Advices needed for a beginner

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Advices needed for a beginner

Postby scooper » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:21 pm

Hi all,

I heard about qigong before but never got into it until now. I had a chance to watch a couple of Dr. Yang's videos and there were a few things I wanted to know more. I did read quite a few posts before making this thread and I knew there are a few that have extensive knowledge of qigong that may be able to help me out.

I'd like to say I want to learn to make my body more healthy. Actually, I don't usually get sick or anything, but I easily get nervous and can get really nervous. When that happens, a lot of time the left side of my chest tighten up and get really painful. If there's some exercise specific for that, please let me know. I really appreciate it.

Okay, here are a few things I'd like to know before I begin.

1) Regulating the body. I know the theory watching the video, but there was no exercises mentioned for practice. Could someone point me to some exercises for that?

2) Deep breathing. Said to breathe slowly and deeply. I'd like to know how slow. Some sites say 6 - 8 cycles per minute for starter and should be 2 - 4 per minute when become good at it. Is that really the case or depends on the person practicing it? Also, Dr. Yang said to inhale and exhale but a few sites suggesting pauses in between. Should I pause?

3) At this point, when I practice my breathing, should I care about concentrating on Dan Tian or finding my two Centers? Or just concentrate on my breathing?

4) I'm also interested in doing the 8 simple qigong exercises for health as was said good for people just getting into qigong. Should I practice this and breathing at once or should I practice one first before another? Gotta mention my physical balance is not very good as I was told one side is a bit higher than the other side. So should I wait until my body is properly regulated before I attempt Wai Dan qigong?

I may have more questions but not until later stages. Thanks a lot.
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Postby dmattwads » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:56 pm

hey Scoop
I don't really feel qualified to answer most of your points, but I can relate to one thing, and that is I primarily do Qigong for my "nerves/emotions". In fact it is the main reason I got into it in the first place. I've found if I regularly do pretty much any Qigong form on a consistent basis that my nerves get rattled much less, and yes one of the forms that has worked well for me are the 8 Brocades.
Also if you are familiar with acupressure at all, you might want to try pressing Pericardium 6 (about 3 finger widths up from your wrist on your forearm in the center) for nervousness felt in the chest, it works well for immediate problems.
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Postby scooper » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:46 am

dmattwads,

Thanks for the reply. I'll give it a try. Glad it worked for you.

Question about 8 Brocades. Are they easy to do for starter like myself? I see that some required your mind leading your qi or focusing on the Dan Tians. Or should I just do the first few until I can feel my qi and found the Dan Tians?
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Postby John the Monkey mind » Thu Mar 25, 2010 4:22 am

8 Brocades is the easiest for people new to Qigong, all you have to do is move and breath as it is external elixir.
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Re: Advices needed for a beginner

Postby joeblast » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:03 am

scooper wrote:but I easily get nervous and can get really nervous. When that happens, a lot of time the left side of my chest tighten up and get really painful.

'embrace the tree' standing is good, also another I found in a little medical qigong book I have is called pulling down the heavens, inhale bringing your arms up over your head, face palms down and bring them down slowly as you exhale, let the tension go out of your chest as you do it.
any good breathing regimen will also help - soften the diaphragm, relax the pericardium and let the heart float freely and gently - the heart "is more buoyant when its happy."


scooper wrote:1) Regulating the body. I know the theory watching the video, but there was no exercises mentioned for practice. Could someone point me to some exercises for that?

2) Deep breathing. Said to breathe slowly and deeply. I'd like to know how slow. Some sites say 6 - 8 cycles per minute for starter and should be 2 - 4 per minute when become good at it. Is that really the case or depends on the person practicing it? Also, Dr. Yang said to inhale and exhale but a few sites suggesting pauses in between. Should I pause?

3) At this point, when I practice my breathing, should I care about concentrating on Dan Tian or finding my two Centers? Or just concentrate on my breathing?

4) I'm also interested in doing the 8 simple qigong exercises for health as was said good for people just getting into qigong. Should I practice this and breathing at once or should I practice one first before another? Gotta mention my physical balance is not very good as I was told one side is a bit higher than the other side. So should I wait until my body is properly regulated before I attempt Wai Dan qigong?

