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Hi Steven
I’ve been asked to show a little qigong to a few colleagues (we’re all physical therapists).
I’d like to show them Ocean Breathing and I’d be very grateful if you could clarify what you get newbies to imagine/feel wrt the lower dantien.
From your comments (below) in our previous exchange on Ocean Breathing, it seems that
(1) you get them to imagine/feel a chi ball in their abdomen
(2) the centre of the chi ball is at the geomentic centre of the lower dantien
(3) the chi ball expands on the inhale/arms up and contracts on the exhale/arms down
(4) this expansion and contraction (“yin-yang pulsation”) pulls various types of chi into the lower dantienHave I got this right?
As I won’t have a lot of time with my colleagues and as they’re not Daoist/qigong practitioners, I’m obviously keen to keep my explanations as simple as possible.
Cheers
Richard
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From our previous exchangeFrom here
As you do Ocean Breathing, you bring in qi from many different sources . . . qi from the mingmen, but also qi from the air that you breathe, post-natal qi circulating in your body, some potentially stuck qi that breaks free, qi from the Earth, etc. All of this floods into the lower dantian and amplifies the whole energy field. This is all caused by the focus awareness on the lower dantian and the stronger yin-yang pulsation that you create in the region by doing the practice. This helps create a stronger vessel/container for handling higher spiritual vibrational energies as you progress through the alchemy line.
From here
the clear expansion and contraction is centered at the center of the dantian–both with the breath and with the qi ball–
Hi Richard,
Sounds good to me!
I offer another possibility as well, which you can use or discard at your discretion:
Usually when I first introduce Ocean Breathing to new people, I do *not* have people connect in with a qi ball in the abdomen in the first session. I find that it tends to be a little too abstract for newcomers to connect with. They can connect with the arm and body movements, but the qi ball sometimes is too mental for them to be able to get their consciousness into their abdomen, as opposed to just thinking about it from the level of mind. I only introduce the qi ball on the 2nd/3rd practice session. Usually in the first session, after I have everyone get the breathing and the rocking in sync, I have them close their eyes. Then while they are doing the Ocean Breathing, I have them visualize and connect with a large vast ocean next to beach on a summer day that they can feel in their abdomen. I have them picture that they are swimming in this abdomen ocean, and on the inhale/exhale, gentle waves in the ocean swell/fall, causing them to bob up/down in the waves. This kind of imagery is a little easier and not so abstract as a qi ball to connect to for beginners, and gets folks more easily into the feeling quality of the yin-yang pulsation. In short, I’ve found it helps folks get out of their heads and into their bodies much more easily right from the start. Then I graduate them to the qi ball over the next couple practice sessions.
Have fun,
StevenHi Steven
Thanks for your thoughts. Very much appreciated.
Having read what you wrote, I didn’t go for the chi ball. Instead, I explained that the Lower Dantian is sometimes called the Sea of Chi and then made a connection between the external ocean (of water) lifting and setting down the arms and the internal ocean (of chi) gently expanding and contracting.
Seemed to go OK!
Thanks again.
Richard
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