Energy System Too Weak For Standing Qigong

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can help me.

Basically, I have tried numerous times to start a standing practice of the type outlined by B.K. Frantzis in his book “Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body” but I always experience “burn-out” after a very short period of time. After many attempts at this I have come to realise that my energy system is just too weak to do a standing practice. (it just can’t seem to tolerate any energy flow at all!)

I was wondering if B.K. Frantzis or anyone else here has come across this before and knows of any practice I can do to strengthen my system in preparation for taking up energy gates type work in the future.

Any replies gratefully received!
Jim.

[Anonymous]

Since you know what the exercises feel like. Simply try doing them in your mind. Olympic and other pro athletes do at least a third of their training in their minds as they feel every nuance of every muscle moving during meditation on their performance. Taijiquan masters meditate on their performance as well.

You can do the same as you meditate on performing the exercises with more stamina each time. Nei Dan Gung is equally as important as Wai Dan Gung exercises; they are feedback mechanisms with each other.

Remember to take your health supplements too like Ginseng and CoEnzyme Q10.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jim-

I would contact Energy Arts instructor Matthew Brewer here:

http://www.energyarts.com/instructors/taichi-qigong/canterbury/matthew-brewer

Matthew has been teaching Energy Gates in chronic pain clinics in the UK for years and has a lot of experience helping people work up to a full practice, even if their systems are too weak at the beginning. Perhaps he can give you some pointers based on his experience. In my own teaching experience, building up the stamina for a standing practice is tough for a lot of people, so you’re in good company!

By the way, on his site, he writes about “Tai Chi for Chronic Pain”, but the core practice in his curriculum is drawn from the Energy Gates set:

http://www.taichi.uk.com/chrnc.html

Hope that helps as a place to start looking.

Best,
Dan

[Anonymous]

Hello Jim

Dan put me onto your question.

You are by no means the first person to feel defeated by standing.

The problem isn’t that you are too weak to do a standing practice, only that you have been trying to stand for too long. Many people set themselves unrealistic goals when it comes to standing. This is what Bruce calls a failure strategy and should be avoided.

I would recommend standing regularly for no more than a few minutes at a time (maximum five), until it is really easy to do so. If you are not sure what that means, give it at least a month of regular practice. When you feel ready to increase your length of stand add no more than a minute and then allow you system to stabilise at that level before the next small increase. You are only as strong as your last point of stabilisation.

Most important is that you allow the length of time that you stand to vary depending on how you feel. There will be days when your body, for whatever reason, does not want to stand as long as it has been standing. On those days you must do less.

If you push yourself you will build resistance to standing and burn yourself out, which is what you have been doing. The good news is that you know what that feels like. So you can use that feeling to let you know that you have been overdoing it. Look for the very beginning of that feeling and stop as soon as you notice it. But do not wait for that feeling before you stop. That is already doing too much. Ideally you never want to feel even the very beginnings of burn out.

Many teachers hold that unless you do at least 10, 15, 20 minutes of standing you will get no benefit at all. I have found this to be inaccurate. Even a minute of standing has benefit. This is because one minute will eventually lead to two, two to three etc.. Take your time building the length of your stand and try to avoid competing with yourself.

The Energy Gates set is very balanced and each part contributes to the others. Standing and Cloud Hands feed directly into each other. If you do not have access to trained instructor I would recommend just shifting from one leg to the other (the first layer of Cloud Hands) without turning. Do a couple of minutes (maximum) of shifting after your stand. Don’t worry about the rest of the movement until you can be shown the proper alignments. This will help your standing.

Do not be in a rush and you will get there:

Being good at making progress lies in not hurrying,
And being good at reaching goals lies in not forcing one’s way.
 (Wang Bi – Laozi weizi lueli).

Matthew.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dan.

I will email Matthew Brewer and see what he recommends. If it is anything that may be useful to others then I’ll post it on the forum.

Best Wishes,
Jim.

[Anonymous]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks again for writing such a detailed reply.

One other question does come to mind, if you have the time to respond again.

At the beginning of the “Dragon and Tiger” book Bruce says that it is good to practice Longevity Breathing while performing any Qigong set (and even continuously throughout daily life, if possible). Am I right in thinking that this holds true while practicing standing also? Or is this something that a beginner should not be overly concerned about?

Thanks,
Jim.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jim,

Option 1

Learn the physical mechanics but not the energy work of a tai chi style 1st.  This will help ground your energy somewhat and thereby develop a capacity to store it.

Option 2

Focus on Longevity breathing for the same reasons, This however maybe too much in terms of your energy situation, as breath will activate chi. You can avoid this problem if you just keep your focus only on diaphragm and belly breathing within the Longevity breathing system and work with that a while to stabilize your energy.

Stay good,

Bruce

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Bruce.

I have taken your advice and found a tai chi instructor in my area. He teaches Yang rather than Wu style, but I am hoping that will be ok for my purposes.

Thanks again,
Jim.

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