Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
In the last post I described my experience with a student who didn’t respond to the usual muscle testing procedure. I also asked you to see if you can figure out why he didn’t and what I did to change the test so he did respond.
Here’s the answer to that question:
This man was particularly well defended. He had probably been severely traumatized earlier in his life and responded by developing the ability to neutralize anyone else’s energy that might interfere with him. And he was very good at it! He confirmed this in some detail to me after the class.
Recognizing this, I realized that he couldn’t be ‘made’ to demonstrate a weak muscle test since he’d just neutralize any effort to do this. So I took a different approach.
The mental question I directed towards him before testing his arm strength went like this:
“Thank you for your willingness to participate in this testing process. Before we do anything more, I want to let you know that I would never do anything to harm you in any way. Your safety and well-being is of the highest importance to me.
“With that being the case, and only if it is 100% okay with you for the purpose of learning something valuable and useful to you, would you be willing to demonstrate what a weak arm test would look like?”
Then I waited for an energy response.
People ask me what that response is like. My best way of describing it is by saying that it’s like a blip on a radar screen. In other words, there is a short pulse in the energy that happens almost immediately after asking the question.
The moment I felt that pulse in the energy is when he looked at me and said, “You have good intent!” And then his arm went down easily.
The Real Lesson
This was a wonderful opportunity to see how powerful pure intention can be. By approaching him in a compassionate and receptive way, he was able to set aside his usual defensive response and learn something new about how energy works.
This experience reminded me of the saying from Chapter 72 of the Tao Te Ching, where it says, “When people no longer fear your power, this is a sign that a greater power is coming.”
It turns out that compassion is a greater power…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
The event I mentioned in the last post happened like this:
The class was studying all the various ways people have described human energy systems through the millenia. We addressed Chinese, Auryvedic and Native American healing traditions among others. As part of the class I introduced them to the idea of applied kinesiology (AK), also known as muscle testing.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, AK is based on the fact that our energy field is very responsive to both inner and outer influences. The classic example is having someone hold a package of white sugar and comparing the before and after strength of a particular muscle. In this example, the most common response is that the muscle becomes substantially weaker simply because the sugar is within the person’s energy field. They don’t even need to taste it.
There are other simple ways to get a weakened response when doing AK. I showed the students a couple of these, then had them practice with one another.
A few minutes later, one of the students came up to me and sheepishly told me that she couldn’t get the exercise to work. She asked if I could come show her what she was doing wrong.
Her partner was a good sized, muscular man. In my experience with energy work this shouldn’t have made a difference, so I thought I’d demonstrate to her how the exercise works by doing it on him.
Imagine my surprise when, for the first time ever, the simple techniques I used to get the weakened muscle response didn’t work! Most curious!
I looked at him and wondered why. A few seconds went by before in idea popped into my head about another way to do the exercise. So I asked him to hold his arm out horizontally and did a ‘neutral’ test, which is the usual way to begin the exercise – we want to get a general sense of how strong a person is before making any changes. He was very strong and his arm didn’t budge when I asked him to resist and then pressed down on his arm.
Then, for the testing part, I closed my eyes and did a short series of mental questions directed at him. When I got a response that seemed promising I opened my eyes and prepared to say, “resist” to him and push down on his arm. Just before I said it, he looked at me with astonishment and said, “You have good intent!”
I said, “resist” and his arm went right down with very little pressure on my part.
Okay, here’s the key question: What did I do when I asked the short series of mental questions that allowed me to push his arm down with almost no effort?
Think about it for a day or two and then come back for the answer…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Master Lew, who is a very accomplished martial artist, once made the following statement:
“If ten men attack me, I win. If a baby attacks me, the baby wins.”
On the surface of it this sounds like a silly statement. Aside from in some horror movie screenwriter’s imagination, no baby would ever attack someone. (Queue reel from “Attack of the Killer Babies”)
But at a deeper level, there is a profound truth here. This goes back to the original Taoist teachings from the Tao Te Ching, where the highest level of development is compared to attaining the qualities of an infant.
