I studied Tai Chi for a few years a while back learning direct from someone who studied with Wolfe Lowenthal. I loved it at the time. I wan to learn Qi Gong to see if I can ease some health issues I've been experiencing. I'm looking for a book that's more practical, direct to the postures and how to perform them - what would be the best book for this?

Dear community.

Just this really, I pretty much always manage to practice once a day.I really feel the benefits.

I think I managed two really stressful situations and got myself out of a terrible job due to qigong keeping me level headed and relaxed.

However I still have a stressful job, am a woman in the menopause,I would like to have energy to do 10 minutes when I get home. Often I just lack that extra bit of energy to do it.

Should I force myself try and do it as I get in straight from work?

Advise please, and thanks in advance.

I have a fair experience of qi. I used to practice things like ming mein breathing etc. And i sometimes do qi massage for my neck.

Just wondering did anyone use qi to heal their disc protrusions to such an extent that it was reflected in subsequent MRIs

As the title says; I feel as though blockages occur as pain points on my body, so how might I direct my Qi to clear them up?

Are there any sensations that occur from this?

I've done tai chi before but know little about energy cultivation in Qi gong.

What books easily available in the UK would help me understand the basics?

Currently I do yoqi online lessons. Yoqi's teacher has a mantak chia lineage.

I was kind of obsessed with qigong the last few days and kept moving my energy around for hours every day, while I do other stuff.

But today and yesterday I couldnt do that very much because I was doing tasks that required a bit more focus than usual and, when I resumed my practice, the feeling was so intense that almost threw me off balance while I washed the dishes! I never felt it so intensely, specially when Im doing other stuff while doing it.

It made me if qigong also needs to some rest time to progress, like the gym. Is that true?

That doenst make a lot of sense to me, since qigong is supposed to refine Qi, so you dont spend it during practice.

I've read it's the size of a golf ball or tennis ball, but also that when just starting out it can be as small as like a dot or speck on your finger.

I'm assuming the golf/tennis ball analogy might be more like the size of it's energetic field? Something like an atom with its nucleus and electron field? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I would really appreciate some clarity.

I know some school have different termeonlgies for things. What is it like to reach that level?

I have got into logmen pai traning for about a year and a half. I was wondering if there is similarties between this version of longmen pai and the others. Is there anyone here who pratices the same longmen pai as me? thank you.

When I do Zhan Zhuang, my breathing has become erratic. I’m experiencing involuntary contractions in my abdomen, the back of my neck, and even my eyebrow, which seem to be caused by the way my breath is trying to force its way through internal blockages. This creates a sensation of suffocation, making breathing itself feel almost impossible at times.

​At least it’s not being forced by my own will anymore, but it’s quite intense. For those who have been practicing for a while: is this a normal part of the 'unwinding' process, or am I doing something wrong? ​Thanks for your perspective

Hi everyone,

I’ve been practicing Zhan Zhuang for about a month now. It’s been great for my proprioception, and I’ve seen some very slight improvements in my chronic body asymmetries, but the imbalances are still definitely there.

I’m looking to build a more solid physical foundation to improve my performance in other sports, specifically regarding limb coordination and the ability to throw objects with more power and precision.

I’m curious if any of you have successfully used Qigong to address long-standing structural asymmetries or to significantly improve limb proprioception and explosive power? I’m not looking for a "quick fix," but rather interested in hearing if anyone has personal experience or knows of specific methods that actually help bridge the gap between internal practice and athletic output.

If you’ve gone through this or seen others achieve it, what did your training look like in terms of focus and practice duration? Any insights from your own journey would be really appreciated.

Thanks

I followed the advice given on my last post, and started trying to focus on my dantien while breathing, and also just trying to explore the sensations more. While I dont think I evolved my Dantien that much (Its the only place of my body that I dont feel tingly when I direct it there, I only feel some heat and thats it), I developed a strange side effect from some of the exercises I did.

I'm exploring what happens when I focus my energy on some unusual places :

My testicles get hot and my cremaster's relax (maybe a side effect of rising temperature)?

My eyes just feel pressure and get a little watery, my vision dont improve and I dont get any vision improvements lol

My teeth feel disconfort, not painful, but weird. I cant focus on a specific tooth for now, but Im curious wether or not I would be able to feel the tooth that got a root canal.

But the weirdest thing so far was what happened to my ears . If I just focus on them, nothing happens, but If I try to cycle it in my head, I feel a rumbling noise, as if my ear canals are closing. Some people do have the ability to control the tensor tympani muscle, which makes the rumbling sound, but I never did it before.

Now Im not sure if I just increased the awareness and was able to contract it , or the flow caused it to contract. I still can contract it on my own, the energy needs to flow there, so I dont think its a normal conscious muscle contraction, like when I consciously move my ears.

