QA with Bruce

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

I love the Standing qi gong course! Your best course yet and it greatly helped me. I have three questions.

1. I have poor circulation in my little finger mainly and my 4th finger. When I sleep it goes numb. When I do standing postures these 2 fingers don’t have proper chi flow. I already tried putting more concentration into these two fingers, more opening of armpits and internal organs, more relaxation and still no result in these fingers. In this situation how would you modify training in postures.

2. Is there a process in Standing postures to correct hand tremors?

3. What can be done in standing postures to get rid of too much false heat in body?

Thank you Sir,

Rob

[Anonymous]

Hello Bruce I am James from Orange Tx. I was very excited about your opening and closing program but feel as though I have ran into a challenge. I am alone without a partner. Does this mean I cant continue with the training as I do not see any instruction if you are alone .

[Anonymous]

Hello James, 

It’s possible to do these excercises by yourself as long as you are sure to fix one end.  Self-practice and self-exploration is a great way to learn!  However, the downside is that you might get lost in the flood of information coming from the body, so being able to practice with a partner from time-to-time and get feedback that isn’t your own is also valuable.

We hope this is helpful.

Warm Regards, 

Energy Arts Team

 

[Anonymous]

Greetings, and Happy New Year!
Ray Pamias here, just wanted to report on my progress with the Heaven and Earth set. I have combined Openings and Closings into my standing practice during my work hours, and am having a great time getting bigger and smaller. This has had the fortunate side effect of giving me energy to function beyond my former limits of pain and exhaustion. You already know that my approach is very hands an and physical in nature, as in you say “do that” and I practice until it is part of me. None the less, I have become more aware of the presence of others around me, enabling me to empathize and connect with greater empathy with others.

Somebody once told me “the kinder and gentler you become the more powerful you will be.”

Somebody else once said “I don’t remember, I practice”.

It never ceases to amaze me how right you were.

Thank You,
Ray

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce:

I incorporate the open close instructions into my daily santi practice. One big obstacle I have is my inability to remain present and focused. My mind is constantly roaming all over the map. When this happens, I notice that my body can’t be as relaxed and settled as it could potentially be if my mind is more present. However, the moment that I snap out of it, and I come back to the present, I am able to immediately relax simply with an intention to do so.

My first question is this. What recommendation do you have for someone like me who have an hyperactive mind and very poor concentration? Are there any tips in Taoist or Tibetan Buddhist meditation and energy practices that will aid one’s ability to focus better?

My second question is regarding the 70 percent rule. I find that my 70 percent changes frequently. On one day, my 70 percent would be doing santi non stop for about 20 minutes before I need a short break. On the other day, it could go as long as 30 minutes. On yet other days, it may go as short as under 10 minutes.

What should I do in this case? If I have established 20 minutes as my 70 percent, should I force myself to do 20 minutes before taking a break every time? Or should that 70 percent be based on whatever my endurance is at the moment?

Thank you

Chen Ting Kao

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce:

I have been doing standing qigong for a few years now. About a few month into my standing qigong practice, I started to do Taoist internal belly breathing without even realizing that that was what I was doing until I encountered your materials on this subject. I noticed also that when I started to do belly breathing, my body starts to pulse and open and close.

I attended your santi seminar in Oxford last fall and switched over to doing santi. As soon as my body started to adjust to this new posture and my muscle is able to better relax, I notice that my body would pulse, and open and close during my santi practice. But this pulsation, opening, and closing happens when I am being presently mindful of my belly area. The sensation is one of relaxing and opening up the tightness in my belly area. When this happens, the areas surrounding my belly area starts to relax too. And this relaxation radiates to other parts of my body until I soon notice that my elbows, joints, and fingers are all expanding and contracting like you taught us to do in open and closing edition.

I guess what I am trying to say is this. It seems from my experience that opening and closing is related to the ability to do Taoist internal breathing. I need to be able to open up the belly area first and then progressively open up other areas of my body.

But if that were the case, then it appears to me that you are teaching us to do open and close in the reverse direction. You start us by expanding and contracting our fingers, joints, wrists, and elbow, and progressively move to other parts of our body.

Please let me know if my observation is correct? Is it possible that all the opening and closing that I said I have been doing by focusing on my internal belly breathing is jsut a figment of my imagination?

[Anonymous]

Beak Hand
Opening the wrist in Single Whip in Tai Chi in Beak Hand.
(at least in Yang, Wu and Chen Styles)
(no other movement in Tai Chi “opens” the wrist joint like Single Whip Beak Hand)

(no Beak Hand in Bagua)

Looks like closing to me.

I understand Beak Hand to be a variation of Shao Yang (Valley).
Here I can see the opening of the wrist.
How can Beak Hand opening be similar to Shao Yang opening?