Think about it – infants are innocent, vulnerable, open, curious and resilient. And they love everyone. Nothing lights up your heart like a baby smiling at you.
This is why the quality of compassion and open-heartedness is so important. Those moments in life when you feel best, the moments when you do extraordinary things, the moments when you shine, are all moments where your heart is open.
I once had the opportunity to learn very directly how powerful this kind of openness can be. It happened in a class I taught in L.A. where we were reviewing human energy systems from a wide variety of cultures and perspectives. This event made such an impact on me that it’s worthy of its own post. Stay tuned…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
As I mentioned last time, my original teacher, Master Share K. Lew, always gave the secrets of qigong very early in teaching. The four he talked about were eyes, mind, movement and breath. If you’ve missed the previous 4 posts, you’ll find my take on these secrets there.
Over time, it’s been pretty clear to me that there’s another secret, one that isn’t talked about as commonly. I don’t know why this is, but in the tradition of Master Lew, I’d like to offer it here.
Before I get into that, it’s important to remember that unlike the common saying, knowledge (or in this case “secrets”), is NOT power. At best, knowledge is potential power. If you don’t apply your knowledge, then it’s useless to you. Real power comes from taking action on what you know.
With that in mind, here is the fifth secret of qigong:
Heart
What I mean by this is holding a space of compassionate regard for yourself and others. This borders on empathy and can be described by understanding the difference between being open-hearted and bleeding from your heart.
Having an open heart energizes you. But if you are too open-hearted, then you become depleted. At the same time, if you close your heart it also makes you weaker. As always, balance is crucial.
For some people, it’s a scary idea to be open-hearted and compassionate. Usually this comes from a history of being hurt or traumatized. In reality, the kind of open-heartedness I’m referring to is amazingly powerful and empowering at the same time.
This is so important these days that I’m going to spend time over the next few posts addressing it. In fact, I may have a video demonstration of exactly how powerful this is in an upcoming post. I have to see how the video comes out before deciding to share it with you.
In the meanwhile, remember the 5 secrets of qigong and practice them. Ideally, every day.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Breathing is one of those normal, everyday activities most of us take for granted, which is odd considering how important it is.
If anyone doubts how important breathing is, note this fact: a person can live for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without breathing.
And in qigong practice, breathing is crucial. It’s so crucial in fact, that it’s the fourth of the 4 “secrets” of qigong.
How You Breathe Changes Everything
In qigong, the most important part of breathing is remembering to use your diaphragm. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, your diaphragm is a large, somewhat bell-shaped muscle inside your abdomen. When it contracts, it moves downward, increasing the oxygen coming into your lungs.
For reference, here’s an illustration showing where your diaphragm is located:
Although it doesn’t show in this simple drawing, the ends of this muscle attach all the way down to your pelvic bones at the waist. The arrows show the direction it moves as you inhale.
Why This Matters
If you watch how an infant breathes, you’ll notice their chest doesn’t expand and contract so much as their belly moves in and out. This is because it’s a natural instinct to breathe using the diaphragm. This type of breathing increases your ability to relax and focus. It also takes pressure from your heart, while gently massaging the organs in your abdomen.
In addition, it activates the energy point below the navel called qi hai, which means “Sea of Vitality.”
The classical Taoist (Daoist) text, the Tao Te Ching (dao te jing) says this about breathing:
“An infant can cry all day without becoming hoarse. This is the hallmark of harmonious living.”
This is a reference to the fact that abdominal breathing also keeps us more grounded and centered as we move through our day as well as giving us tireless energy.
The beauty of practicing this type of breathing while doing your qigong exercises is that over time it will become second nature to you. It’s like you ‘remember’ what it was like to breath like you did as an infant.
