Prenatal 先天之氣 and Postnatal Qi 後天之氣 Yuan Qi 元氣 and Zong Qi 宗氣 are the foundations of our Vital Energy – our Qi. Yuan Qi comes from our parents and so affects our genetics. We carry the energy from our parents and so if they were tall, short, strong or weak etc. then this will […]
Zong Qi 宗氣 Once we are born, we eat and drink in order to get our energy. Of course we also breathe and we cannot stop breathing for too long otherwise we will die. Therefore we rely on breathing, eating food and drinking to keep us living and growing. This energy comes from outside the […]
Yuan Qi 元氣 We all have Qi氣. Without Qi we will die. Qi is the energy that keeps us going, it is the energy for living, the energy for enjoying life, the energy for fighting disease, the energy behind our emotions and the energy that keeps us strong. When we have good and strong Qi […]
Holding the Tree When I was in China every morning I would go to the park to practice my Qigong and Kung Fu. Sometimes I would see people holding a tree. They would embrace a big tree with the whole bodies pressed against it as if they were hugging it. I know that they probably […]
Sitting on the Grass After a good practice lying on the grass is not good. How about sitting on the grass to do meditation after practicing, is this a problem? Actually this is not a problem. So what is the difference between lying on the grass to rest or sleep and sitting on the grass […]
Lying on the Grass Some times when I have finished teaching, usually during our summer residential courses, I see one or two students who like lie down on the grass to rest. This is actually not a very good idea. I have seen a lot of people lying down under the sun, especially when I […]
Tired and Sleepy After a good practice, some people will feel tired and want to go to sleep. If we feel tired then going to sleep is fine, but the best thing is to sleep first and then practice. When we are tired we should sleep. After sleeping we feel better and then we practice, […]
Talk Too Much When we practice Qigong, we gather Qi from nature around us and also release our negative Qi. In this way we balance ourselves, so a good environment, good nature and fresh air around us are important as this gives us good Qi. This is how our bodies work with nature, we become […]
Sky and Earth The weather can affect our Qi but so does the sky and the earth. When we are able to practice outside, we normally choose a place where we can see the sky and also connect with the earth. Sometimes though, we might be able to see the sky but we cannot relate to the […]
Weather Affects our Qi If the weather is bad, raining heavily, snowing heavily or even a very hot day, do we practice outside? Of course we do not. Bad weather can take our energy, if we are not careful. When the weather is this bad we should still practice but indoors with the windows open. Fresh […]
All Will Reach a High Level Some students think they are not good enough, they feel movements are never quite right and they lack confidence. I can understand this. When I began to study I was never sure whether I was doing the movements correctly, but a good teacher will help you and never laugh or […]
One more or One Less Every day we practice our Qigong and it makes us feel good. if it is a busy day, I will practice twice a day for half an hour to an hour. If it is not a busy day but a good relaxing day, I will practice four times a day. This […]
Good Nature A good habit like practicing Qigong gives us good energy. Good energy leads to many good things, good health, positive thinking and happiness. What we do everyday leads us to the future we will have. Good habits will lead to a good future, but this also means bad habits will lead us to a […]
Habit Every day when we wake up in the morning we all have our own morning routine. You might go to the toilet, brush your teeth and wash your face. Some of you might have a shower, get dressed, and then you might have your breakfast, check your phone for any messages, read the news, check […]
Like a Family in teaching Every day I went to Nai Nai’s place to practise Wild Goose Qigong. Each time I felt excited as I had discovered something about my body that I did not know before. Now not only had I discovered it but I was also developing it and I could feel my […]
Learn the High Level Every morning I went to Grandmaster Yang Meijun’s place to learn and practise Qigong. I saw other students, as well as some western students practising as well. Slowly I got to know Grandmaster Yang better. Everybody called her “Nai Nai奶奶”, which means grandmother or elder respected lady. So I also started […]
Starting the Wild Goose Journey I approached Grandmaster Yang Meijun and sat down, feeling a little less nervous. In my mind she was the teacher I really wanted to study with. She looked very healthy and strong, and wore simple blue clothes and a hat. She looked peaceful and calm and it was then I […]
Meeting Grandmaster Yang Mei Jun 楊梅君 In 1984 I booked my holidays, I was travelling to China to meet Grandmaster Yang Mei Jun 楊梅君.I travel to Hubei 湖北 province, Wuhan 武漢 City, East Lake 東湖, where she was living at that moment. In that time travelling inside China was not so easy I took a […]
