spontaneous qigong and closing movment

I have found that closing down spontaneous movement is one of the hardest things in the world when one is too open.

I think practicing closing down in spontaneous qi gong is very important, and I really haven't done enough of it for it to come naturally.

I found spontaneous qi gong to be very traumatic for me in conjunction with my psychosis as I would find myself entangled with spontaneous motion of people around me in the street and start to feel like I was being controlled or oppressed.

Spontaneous qi gong is usually recommended for health reasons, releasing blockages in your meridians.

It becomes traumatic when you have a martial attitude towards it, so developing an attitude of love is perhaps the best thing you can do to close down.

Doctoring and fighting are two sides of the same coin, but there is a third choice to simply be.

However other people may be in either one of the two states of doctoring and fighting in relation to you so it is not enough to simply ignore the interaction. One has to love as well.

Thank you.

So I actually gave up on spontaneous movement qi gong because of paranoia about entanglement with other people and responding to their qi.

I know that love can be a shield as I mentioned in the previous post, and I know a simple closing down excercise, buut neither of these are things that I'm particularly good at when the time comes, nor can I do them particularly naturally.

I'd like to know any tips on this as well if anyone is good at it.

Thank you

[sky]

Originally Posted by Che Lazou

So I actually gave up on spontaneous movement qi gong because of paranoia about entanglement with other people and responding to their qi.

I know that love can be a shield as I mentioned in the previous post, and I know a simple closing down excercise, buut neither of these are things that I'm particularly good at when the time comes, nor can I do them particularly naturally.

I'd like to know any tips on this as well if anyone is good at it.

Thank you

' entanglement with other people and responding to their chi '


Never heard of this happening.

Spontaneous movement qi gong makes use of various kinds of qi whose distinctions depend on the idiosyncrasies of the particular school which practices it.

My own school, founded by Dr. Shen Hongxun, who created a system of spontaneous movement qi gong he called taijiwuxigong, drew the distinction between bin qi which is the negative or pathogenic qi which is released during spontaneous movement and other positive forms of qi.

Dr. Shen also created, or rediscovered, a system of healing which he called Buqi which is a bit like Reiki, except the healer draws out the bin qi as well as projecting positive qi into the patient. Buqi practitioners must also learn to be sensititve to bin qi and other forms of qi in order to make accurate diagnoses.

Besides healing, Dr. Shen also practiced martial arts, and he taught the use of empty force t'ai ji which is similar to spontaneous movement, but here the master directs the use of qi to control his or her oponent without directly touching them.

My problems started when I tried to understand the distinction between facilitating taijiwuxigong and fighting using empty force t'ai ji. In both cases the master plays a role. When practicing taijiwuxigong or spontaneous movement qi gong, the master facilitates the sponataneous movement, i.e. creates the conditions whereby spontaneous movement can occur. When practicing empty force t'ai ji, the master directs the movement of his or her oponent.

In trying to understand the difference I started to experience examples of entanglement, whereby I was responding to the qi of complete strangers, through opening up. They themselves were not conscious of it, but I could observe the connection, and I couldn't control either myself or them, merely respond.

In essence it was like a feedback loop whereby all my movements amplified the connection.

The other person or people were also moving in relation to my own qi, but not at my direction as I had no control.

Such sensations of feeling helpless physically are a common first order symptom of schizophrenia known as motor or kinesthetic passivity whereby the sufferer attributes the ownership of their motion to be coming from somewhere other than themselves.

Placing the ownership for me is hard, whether it be internal or external, and if external where in the external world. The school I attended placed the source of spontaneous movement in the earth and advised projecting it up to heaven, in keeping with the Yi Jing hexagram T'ai which represents the perfect balance of life.

However when I was practicing taijiwuxigong, I immediately thought to place the source in the teacher/master, and tried to resist it.

Later I was able to place it in myself, though without feeling much connection to the earth.

Placing it in strangers is a result of being too open to them whilst not having a loving attitude in one's projections of energy, i.e. feeling paranoid or resentful, or trying to be controling.

Of course if one is a martial master then one can use empty force as a stick to move the oponent, but as with all sticks the oponent has the choice in how they respond within the limits of their capabilities or ego.

Anyway, I am steering clear of such practices for the time being as my condition of schizophrenia still means that i get too paranoid, resentful and controling in my relationship with other people when I engage.

Closing down so I am not so open is one thing I would need to master if I did practice it regularly. Not practicing it means that I am more likely to be in a closed state naturally, than if I practice it and open up on a regular basis.

Projecting and producing love is another thing that I need to master if I am to cure myself of paranoid and resentful thoughts of controling other people, which also means letting go of attachments to being judgmental.

I'd welcome any suggestions of practices I could do to enhance these things without opening up as in spontaneous movement qi gong.

Thank you.

[flow.alignment]

Since this is such an old post, I don't expect this comment to be of much use to the author, but figured I'd respond for future readers.

First, to get on the same page, here's what I mean by spontaneous movement qigong:

• Spontaneous movement happens when your body is relaxed and qi is flowing strongly - you can allow the stronger flow of qi to move your body without your conscious control.
• I do not mean just moving your body spontaneously, like in an improvised dance, doing tai-chi-like moves.