One More Secret…
Although my teacher emphasized that there were 4 secrets to mastering qigong, over the years I’ve felt the need to add a fifth secret based on my experiences with how qigong affects the mind and body. For now, let’s call it the “Fifth Secret.” I’ll be sharing that one in my next post…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Movement may seem like the simplest of the 4 secrets of qigong, but there are layers to the idea.
For example, successful practice requires that you move with good form and awareness, but without any unnecessary tension. This is easier said than done.
In addition, some qigong exercises have lots of movement and are very active. Others look, from the outside at least, like almost nothing is happening. So the quality of the movement can vary from one set of exercises to another.
Here’s a deeper secret about movement. This is very old wisdom:
“If it looks big on the outside, it’s small on the inside.
If it looks small on the outside, it’s big on the inside.”
How can we understand this?
One interpretation is that flashy moves aren’t necessarily the most powerful or effective. Slower, simpler movements and sets of exercises often are far more powerful than faster or more complex sets.
Another way to understand this idea is to recognize that mastery always manifests in a kind of fluid ease of activity. Compare how a highly trained dancer walks to how a normal person walks and you’ll get the idea.
I once saw a film of the famous painter, Pablo Picasso working on a wall-sized black and white painting. Watching this world-class painter work, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how effortlessly he moved with each brush stroke. Here’s a 28-second clip showing part of that video:
free video player & video platform - interactive video, online video solution: video player, video editor - kaltura
wordpress video - wordpress plugin for integrated video on video blogs, and video tools
Do you see what I mean about movement?
If you can apply that sort of smooth, spontaneous quality in your qigong, you’ll find your results increase dramatically.
Next, the 4th secret, breath…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Simply put, this secret has to do with attention and awareness.
If you practice qigong without paying attention and being in the moment, you will get substantially less benefit. In other words, if you find yourself thinking about what happened yesterday or what you will be doing tomorrow (or anything but the exercise you’re doing), then you are missing one of the most important aspects of your practice.
Imagine for a moment driving down the road and daydreaming. You’d miss the important information right in front of you, and be more likely to get into an accident.
It’s the same thing when practicing your energy exercises. By being present in the moment, you amplify the effectiveness of the exercise and reduce the chances of doing them incorrectly.
This gives you some benefits you might not think of right away. For one, when you focus 100% of your awareness on everything happening in the qigong exercise, all of your other concerns, thoughts, feelings and distractions from the day fade into the background. It gives you a kind of mental vacation and clears your mind.
Another advantage is that you develop an much greater ability to focus on everything else in your life. You learn nuances about awareness and attention that people who never pay attention to these things typically miss.
Finally, you develop the skill of mastering your random thoughts. You may have noticed that your mind, if left to its own devices, tends to run all over the place. In Oriental traditions they call this the “monkey mind.” It’s an apt term for it, as in “running around like a crazy monkey.”
Of course quieting your mind is just the beginning stage of a deeper process that will happen as you practice. But it’s still an important step to master.
Here’s a little exercise you can do to help quiet your mind. My long-time friend and collaborator, William Horden, developed this exercise and it’s a good one. He calls it the “Enough” exercise. Here’s how it works:
Pay attention to what your mind is doing during your waking hours. Since most people’s minds are doing the crazy monkey thing, it won’t take long for you to notice that the thoughts you’re having are running on auotpilot.
When you notice this, mentally say the word “Enough!” with a seriousness of intent. Imagine the tone you might use when telling you dog to “Sit!” It’s that kind of command. What you are doing is commanding your monkey mind to be quiet.
At first you’ll have to do this repeatedly, but after a while you’ll find that sometimes minutes go by without any autopilot thoughts. This is the ideal sort of mental state to be in when practicing your qigong.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
The first of the 4 secrets of qigong is “eyes.” But what does this mean?
The simplest way to put it is that eyes direct the qi. Of course it isn’t only the eyes, there has to be some awareness and attention behind them as well.
We’ve all had this experience in one way or another. Think about times when you’ve been in a public place and turned, for no obvious reason, only to find someone looking at you. You were able to sense their gaze by its effect on your energy.