Go to China After many years of training Siu Lim Tao, my stance became strong and I could feel that my bones were stronger. I also felt Qi flowing inside my body and I wanted to know more about this. Sadly, after many years my uncle passed away and although we did not talk too much he had […]
Squeeze a Piece Of Paper My uncle Tse Chiu Hung 謝超雄 was a herbalist and he grew a lot of herbs in a garden plot far away from his apartment. Most people in Hong Kong live in apartment blocks and only rich people can live in their own separate house. So from time to time he […]
Long Hand Moving The thing I could feel moving inside me, when I had been standing for a long time, was Qi. It made me feel good. I felt tingling, warm, my legs felt heavy and my breathing was strong. My uncle’s class was very small, more like a private class and he taught us […]
Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 I continued to go and see my Uncle ascend after a month he eventually agreed to teach me. He said to me, “Children are impatient and give up easily. Also I do not want you to use this skill to bully others. You should use it properly.” I agreed. My patience […]
My Qigong Journey – part 1 When I was 11 years old, my father took me to see the Bruce Lee 李小龍 movie The Big Boss. I was so impressed. I think at that time most young people in the world were impressed by Bruce Lee’s fighting skill, his charisma, his muscular physique, but he did not have a big […]
Relationship Starts Every relationship is based on two sides. If one side is not happy then it is hard to keep that relationship going. However, it does not mean that every time we have a difficulty we should break the relationship. Oftentimes, it ourselves and we should not blame others. If we have had one […]
Bai Si 拜師 Part 2 The Sifu 師父 would then tell the student of the rules of his skill, for example, “Respect the teacher and respect the skill,” and the student would reply, ” Yes, I will follow.” This is quite a serious ceremony that lets heaven and earth know who is the Sifu and […]
Bai Si拜師 – Part 1 In traditional Chinese culture whenever a Sifu師父 accepted a student a special ceremony was performed which in Cantonese we call Bai Si 拜師, or Mandarin we say Bai Shi拜師. For Chinese people this is a very serious ceremony and so a special and auspicious day in the Chinese lunar calendar […]
Time Will Tell A good teacher will understand his or her students. They can see who has potential to carry on passing on the skill in the future. They can see the students who work hard, help out, who are respectful and loyal. Of course it can happen that the student might be good and […]
One Day Your Sifu, whole Life Your Father —日為師，終身為父 Chinese people say, “One day your Sifu whole life your father. —日為師，終身為父.” This is how important a teacher is to a student in Chinese culture. Even if someone teaches you just 1 days’ worth of knowledge it has changed your life and will help you along […]
Seniors Helping Juniors and Beginners In class the teacher is in charge. He might not teach everybody, but he should oversee everything that is going on in the class. In the past teachers often did not have that many students, sometimes only one or two, so it was very easy for the teacher to teach […]
Like a Family I have five teachers who taught me amazing skills, Dayan Qigong, Wing Chun, Chun Yuen Quan, Taijiquan ad Hard Qigong. Even now I have a good relationship with all of them. Although some have now passed away, I have photos of them in my home and I will pay my respects to all of my […]
Good Beginning Not as Good as Good Ending 好頭不如好尾 A lot of students can have a good relationship with the teacher in the beginning. Even the teacher might like them a lot and he or she would not mind teaching them everything because the skills need to be passed down. Any teacher who keeps the skill and does […]
Building a Good Relationship with the Teacher When we go to a class to study, the one thing we want to do is learn. Of course, in the beginning we might not know how could the teacher is so we just try it out. If we find the teacher has good skill which we would like to know, […]
Techer Student Relationship Today the teacher and student relationship is different; nowadays it seems that students choose the teacher. This is all because of advertising for example on the Internet. Everybody will say they are good, but how can you tell who is better? Of course, we will think that if someone is more well known then they are generally better. […]
Spend Time Together In the past, a teacher would not easily choose a student until they found someone who was good enough. If the student was a young child, child would leave his or her family and go to live with the teacher. The parents would allow this and be happy for their child to be chosen. Of course the […]
Teacher and Student In traditional Chinese teaching, teachers and students were very close, like father and son. Even if the teacher was a lady the relationship was still like father and son and not like a mother and son. The relationship was one of respect and care. The teacher would treat the student like they were one of their own children, […]