Hello all,

Can any recommend a good video series to learn yi jin jing? I know that it would be better to find a teacher to learn in person, but I have looked and there are none in my area. If any has recommendations please let me know.

your recommendations for medical qi gong practitioners please, ladies and gentlemen…

Hi, I want to start practicing Qi Gong. My goal is to feel better, reduce my stress, my depression, my social anxiety, have more energy and motivation, improve my mood, be emotionally resilient, be able to cope with life's challenges, get into the flow state, just feel happy and peaceful in my life.

I practice every morning since 1 week. I do 25 min of moving Qi Gong by Jeffrey Chand, and then 10 min of Zhan Zhuang, so 35 min in total. However I can not feel my Qi yet and my hands do not get warm during practice.

1. Should I do longer sessions?
2. Should I practice twice a day?
3. Should I do more zhan zhuang?
4. Do you have any other advice?

I had a qigong teacher (more of a tai chi teacher tha knew some qigong), and practiced the eight brocades and another series that I dont remember the name religiously, along with 30 minutes Zhang Zhuang sessions a day. I did it when I was 17 years old, and developed a heighened chi sensitivity and lost interest.

Im 26 now. Decided to pick it back up some months ago and regained my sensitivity rather fast. I can direct my "chi" to any part of my body and can move around in move it around my body continously, as long it moves in a cyclic way, I cant sharply change its direction. At this point, my muscles twitch quite a bit when the "chi" goes thru . I can also focus so much on a body part that it gets very tingly, hot and sometimes painful. I also feel my some sort of "magnetism" in any part of my body my hand(especially the tip of my fingers) is pointing to when Im focused. I can also feel the heat from some people near me. I can "project" it or atleast feel like Im doing it, but I dont have any idea if it actualy leaves my body since I dont know anyone who can feel chi besides me(there arent many Qigong practioners in my country, and I dont have contact with my teacher anymore)

The thing is Im exactly at level I was when I stopped around 10 years ago, I feel like Im not making any progress anymore. Yes, I can improve the specificity of the points I put my awareness on but the strenght of the waves seems to stop at the twitch/heat/pulsating level. I dont know what to do to improve anymore. What kind of progress should I expect and how can I achieve it ?

This is something I've spent a lot of time looking at, and the gap between what the classical neidan texts actually say and what most modern schools teach is wider than people realise.

The classical position is straightforward. You fill the dantian, the small orbit opens from the pressure of that fullness, the filling continues, and eventually the surplus overflows into the extraordinary vessels and the macrocosmic orbit. No separate technique is needed for each vessel. The opening is a consequence of abundance.

Zhang Boduan's Bamai jing states it plainly: all people possess the eight extraordinary vessels, but in ordinary people they remain closed. Only the immortals open them, driving them with the yang qi. It names the agent, the accumulated yang qi, but no method for each vessel individually. It then adds that once this source stirs, all the vessels open through together. Not one at a time. Together, from a single abundance.

The Xingming guizhi describes the same principle as a cascade: rest the spirit in the lower centre, and over time the original qi fills daily. When the spirit is vigorous the qi flows, when the qi flows the blood harmonises, when the blood harmonises the bones grow strong, when the bones grow strong the marrow fills. Each level fills as a consequence of the one before it. The practitioner's only task is the first clause: rest the spirit here. Everything else is overflow.

The modern schools do something very different. They bring the extraordinary vessels forward and work them directly, often early in the training, with specific breathing patterns, guided routes through the channels, and step-by-step instructions for each pathway. The belt channel gets rotation exercises. The central channel gets vertical breathing along the core. The heel vessels get guided awareness rising from the ankles. The governing vessel gets spinal wave sequences. These are treated as practices in their own right rather than as openings that arrive from fullness.

These methods appear abundantly in modern practice manuals but not in the classical source texts. The classics name no distinct technique for the macrocosmic orbit and describe the opening of the vessels only as a consequence of abundance.

Considering the supposedly unmistakable signs of the greater medicine forming and the lack of people experiencing this in a safe and natural way.

The signs are:

the dantian blazing with fire
both kidneys boiling like soup
eyes emitting golden light
wind rising behind the ears
eagle crying behind the brain
body surging, nose twitching

Zhang Sanfeng's describes it as a thunderclap shaking heaven. Shao Kangjie: Suddenly at midnight a clap of thunder, and ten thousand gates open one after another. Zhong Liquan: The accomplished one gathers the precelestial qi, and one night the thunder does not stop.

The Wuzhen pian uses the character for lightning directly: the lightning of Kan roasts and thunders in the place of metal and water.

