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May 30, 2005
Voluntary Self-Poisoning by Qigong Teacher Leads to Curious Insight About The Nature of Health
There was a time in my twenties when I was so fanatical about my health that I would find myself hunched over a bowl of brown rice with a couple of sour Umeboshi plums as the only garnish. Hunched alone over my bowl, while everyone else was out enjoying the fruits of the world.
Let me use that word one more time: “alone.” And let’s throw in: “earnest”, “uptight”. “intense”, “contracted”.
Heck, if I went out to most restaurants in those days there was simply nothing on the menu I could eat. Fun, huh?
In the seventies, in particular, I engaged in a lot of similar extreme dietary practices, looking for the Holy Grail of the perfect diet for enlightenment and radiant health. I did a twenty-day grape fast. I crept along on wheat grass only, for a brief period. In India, I mashed slightly sprouted wheat into a soggy pulp and baked it on the roof in the scorching heat. And hoped to find God the Essene way as I thoughtfully chewed each mouthful one hundred times. I toyed with the idea of being a Breatharian — surviving on gulped air alone. Hmmmnnnn… you get the picture.
Tell me that the True Road to enlightenment involved rolling myself naked across a field of thorn bushes twenty times a day and I would probably sign right up… I would try almost anything once, if the promise was big enough.
Very fortunately — and also in the seventies — I was introduced to Qigong and Tai Chi. These two disciplines began to eat way at my extreme questing-behavior and started to seduce me into a far more relaxed attitude to the cultivation of spirituality and health.
I say seduced very deliberately, because they crept up on me. I frowned on the practitioners who insisted on referring to Qigong and Tai Chi as “play”.
Hey, this was a serious business of techniquing your way to the Divine. And I didn’t appreciate those woo-woo tree-huggers who denigrated my lofty practice with a moniker as unproductive-sounding as “play”.
Which brings me to theseumtimes… I joke with my staff every now and then that I’m off to poison myself at the local Chinese restaurant, which serves up a diabolically bad buffet to a steady stream of pasty-faced, overweight and otherwise challenged-looking individuals. I age five years as I walk through the door. I leave ten years older. And yet I do this to myself quite frequently. Amazing, really.
So, what gives?
Essentially, I’m indulging in playful self-poisoning. Ninety percent of the time I eat carefully, putting highly nutritious foods into my gullet that I know are going to aid my strength, vitality and energy. From eating well most of the time and keeping up my daily regimen of Qigong and Tai Chi, at 56, I feel robust and steely.
But I’ve learned the importance, for me, of building some slush, or play, into my personal advancement goals. I’ll go out and kill myself with a big mound of my comfort food, fried rice, plus some unspeakable and best-left-unidentified squacks of whatever. I’ll dose myself with a couple or three heavy espressos.
Sometimes I’ll feel Godawful as a result, but I still won’t stop. I may be chopping a day or two extra off of my life, but I’ll take that discount in favor of a lighter, easier, less rigid lifestyle.
I’ve seen it — and I bet you’ve seen it — over and over again: highly rigid people with highly rigid programs who suddenly explode or implode into a chaotic craze of unbalanced behaviors that contradict everything they claim to be.
Qigong has taught me to build some play, some looseness, some slush into everything I do. And the result, for me, has been a more balanced and happier, more productive and more enjoyable lifestyle.
How are you doing in your life right now? One of my mentors liked to say “seriousness is a disease.” Certainly, too much seriousness is a surefire way to a host of maladies. If you’re stuck in your life, consider taking up qigong (or being more consistent with it) and watch what happens to the rigid and unbending in you.
For qigong programs to release and relax you go here now.
Posted by james at 5:46 AM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2005
Qigong as an Antidote to Download Downtime Angst
Yesterday, I was downloading some MP3s of teleconferences on how to make your book a #1 bestseller on Amazon. It was near the end of a long day where I had already spent way more time than was good for me staring at the computer screen and punching out endless messages on the keyboard.
I found myself getting suddenly impatient at the tedious process of waiting for the darn things to download. Most of them were at least 10 meg files! Okay, so they would only take a few minutes, but I was deep into I Want It When I Want It Which Is NOW mode and was getting quickly tangled up in a mess of irritability and jangled nerves.