Tai Chi Session 18 (Old Style Tai Chi Edition)
explains the purpose of the Beak Hand
Relax wrist, Open wrist, Open all the other joints in the body
I’m not asking about the purpose of Beak Hand.
I get yang
I get “peng”
No need to repeat this info.

Qigong Session 02 (Open and Closing Edition; Opening and Closing Qigong)
shows how to open and close the wrist when the hand is extended–not in Beak Hand
looks more like pulsing the wrist joint to me
stage 1: 100%/not 100%
I’m not asking about pulsing the wrist joint or about lengthening in or out
or about bending and stretching the wrist joint.
No need to repeat this info.

How can the wrist be opening when it is bent down?
Looks closed to me.
The tendon on the top of the wrist is stretched (more stress)
The tendon on the bottom of the wrist is compressed (less stress)
To open, the top tendons would have to relax a bit
and the bottom tendons would have to stretch a bit

But in Beak Hand this doesn’t look like it is happening.

Considering that Tai Chi is nothing but Opening and Closing,
this is important

What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce, Thank you for conducting the opening and closing training circle. Appreciate the high level of knowledge and information and the introduction of opening and closing in the various energyarts practices.
My questions are:
1) Can you elaborate on why some people don’t seem to be able to open and close joint easily? Is it a question of age? Is it due to overuse and training creating a different habit on the joint? Is it that the qi is working nicely but the person simply just feel it minimally?. Is it true that after having a good session or period with the workout, the qi sensation slowly becomes less obvious and the person might have no sensation of qi like a beginner? He then depends on his knowledge of qi to guide him in the exercise. Please clarify a bit for me.
2)I don’t have good sensation of opening and closing on the wrist joint, is it most important to persist until there is a very good sensation because that will be a foundation or a start to known what is qigong. Is it that without getting a good feel for it, the later exercise will be more difficult?
3)I have done the facial exercise from the neck and shoulder pain video and now I am learning this opening and closing, I felt that this two exercises are the deepest or cover most thoroughly what qigong is about, compared to all the other neigong element or exercise. Can you give a general summary, a quick elaboration how I can apply opening and closing to other qigong in general i.e. when and in what situation is opening and closing used or applied?
4) I feel that opening and closing is involved in almost everything that is being done in neigong such as bend and stretch, meridian qigong, spiralling, wrapping, central channel and left and right channel opening, and projecting energy through the waist. There are many situations where it seems to be opening and closing, can you help us to understand how we can see it or use it to work on the other neigong.Does it help to have a more general sense of how qi works?
5)I have a question on sinking qi and dissolving qi, although it is not opening and closing, it is still a subject that appears constantly in this training circle or in all neigong exercise. I hope you can answer a little on so many ambiguities that is around this movement. Question topics are, the opening and closing cannot be done without relaxing and sinking qi; sinking qi is through the whole foot bottom; the heel and yongqiang are places for qi going down and up; ankle joint must open to having sinking; sinking is like the whole feet dropping into the ground; sinking qi is directed from the waist and projecting qi is done with the yongqiang touching the ground; taichi breathing is breathing at yongqiang point. How to make sense of this information so that when we stand, we know how to stand and know how to pay attention to the feet when necessary.
Thank you, Bruce.

[Anonymous]

HI BRUCE,

I WOULD LIKE TO COVER IN YOUR NEXT Q & A SESSION TWO GENERAL QUESTIONS I HAVE ABOUT SOME OF THE MATERIAL COVERED SO FAR.

1. INTEGRATING THE VARIOUS WAYS YOU HAVE SHOWN US, OR MENTIONED TO US, ABOUT HOW TO DO OPENING AND CLOSING FOR THE SHOULDERS.

A) I FIND THE TWO YOU HAVE SHOWN CANNOT BE INTEGRATED AND DONE AT THE SAME TIME, CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU SUGGESTED WE DO. IT IS EITHER ONE OR THE OTHER WAY.

I HAVE ASKED YOUR STAFF AND THEIR ANSWER WAS TO DO ONE OR THE OTHER AT A TIME.

YOU HAVE ALSO MENTIONED A THIRD WAY THAT SEEMS TO GO FROM THE NECK DOWN TO THE PELVIS, BUT DID NOT TEACH IT. I WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IT AND IF, IT CAN BE DONE WITH THE PREVIOUS TWO, HOW SO?

2. FOR THE RIBS, TO DO EACH SEGMENT IS EASY FOR ME. TO DO THEM ALL TOGETHER ALSO.

MY QUESTION DEALS WITH BREATHING, WHEN OPENING AND CLOSING.