A practitioner account from Zhao Bichen's lineage describes the experience as: the whole body like ants crawling, then suddenly the dantian heats up and the whole body goes tingling and numb.

Any of you guys already working on the middle dantian or upper dantian experience the production of the greater medicine as explained in the classics before starting with them?

Have you also practiced any kind of Tibetan Yoga, like Trul Khor, Tsa Lung or the Five Tibetan Rites? How did you feel compared to Qigong?

I have a problem that I hope someone on here can help me with. I’m trying to begin Qigong and work towards Neidan exercises, with my far term goal being to cultivate spiritual resilience, fully transform myself with its inner alchemy and increase the natural longevity I inherited from my family. Only… I’m having trouble getting started building my lower Dantian.

The reason is actually kinda embarrassing. See, when I was younger I put a lot of emphasis on mental strength and trying to open my third eye. I had unknowingly been cultivating/building up my upper Dantian. Now that I’m trying to build/cultivate my lower Dantian every time I try to meditate, my attention automatically snaps to the area of my third eye, making it a struggle to direct the energy to my lower dantian. Even more irritating, I can feel this area is active throughout the day even without me focusing on it. I don’t know what to do. Do I just struggle through it?

There are two events the neidan texts describe, the forming of the small medicine and the forming of the great medicine and the physical descriptions are surprisingly specific.

The small medicine is the quieter of the two. The sources describe warmth gathering in the dantian, light behind the closed eyelids, the whole body becoming soft and tingling, wind heard behind the ears , and white light appearing in the empty chamber. These come on gradually during the foundation and small orbit work.

The great medicine is a different thing entirely. Wu Shouyang's Xianfo hezong gives the classical list under the heading of the six roots shaking:

the dantian blazing with fire
both kidneys boiling like soup
eyes emitting golden light
wind rising behind the ears
eagle crying behind the brain
body surging, nose twitching

Zhang Sanfeng's describes it as a thunderclap shaking heaven. Shao Kangjie: Suddenly at midnight a clap of thunder, and ten thousand gates open one after another. Zhong Liquan: The accomplished one gathers the precelestial qi, and one night the thunder does not stop.

The Wuzhen pian uses the character for lightning directly: the lightning of Kan roasts and thunders in the place of metal and water.

A practitioner account from Zhao Bichen's lineage describes the experience as: the whole body like ants crawling, then suddenly the dantian heats up and the whole body goes tingling and numb.

What stands out to me is how physical and violent the great medicine descriptions are. Thunder, lightning, boiling, fire, the whole body surging. These are not gentle meditative experiences. The term su ma, tingling and numbing is the closest the classical vocabulary comes to what a modern person would probably describe as a strong electric current.

The small medicine is warm, quiet, gradual. The great medicine is sudden, forceful, and unmistakable.

Did anyone experience these crazy sensations at the end of stage 2 of neidan / internal alchemy?

This is a set of the basic 18 Qigong exercises but with more focus on appropriate visualizations and techniques for deepening the practice.

https://youtu.be/F95YF_QZnes?si=_Dctitk0rGYlT094

https://youtu.be/IkfydT1mEgM

Edited to add: Thank you everyone for your responses! They are much appreciated. Hopefully I can make this work well :)

Hello. I am wondering if any of you have insight you would like to share.

I am thinking of doing something like "Greasing the Groove" with Qigong movements. Basically taking one movement, practicing it only a few times, a few times each day. And very slowly building a practice that way.

I wonder if doing just one section of some form would end up making me even more imbalanced.

Any thoughts?

For background: I have tried a few times to start up a Qigong practice, each time I end up having some very intense symptoms that throw me out of whack for a long time. A migraine, intense anger and/or sadness, most recently I got very hot and developed a respiratory infection.

Similar reactions occur when I try to start other forms of exercise. I get Post Exertional Malaise pretty easily, I am very tired and very sore for much longer than seems warranted for the amount of effort. I've been going to my doctors, but so far they haven't come up with any kind of diagnosis.

Hey all 👋

I’m not exactly sure why but I’ve been feeling wiped for years..maybe due to burnout and personal and career issues who knows. I eat decently, take walks, meditate, blood work is fine, done therapy, reiki, medication, engage in hobbies, psychedelics…tried what I could. I talked to someone the other day who said they felt some big shifts after working with a qigong practitioner.

Has anyone worked with a qigong practitioner to help rid them of the “drained” feeling? Or worked with them for mental/emotional purposes? I’ve forgotten what it feels like to feel fresh and to have a zest for life. Small disclosure but I haven’t been intimate in quite awhile—years lol—not sure if that also contributes

How does one find a good qigong healer near them? Does remote healing work fine too?

Thanks