QA with Bruce

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce

Many thanks for your great videos on Gods. A couple of related questions:

As someone who has not yet learnt the reversed breathing technique, I have experimented with several alternatives. At the moment, I can’t really tell which is the most effective. I would be grateful if you would recommend a method for each of the movements you have taught in the videos so far.

Doing the second movement (the first of the normal set for proficient students), I feel chi moving up from my tan tien along the central channel when I am coming up from the bottom of the circle with palms in front of me and my body rising from the kwa bend. Should I sink my chi along this line, encourage it to rise or just notice it, or yet something else?

Kind regards

Geoff

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

It seems to me as well as according to your instruction that EVERYTHING that comes up in meditation that is NOT emptiness is to be dissolved. Which would make it our task to not become distracted by it and simply follow it consciously until it dissolves or we dissolve it.

Id love to hear your insights.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Anonymous]

Gods question

Hello,

Do the individual movements of Gods Playing in the Clouds have names, the way the seven movements of Dragon and Tiger do ?

Erwan

[Anonymous]

Gods Question,

Dear Bruce,

In Dragon and Tiger Chi Gung, you teach us that when there’s a movement that we feel we need to insist upon, the best thing is to start the practice by doing a set of repetitions of that movement, then do a normal complete set of the seven movements of D&T.
Does it go the same for Gods Playing in the clouds ?

Thanks in advance,

Erwan

[Anonymous]

Sinking/dissolving question,

Hello,

When doing a session of Energy Gates, I do a round of generally sinking the body from head to feet (which takes around 5 minutes) before I proceed to dissolving (which takes much longer). For me it feels good, but is it always a necessary preliminary step or can one go directly to dissolving once one knows how to do it?

Another point on which I don’t feel very clear :
is it necessary to be capable to dissolve the body from head to foot BEFORE one starts working on the gates, or can one train dissolving by working on the gates in sequence ?

Erwan

Erwan

[Anonymous]

I am repeatedly being told to keep the tongue to the roof of the mouth in order noy yo obstruct the flow of the microcosmic orbit. I was wondering if dentures would or could in any way form an impediment to that flow?

[Anonymous]

What forms of qi gong are better for acute vs chronic illnesses?
Thank you

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

Ive noticed that when moving from movement 2 to movement 3 I feel the need to widen my stance ( a little more than shoulder width). It feels like this allows me to keep my dong open when shooting as well as the opening of the kwa.

Then, when I transition into movement 4, I feel the need to narrow my stance (to about shoulder width).

I feel like others may feel the same. Can anyone say what is the correct method .

Cheers,

Kevin Hartwell

[Anonymous]

Gods movement 3

Hello,

Of all the Chi Gung movements I have yet learned, I’m finding movement 3 of Gods to be the most difficult one to perform in a fluid manner. The hardest part for me is the bending on the kwa while turning sideways. I focus so much on it that I tense up and then find it hard to smoothly transition into the opening and straightening phase.
By contrast, all the videos I’ve found of senior instructors performing it are very smooth and circular. My performance feels jerky and not very comfortable.

Do you have any advice on how to make the whole movement more fluid ?

Erwan

[Anonymous]

Children and Chi Gung

Hi Bruce,

My 6 year old daughter often sees me doing Chi Gung (Energy Gates, D&T, Tai Chi) and has been asking me a great number of questions lately. I’ve been reluctant to tell her much, but I did explain to her the very basics you teach in the first sections of the training circle : sinking the eyes, the head, etc.
The way she has taken to it both amazes and frightens me : the first time I told her to focus on the crown of the head and sink it, she answered that it was very easy, and even that there was even a line going down from it inside.She then blew me away by giving me a detailed description of the central channel from head to toes.
Her accounts of energy sensations are both very detailed and vivid. She tells me for example that she feels zig-zagging lines around the central channel, and that the “magic pearl” (the name we give to the lower Tantien) is bright and full of sound, things that I myself have never felt yet.

I really don’t know where to go with her from there.

Is 6 years old a good age to teach children about Chi Gung, or is it too soon and should we let their body do what it does naturally ?
What materials are best for children, and at what ages ?
Is there anything that could be dangerous for them and that they only should be introduced to when they’re teenagers or adults ?

Erwan

[Anonymous]

I have been practicing Energy Gates set daily for about 9 months. With regards to the practice standing, sinking and dissolving can I use San Ti posture rather then the Wu Chi Zhuang (neutral) posture? Or would this disturb the flow and Qi development of the Energy Gates set?

Regards,
Steven

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

In the Longevity Breathing Instructor Training in Crete, you showed a breathing method that will help cool the body. I was wondering if there are methods that will help warm the body. Hopefully the method will help allow someone to be outside in the wintertime without the necessity of having 4 layers of clothes on.

I don’t expect these methods to help much in arctic areas though, but it would be great if they could.

[Anonymous]

Hi Christopher,

Bruce refers to Dragon heating and cooling breaths in his book “Taoist Sexual Meditation”. I highly recommend this book.

Cheers,

Kevin

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce

I have enjoyed learning Gods over the past 6 months, thank you. I am getting to the point where I realise how much can be integrated in it (and also realise that it will be several years before I can do just that!).

Back in November of last year just before 3 minutes into the third Qigong video, you mentioned that we start doing movements 1-6 and then move on after several years to doing movements 2-7. In this month’s videos, the final video of the intermediate qi gong section is titled Gods Full Set and finishes at movement 6 with a little upward movement to the lower tan tien (I guess to store the energy there). Is that the seventh movement or will you be teaching the seventh movement at some later stage?

Best wishes

Geoff

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce and thank you for your patience and work on sharing your knowledge. Its been a lifesaver.

Hi Everybody!

I started as a beginner and followed the instructions from opening the energy gates book on sinking the chi from the top of the head and down to my feet or below during a session. In the first qigong segments in this training circle you recommend only sinking to the throat after week 3 or 4 and not mentioning sinking the chi further down. In the meditation book, relaxing into the being, siking can be done on only one part of the body, but any remaining sensatons are to be sinked down to the feet or below.

Im very curoius why the difference in the instructions and are there a reason for it. So far Ive noticed that if I sink all the way to the feet I feel clearer and with more energy. I feel more stuck below my head and the session left me feeling tired when I only sinked my head. This is only observation from a week or two trying to sink only the head. Anyway, sinking and releasing all the way down to my feet have proven me to give me very much in therm of energy and positive emotions during some months of training. Im very interested if you could explain me the differences and what you reccommend me in therm of maximazing the benefits of the training.

Thanks you very much

Endre

[Author]

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