SO FAR, FOR THE UPPER LIMBS, AS I UNDERSTOOD IT, ONE BREATHES IN WHEN CLOSING AND BREATHES OUT WHEN OPENING. NO PROBLEM! BUT WITH THE RIB CAGE, IT SEEMS TO WORK THE OTHER WAY AROUND: BREATING OUT WHEN CLOSING AND BREATHING IN WHEN OPENING. IT LOOKS THAT IS WHAT YOUR TWO STUDENTS IN THE VIDEOS DO.

THIS WOULD BE FINE IF IT WERE ALL ONE DOES. BUT HOW TO BREATHE ONE WAY FOR THE RIBS AND THE OPPOSITE WAY FOR THE UPPER LIMBS — AT THE SAME TIME?

COULD YOU CLARIFY THIS FOR ME, PLEASE?

IT MIGHT HELP OTHERS WHO HAVE UNDERSTOOD YOUR TEACHING AS I HAVE. IT MIGHT ALSO PAVE THE WAY FOR WHAT IS TO COME NEXT IN YOUR MONTHLY LESSONS FOR THE REST OF THE BODY PARTS AND FOR THE BODY AS A WHOLE.

THANKS,

PIERRE HENRI HUOT

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce!

Loving the course so far!
I have two questions, closely related.
1. Sometimes my joints grind, sometimes they don’t, why? Is my qi not flowing smoothly enough? Am I doing it wrong sometimes and really nail it other times? Or is it just a matter of more practice?
I realize it could be any or all of these. Just share whatever advice you have on this. Thank you.

2. My hands feel very stuck around thumbs, I suspect this is due to heavy computer use, the mouse hand is a little worse off.
So for now I can’t really add shoulders and I do only small circles (vertical and horizontal).
Lately I’ve been experimenting with using my fists and do opening and closings as I open and close my fists (along with other joints of my body).
I have your Santi & Piquan DVDs, and you’ve talked about some qigong where they do just that.
My question is, do you think I should do this adaptation more until my hands release and then come back to circling hands or do both, or just do circling until the hands recover?

Thank you kindly
Peter

[Anonymous]

Concerning Openings & Closings Month 4 – Ribs

How do you open and close the ribs without having it affect your breathing, or should the breath be coordinated with the opening and closing of the ribs?

[Anonymous]

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for your very informative course. Can circling hands and openings and closings help resolve mild scoliosis due to years at a computer? If so, which elements of the practice should be given be particular attention? Thank you.

Best regards,

Barrett

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce

First I want to thank you for the Opening and Closing program. I have already noticed an improvement to my D&T practice in all 7 movements, particularly in movement #4. I am able to feel the flow to/from my fingers, something that I had not felt previously. I am really enjoying the Tai Chi circling hands program that you have provided.

My question is regarding the Intermediate Sessions from D&T movement #1 and Opening/Closing of Ribs

In Month 1 session 12 you instruct us how to condense/close and pull the Qi as we move our hand up the inside of our leg/body while the other hand opens and pushes the Qi down the outside of our body/leg.

In Month 4 you show us how to extend the opening and closing to our ribs, using the 3 circling hands to practice. In circling hands to close, we pull the Qi from fingers, hands, wrists, elbows shoulders closing the ribs before reversing the process. A chain reaction.

In Month 4 session 13, I believe you say “Hands that are rising ribs are opening”, and “hands that are closing, ribs are closing” What confuses me is that the rising hand pulling Qi up my inside leg is doing so by closing. I have watched the video more than few times and am not able to reconcile the two statements.

A follow on question here, am I correct in saying that for DT as a hand is moving up we are pulling the Qi up our leg/body and opening the ribs we are simultaneously also pulling/closing through the fingers, hand, arm and shoulder. However for Circling hands the chain reaction is different. We would be closing the ribs as we pull Qi through our hands and along arms shoulders and ribs.

I want to thank you for taking the time to respond and apologize if I have erred in paraphrasing or summarizing your content.

Sincerely

Jonathan Dovev

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for the continuing instruction, and especially for the reminders to feel what’s happening inside instead of visualizing what you think should be happening.

By Opening and Closing hands-wrists-elbows-shoulders-ribs to start my daily meditation practice, I’m finding it easier to maintain my focus because I can actually feel what’s happening in my upper torso during inhalation & exhalation. While I’m feeling this internal energy progression in my upper body, should I also be searching to feel a more complete circular flow of qi corresponding to the microcosmic orbit?

If so, can you speak to how Opening and Closing the joints (and lower tantien) relates to a deeper meditative practice and development of an awareness of qi flow via the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits?

Thanks again for helping us understand more about how to grow into our potential as spiritual beings.

Chuck

[Anonymous]

Not a question, but id find a manual useful. Diagrams with joints opening in their planes in the circling hand exercises energy flows etc.

[Author]

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