-you'll get a better idea about regulating as you practice
-deep breathing will depend on your current cardiovascular rate, deep will have different meanings as you progress. if you try to go too deep too fast, there is a negative feedback mechanism built into your brain
that will trigger an increase your heartrate, leading to an urge to breathe a little faster. you dont want to give yourself hypoxia, but in slowing down you'll gain more granular control over the individual components.
-get breathing smooth before worrying about the dantien
-dont need to wait to do one before the other, but you might need some practice before being able to do them both well at once.

good questions, good luck!
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Postby dmattwads » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:07 am

From what I understand about the 8 Brocades it was designed as "lay person Qigong" so you can just start doing the movements with out too much knowledge of theory. As you progress and get a better feel for the movements then you can integrate inner visualizations but you can just start 8 Brocades with just doing the movements.
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Postby scooper » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:14 pm

John the Monkey mind wrote:8 Brocades is the easiest for people new to Qigong, all you have to do is move and breath as it is external elixir.


That was my understanding that it is external elixir. But when I read the description and saw qi leading and dan tien focusing, not sure anymore. I was reading about sitting exercises though, maybe different for standing ones.
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Re: Advices needed for a beginner

Postby scooper » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:28 pm

joeblast wrote:'embrace the tree' standing is good, also another I found in a little medical qigong book I have is called pulling down the heavens, inhale bringing your arms up over your head, face palms down and bring them down slowly as you exhale, let the tension go out of your chest as you do it.
any good breathing regimen will also help - soften the diaphragm, relax the pericardium and let the heart float freely and gently - the heart "is more buoyant when its happy."


Those two, I've seen before. I'll definitely try. Thank you.

joeblast wrote:-you'll get a better idea about regulating as you practice
-deep breathing will depend on your current cardiovascular rate, deep will have different meanings as you progress. if you try to go too deep too fast, there is a negative feedback mechanism built into your brain
that will trigger an increase your heartrate, leading to an urge to breathe a little faster. you dont want to give yourself hypoxia, but in slowing down you'll gain more granular control over the individual components.
-get breathing smooth before worrying about the dantien
-dont need to wait to do one before the other, but you might need some practice before being able to do them both well at once.

good questions, good luck!


For deep breathing, I was forcing myself to reach the number they suggested and I found it difficult and not comfortable at all. And some suggest connected yin and yang with the tongue while inhaling and disconnected while exhaling, is that really necessary?

Thanks a lot for answering my questions. That was really helpful. I'll start with proper breathing and 8 Brocades.
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Postby scooper » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:30 pm

dmattwads wrote:From what I understand about the 8 Brocades it was designed as "lay person Qigong" so you can just start doing the movements with out too much knowledge of theory. As you progress and get a better feel for the movements then you can integrate inner visualizations but you can just start 8 Brocades with just doing the movements.


That does make sense. Thanks for the clarification.
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Re: Advices needed for a beginner

Postby joeblast » Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:38 am

scooper wrote:For deep breathing, I was forcing myself to reach the number they suggested and I found it difficult and not comfortable at all. And some suggest connected yin and yang with the tongue while inhaling and disconnected while exhaling, is that really necessary?

Thanks a lot for answering my questions. That was really helpful. I'll start with proper breathing and 8 Brocades.

dont force stuff...not with qigong, breathing, meditation..."be like water, my friend" as bruce lee said.

tongue to the palette connects the two main vessels, mine's almost always there unless I'm eating :wink:
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Postby scooper » Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:14 am

I see. Would it do any harm if connecting the two when breathing improperly?
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Postby joeblast » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:10 pm

breathing improperly? I dont know that you can really...breathe improperly. certain ways will produce more beneficial results, i.e. when things are coherent...regardless, touching the tongue to the palette wont cause any harm.
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Postby Taiji9870 » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:16 pm

Hey I'm new to Qigong myself and am not completely qualified to answer all of your questions, but I felt I could give some input on breathing. From my experience you should breath deeply and slowly, but how deep and how slow specifically is completely up to you. I try to go as deeply and slowly as I'm comfortable with and then go just a bit farther to help build up my ability to breath more deeply and more slowly. But you don't want to be so focused on the breath itself that you forget to empty your mind and relax. Thats the main thing really, just relax and the breathing should find itself naturally.

Hope that helps
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