Watching and Being Around the Teacher As teachers, we do not just watch the beginners do their movements, we must also demonstrate so the student, so they can see how the movement should look. At the beginning new students cannot see the difference between their movements and ours, but the more they see our movements […]
Correct Their Posture Once the beginners are interested they will come to class more often and this is the main thing. The more they come then eventually they will get better they will get clearer. After a few months you will be surprised at how much they have improved, I have seen this happen so […]
Two Movements at a Time So when beginners start to learn Qigong they must learn slowly and then everything step by step. The student should not try and take too much and the Sifu should not teach too much, talk too long or concentrate on knowledge and detail. The teacher should give them clear and […]
Learn Slowly & Learn the Shape of the Movements Whenever beginners start learning Qigong, they should take it slowly and learn step by step. This is true for many things, but especially true for Qigong since it requires you to learn movements, which many people are not used to doing. Today, remembering things is not […]
How Long Should I Practise? People always ask me how long they should practice for? Actually, everyone is different. It is just like how much you eat for breakfast, some people like to eat a big breakfast, some people like to eat just a little bit and some people do not like to eat any […]
Six Passions 六慾 Part 2 As human beings we like so many things. Apart from seeing, hearing and smelling we also like to eat. We eat so much, too much in fact and over indulge. We eat all kinds of food and snacks: sweet, salty, deep fried food and unusual kinds of food even junk […]
Six Passions六慾 part 1 As human beings, we all have passions. We all want things, we want to indulge ourselves. For example we might want to see more things, want to see beautiful scenery, pictures, videos, which we can get on our computers through the Internet. However the more we see the more we can damage our eyes and exhaust our […]
7 Emotions 七情 We all have emotions; however how we describe them and classify them can vary. There is a traditional Chinese way to classify the emotions to be seven: Happiness, anger, worry, over thinking, sadness, fear and shock 喜怒憂思悲恐驚. All these make us lose our energy or Qi氣. Somebody may look happy, but if they are just laughing and it is external, for example like having fun look for […]
Change the Emotions and Reactions We are all human and we all have emotions. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are angry and sometimes we are depressed. There is a Buddhist saying, “human life is full of worry.” This is quite right. No matter whether we have a lot of money and are famous, or poor and have […]
Healer feels Good After Healing Some healers, after using their energy, say they feel good and even excited. Do you know why? This is because they are past the tired feeling. After the tired feeling their energy will be up, but this is not the energy we should be using because this their prenatal energy […]
Slapping and Horse Stance When I use Qigong healing to treat my patients I will receive some negative Qi from them. Sometimes it makes me feel tired. I still remember my Sifu, Yang Meijun (who I called Lai Lai) saying, ” Save your Qi!” We must listen to our bodies and we should know how much we can give, and when […]
Slapping to Get Rid of Negative Qi When we feel negative Qi inside the body we need to get rid of it. It is the same when we find our clothes are dirty we need to wash them, so releasing negative Qi is a bit like washing our clothes -we need to scrub the stains with soap. The Qigong way of […]
Negative Qi Stays Inside Any doctors, therapists, masseuses or healers are very hard-working people because they are in contact with sick people all the time and take their negative energy. When we have a good level of Qigong our bodies are healthier and we can sense and feel the energy around us. We can tell if other people’s energy will affect us or when […]
Healer Must be Healthy What do you think about someone who does not have enough Qi氣, but gives their Qi to other people? Anyone can actually give their Qi to another person, the real point is whether the patient gets some benefit or is harmed, or even if the healer loses a lot of Qi […]
Cultivate Qi Before Healing If we want to have the power to heal, we have to have more Qi氣, just like we need to have more petrol (or gas) to drive a long way. How do we get more Qi? We must practise Qigong氣功. Qi氣 is energy, Gong功 is work, so work for the energy. […]
Palm Healing When our Qi氣 is strong we can use it to heal other people. It is like having more money, when we have more we can spend more and buy more things, it is as simple as that. When we give people our Qi, or we usually transmit this Qi from our body through […]
Listen to our Qi If we practise our Qigong氣功 regularly and still get ill, this is because our Qi功is not strong enough to overcome the problem. This means that we must be using more Qi than we gain. It is simple mathematics, plus and minus. The more Qi we gain the healthier we are. The […]
