For the past few months I’ve been practicing a nei gong system that promised power, fast. I am not, generally, interested in superficial aims like power, but the opportunity came up and I felt that the qigong systems I had been learning were not entirely working for me, primarily in terms of my health goals. So I switched to the nei gong.
Yesterday I had another contact with my instructor. As I’ve noted in previous critiques of various people, communication style, didactic method, and organization are important to me. I’m willing to overlook some flaws if the method bears fruit, though.
But at four months in, the method has not been bearing fruit. When I consulted my instructor, his suggestions for lifestyle change suddenly brought home to me that this miracle method wasn’t going to be the miracle I was looking for. I had been trying to obviate, or at least to put off, some deep work that I needed to do in myself. That, combined with some personality quirks that begin to feel difficult to me, has led me to decide to put it on the back burner for awhile. I won’t write it off, but I need to rethink my whole strategy, since my practice was initially based on this method being “get rich quick.”
Instead, I’m going to start practicing a method I learned a few weeks ago at a workshop, a system called jing dong gong, or Stillness-Movement.
Stillness-Movement shares substantial similarities with Shaolin Wahnam, primarily in that both are systems that emphasize the allowing of qi to flow freely in the body and allowing any movements that manifest to happen (what some call “spontaneous qigong”).
The differences are that Stillness-Movement is primarily done sitting, and that the qi flow is done for a longer period of time — 10-15 minutes standard for Wahnam, with a total practice time of some 20-25 minutes (including dynamic patterns), vs an hour of pure Stillness-Movement.
The main difference, though, is the emphasis on emptying the mind and placing it at dantian. This is not an uncommon action in any qigong, but in Wahnam it was placed at the very end of practice, as a way to settle down the flow of qi, whereas in Stillness-Movement it’s done throughout, and sort of anchors the practice in a way similar to how, in vipassana, focus on the breath anchors the mind.
Both are invigorating and cleansing practices, but there are subtle differences. Shaolin Wahnam encourages a decidedly more vigorous qi flow, which may be part of why they prescribe a shorter period of practice. Cleansing is emphasized, and building practices such as zhan zhuang are done separately (although they don’t make this as black-or-white as I might be implying).
Also, the stillness aspect of Stillness-Movement, combined with the length of practice I find, makes the qi flow penetrate into deeper and more subtle layers than I’ve been able to achieve with Wahnam. This may be a personal quirk, however, as others have reported profound satori experiences with Wahnam.
Whichever is the case, I definitely feel that my energy has been cleansed and purified and achieved a higher vibration after a session of Stillness-Movement.
I found the instructor himself to be very human, authoritative but also humble. I have keen bullshit detectors so it was relieving to feel comfortable with him.
I did feel that some of the theory was skimped on, which I’ve seen with many a qigong teacher and it always makes me wonder because if I’m drawing on my own prior experiences and knowledge to fill in some gaps, what am I missing out on, what am I not catching because I haven’t experienced it before? I had the same problem with the medical qigong I just finished last June. But, Stillness-Movement is fairly simple, all in all, so the impact of that is far less.
The reason I’m gravitating toward it is mainly the feeling I have in my body after a practice session. I feel like an old rug that has been shaken out and the dirt beaten off. I’d like to keep feeling that way.
The added benefit is that this system is supposed to be particularly good for healers, especially those who want to raise their vibration and energy to apply qigong healing methods. This is important for me because the medical qigong practices I learned did not seem of that high quality, and while I regard Wahnam qigong highly, much of their application is in the realm of martial arts which I don’t go for. So there’s greater motivation to go in this direction.
I’ll try this for a while and see how it goes.
[...] year I mentioned that I practiced a nei gong system for a few months. I think it’s time I talk about how I [...]
[...] last year, I attended a qigong workshop on a practice called jing dong gong or Stillness-Movement. The instructor focused on teaching qigong and on training people to heal using qi. I really wanted [...]