When in doubt, blame…
Hey, wait a second, this is Mr. Qigong! Supposedly sailing along on an endless swell of gentle bliss. What happened?
Well, one great thing about regular qigong practice is that you develop a very sensitive early warning device for when you get off kilter. So instead of careening off into rocky rapids, you have the chance to correct yourself and head off into calmer waters.
After shaking myself off like a wet dog, I decided to do a short qigong method while I was waiting for each MP3 to download.
Easy, I just stood up from my computer hutch, put myself into the initial Crane Breathing posture and performed twelve repetitions of that particular method. I repeated this for the next three downloads... using the next three methods from the Crane Frolic.
The result was predictable: I calmed down, relaxed, my tension and irritability disappeared and I had generally reclaimed myself from my imminent Pain Body attack. I wasn’t looking to blame anyone anymore. I felt too good.
Easy as that. Of course, the more qigong you’ve done in the past on a regular basis, the faster this calming effect kicks in.
Here is a description of the initial Crane Breathing technique. You can find more detail plus photographs on this and other similar methods in my Five Animal Frolics Qigong book or you can learn every nuance and get it totally right, from my Serenity Qigong DVD.
Crane Breathing
Initial postural alignment:
1. Seek to reduce the impact of gravity on your body to minimize tension and maximize a relaxed flow of energy through your system.
2. Stand with the heels touching and your feet angled out at 45 degrees.
3. Distribute your weight equally across the whole of the foot.
4. Bend the knees slightly.
5. Tuck the hips under.
6. Relax the lower dantien or abdomen area.
7. Relax the upper chest and lower your shoulders.
8. Pull your chin in slightly and extend your head up, elongating and opening up your cervical vertebrae.
9. Place your tongue lightly against the roof of the mouth.
10. Maintain a level gaze with a soft, 180-degree focus.
11. Put the hint of a smile on your face and allow the smile to permeate your whole body.
Movement:
Place the palms facing up at lower stomach level, just off the body and slightly apart from each other. Move the palms up the front of the chest to the level of the heart region, then back down to the lower stomach. Inhale on the upward movement, exhale on the downward movement.
Attention:
Move your attention up the spine as the hands rise and move the attention down the spine as the hands descend.
Check out more of John Du Cane’s Qigong resources here
Posted by james at 7:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2005
Qigong: Moving to the Rhythm - Communal Dance and Communal Play
How much do you let yourself dance around in your life? Letting it all hang out, every now and then, can be a crucial counterbalance to the normal rigidity we experience in our normal day.
Qigong has many connections to the human love of dance as a healing release. While there are many deep “stillness” practices in qigong, many of the teachers I most respect, recommend some kind of dance-like qigong as part of your overall cultivation program.
The urge to dance and the urge to practice dynamic qigong come from our natural animal love of rhythmic movement
Rhythm is at the heart of qigong, as it is at the heart of dance. Rhythm transmits feeling physically. Rhythm moves us to share, connect and bond. Rhythmic shaking leverages love by transmitting its message across otherwise blocked passages.
When we dance together in spontaneous movement we indulge in play at its most elemental level – happily opening to each other in ways we would normally find hard to handle.
Rhythm ignites us into sharing our love, laughter and ease. We want to respond, we want to touch each other. Only when we are guarded or out of sorts do we resist touch, and set up barriers. We can openly invite our friends to share our energy.
Dancing takes us out of our heads and into our full beings, works of art in fluid, spontaneous motion. Our cells get the message and lighten up — in the infectious blaze of rhythmic good feeling. This is healing in its most real, juicy, alive form.
My Five Animal Frolic Qigong program, on book and DVD is one good way to start opening yourself up to the healing power of dance-like movement. Give it a shot!
Posted by james at 5:58 AM | Comments (0)
May 9, 2005
Why Kettlebell Training Is a Good Complement to Your Qigong Practice
Many of my local qigong students have added kettlebell training to their qigong practice. And, of course, I train with kettlebells too, on the rough ratio of 90% qigong, 10% kettlebells.
Why should qigong practitioners consider also taking up kettlebell training? What will they get that they don’t already get from qigong?
Well, are you overweight? Do you have trouble managing your bodyweight? Do you want to shed a certain number of lard-pounds in a hurry?