Daily Practise We should first be able to diagnose our own problems and where the problem is. Then we practise to work on that area. Sometimes we do not actually need to know where the area is, we just practise our Qigong氣功 every day. Twice a day is better, once in the day time and […]
Feeling the Negative Qi We are not only just can feel other people’s negative Qi氣 and the environments negative Qi. When our Qi is strong we can also feel our own negative Qi. Usually we cannot feel our own problems until they become a very obvious problem. However when you are practising Qigong氣功movement and mediation […]
Sensing Negative Energy When we practise Qigong and reach a certain level we can sense the negative Qi or sick Qi in other people. Once I was waiting for someone in hospital and opposite me was a patient with a leg problem, after a while I could feel his problem in my own leg. It […]
Sense the Place When we are healthy and have good strong Qi we can sense things around us. When we walk in to a room we can tell whether it is a good place to live or not. Chinese have a Feng Shui風水 whose knowledge tells us about areas where to live, where to work […]
The Process of Jing精, Qi氣, Shen神 Even if their Qi is strong a lot of people will still not trust their feeling and their senses, so in the end they will make mistakes. Of course, when someone has a certain feeling it does not necessarily mean they are right and this is because they are […]
Knowing Things When our Qi氣 is full and have more Qi goes to our brain, that is not only we do remember things that we had forgotten, but we also start to know many other things. For example, when you see a person, you can tell what kind of person they are, whether they are […]
Mind Develops When practising Qigong 氣功 or meditation 静功, have you ever had the experience where something suddenly comes to you mind? It might be something you need to do, something you may have forgotten about, or that you suddenly understand a problem or question. When we have been practising Qigong for long enough, these […]
Balancing Gong Walking平衡功步法 There are two walking exercises in Balancing Gong. The first on is Cloud Steps雲步 and the second is Monkey Walk猴步. In Cloud Steps we walk in straight lines and turn either 90 degrees our 180 degrees. in Monkey Walk we walk a figure of eight and this covers an anti-clockwise and clockwise […]
Balancing Gong平衡功 Movements The last the stationary movements are: Big Bear Stretches巨熊伸腰, Roc Extends its Wings大鵬展翅 and Supporting the Sky托天雙舉 and These are the most interesting movements. The last six movements are still working on the shoulders, spine and waist, but most important is the relaxation. These movements are more vigorous than the others and […]
Balancing Gong Movements There are 9 Stationary movements in Balancing Gong平衡功. The first three movements work on the Dantian 丹田. They are: Holding the Dantian 手抱丹田 Up and Down with the Dantian 升降丹 Open and Close with the Dantian開合丹田 These teach us that no matter how we move or breathe, it must connect with the […]
Beginning with Balancing Gong 平衡功 Back in 1992, we have a demonstration in Manchester. I knew that afterwards I would be teaching a simple introduction to Qigong. I realised I could not teach Wild Goose Qigong, as it is very complicated and takes a lot of time to pick up. So I created three exercises. […]
Horse Stance馬步樁 Part 5 Practising Horse Stance can become quite addictive. Why is this? It is because the Qi flows very strongly and the feeling and sensations in the body. When we go to the Low Position we will find that we breathe very quickly. This is because we need more Qi to come in […]
Horse Stance馬步樁 Part 4 As we mentioned before, when we practise High Position Horse Stance it is similar to many other kinds of Zhan Zhuang站椿. The Baihui百會穴, Huiyin會陰穴 and Yongquan points涌泉穴 are in a vertical line and the feet are shoulder width apart. When we practise the Medium Position, all the principles are the same, […]
Horse Stance 馬步樁 Part 3 As I mentioned last time there are three levels in Horse Stance training and we can combine these together. This is what is special about Horse Stance practice. There is the High Position which is the basic level, the Medium Position which is the normal level and the Low Position […]
Horse Stance馬步樁 Part 2 In the beginning we should practise a High Horse Stance. This is similar to many other Zhan Zhuang站椿. The feet should be shoulder width apart, the back should be straight so the Baihui百會 and Huiyin會陰, Yong Quan涌泉 points are in a vertical line. The knees should be slightly bent, the eyes […]
Horse Stance馬步樁 Part 1 Another form of Zhan Zhuang站椿, and the one we practise the most is Ma Bo Zhang馬步樁 – Horse Stance. This Zhan Zhuang can be found in many styles of Qigong and Kung Fu. It is called Ma Bo because it looks like we are riding a horse. In Kung Fu, any […]
Holding a Small Qi Ball Position抱小球樁 There are many different positions for Zhan Zhuang.站椿 I would suggest that you start with the simplest position. The one I described last time was Holding a Ball Position抱球樁facing the Middle Dantian中丹田. This is why the palms faced the Tanzhong point壇中穴, but some people will find holding the ball […]
