Deep Healing Chi Kung

For the most part, it depends on how bent your knees are.

In particular, in a lot of Yiquan standing meditation traditions, they have you put your weight on your heels. Examples of this are the QF4 Yiquan “standing-in-stillness” postures that Michael covers, and also the Yiquan standing set that I teach in my courses. However, in either case, your legs are relatively straight. Your knees are not locked, but they are straight. Consequently, unless you lean forward which takes you off balance, you will have a greater degree of contact between your heel and the earth than any other part of the foot. So in that context, it makes sense to put the weight on the heels, because the greater contact and proximity to the lower legs means more qi transmission. [Note: In situations such as these, when you have your “weight on your heels”, you still want to have all 9 points of the foot contacting the ground.]

HOWEVER, if you have your knees flexed, then this is no longer true. When your knees are bent, you will naturally have a greater contact and deeper rooting when your weight is on K-1 Bubbling Well. In particular, Iron Shirt 1 standing postures (which have bent knees) are all much more effective when you try to root over K-1 as opposed to the heel. Other examples of this would be Tai Chi, where again with bent knees, K-1 is superior.

In Deep Earth Pulsing, typically your knees alternate between being flexed and being more straight, so consequently I find my weight naturally shifts from K-1 back toward the back of the foot and back to K-1 as I do the practice. I neither have my weight solely on the heels nor on K-1 exclusively, but it naturally changes as need be through the practice.

What about DHQ?

For me, it depends on which sequence/part of the form I’m doing.
For the most part, I have the weight on the heels, unless I’m doing the Belt Channel or I’m bending over (even though I typically keep the knees mostly straight during this). In particular: when I do the Belt Channel, I rock back and forth as I do the practice; when I’m bending over, as in the “Toss out the Sick Qi” phase, or the long Bathing sequences, my weight is pretty much consistently on K-1 throughout the whole sequence.

Qi,
Steven

No, they are really pretty different.

DHQ is a qigong form for self-healing with various components of alchemy built into the form (added by Michael) to deepen the level of self-healing.

Either the Six Directions form or the Buddha Palm form found in M. Chia’s Cosmic Healing curriculum are mainly designed to flood the Eight Extraordinary Channels with extra energy from the cosmos to be used in qi emission for doing energy healing work on others. I’ve done these forms also; they are quite nice and I recommend them, but they are also quite different from DHQ

The only real similarity is that they are all qigong forms, and are consequently good for you. 😉

The only qigong form that I’ve encountered that is even slightly close to DHQ is Michael’s “Gods Play” LKL qigong form, and even that one is only slightly similar in my view.

S

>>>One step I found is very long if you do the
>>>advanced form completely is the “bathing the body-mandala” step
>>(3x each front/back/side, 5 directions).
>>>Two modified versions that cut down the time
>>>but still feel effective: 1. only 1x each (front/back/side)
>>>in each direction, 2. 3x each in only one direction.
>>>The latter is obviously shorter, but in total
>>>they aren’t that much difference. I wonder
>>>if Steven would have any commentary on the difference.

Yes, the bathing is definitely the longest, that’s for sure.
It’s also probably one of the segments that I “like” the least,
but it is simultaneously/ironically, one of the most important I’ve found.
Doing it, and doing it in its entirety is good for ya.
If you are low on time, I suggest 3x/each in only one direction.
Not only is it shorter, but it is more important to do 3x.
1st run through helps to loosen/shift some junk.
2nd run through helps to move out what you’ve loosened.
3rd run cleans up the residue.

>>>The other step I’ve found can be “cut” to save time
>>>is the “opening the dantians” step: taking only
>>>one breath at each point instead of three.

If it works for you, fine . . . but I would kind of discourage this.
The “power of 3” is really important.
The aspect of “localized, whole body, out to the aura” also has another effect.
1st run is like priming the pump, telling the qi that you want it to come in.
2nd run is bringing it in and doing the work.
3rd run is taking it to full extent when the pathway is open.
Three-fold expansion is kind of an important piece, in my view.

