{"id":9591,"date":"2013-10-16T08:23:31","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T12:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=9591"},"modified":"2013-11-22T20:50:20","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T01:50:20","slug":"you-cant-do-qigong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=9591","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Do Qigong"},"content":{"rendered":"

You Can\u2019t Do Qigong<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By Rodney Owens<\/p>\n

One simply can\u2019t do Qigong.\u00a0 The thing that we are looking for, the experience of Qi flow, the \u201cQigong State\u201d if you will, is not something that can be acquired by doing.\u00a0 It is better found or experienced by undoing.\u00a0 The Qigong State, complete with the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that accompany it, is quite simply our natural state.\u00a0 It is who we are at our core.\u00a0 We don\u2019t always recognize or experience it because we have covered it up with the experiences and stressors of life, with conditioning and ego attachment, and the byproducts of unhealthy lifestyles.\u00a0 But it is still there, below the surface, waiting to flourish.<\/p>\n

\"Rodney.Owens.image.3476qigong\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To best experience Qigong, we need to let go and let it flow.\u00a0 Now, that doesn\u2019t discount or demean the forms and practices that we engage in and call Qigong.\u00a0 These are what they are, and each and every one has its unique and powerful benefits.\u00a0 The key to doing by not doing is attitude, perception, approach.\u00a0 It\u2019s more about not trying so hard; about changing perception.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do Qigong, be Qigong.<\/p>\n

One of the first problems new students to Qigong and Taiji confront is the difficulty in relaxing and flowing with the movement.\u00a0 Part of the problem is in the way the art is taught.\u00a0 For instance, in the Taiji form or any choreographed Qigong movements, we have to learn one step or one movement at a time.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this results in choppy and mechanical movements as the student learns the form.\u00a0 This is a normal result of learning.\u00a0 It happens to everyone who attempts these arts.\u00a0 It is inevitable.\u00a0 However, the intention is typically that the given form be actualized as one long flowing movement rather than a set of different movements strung together.\u00a0 But it is broken down into one movement at a time to make it easier to teach, easier to learn.\u00a0 Making the transition from a collection of strung-together separate movements to one long flowing movement can be a significant accomplishment, and can be a learning challenge for many years.<\/p>\n

Another problem that newer students face is speed.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, learning to move at a slower pace is counter-intuitive.\u00a0 A related skill is relaxation, or Fang Song, which can also be a challenge.\u00a0 Learning to relax properly is not only a challenge for beginners, it can continue to be a challenge for advanced practitioners for many years.\u00a0 Compared to the way we have spent the majority of our lives, relaxing and moving slow can be tough new skills to learn.\u00a0 But that is the essence of the problem: the way we have spent the majority of our lives.<\/p>\n

We are accustomed to taking action to achieve results.\u00a0 And in the practice of Qigong we are taking action, just with a different attitude.\u00a0 If we know that we already are the healthy, happy, awake individuals that we want to be, then perhaps we can ease into it naturally rather than trying so hard to make it happen.\u00a0 What we need is to transcend intention.\u00a0 We can take a shortcut from intention to actualization by accepting our natural state and letting it flourish through our practice.\u00a0 Approach the process as an end in itself.\u00a0 Know that all you need, all that you can ever be, is present and at hand.<\/p>\n

Instructive here is the oft-repeated story of Michelangelo and how he created his statue of David.\u00a0 When asked how he created such a beautiful sculpture from a plain chunk of rock, Michelangelo replied that David was already there, underneath all that rock.\u00a0 His job was to simply remove everything that wasn\u2019t David.\u00a0 Perhaps that is what Qigong practice is all about:\u00a0 removing all the junk that we have piled on ourselves, that gets in the way of us projecting and actualizing our true Selves.<\/p>\n

From this perspective, it is a bit easier.\u00a0 All we have to do is mindfully breathe, move, be still, or just be.\u00a0 And then bathe in the resultant Qi flow that always happens, because it is always here\u2014right here at your fingertips, just waiting to be acknowledged.\u00a0 Seeing it from this perspective should also help us with our need for speed and resistance to relaxation.\u00a0 There is no need to hurry.\u00a0 This is not a means-to-an-end kind of situation.\u00a0 There is no difference between means and end.\u00a0 In fact, the means-to-an-end analogy doesn\u2019t apply at all when perceived from this perspective.\u00a0 The Qigong state is an end unto itself.\u00a0 And in that state, relaxation is a most natural byproduct.\u00a0 Granted, new students will still go through the choppy phase of putting the moves together.\u00a0 And it takes some time to really appreciate the depth of the Qigong State.\u00a0 But make no mistake: Qigong is for anybody and everybody.\u00a0 There is nothing easier, nothing more natural than being who we already are: healthy, happy, and strong.\u00a0 There is no need for indoctrination, special transmission or closed ceremony.\u00a0 All it takes is presence.\u00a0 One class and the new student is as much a Qigong practitioner as anyone.\u00a0 And it only gets better from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"RodneyOwen\"<\/a>[Rodney Owen<\/strong>\u00a0has had a life-long interest in the relationship between meditation and martial arts.\u00a0 Over the years he has followed and studied systems that emphasize that relationship: Aikido, Qigong, Taijiquan, I Liq Chuan, and Buddhism.\u00a0 He practices and teaches Taiji, Qigong, Kung Fu, and Meditation in High Point, NC.\u00a0 His primary interest is in the practical and functional aspects of these arts and in the concept that Kung Fu is a way of life, a methodology for improving and enjoying the content of life, of discovering and manifesting our higher selves.\u00a0 He maintains a blog on martial arts and mindfulness at\u00a0http:\/\/nagualtime.blogspot.com\/<\/a>\u00a0Samples of his writing and other interests can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/rodneyjowen.com<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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