Zhan Zhuang站椿 Positions There are many Zhan Zhaung positions. The most common is Holding a Ball Position抱球樁which we stand in a high position. When we practise Taijiquan太極拳 we practise this position a lot. When we are doing this position, we need to have the correct posture and so the body needs to be straight. This […]
Zhan Zhuang 站椿 When we practise Qigong, Taijiquan and other styles of Kung Fu there is Zhan Zhuang practice. “Zhan 站”means “Standing” and “Zhuang 椿”means “Pole”. Standing like a Pole, this is Zhan Zhuang. The purpose of Zhan Zhuang is to build up our Qi. When we stand so the Qi is stored in the […]
Story of Dao An道安 Part 5 History tells us that Dao An was a famous Buddhist monk who had a very highly knowledgeable about Buddhism. However, we cannot find any trace that relates him to Dayan Qigong. Maybe he did develop Dayan Qigong and it was never recorded, throughout history things like this can happen. […]
Story of Dao An 道安 Part 4 From then, Dao An followed Fotudeng 佛圖澄. Every time Fotudeng went out to teach about Buddhism, Dao An would go with him and even need to repeat his lectures. After many years, Dao An started to travel again and went to 冷澤 Leng Ze and then to Hebei河北 […]
Story of Dao An道安 part 3 Dao An’s Sifu was so impressed that he encouraged Dao An to take his vow and become a fully ordained Buddhist monk. From then on, Dao An stayed in the temple’s library and read all the sutras that it held. Although the library did not have that many sutras, […]
Story of Dao An道安 Part 2 Although Dao An’s Sifu was surprised, he still did not really believe that Dao An could remember the whole sutra. Since Dao An had asked for another sutra to read, his Sifu wanted to test him to see if he really had a very good memory or even a […]
Story of Dao An道安 part1 Our Dayan Qigong大雁氣功 Founder was born during the Eastern Jin Dynasty東晉時代 312-385. Dao An was not his family name, it was his Buddhist name. When you become a Buddhist, your Sifu will give you a Buddhist name, similar to a Christian who has a Christian name. We only know that […]
Five Animal Play五禽戲 Hwa Tuo華陀 was also very skilled in Qigong. He created a set of movements called the Five Animal Play. In these movements people will copy the movements of animals and these movements will work the Qi a certain way to smooth the channels and open the acupuncture points. The Deer We lift […]
Hwa Tou’s華陀Treatment Hwa Tou is well known as being one of the best ever Chinese Doctors. He was able to just look at his patients and know what their problems were. He would only use a few herbs and when he gave people acupuncture he would not use many needles in fact only one or […]
Stories of Hwa Tou華陀 During the Three Kingdoms Period三國時代 in one of the battle, General Guan Yu關羽 was shot by an arrow. He asked Hwa Tou to treat him as he believed the arrow was poisoned. Hwa Tou said, “I need to cut some of poisoned bone area away, but unfortunately I do not have […]
Hwa Tou華陀 My teacher, Grandmaster Yang Meijun楊梅君 said Dayan Qigong大雁氣功 is about 1800 years old and that before Dao An there was other masters who passed his skill on. One of these was Fu An道安. I believe that Fu An was a Daoist and Dao An was a Buddhist. In the Three Kingdoms Period there […]
Dao An道安 Dayan大雁 means Great Wild Goose, but we just call Dayan Qigong – Wild Goose Qigong. Dayan Qigong belong to the Kunlun system崑崙派. The Kunlun system also has many different styles of Qigong and so Dayan Qigong is one of these. The founder of Dayan Qigong is Dao An (312-385). He lived during the […]
Dayan Qigong大雁氣功 Our style of Qigong is called Kunlun Dayan Qigong崑崙派大雁氣功. There are many different styles of Qigong. A good Qigong style has a long history, a direct lineage and skills that benefit the people. The people who study it should become healthier and the teachers should be very healthy. This is because Qigong is […]
Strong Qi in the Chong Mai冲脈 Most people who study acupuncture understand that the Chong Mai has three paths or lines that run from the Bao Zhong胞中. The Bao Zhong is the lower part of the Dantian. One of the lines rises up the front of the chest to the mouth area. The second line […]
Chong Mai 衝脈 What is the most important channel or Mai? The answer is it is the Chong Mai 衝脈. Why is this? The first thing we have to realise is that in Qigong the Chong Mai follows a slightly different path to that in acupuncture charts, why is this? The system of channels and […]
Ren 任脈and Du Mai督脈 We have talked about how the Ren任脉 and Du Mai督脉 are the second as third most important channels because they form the Xiao Zhou Tian小周天, Small Heavenly Circle, when they join together. Once the Xiao Zhou Tian if formed the Qi will keep flowing and all the 12 Major Channels will […]
Second and Third Most Important Channels There are many channels in the body. Before we talk about the most important channel we must first understand the second and the third most important channels. The Ren任脉 and Du Mai督脉 are equally important and these are the second and the third most important channels in the body. […]