While I firmly believe that regular qigong practice improves metabolism and digestion, I have never seen and wouldn’t expect to see the blistering fat-loss results gained from kettlebell training. I have seen literally hundreds of stories now of kettlebells acting like a blowtorch for unwanted fat.
Are you looking for highly intense cardio, to strengthen and protect your heart?
Qigong practice will strengthen the heart – over a long period of time. Again, if you are looking for speed of results, then add kettlebells to rapidly build a more resilient heart. Nothing is more amazing than the first time you do a bunch of kettlebell swings or snatches and your heart feels like it is going to explode through your ribcage!
Do you want to develop a strong core?
One of the greatest benefits of adding kettlebells to your qigong practice is a tremendous enhancement of your core power and strength. Tai chi and qigong practitioners will really appreciate that added dimension to their “whole body movement.”
Do you want to develop flexible strength?
Again, qigong is wonderful for building flexible strength and strong, healthy joints, but kettlebell exercises like the Windmill and Turkish Get Up can’t be beat for rehabbing and protecting areas like the shoulders.
Do you sometimes need a really fast energy boost, which takes you from feeling like a wrung-out dishrag to a raging stallion?
A five-minute or ten-minute qigong routine will often be calmly invigorating, but sometimes when you are really tired or wrung out, you’ll be so calm you’ll want to lie down!
If I’m in a serious slump, say in the mid-afternoon at work, and I need to be really cranking it out, then just five minutes of kettlebell snatches or front squats has frequently, frequently jackknifed me back into blazing action.
Qigong is the ultimate stress-buster and dysfunctional-mind cleanser. But again, a quick burst of kettlebell madness, has often sent my irritant sources packing, in a glow of post-practice euphoria.
If you want to see a whole room full of high-energy, calm, strong and confident looking people, then show up sometime to a kettlebell certification. I defy you to find a more impressive group of individuals, energetically, than you’ll see there.
If you are going to practice kettlebells and qigong together, start with the kettlebells, is my recommendation.
I am sure you have noticed a common theme here: use kettlebells for extremely fast results. Qigong will get you there too, in the long run, more gently and with great balance.
Ideally, as I do, use both!
Check out more of John Du Cane’s Qigong resources here
Posted by james at 6:05 AM | Comments (137)
May 2, 2005
Qigong to Take the Edge Off Long Days of Sitting
I have just finished up attending Yanik Silver's excellent Underground Online Marketing Seminar which was held opposite the US Treasury and one block away from the White House.
My first time in Washington DC. Seeing the White House for the first time reminded me of the first time I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Partly because of the jostling crowds clicking endless shots of the poor gal, Mona Lisa felt strangely diminished compared to her iconic cultural status. Same with the White House. After all the movies and the TV, my reaction was “Is this it?” I was surprised at how “small” it was.
As usual with these affairs, what’s toughest for me is having to sit still… straight through from 9 in the morning until 6 or 7 in the evening. The human body was designed to participate in sudden bursts of activity, on a regular basis, not to sit on your duff listening to people speak at you from a podium.
At my Dragon Door office I find constant excuses to jump up and move around whenever I can, even if it just means standing up to answer the phone. So, I find it excruciating to be jammed prisoner as a polite student hour after hour, however enthralling the content. And don’t get me started on the airplane flights!
So I never thank God more than at these seminars, for my Qigong practice.
There’s a number of qigong methods that help both de-stress after a full day of sitting and to energize the body beforehand. My favorite seminar techniques involve shaking, pumping, twisting and circling, in particular. When you only have a few minutes to reconstitute or power up, nothing beats methods like the Wall Squat for instance. (See my Qigong Recharge program for full instructions.)
If you know you are going to be sitting in meetings or a seminar all day, create an extra fifteen minutes first thing in the morning and practice the most vigorous qigong you know, including some shaking. If you are staying in a hotel, like I am here, then take as many of the fifteen minutes breaks as you can, plus some of lunch time, to go up to your room and put in a quick five or ten minutes.
When others are gradually degrading into zombies from the enforced inactivity, you are more likely to remain fine-tuned and alert. Plus you’ll survive with your humor intact!
Check out John Du Cane’s Qigong resources here.
Posted by james at 7:51 AM | Comments (0)