Week 1 How much to practice? Qigong/Meditation

[Anonymous]

I have been practicing qigong for over an hour a day (sporadic periods throughout day in addition to fixed morning and evening practice). I wish to pick meditation back up and establish a consistent practice and am using the 2:1 ratio with 2 thirds meditation and one third qigong. I am now doing far less qigong throughout the day in order to maintain the ratio and feeling the energetic blockages much more.
Would you suggest continuing to cut back on qigong practice and gradually build up my practice time as my meditation periods gradually lengthen? OR would you suggest continuing my regular amount of qigong practice and adding meditation in addition?
THANKS

[Anonymous]

Never mind, I figured out a good pace.

[Anonymous]

Would you mind sharing what is a good pace for you? What month are you, BTW? I think most members have already completed their 16 months. I’m just about to begin month 3 soon.

Jacek

[Anonymous]

Just to volunteer my own experience, Jacek, I find it very important to not try so hard or to exercise the 70% rule.
This is especially hard for me because I always feel like I’m never doing enough. Any practice, for me, is a practice in the 70% rule.
This really cropped up in the TMC where, if I try and do everything Bruce is instructing us to do, I end up doing too much. I really have to self regulate and find out and honestly discover what I can and can’t do.
I’m on month 8 now, but, if I finished when I originally started I would be long done. The thing was I basically gave up and suspended the TMC at month 6. I was just too bummed out that I couldn’t do it all perfectly and I was trying so hard too. But no matter how hard I tried, it was like a sand castle on the beach and in came the tide every time. But, ironically, in retrospect it was because I was trying too hard, trying to do it perfectly without realizing that that was a failure strategy.
My advice is don’t try so hard and be honest with yourself if it really is too hard, it will save you a lot of lost time.

Cody

[Anonymous]

Hello Jacek,

I have only just completed month 1 myself. I’ve done some meditation in the past so I am doing a bit more than the original suggested 20 mins. I find that a rhythm that works well for me is to have a sitting/standing time (2 thirds sitting) in the morning and evening. Then throughout the day in a less structured way I sprinkle in qigong as I find time. It’s working well for now!
Thanks,
Ryan

[Anonymous]

I’ve been meditating for quite a few years and was really interested to read Bruce’s comment that experienced meditators often haven’t started with the basics. So I decided to start the course. I love it! In the past I’ve probably often been over focused and striving to achieve some result with my practice. But I find now that I just follow Bruce’s instructions in a fairly relaxed way and observe. I seem to be getting a bit more presence. I think the course has come at a good time for me. Being a bit over disciplined and over focused is probably a stage we all go through. I guess it’s part of commitment.
Thank you forum members for the opportunity of sharing!
Geraldine

[Anonymous]

Hope you’re all well…

I also had a break recently, I took on too many practices (meditation, tai chi, chi kung and bagua) good lesson for me! And yes, it’s the 70%.

I’m now restarting with month 3 and I’ll be threading more lightly…

I can totally relate to trying to get things perfect. That’s one of the biggest obstacles for me. It makes it less enjoyable. This is something I’ll be monitoring more carefully now – attitude!

Thanks everyone for sharing!

Jacek

[Author]

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