Internal and External Body When we are practising Qigong, it is easy to feel the Qi flowing inside. In the beginning, we just feel warm, feel good and then might start to feel tingling in the hands and in particular the finger tips. Then as we practise more, we begin to feel things in other […]
Ren Mai 任脈 and Du Mai督脈 When we practise Qigong, we must understand and know about the Ren 任脉 and Du Mai 督脉. The Ren Mai runs down the front of the body along the centre. It starts at the Huiyin 會陰 point between the legs to the Cheng Jiang point 承漿穴. The Ren Mai controls […]
Xiao Zhou Tian小周天 When we perform Fang Song放鬆, we stimulate the front channel, the Ren Mai任脉 and the back channel the Du Mai 督脉. “Ren任” means “duty” and” Du督” means “direct or governor”. These channels need to be smooth and also connected together. Once we close our mouths and let the weight go onto our […]
Fang Song放鬆 When we are beginning to practise Qigong, we should first do our warm up and then afterwards we need to do Fang Song three times. “Fang放” means “let go”, “Song鬆” means “loosen up”. This movement is the same performed the same way as Shou Gong 收功. We should stand still with our legs […]
Proper Qigong Practice Developing the ability of the Sky Eye is not the most important thing in Qigong, but might happen when you keep practising. The first thing we need to do is make ourselves healthy, as without good health we cannot do anything. When we are ill we spend most of time making ourselves […]
Sky Eye天目 We have three different Dantians丹田. The Lower Dantian, which is at the Qihai point氣海, the Middle Dantian, which is at the Tanzhong point 膻中and the Upper Dantian, which is at the Yintang point印堂. In Qigong training, we call the Upper Dantian the Sky Eye (Tian Mu). Some other skills sometimes refer to it […]
Knowing Hard Qigong If we want to know more about Qigong we should study both Soft Qigong, which is gentle, soft and relaxed, and also Hard Qigong, which is strong and powerful. When we understand Chinese philosophy we know that everything has two sides – two energies, Yin and Yang, so to understand the whole […]
Hard Qigong Training Most of the time, when we are talking about Qigong we talk about gentle and soft Qigong which is good for our health and can also develop some psychic and healing abilities. However, there is another powerful Qigong training which we call Hard Qigong. Hard Qigong training is demanding as it has […]
Don’t Let things Affect Us When we practice Qigong we should focus on relaxation and not the mind. The mind should be relaxed and empty, we should just focus on our movements, without any visualisation or imagination. Our eyes should be open while we move although we do not stare intensely at anything. If we […]
Can Qigong be Good and Bad? We all know that Qigong is good for our health, but if we practice incorrectly will it damage our health? Actually the answer is yes! Everything in nature has both sides, both good and bad, like fire, we can use it to cook food and to help warm us […]
Jingmen京門 Point The other important acupuncture points that relate to the Middle Dantian中丹田 are the Jingmen 京門 Points.” Jing 京” means “Capital” and “Men 門” means “Gate”. It means “The Gate of the Capital”, so it must be important. The Jingmen points belong the Gall Bladder Channel of the Foot Shaoyin 足少陽膽經 and so they […]
Dabao 大包 Points Near by the Middle Dantian中丹田 there are two acupuncture points that relate to it. These are the Dabao 大包 points and they are found on either side of the Middle Dantian and help more Qi to flow to the there. They are like two front-side windows and they help breathing, lung and […]
Middle Dantian 中丹田– Tanzhong 膻中 Point When we practice Qigong we want to develop our Qi. All the Qi we develop is stored in the Dantian 丹田. Although we cannot see the Dantian, when you have been practising for a long time you can feel it, and you can also feel the results of having […]
5 Precepts五戒 When studying Buddhism there are 5 Precepts that all Buddhists must follow so that they will not commit any bad deeds. No Killing Do not kill any creature of any kind, even an insect like an ant or mosquito. We must not kill anything and this will bring up our compassion. No Stealing […]
Chanting In Buddhist study there is a lot of homework. Of course, this depends on how serious you are about your study. For Buddhist monks and nuns there is a lot of homework to do, which they do normally in the morning and evenings. What is this homework? It is chanting – reading out the […]
Heart Sutra心經 Today there are many “styles” of Buddhism, Tibetan, Chinese, Thai, etc. However all Buddhism is the same, only the external things and the way they do things is different. These differences are because they have developed in different countries and cultures. To study Buddhism, we need a teacher who has a lot of […]
Buddhism Another Chinese ethic is Buddhism. Although Buddhism did not originate in China, it has been influencing China for over 2000 years. In some parts it is more influential than Daoism, though the strongest of the ethic is Rujia儒家 or Confucianism as this was adopted by the imperial education system and so everyone had to […]
