What to think about when doing the form

[Anonymous]

When I’m doing the Dragon and Tiger form I find myself thinking of too many different things. For example, I try to visualize the energy pathways, making the movement smooth, breathing patterns etc.

Is it necessary for me to mentally visualize energy moving along the pathways?

[Anonymous]

Hi Randy,
No, it is not necessary, or even recommended, for you to visualize energy moving along the pathways. Rather, you want to develop the ability to kinesthetically FEEL energy moving along the pathways.

If visualization is helpful to you as a means to this end, it is ok to use it. The best way to do this is to imagine kinesthetically feeling energy moving along the pathways, rather than to imagine it visually. Bruce has described this as “visualizing feeling.”

It is important to make a distinction between “training” and “doing” when you practice. When you train, you pick a specific thing to work on. This may be a particular movement, or a part of your body such as your feet or your forearms, or it may be feeling energy along the pathways.

It is best to just pick one thing to focus on at a time. For instance, one day you could do a practice session where you work on feeling energy along the pathways. The next time you practice you could focus on making the movement smooth. You work on each thing individually until you feel like you’ve got a handle on it.

Then you can try combining two things, and the combination of the two becomes your one thing to focus on. This is the principle of “separate and then combine.”

That’s the “training” part of your practice session. It’s important to also devote some time to just “doing” the set.

During this time you try to relax your mind, and rather than focusing on one part at a time, you put all the parts together. You may not be able to do all the individual parts with the same precision that you could when you were training, but that’s ok.

We will be sending out a Chi Tip email on this subject later this week. If you are not already on our email list to receive our More Chi in Your Practice tips, you may want to sign up so you can receive that email. You can do so through our website http://www.towardharmony.com

I hope this is helpful.

Dan

[Author]

Posts