>>>Also, the “purify in 5 directions” could be done basic
>>>in one direction or less breaths in each direction
>>>but I’ve found that is very effective
>>>and fairly quick in advanced

I would try for at least 3x, for reasons I mentioned above,
if not 5x. This doesn’t take that long, and doesn’t add onto
the time that much. Often, when I’m practicing and time is not a factor,
I’ll go 10x or more in each direction.

>>>same goes with the “circulate love in the vital organs.”

Better if you can do it 3x

>>>All in all I’ve ranged from about 40 minutes
>>>all the way down to 12 minutes.

You are a speed demon. When I do the form, 40 minutes is about
the shortest run-through for me. When I add in the advanced
bathing sequence (when I want to go deep), it will run around 1.5 hrs.
Once, I went even as long as 2 hours, to do just one run-through of the form.
I often approximate this (around an 1hr 45 min) when I do DHQ
as part of my Winter Solstice ceremony (Winter Solstice coming up soon!!).

Other than skipping the advanced bathing sequence (if you don’t feel you have the time), I don’t really recommend shortening the rest. To get “Deep Healing”,
you need time to go deep. Otherwise, it is kind of a “fast-food” version.

If you really feel you only have a bit of time, I think it better to just
do a couple segments in their entirety, rather than speed through the whole thing.

But here an old saying pops into my head:
“You should find 20 mins of time to practice. If you are too busy, take an hour.”

I.E. Feeling you don’t have time, is resistance.

>>>My next commentary has to do with the final step:
>>>”magical elixir forms in the cauldron.”
>>>Michael says to hold the hands 6 inches
>>>from the body in the “holding the bowl”
>>>stance, but I tend to “fall into” the iron shirt
>>>embracing the tree stance. Is there a difference
>>>to the stance as to where the hands are,
>>>whether the knees are straight or bent, etc?

Since most of the work in this segment is internal, it doesn’t matter so much.
Whatever feels good for you, is OK.

Personally, I tend to keep the hands fairly close to my body–around 3 inches,
that way it helps to keep me more “internal”, and focused inside the body, and
I can also feel the qi balls being supported and fed by my hands in a feedback loop.

>>>like I was having a spiritual orgasm.
>>>Anyone had an experience like this before?

First time I took LKL (which this last segment is related to), I had them so frequently, at the end of the week, I had one of my first mini-enlightenment experiences.

>>>In the “spiral love” closing, on the handout
>>>the affirmation is “we love…” and on the DVD
>>>he says “I love…”

If you do the form as in the DVD, the phrase “I love” makes more sense.
If you incorporate Fusion 1 energetics into this segment (not taught on the video), “we love” makes more sense.

>>>Also, on the “dantians” closing, the handout says to go
>>>to the ming men one last time, but I believe he does
>>>belt channel breathing on the DVD instead.
>>>Not sure which is “correct” or if it really matters.

After opening the lower dantian, everything is open, so I feel
going back to the mingmen again is superfluous.
In particular, I do the belt channel again.

Qi,
Steven

>>>I have been doing it about 2 months
>>>and can’t say I have noticed much yet,
>>>except yesterday morning I noticed the
>>>colors seemed to place themselves.
>>>It was like I barely had to initiate
>>>the visualization.

That sounds like communication to me. 😉
Usually results occur when you least expect it and/or when you are not looking for it.

S

Communication is usually deeper layers of oneself that reveal themselves to the more conscious everyday mind.

In this specific case, it could simply be a message that your five shen are starting to harmonize from continued practice, i.e. it’s becoming familiar terrain. Or it could be something else. Only you yourself can know and answer that question.

In general, it is all very individualistic. You have to just listen and observe with inner awareness, and to try to discern the message that is given. Subsequently, then to trust this message however it appears in your mind, that it is sharing some deep wisdom that will be helpful to you.

This communication process becomes easier and easier as time progresses, as you become more proficient at having such internal discussions.

S

PK – which step(s) did this occur with the colors?