Meng Zi孟子 The fourth book of Rujia儒家 is Meng Zi孟子. Meng Zi is a man who was born much later, after Kong Zi had passed away and he lived between 372BC to 289BC. His name is Meng Ke孟軻 After Kong Zi passed away he was one of the best Rujia philosopher and so now everybody […]
Rujia’s 4 Classic Books pt 2 – Lunyu 論語 (Conversation with Kong Zi孔子) The third book is Lunyu 論語. Lun 論 means “Discussion”, Yu 語 means “Langage”or “Conversation”. So Lunyu means “Discussion” or “Conversation”. This is a record of the Saying and Conversation from Kong Zi and his students. All the Rujia 儒家 books were written after […]
Rujia’s 4 Classic Books – Sishu四書 part 1 As I mentioned, Chinese people called Confucius, Kong Zi孔子. Ru儒 is his style of philosophy. “Ru “ means “Gentle” and” Soft,”, “Jia家” means “Family” or “Style”. Rujia educates everyone should be gentle to each other and then society will be balanced. Rujia has 4 Classic books which […]
Kong Zi孔子 The second Chinese ethic and culture is Confucianism or as Chinese people say, Rujia儒家. Some people also say Ru儒 or Ruism. This is based on the philosophy of Kong Zi孔子(550-479 BC), and this has also affected Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Kong Zi is a person’s name. His surname is Kong, which means Hole […]
Three Classic Books When we study Dao, there are three Chinese Classics we need to read, Dao De Jing 道德經; , Yijing 易經 and the Huangdi Neijing 黃帝內經 Yellow Emperor’s Internal Jing. The knowledge is all over 5000 years old. They are so old that it is hard to trace their origins completely. It is very […]
3 Major Cultures We know that Chinese Culture is bases on Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. These three major ethics are not really religions, they are educations. When you study these educations, you do not need to believe in them. We study them, follow their philosophies and ways and in the end, if we like them […]
Qigong Dao氣功道 The name of this blog is Qigong Dao 氣功道. This means Qigong follows nature. We know that Dao means follow nature and so when we practise Qigong we follow the natural way. However, it is very difficult to say what is the natural way as how can you tell? This is all based on […]
Meaning of Dao道 In Chinese Culture there are three major ethics or philosophies. One is Daoism道, one the Confucianism䆁 and the third is 佛Buddhism. The first two are the original ethics. Buddhism was adopted by Chinese Culture later at around 67AD in Han Dynasty 漢朝 and this Chinese Buddhism became very close to Daoist and […]
Huiyin Point 會陰 The Huiyin 會陰 point is the foundation, ground or root of the Dantian丹田. Huiyin point is a very important point for the Dantian and the body. “Hui會” means Gathering”. “Yin陰” means Yin, as in Yin and Yang. In Chinese culture and philosophy, Yin and Yang play a very important role. Yin is […]
Shenshu 腎俞 We have two acupuncture points either side of the Mingmen Point 命門. Since the Mingmen is like the backdoor, the Shenshu are obviously like the back windows to the Dantian. As the Mingmen is very important, anything next to it will also be important. “Shen” means” Kidney” and “Shu” means “PassThrough”, however Shu […]
Dai Mai帶脈 Points After the Qi Hai氣海, Mingmen 命門, and Guan Yuan 關元 the next important points for the Dantian are the Dai Mai帶脈points. We use them a lot in Dayan Qigong forms as they are close to the Qi Hai point. They are found on the same level as the Qi Hai point, close […]
Guan Yuan關元 Point The Guan Yuan關元 point is one of the most important points that relate to the Dantian 丹田. It is like the basement of the Dantian. If the basement of a building has a problem, then the entire building has a problem. If we can clear any problems with the foundations, then everything […]
Mingmen 命門 Point The Mingmen 命門 point is like the backdoor of the Dantian, whereas the Qihai氣海 point is like the front door. “Ming命” means “Life” and “Men門” means “Door” or “gate”. Sometimes it is used to mean style or system, for example in Chinese some people will ask, “What “men” of Kung Fu 功夫do […]
Acupuncture Points that relate to the Dantian There are a few major acupuncture points that relate to the Dantian. The Dantian is the centre of the body and we need to have many ways to access the Dantian. The first major point is at the front and this is the Qihai 氣海 point. This one […]
Breathe through the nose We all know that breathing through the nose is quite normal. However, people often asked me whether we should breathe through the mouth or through the nose? The answer is we should only breathe through the nose. The nose is for breathing. The mouth is for what? I always ask them […]
Breathe through the skin When we are really relaxed, our breathing will be right, sometimes it is normal breathing, sometimes it is reverse breathing, sometimes it is very slow, sometimes it is fast, sometimes it will even stop for a while and sometimes the exhale might be very strong. So we just need to let the body relax […]
Breathe Naturally自然呼吸 Last time I wrote about Normal and Reverse Breathing. However in Qigong practice it is better to breathe naturally. This is because our body will always find the “way” how to breathe in order to make us relax and feel comfortable. Breathing is important, but relaxation is more important. Without relaxation in our […]