I once did an informal experiment to see how true this is. At the time I worked in an office space that faced a busy street with a decent amount of pedestrian traffic. My desk faced a window looking out onto the street.
As people walked by, I’d watch them. There was no specific intention on my part aside from noticing if they somehow would respond to my looking at them. During these experiments I was sitting in a dark room with blinds on the window slightly closed. There wasn’t any way someone outside could physically see me.
The curious thing was that at least half the people walking by would turn and look at the window where I was sitting. Some even stopped and tried to look in.
I know, this isn’t a controlled experiment, but it is interesting.
When practicing qigong movements, the way you apply this secret is this way: as you go through the movements, you keep a soft focus on your hands. This soft focus will amplify the flow of energy inherent in the exercise.
Here’s a quick exercise you can do for yourself to prove how this works:
Stand with your feet slightly apart. While standing, bring your hands up in front of your face with your arms extended in front of you, but with your elbows bent and shoulders relaxed. Your palms should be facing you and your fingertips should point towards one another.
Here’s a picture of your hand position (from your viewpoint):
The trick here is to focus your eyes (remember, soft focus) on one hand and then slowly move your focus to the other hand. If you are relaxed enough, you will feel a shift in the sensations from one hand to the other.
I won’t pretend to know exactly what you’ll feel. Some people feel a kind of pressure on the hand they’re focusing on. Others feel a tingling sensation or warmth. It could be almost anything, but there will be a distinct difference between the hand you’re focusing on and the one you’re not focusing on.
Go ahead, try it!
Next post… the second secret.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
I know that’s an outrageous title, but this is the real deal.
I first learned this secret from my original teacher, Master Lew. In fact, he made it a point of presenting this information whenever he started teaching anyone qigong. He said, “The secret is always taught at the beginning.”
He learned this from his teachers in the Gee Lum Kuan monastery near Guangzhou. They, in turn, passed it along from their teachers. This is old knowledge.
Before I let you in on the secret, I’ll warn you that like most deep knowledge, it sounds almost too simple to carry much power. Please don’t let yourself be deceived by this. This knowledge truly underlies the power contained in any system of qigong, yoga or personal development.
Okay, ready?
The secret is…
Eyes, mind, movement and breath.
Yes, it looks simple on the outside, but I’m not exaggerating when I say it is very, very powerful. So powerful in fact, that I’m going to spend the next few posts elaborating on each of these qualities. I want you to begin to grasp the real importance of what these words convey.
Be sure to tune in over the next few days as we go over these concepts. I think it will be worthwhile for you.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
If you’ve read the post from yesterday, you know some of the deeper meanings associated with the concept of qigong. Today I’d like to offer the bigger context within which these exercises fit.
Neigong (literally, “inner cultivation”) is a sub-category of what is referred to as the internal arts. The softer martial arts, such as taijiquan, xingyi and baguazhang are included within the general category of internal arts as well.
Within neigong are such disciplines as qigong, shengong and jinggong, each of which have their own specific sets of exercises.
A diagram may make it easier to understand:
From this diagram you can see that qigong is a subset of the larger category, neigong.
So what exactly is neigong anyway?
The characters for the word look like this:
You might recognize the second character from yesterday’s post as ‘gong’, meaning cultivation. The first character means “inner” and in this context means controlling mind and breath for specific purposes.
I originally learned this concept from my first teacher, Master Share K. Lew. He talked about the differences between qigong and neigong (which he spelled chi kung and nui kung) as being this:
Qigong is a category of exercises focused on cultivating personal energy, strengthening the body, improving circulation and increasing balance.
Neigong is a larger category that includes qigong as well as specific exercises for developing skills such as greater awareness, intuition, the ability to access larger energies of heaven and earth, etc.
These days most people don’t know about the distinctions between these ideas, and thus tend to speak of all Oriental internal exercises as “qigong.” Now you know the difference!
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
Permalink
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »
