Is Energy Gates necessary before going into San Ti ?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

From viewing Hsing I DVDs, it sounds as if bruce is implying that doing Energy Gates is not a necessary prerequisite to doing San Ti well (as opposed to Tai Chi or BaGua that get a real boost from a good 6 months of E G beforehand).

Am I correct in my interpretation of Bruce’s words ?

Erwan

[Anonymous]

Hi Erwan,

You could go either way.

In this system the nei gung supports the martial arts and the martial arts support the nei gung.

For best results, start by completing the five part Nei Gung syllabus (comparable to elementary school):

Opening the Energy Gates
Spiraling Energy Body
Heaven & Earth
Bend the Bow, Shoot the Arrow
Gods Playing in the Clouds

Then learn the three martial arts for health(Comparable to high school):
Tai Chi Short Form
Hsing I San Ti
Ba Gua Single Palm Change

Then move on to pick one of the three in-depth specializations to reach the full fruition of the study (university and graduate school):
Complete Tai Chi, Hsing-I or Ba Gua systems
Chi Gung Tui Na
or
Taoist Meditation

This is the cycle that Bruce lays out in his books. However, in my experience, each of these topics supports the other. Learning Bend the Bow first may not be ideal, but when you fill in the gaps elsewhere you’ll be glad you did. Similarly if you learn San Ti before Energy Gates, it will improve your nei gung training. So the order you do things is not strict, you’ll be returning to dissolving, breathing, lengthening, spiraling etc over and over and over like it or not.

Good luck and have fun!
J

[Anonymous]

Tanks Jess. I think I’ll continue my daily practice of Energy Gates, however imperfect it might still be, and go for San Ti with all the time I have left…

[Anonymous]

Hi Erwan

from my experience with this material, it seems kinda important to understand what your goal is in your training.

If your goal is to get softer and have your chi flow more freely, well, then your probably gonna want to focus on energy gates.

If your goal is to have your energy and body very connected and powerful, well, then, you want to focus on San Ti.

one of them works on the yin quality of the chi, the other, the yang quality.

personally, I find that some loosening up before I stand saves me a lot of time, I feel like I can get into the practice of standing faster.

My interpretation of bruce’s comment on the video (at seminar) was that if you really want to understand san ti, it’s a big subject, and all the internal pieces of energy gates are also a part of san ti. He just didn’t have the time to go over all those points in detail. That’s one of the nice things about bruce having documented so much of this stuff, we can go back and learn it in our own time, and the class can cover more on the specific topic. the alignments of energy gates are fundamental to all EA chi gung work, not just san ti, as I understand it.

So, perhaps a good question is; what are your long term training goals, and how much time/energy are you going to put towards those goals? from there, you can make a good recipe for your training and growth…

hope this helps, best of training…

[Anonymous]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your answer.

I’d say my goals are to get as healthy and strong as I can, and I don’t want to stop doing Energy Gates as it’s the only thing I’ve found yet that stops my kidney problems (urate microcrystals accumulating) and joints problems (there’s some bad rheumatism running in my family).

Will San-Ti be good for those kinds of problems ?

[Anonymous]

hi erwin

just noticed your reply.

If the energy gates are helping with your issues, sweet, keep rolling with them.

regarding the joints, it’s the pulsing that is going to really get your joints and the fluid moving better, which is what helps them rebuild and stay healthy.
I personally have found it fairly productive to practice the pulsing, that I learned from marrriage of heaven and earth, while I am standing. in fact, I find it easier to pulse when I am not moving my body. not sure if anyone else has that experience, but…
that makes san ti a good place to put the pulsing into it.

as for the crystals, I don’t have any experience improving that problem with chi gung, but I notice that the kidneys are well stimulated with the energy gates swings, so that’s probably a good bet. I feel a very nice movement in the kidney area when I practice the tsuan-chuan of hsing-i, If I had crystal problems, id be playing around with that, as well as lots of energy gates, and id also go nuts on my diet, cause if I understand it, a lot of times, food can be a trigger for that stuff.

best of training, erwan, and I hope all this helps…

[Anonymous]

Hey Richard,
Thanks for the further comments and all the advice.

For my Kidneys, I have no knowledge of Tsan Chuan, so I’ll stick to the moving exercises of Energy Gates, which are doing a great job for me.

Regarding the joints and my rheumatism, I noticed some time ago that I tended to do some form of pulsing instinctively when doing standing Chi Gung (I Chuan), in rhythm with the breathing in and out of the Tantien. I initially did it only in the hands and arms, but after viewing the I Chuan DVD set and having a new look at the old Heaven and Earth VHS, I’ve realized I should work on developping that same pulsing in all the joints. For the moment I’ve managed to include the spine in a general manner, as well as the pelvis to some extent, but I still have problems feeling the pulsing in the joints of the legs (knees, ankles, feet). I take my time… It’s actually one of the parts of paractice that I find the most fun and enjoyable.
Also, I can yet only do pulsing while standing still. I can twist the hands a bit while keeping the sensation of opening and closing, but that’s all. Still got a lot of practice to do

Regarding the diet, I’ve done my homework, double checked with my GP, and now I’ve cut about two thirds of the protein sources I used to eat. It’s a bit of a pain during the Holiday Season. Can you imagine being French and not being able to eat oysters, snails, or foie gras anymore ?

All the Best !

[Anonymous]

Hi All, I hope it’s okay if I pick up this older thread. I completed and am still practicing Paul’s 5 Keys. I have added Bruce’s Energy Gates DVD’s and am working my way through those, spending a lot of time on the dissolving.

I don’t see training programs for the other core elements:
Spiraling Energy Body
Heaven & Earth
Bend the Bow, Shoot the Arrow
Gods Playing in the Clouds

Where could I find these? I’d also like to find a teacher near me in Boulder, CO.

David

[Anonymous]

Hi Howard,

you can see a list of Colorado instructors here – http://www.energyarts.com/instructors/taichi-qigong/usa/co
If you get a chance go and study with Lee Burkins, he’s a great instructor!

Some of the other sets have been covered in the Energy Arts Training Circle. Two of those programs are available here – http://www.energyarts.com/store/products/category/membership

One covers Gods Playing in the Clouds and the other covers Standing in depth. The other training circle programs will probably be rereleased in the future.

Bruce only teaches Spiraling and Bend the Bow at live events.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Trevor! I’ve been in touch with Lee and will plan to get out to the other side of the state to see him soon. I appreciate the pointer to the other classes too. As I continue to practice, I’m realizing that Bruce’s instruction to spend more time on Energy Gates is what I need to do.

[Author]

Posts