The style of qigong I practice involves phases of spontaneous movement - deliberately stimulating a stronger flow of qi with dynamic qigong exercises, then relaxing and allowing that energy to flow freely and move my body.

Obviously, this doesn't last forever - at some point the spontaneous movements stop. Assuming you don't wait for the movements to stop by themselves (which they could), here's how you'd stop them deliberately.

Since the movements are caused by stronger energy flow, in order to stop the movements you want to slow the energy flow.

You can do this in different ways.

• You can use your intention - just telling yourself to slow down a few times and then stop when your movements are calm and gentle.
  
• You can gently focus on your dantian (energy field a bit below the navel) - doing this causes the qi that was previously circulating strongly through your body (causing it to move) to gather there instead, slowing and then stopping the movements.

While doing the above, you can tame the movements by allowing them to continue, but physically shifting so that you become more rooted and upright.

If you do the above the spontaneous movements will stop and you will no longer be doing spontaneous qigong. After that, it's up to you how to end your session.

It's important not to force an abrupt stop to your movements, but let the movements end gracefully. Doing so would stress your energy system and possibly cause an internal (energetic) injury. By "abrupt" I mean physically stopping in an instant. This doesn't mean you can't stop quite quickly - by using your intention, you can slow and then stop your movements in a few seconds.


As a side note, why do this in the first place?

Blockages in the meridians create areas of stagnant energy and low qi. This, in turn, can eventually lead to physical illness.

In the same way that a stronger flow of water can clear debris from a stream, a stronger flow of qi will eventually clear blockages in the meridians.

Normal dynamic/moving qigong exercises consist of movement patterns that stimulate greater qi flow in specific meridians. So in order to clear a blockage with normal dynamic qigong exercises, you'd need to know which meridian is blocked (an acupuncturist could tell you) and practice one or more dynamic exercises that target that meridian.

Qi, like water, naturally flows from high to low places. Places in the body with low qi is where there are blockages. By allowing your qi to flow and your body to move freely, qi will flow more strongly to those spots.

So spontaneous movement qigong is a way of clearing blockages without having to know where blockages are and doing a specific exercise that targets the blocked meridian.

It clears blockages that you might not know exists, so can prevent illnesses before they become physically symptomatic. Since qi naturally flows to the lowest point it clears blockages starting with most severe and ends with the least severe.

[sky]

Quote flow.alignment....[Normal dynamic/moving qigong exercises consist of movement patterns that stimulate greater qi flow in specific meridians. So in order to clear a blockage with normal dynamic qigong exercises, you'd need to know which meridian is blocked.]

We can agree to differ
If the structure of your body is correctly aligned the Meridians open naturally and Qi can flow freely which leads to the 'unblocking' regardless of knowing which Meridian is involved...
Acupuncture is a different system which focuses on a specific area....
Imo.....

[flow.alignment]

If you're talking about zhan zhuang (standing holding a static stance), I'd agree with you. By sinking down your legs act as a pump sending a steady flow of qi throughout your system and qi is allowed to flow naturally.

Dynamic exercises, on the other hand, by their nature circulates qi more strongly along specific meridians, so qi does not flow freely - it flows strongly along those targeted channels.

It's my understanding that one of the reasons it's recommended to perform complete qigong sets (like the 8 Brocades) in a session and not just do one exercise from a set is because the full set promotes holistic energy flow while a single exercise does not.

All meridians are connected and part of the same system, so doing a single exercise would get qi circulating to other meridians, but that doesn't mean other meridians get the same level of flow. It's like how a sudden stronger flow of water along a river doesn't mean tributaries would experience the same flow.

[sky]

I practice Zhan Zhuang, The Eight Brocade and The 18 Luohan Hands, Yang Style Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword and Tai Chi Kung fu fan... they all open the Meridians and allow Qi to flow, any of the above Forms are as good as the other, you can also use gentle stretching/massage/tapping to alleviate congested/stagnant Qi...

Imo only....

[flow.alignment]

I think I misunderstood what you were saying.

I thought you meant that practicing only a single exercise, for example, only the second of the 8 brocades alone it would clear any blockage. But from what you practice, it doesn't seem that's what you meant (if you did, then it wouldn't make sense to practice all those other exercises since only one would do the trick).

If you meant that you don't need to know what meridian is blocked in order to clear it, I agree. You could just do a set of exercises that collectively stimulates qi flow through all major meridians and the blockage would be cleared, wherever it was.

Originally I said:

Normal dynamic/moving qigong exercises consist of movement patterns that stimulate greater qi flow in specific meridians. So in order to clear a blockage with normal dynamic qigong exercises, you'd need to know which meridian is blocked (an acupuncturist could tell you) and practice one or more dynamic exercises that target that meridian.

When I reread it, I think I phrased it poorly - "you'd need to know..." implies that's the only way of going about it, which wasn't what I intended to convey.

I should have added, "Or you could practice a set of multiple qigong exercises that cover all of the meridians."

[sky]

Originally Posted by flow.alignment

I think I misunderstood what you were saying.

Not to worry, I do that frequently

Just curious, which Form do you personally practise ? There's so many it can be hard to choose or mybe it chooses us. Most look for a Form to tailor their physical capabilities and then move on as they progress.
It's all good, just enjoy it and reap it's benefits regardless