« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 30, 2006
The Stealthy, Insidious Enemy... Is Stress the Single Biggest Factor to Consider for Longevity and Your Qigong Practice?
In a recent article on longevity-factors published through CNN, I was very struck by this excerpt as it relates to the longevity benefits of regular qigong practice:
"Regardless, there are some concrete steps people can take to maximize their own life span.
“Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, examines people age 100 and above in order to help everyone else learn how to age well.
“He says the key to a long and healthy life is rather simple: Don't smoke, gets lots of exercise and sleep, and eat a balanced diet.
“Centenarians are a diverse group, according to Perls. Some are teetotalers. Others manage to reach extreme old age despite heavy drinking and smoking, deadly behaviors for most people.
“One feature common to most centenarians is that stress doesn't bother them.
‘They seem to be able to shed stress. It doesn't get to them and cause them to age more quickly. They don't internalize stuff,’ Perls said.”
As I love to point out, our relationship to stress is rather like a fish’s relationship to the ocean: we are swimming in it to such an extent we take it fore granted.
Unfortunately, while the ocean waters are of course life-giving to the fish, the longterm impact of chronic stress on our systems is disastrous.
Stress is an insidious, stealthy enemy that creeps up on us day after day, quietly stealing us blind of our life-giving energy.
By the time stress seizes us by the throat and whispers “Gotcha!” in our ear, it’s often too late to recover.
Many centenarians appear to have maintained an innate ability to counteract and shed most stress from their life.
Regular practice of qigong can help you develop this same life-saving and life-prolonging capacity.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
Where the Nose Goes, the Attention Goes
Turn your head to look at something and your attention will generally follow. Do this on a crowded city street and you may bump into someone. Do this in your own home and you can find yourself walking into the furniture. Do it while driving your car and you may unconsciously start steering in the direction you have turned your head.
Qigong for internal martial arts will often encourage us to maintain a 180-degree soft focus gaze, so we remain aware and present of our entire surroundings, ready to respond to a sudden challenge from any direction.
A way to ensure we keep this gaze in place is to consciously align your nose with your navel. When the navel moves, the nose comes with it. Turn your head and the waist will turn with it.
This nose-navel alignment can have a profound impact on the energetic power of your whole-body movement. Give it a try, if you are not already.
Of course, there are plenty of times when we need to be able to swivel our heads any which way and I recommend you also practice neck rotations (of the kind found on my Qigong Recharge program) to counterbalance the internal martial art habit of keeping the head aligned with the waist.
In fact I remember way back my friend Ken Cohen commenting to me about how very tight he found many tai chi practitioners necks to be, as a result of this alignment training. A daily practice of twenty to fifty of each of the neck rotations could be a good way to have your cake and eat it too, in this department.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at 6:22 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2006
A Little-Known Qigong Method That Can Help with High Blood Pressure and Asthma
Many of you no doubt are familiar with the traditional Microcosmic Orbit qi circulation method. But how many of you know about the Reverse Microcosmic Orbit?
The traditional Microcosmic Orbit method is one of the most revered, foundational practices for energy generation and restoration. Longterm practice is also considered by many to be essential for advanced spiritual development.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the practice:
Begin with your attention at the lower dan tien and during the inhale run your attention down to the perineum, up the back and down to the top of the mouth, enlivening the Governing Vessel. On the exhale run your attention down to the lower dan tien, continuing to follow the center line of your body and helping to enliven the Conception Vessel. Continue for anywhere between five to thirty minutes.
There are many subtleties that be practiced with this method, but that’s the basics in a nutshell.
However, if you want to quiet, calm yourself down, try practicing the Reverse Microcosmic Orbit. In this case, as the name implies, you send your attention, on the inhale, up the Conception Vessel and on the exhale, down the Governing Vessel.
This calming practice will help lower high blood pressure, balance the heart energy and is also considered very beneficial for conditions like asthma.
I guarantee that at the very least you will feel wonderfully tranquil within minutes of practicing this method.
Stressed out? Overly hyper? Give the Reverse Microcosmic Orbit a quick whirl.
My thanks to Dr Bingkun Hu for this information.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
January 9, 2006
Qigong: Internal Versus External Freedom
As a highly opinionated and uppity student at Cambridge University back in the day, I attended a talk by two Buddhist monks. One monk made the point that when you achieve a level of inner peace, you achieve a type of freedom that no one can take away from you. You could be sitting in a jail cell, but internally you are “free”.
I exploded back in an obtuse way that as good as that might sound, you will still be in prison, damn it, or words to that effect. The monk smiled at me benignly and replied with great grace: “It is good to question your teachers.”
