Chi gung in the form
"Chi" or "Qi" means "Air" as well as "Pressure" signified by steam coming off of hot rice.
Can mean feeling of heat, pressure, itching, discomfort, some manifestation of life energy.
But always includes the idea of breath or breathing. May include visualization but not necessarily.
I would say when you add visualizations to Chi gung it becomes Nei gung. This can then evolve into
various complex Yogic visualizations with various breath ratios and compressions.
Are auxillary Chi Gung exercises necessary to practice with form work? No. Because form work can be done as a form of Chi Gung. You basically hold a position--say the first form of Hsing-I---"Splitting" and count your breaths three times and then do the other side. You can then do this with all the five fist/element positions.
This is an example of using the form as a Chi gung exercise. This will sensitize you to the skeletal position and muscular contraction. It will in fact enhance coordination and make your basic positions very efficient getting rid of excess tension and allowing you to find a solid alignment with gravity. Sun Lu-tang liked this for beginners. Some teachers emphasized holding positions others not so much.
Another example is to move through the forms inhaling into the position and exhaling at the impact point.
This rhythmic training of the breath with movement is also Qi Gong.
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Qigong helped me beat four bouts of "terminal" bone lymphoma in the early nineties. It's also helped me manage the pain--physical and emotional--wrought by the cancer in the years since. Qigong also is an excellent stress reducer; after consistent practice life's "slings and arrows" bounce off one like pebbles plinking off a breastplate. Clear 14 years and still practicing every day!
ReplyDeleteThe core of my practice is standing post meditation, augmented by simple moving patterns. It's good to keep it simple.