Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Brain Chatter

I was at a Level 2 retreat recently and asked Master Lin a similar question. Here is my take on his reply.

It is normal for thoughts to keep popping up in the mind. When you first start practicing, just go through the motions, and if your mind wanders or if you have lots of thoughts popping up, that's ok.

As you continue to practice, your focus will turn more and more to your body. This is not by effort, it just happens. You start to notice sensations of energy, like tingling and heat, first in your hands, then in your body. Then you begin to notice things like itching, involuntary movement... The more you practice, the more your focus will stay on your body, and the more you will notice these things.

(By the way, at another point in the retreat, he said if you feel any itching while practicing qigong, DO NOT SCRATCH IT. It will interrupt the energy flow and it could take weeks to get back to the same point.)

Then he said you will begin to see lights. He said this is a big step. He became very excited at this point. He said this is where terms like "He finally saw the light," come from. When you see a light, focus on it, notice the color, texture, brightness... Initially you will see them only briefly, but as you continue to practice you will see them more often and for longer periods of time.

In advanced practice you will begin to focus on one particular point in the body. When you see light, you will bring to a point in your body and focus on it. An even more advanced technique will be to take something outside of you, like an image of the sun or moon or a beautiful scene in nature, and bring it inside of your body to meditate on it.

All along the way, your mind will become quieter and you will experience the emptiness of the universe more and more.

So my brief summary of his answer to how to deal with the internal dialog is to not worry about it and just keep practicing qigong, and the internal dialog will eventually go away all on it's own.

With regard to gallen's comments on not judging yourself, I find that for myself, and for others that I have spoken with, when I try not to judge myself or others, I end up judging myself for judging, then I judge myself for judging myself for judging... Judgements are just thoughts. I recommend that you deal with them like any other thought that pops up.

My way for dealing with thoughts that pop up while practicing qigong... notice them, smile to them, give them a little mental hug -- they usually go away quickly. Some stick around a bit or come back a few times, I just keep smiling to them. It's kind of like when a small child does something that you really don't want them to (like playing in the mud and getting their clothes all dirty), they are just so darn cute that you can't help but smile at them. Anyway, when I try to push my thoughts away, not only do they stick around, but it kills the buzz that I get when I practice qigong.

Anyhow, hope you find this useful...