Now, after thirty years of qigong, I have really learned to appreciate that I have something internal that no one can take from me. I have ways to relax into tranquility and well being, whatever has been “taken away” from me in my external environment.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe in fighting every day for the preservation and advancement of freedom. In fact I was forcefully reminded of this just yesterday, reading an article on the history of marriage in a local mag called The Rake.
The author, Jeannine Ouellette, references the 1958 arrest and subsequent conviction with a one year suspended sentence of a couple in Virginia. Their crime? Marrying each other. Why was this a crime? One was “black”, the other was “white”. The author points out that over forty states in the US at that time had laws against miscegenation. To quote one US congressmen: “Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit… It is subversive to social peace.”
It got me to thinking…. Amongst other things it made me wonder, from a Yin-Yang interplay perspective, how “black” you have to be to be considered “black”…if one out of four, one out of eight, one out of sixteen of your grandparents was “black”, did that make you “black” and therefore vulnerable to a five year prison sentence if you married a “white”?
The dysfunctional convolutions of the historical human mind are truly a wonder to behold…
So even in a country that prides itself on its democratic traditions, freedom has often been a relative term. Freedom for whom, to do what?
I like to think that the cultivation of our inner freedom, through practices like qigong, has an impact on our willingness to fight with that much more vigor for the external freedoms of others.
The individual who is “chained” internally is the individual most likely to seek the enchainment of others externally.
Practice qigong to liberate yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And hopefully you will inspire the same in others.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at 6:50 AM | Comments (1)
January 2, 2006
Calling in Reinforcements: Helping Stuck Muscles with Cupping--When Your Personal Qigong Practice Isn't Solving the Problem
For quite a while I have been focusing on regaining complete mobility in my left shoulder and left upper back area, which took a hammering in the years I practiced martial arts.
Besides investigating and emphasizing some wonderful qigong techniques, whether very subtle or straightforwardly physical, to release recalcitrant tightness, scarring and general stagnation, I also recruited a bevy of bodywork modalities to grind away at hot spots.
I have found the following modalities to be helpful in different degrees: cranio-sacral, versions of deep tissue, ART (excruciating!), acupuncture and Thai massage.
I have seen a marked improvement in my mobility but there is still a way to go.
Recently, I discovered a highly competent Shiatsu practitioner, Sheila Gunderson (those of you in the Twin Cities can contact her at 612-801-3538) who used the ancient Chinese technique of cupping on me.
Interestingly, the cupping appeared to have had more success in releasing these tough areas than anything else I have had done to me.
I strongly recommend you try Cupping, particularly for shoulder and upper back problems.
I Googled cupping on the web and would like to share a few of my findings here with you:
Cupping is an ancient Chinese method of causing local congestion. A partial vacuum is created in cups placed on the skin either by means of heat or suction. This draws up the underlying tissues. When the cup is left in place on the skin for a few minutes, blood stasis is formed and localized healing takes place.
Cupping therapy has been further developed as a means to open the 'Meridians' of the body. Meridians are the conduits in the body through which energy flows to every part of the body and through every organ and tissue. There are five meridians on the back that, when opened, allow invigorating energy to travel the whole length of the body. It has been found that cupping is probably the best way of opening those meridians.
Cupping has also been found to affect the body up to four inches into the tissues, causing tissues to release toxins, activate the lymphatic system, clear colon blockages, help activate and clear the veins, arteries and capillaries, activate the skin, clear stretch marks and improve varicose veins. Cupping may be the best deep tissue massage available.
Says one bodyworker on her site:
“I have used Cupping for many years as a Massage Therapist doing fascia release techniques to assist healing of scars, restricted range of motion on the rib cage to improve breathing, and removing old haematomas from old injuries.”
And here are a few references to check out:
1. Cui Jin and Zhang Guangqi, A survey of thirty years’ clinical application of cupping, Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1989; 9(3): 151–154.
2. Wu Jiashu, Observation of analgesic effect of acupuncturing dazhui point, Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1989; 9(4): 240–242.
3. Ju Huadong, 30 cases of frozen shoulder treated by needling and cupping, International Journal of Clinical Acupuncture 1998; 9(3): 327–328.
However skillful you are at “treating” your own body, it can be a great help to call in outside reinforcements, as it were, to speed the process along.
My advice when choosing a bodyworker, whatever the modality: insist on the best. I have had shiatsus and other bodywork sessions that have been unimpressive to say the least, with negligible benefits.
Sheila Gunderson, for instance, is the Clinical Supervisor for shiatsu-related bodywork at a local school here. And she turned out to be as good as anyone I have received Chinese bodywork from. You may have to pound the sidewalks to find a good provider, but the effort can pay off dramatically!
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at 8:41 AM | Comments (0)