Normal and Reverse Breathing順呼吸，逆呼吸 As I have talked about before, the Dantian 丹田 is the centre of the body and it is not just a point. It is like a ball inside the body and the more we use it the fuller, firmer and stronger it becomes. It is not like a muscle as it […]
Acupuncture Point Measurements When we need to find where the acupuncture points are, we have a special way to measure where they are on our body. To do this we use our own body, not a ruler on another external measure, not inches, centimetres, etc. We use our own body as the measures are proportional […]
Qihai point 氣海穴 and the Dantian丹田 The Dantian 丹田 is a very important part of the body and we should be aware of this and we need to understand it location. A thumb’s width (measure with the thumb held horizontally) below the navel, there is an acupuncture point called, Qihai point 氣海穴. Qi means energy […]
Dantian 丹田 What is the Dantian丹田? Let’s look at the Chinese character for Dan 丹, it is like a cauldron. In ancient China Daoist would make medicine by putting a mixture of different herbs and other things in a cauldron. They would slowly heat this up and simmer it for hours or even days. By […]
Move from the Dantian丹田 When we are moving, how do we know our posture is correct? The answer is we must move from the waist. The waist is the centre of the body, it is our Dantian丹田, where our Qi is stored and from the Dantian it goes to the rest of the body. When […]
3 Major Points in Posture Once we can relax, we then need to consider the posture. It is easier when we are not moving like when we are doing Zhan Zhuang站樁 (Standing mediation), for example we stand straight with the hands holding a small Qi ball in front of Dantian丹田, from the head to the […]
Relax the Muscles and Joints Relaxation can be found in many forms. We should be able to relax when we are sitting, standing, lying, in fact whatever position we choose. That is why in Qigong we have so many standing positions, Zhan Zhuang站椿. In Chinese Kung Fu there is also a lot of standing position […]
Weight If we understand relaxation we should be able to practise all our movements in a relaxed way. This means we know where our weight is. Our weight really means the centre of gravity of the body and this connects to the whole body. It is like swinging an object tied on the end of […]
Relaxation with the Shoulders and Knees How can we move naturally? The first principle of Qigong is relaxation. We must learn how to relax. Many people think that is simply, not holding their muscles tight means they are relaxed, actually they are not relaxed enough. True relaxation requires a high level of skill as it […]
Qigong is Natural The purpose for practising Qigong is to improve our health. There are two parts of Qigong training, one is Dong Gong(movements) 動功，one is Jing Gong(meditation) 静功. The first thing we should learn is movement. Look at the nature, everything is moving. Movement makes things change and so movement a very important part […]
A Little Recent History As I mentioned last time, Qigong is a skill, which we work on to develop our Qi. In the past, in China, there were many names for it, like internal training, breathing techniques, maintaining life skill, directing and leading (the Qi), including meditation. There were all kinds of names, but at […]
Gong功 What does “Gong功” mean? Translated simply, it means “Work”, however let’s look at the Chinese character for Gong. It is made of two parts. One part 工 Gong, same pronunciation, means work. This is only work and includes any kind of works. The other part is力, pronunciates “ Li “and this means “Strength”. By […]
Qi 氣 Affects our Life Qi 氣 is life. The more Qi we have better the condition of our health. Ordinary people have a normal good quality of Qi, so they can live healthily. But if they use their energy a lot, like working too hard and not resting enough, then they will feel tired. […]
Feeling of Qi 氣 When we relax enough, we can feel the Qi 氣. For some people it may take longer to feel anything, this is because they are less sensitive. Other people may feel things more quickly because they are more sensitive, but if you cannot feel anything it does not mean there is […]
History of Qi Even though ancient Chinese people discovered Qi, it did not change their lives much as they did not do anything with this knowledge. However, some of them wrote about it and described the feeling they had, the area where they felt the Qi. They even wrote about the time they felt the […]
How Did We discover Qi? We all have Qi, but most people do not notice it. This is because they are not relaxed enough. When we are able to relax deeply, then we can feel many things inside our body. For example, you can hear the beating of your heart, feel your pulsing and can […]
What is Qi? 氣 What is Qi 氣? To understand Qi we must understand the Chinese character for Qi and it is the same traditional character in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. The character for Qi is made up to two parts one is: 气 And this means steam. The other part is: 米 And this […]
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