and plausible rational and scientific explanation for the existence and nature of this qi.
Furthermore, after all of this, I have experienced no improvement in either my physical, mental or emotional state even after all of this training with a high level master and hours of personal training. So I ask you, if this qi is real and true, why is it so hard to experience? I cannot feel my external aura with my hands. You say you can, but I cannot, so it has come to your report of your experience against mine. What reason do I have to believe you? What real validity does any one’s experience have over another’s? If half of a group claim to feel qi and the other half do not, can one really claim that one group has legitimacy over the other?
G
Hi Guy,
Why is it so hard to experience? I would say that it is a personal question. I cannot explain to you why with all your years of training that you cannot feel your Qi;
I personally do not feel that Qi is necessarily “hard” to experience. I think that people’s experience with qi can be at different sensitivities from both ends of the spectrum. For example, some people who have never heard have Qi have traced with one finger on the palm of their hand and say that they can feel Qi.
I don’t think everyone can feel qi but that everyone can benefit from energetic practices such as Dragon and Tiger Chi Gung; which is known to be a great chi gung practice; One of its benefits being the ability to begin to feel your qi..
From my experience through reiki and chi gung the ability to feel qi has increased with practice but I still consider myself a beginner.
You have every right to believe what you like; everyone’s experience is different and everyone has their own truth.All the best,
Kevin
Hi Kevin:
As a card carrying member of the 50 crowd for about 15 years, I could not let your observations about Tai Chi and qigong go unchallenged.
When I first began studying Tai Chi about 40 years ago, my fellow students and I were about your age or younger. As time went on, the membership in my group aged and the median age of the entire organization aged along with us. Before I left the society, there was much discussion on how to attract younger members since, as you point out, the benefits are potentially there for all who would join.
What should be obvious is that most young people today are attracted to action events such as MMA and acrobatic Kung Fu. Most of the popular internal arts do not look to be as interesting as what fascinates the younger crowd. Also, the concept of spending decades slowly and steadily learning the arts is quite foreign to those raised on instant gratification. Ironically, it is this short sited approach which causes most of the tensions and anxiety you speak of.
I appreciate your good intentions to help your fellow human beings to experience something that has worked for you; however, as one who has spent years instructing others on a strictly volunteer basis, I caution you that the first thing you must do is to train yourself to understand not only one or two techniques but also what motivates people to devote their time and energy to whatever activities they choose.
Beliefs and good intentions, while necessary, are not sufficient.
Hi Joe,
I agree with your statement about the younger crowd seeking the MMA “instant gratification” in martial arts and in the sense of everyday life. Im not out to change the world or convert everyone to Chi Gung enthusiasts. I am however willing to put DT Chi Gung “out there” to the best of my ablility and my aspiration is to hopefully teach it one day if the opportunity arises.
I believe that through my hard work, diligent practice, good intentions coupled with a high level of rigorous training which I have heard Energy Arts offers, I will have done my best to offer an authentic and effective chi gung set to those who are willing and able.
All the best,
Kevin
I am in the learning stage of D&T Qigong and a little confused about Movement 6, ‘Dragon and Tiger pierce Heaven and Earth”. Specifically, “Turn sword fingers to point vertically above your head and simultaneously extend sword fingers of the other hand to pierce both heaven and earth. ” The diagram shows the figure tracing energy path all the way to the feet. Is this a standing movement only or are you supposed to bring the sword fingers all the way down to the feet before the piercing sequence?
“Have you felt the qi of this external aura with your hands? Can you feel it as easily as you would feel a table or a chair? Do you believe that such an energy field exists? If you plan to teach in Canada, how do you propose to present this highly alien concept to a generally skeptical audience?”
I think those are great questions. So, let’s start off with the first one, “can you feel qi?” A few years ago I read the feeling of qi is similar to the sensation of your body moving with little muscular effort and to get a feeling of that sort of motion you can try a simple experiment.
Stand in a doorway and press the back of your hands as hard as you can laterally for around 20 seconds. Then after that time, quickly release your hands from the doorway and allow your arms to rise up. They seemingly rise up on their own due to the deltoid activation.
I believe if you get a feeling like that in any of your qigong be it D&T or Opening or any of the internal martial arts, then you’ve experienced your qi and it’ll be as real as anything you can physically connect.
So that’s an easy experiment you can get across to explain this alien concept in my opinion. Likewise, to get that feeling of qi in your exercises can take a long while. To be honest I didn’t experience that type of motion until I did several hours of dissolving and learning ‘Openings’ under Craig Barnes years ago. Before that I had been practicing jan juang for months on my own without the whole body connection. So, I’m very indebted to Craig for his help. Cloud Hands in ‘Opening’ qigong is very similar in motion to the first movement of D&T and has a similar ‘effect.’
Rich
I think its a bit more complicated than that and depends largely on one’s physical and mental state at the time. A couple of years ago I travelled to Ft. Lauderdale for a weekend Chi Gung course. The very intent to pay for a plane trip and hotel etc raised my expections of what I had hoped to get from this course. Well, the standard opening and closing of the arms and hands for periods of time seemed the most boring experience ever. But on the second day I could not close my palms as the pressure was so great. Almost like trying to push back on a fire hose. Yes Chi does exist, but I think attitude, location and detachment (boredom with a form) is the key. Let the body tell you its getting there. After such, I realised that the hands output a lot of chi but mostly in an unconcious way. In other words dont go looking for immediate results.You start doing the form, and after a while the form starts doing you!!. The body knows best. So get rid of intent and expectations and looking for immediate results, after all our bodies have had many years of abuse and it takes a while for it to get back to a natural state. I now get to tickle people when I touch them with my fingers, its a nice sensation but it didnt happen overnight.
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