QA with Bruce

[Anonymous]

Warmup and closing sequence in Gods Chi Gung

First I want to thank you again for teaching this Chi Gung set. I find its effects on me are amazing, aven at my basic level of practice.

Apparently in Gods Chi Gung there is no warmup sequence before Mvt 1, as there is in Dragon and Tiger. Neither is there a closing/integration phase at the end. Is it that these functions are integrated in the movements themselves ?

Grateful regards,

Erwan

[Anonymous]

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: is there anything in Taoism similar to this. What are the Taoist practices and rituals at the time of death?

cheers

daniel

[Anonymous]

I would like to know if there are any qigong sets or exercises that specifically adress the gout and/or rheumatism-related ailments and afflictions.
Thanks and regards, Dick

Hi Bruce,

I just came acorss and heard your answer to the above question in the qigong session number 9 of the may issue. I’ll concentrate on heaven and earth for a while. Thanks a heap, Dick

[Anonymous]

If I’m sharing these videos with family members (my dad’s watched the qigong set and it would certainly benefit him greatly [though he has some difficulty with the “energetic” stuff being an ardent-westerner] did so with my brother in Japan, but he’s signing up now; “first taste is free” or indeed anyone, loved or otherwise, is the energetic-transmission diluted? i.e. is it detrimental to my practice as well as being a weakened source for any interested parties?
I wanna be fair to Energy Arts, but I wanna spread the word!
What’s noninterference and what’s proselytizing with this?

Also, my mom suffers from diagnosed Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, extreme-pain and migraines. I feel she might benefit greatly from this particular energy arts training circle, but her Catholicism sometimes makes it difficult for her to reconcile how she feels about energy/qi. She’s aware of it but has difficulty, I feel, with regards to Catholic-catechism.
Bruce, you always inject your own Greek-Orthodox experience and I’m wondering how to interest her in it without making it seem like I’m trying to undermine/weaken her faith or, for that matter, convert her to Taoism!?

[Anonymous]

Reference Heaven and Earth Qigong
Hi Bruce,
In your Heaven and Earth Qigong video, you stated that this qigong is good for Liver energy and for moving qi out of the head into the lower dantien.
Do you think it is a good idea to add this practice to my getting ready for bed routine?
Helping the Liver energy should help with sleeping with Liver Gall bladder time being 11pm to 3am.
Also moving qi out of the head should help prevent restless sleeping.
I have tried this out this week and it seems to help.
What do you think?
Thanks
Charlie

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce, I am new to the Energy Arts Training Circle. Appreciate your teachings.
Wondering, if I miss the training in Brighton will that hamper my ability to take in the information given in Maui the following Spring? Is the Brighton training essential to the latter?
Also, how would I know whether the Yang Style Tai Chi is an appropriate form for me?
I am interested in energy and well-being and not interested in martial applications. If it makes a difference I am a fairly petite person just around 60.
Trying to plan to use my time & resources wisely, so appreciate any insight on this.
Thank you!
Suzanne

[Anonymous]

So Bruce, if the seventh body attainment is personal-enlightenment, which is to say, understanding yourself, is eighth body attainment and universal enlightenment mean understanding all and everything?
I would think it would be obviously yes, but I also get the sense that it’s a little more complex than that. That you understand all and everything but not in the same way as you do before passing the gateless-gate of universal enlightenment.
Like, how someone might say “I get you” or “I understand you”, someone who is possessed of universal enlightenment might say, and mean, “I don’t understand you” due to conditions that the person who’s ostensibly not understandable is manifesting. i.e. the person of universal enlightenment gets this person and thus gets when this person is not being understandable.
In this view, what I’m trying to chip away at, is that a static sense of “I understand all and everything” isn’t quite the same as being possessed of that, in which case, you obviously wouldn’t understand said-all and everything if whatever bits were naturally acting uncharacteristic.
You could say you are understanding something by realizing that it isn’t being what it normally is, right?
To put it another way, being a universal-enlightenment know-it-all doesn’t mean you know-it-all, right?

I mean, the Buddha’s awake and all-knowing, but that still follows a naturalness, right? You can’t put the Buddha between an unnatural-rock and equally unnatural-hard place and still expect ’em to be perfect? isn’t this a perfect reason for why Buddhas aren’t just walking around solving everybody’s problems, mundane and cosmic?

Thanks, Cody

[Anonymous]

Bruce

Can you talk more about the 6 Qigongs that were show the original energies of the Tai Chi form.

It would be nice to know what they are and the principal energy each one activates.

This would do for now but hopefully you will define these in detail as we go aong – one each month would be great.

thanks

Dave

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

in the 6th Tai Chi Video you talk about shifting the weight from the back to the middle and then to balls of the feet while raising the hands. Usually before I start commencement (when I calm down) I have my weight more in the middle. So before I begin commencement, I have to get it to the back of my feet first. When exactly should this happen? And do I reverse this movement when I move my hands back and down again? Is this shifting of weight a general principle?

Thanks, Larissa

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce

Thanks for a great set of videos to start off the new cycle.

With both the beginning of H&E and the Yang-style Commencement, I am having trouble integrating the internal and the external. I can feel either the energy between my arms or the rising energy internally as my joints etc expand and it lifts my arms upwards. I can also flip between the two fairly rapidly while the arms are moving in one movement. Is it more effective to focus on one throughout a set (and maybe for a few months’ practice) or to focus on each alternate days or keep up with the “flipping” until both merge?

Also, on the latter part of the beginning of H&E, I need to stretch rather than lengthen to get my hands behind my head, so I lose the energy connection (although it does come back as my elbows come in and I “wash” over my head). What do you recommend: should I continue to stretch until I become a bit looser or maybe is there a simpler exercise I can do to loosen up my arms so that I can do H&E correctly?

All the best

Geoff

[Anonymous]

A Question on Heaven and Earth Movement 1

There is a 3 part bending of the spine during movement 1. I was wondering how far one should bend forward, in each part and in total? How far is too far?

Also, should the hips and/or qua be moving during the bending of the spine parts of the movement?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Question on Commencement

After shifting the weight to the balls of the foot when pushing the hands forward, do you shift the weight to the heel of the foot when pulling the arms back or do you have the weight evenly distributed when pulling the arms back?

Also, when pushing the arms forward do you bring the hips slightly forward too? Do you bring the hips slightly backward when pulling the arms back?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Question on Commencement

After shifting the weight to the balls of the foot when pushing the hands forward, do you shift the weight to the heel of the foot when pulling the arms back or do you have the weight evenly distributed when pulling the arms back?

Also, when pushing the arms forward do you bring the hips slightly forward too? Do you bring the hips slightly backward when pulling the arms back?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Peng and Outer Dissolving

It feels like there is a similarity between Peng and Outer Dissolving, but it’s hard for me to put words on what the difference really is.
Is it normal that they feel similar or am I confusing one thing for another ?

Erwan

[Anonymous]

What is meant by “fist width”?
I see this term used a lot re maintaining space between open armpit and body, or a good distance to keep hands in the etheric field, but… Is it the width of a closed fist as measured across the hand from pinky to forefinger (thus the palm is perpendicular to the distance you are gauging), or as measured from the back of the hand to the first knuckles (thus the palm is parallel to and facing the body)?

[Author]

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