Questions about pain possibly from practice

Hello,

I’ve also done Michael Winn’s homestudy material and got a lot out of it.

This summer was the first time I started learning Tai Chi. For me it was
about having good alignment before beginning because I didn’t want to
practice Tai Chi and incorporate bad habits in. So I saved up to go to
the retreats. We did a lot of Tai Chi (1 and 2) and I am really glad.

One thing (of several) that stood out to me was watching others who had been
practicing Tai Chi for years. In just a week of personal adjustment they
became so much better – even from my beginners eye. And also, when the people
that have the rooting from Iron Shirt 1 are doing Tai Chi you can actually
go over and push on them and they will not rock they are rooted throughout.

Basically what really got to me is: what is Tai Chi?

Iron Shirt 1 in movement!

and Tai Chi without structure is just an exercise.

Loving it,:)
Adel

I agree with Steven on getting the QF4 DVD, it’s really good stuff. I throw in the joint and tendon qigong warmups all the time while I am taking short breaks at work, and the standing stuff is good and simple. It really got me working with moving the energy up and down in my body. Michael says that the master he learned the standing postures from does them every day before he goes and does qigong healing, and that’s all he does.

Steven

You say

Iron Shirt 1 is much much worse . . . really you can only get about a 5% understanding (if that) on your own. You really do need live interaction with somebody . . . you just won’t get the root otherwise. This I can guarantee.

In which case, would Deep Earth Pulsing learnt live result in more/less/the same grounding as Iron Shirt 1 learnt from a book (and, thus, resulting in 5% understanding)?

And would Deep Earth Pulsing learnt live result in more/less/the same grounding as Iron Shirt 1 learnt live?

I ask as here you say

Moreover, standing in a strenuous/difficult posture isn’t required for grounding. All that is required in grounding is connecting to the Earth and it’s energy. You can do that with something as easy as walking, or doing Deep Earth Pulsing. The only real benefit to strenuous postures is that they build up the body and make it stronger (which consequently allows you to store more qi in your body and remain stable longer).

Thanks

>>>What you say about the importance
>>>of getting out of one’s head
>>>(especially for intellectual, mental types)
>>>–are you speaking from personal experience? *Smiling*

Everything I teach comes from direct personal experience–both in my own life and from experience in teaching others. 😉

S

>>>For example, as I understand it, with Deep Earth Pulsing
>>>we imagine/feel our chi descending through our heels
>>>deep into the earth. I’m unsure quite how this fits
>>>with your description of grounding above.

This is true. Where the mind goes, so does the qi.
Our qi has the tendency to rise up into our heads from too much thinking and intellectual thought. This, in turn, aggravates the emotional body as the crazy thinking fuels responses to crazy imagined scenarios. With the thinking tied into the emotional body, you become hooked by your emotions, and can not act independently from them.

Feeling the qi descending down into the earth, brings your energy down toward the ground. This is the whole point of grounding. As the qi descends, it can leave the head and form a center more in your lower dantian where it is healthier for it to be. This allows you to detach from your emotional body and act more as a neutral observer to them. Then you can act independently from your emotional body. It’s like when you touch an object to release any static electricity you have (such as in computer manuals that ask you to ground your static electricity before doing computer repair).

Rooting is more about your physical structure. Are you physically bonded to the ground, yes or no? Clearly there is an energetic component, otherwise where does the physical bond come from? Rooting, by its very action, is naturally grounding.

So there is a subtle difference here.

Deep Earth Pulsing is an exercise that is very grounding, but is not the least bit rooted. This simple exercise illustrates the concept of the difference between grounding and rooting far better than any fancy words.

S

Thanks for this. Very helpful…especially for someone who indulges in much intellectual thought!

Feeling the qi descending down into the earth, brings your energy down toward…your lower dantian where it is healthier for it to be.

I’d never quite thought of it like this: that the ultimate aim of Deep Earth Pulsing is to bring qi to the lower dan tien! I’d just been focusing on trying to sink my qi down into the earth! So when I did Deep Earth Pulsing this morning, I felt I was doing it with a deeper understanding.

As I understand it, in Deep Earth Pulsing sinking our qi down thru our heels causes earth qi to rise up thru K1. Should we imagine/feel that this earth qi ascending thru K1 is headed for our lower dan tien?

Indeed, should we imagine/feel a cycle of qi descending from the lower dan tien thru the heels and rising up thru K1 to the lower dan tien?