Duration of 8 Piece Brocade

[Joe Shaer]

On Dr. Yang's DVD for 8 Piece Brocade it states that one can complete this exercise within 15 minutes. However, based on the recommended number of repetitions (24 or 16) and how slow each rep will be performed it seems like it will take much longer to finish the whole set. I am currently doing only ten reps each and it takes half an hour! Am I doing it too slow? can I speed up my reps? How can the set be finished in 15 minutes doing the recommended number of reps?
Thanks
Joe

[joeblast]

Are you trying to get it done in only 15 minutes? You will see more benefit from going more slowly, not that you need every session to be super slow...take your time and enjoy what you're doing if you have extra time, but if you need to get it done in a certain amount of time then you will get an idea of the proper speed for x amt of reps after a while.

[Moon Knight]

My experience, being relatively new to that set too, is that 6 reps takes me about 15 minutes and 12 reps takes me about 30 minutes. So, you're not the only one who is going slow.

I suspect that as practice continues one's flow will become more efficient, allowing for smoother transitions between reps and between each piece. I also think the time (about 2 minutes for me) spent focusing shen in the third eye and then letting the qi settle down into the lower dan tian before beginning can be shaved down with practice.

[joeblast]

The standing set called Xing Shen Zhuang that I do can take me 2 hours, or 20 minutes, depending on how fast I do it. I only do it faster when I'm under a time constraint...and I usually dont have the time to really take my time and do a 2 hr session. But if you keep your awareness focused and pay attention to every thing you are doing, no question about it you will have done a more robust and beneficial session.

I know its tough not to think of it in terms of how long is all of this going to take, but look at it from a different perspective and it takes no time whatsoever, it only takes NOW - and in terms of training, you will progress further and more deeply the more you are living in NOW. Your focus determines your reality - the more you cultivate awareness, the more awake you will become. Cultivating awareness concurrently with cultivating the body will lead to a much more solid body/mind connection, integrated and harmonious.

[darth_freak]

I only do 8 reps and it takes me bewteen 30 and 40mins so i don't think you're that slow...