Hi John,
I haven't had the experience you speak of, but I would like to offer that it is best to just keep practicing, relax, and come to each session without any preset expectation, or notion of what it should be. If you follow the teaching, everything is fine. You don't start out in any meditation technique, and experience it as the ultimate example of what it is. You are starting a journey of transformation and opening. You start wherever you are, and the process takes care of itself. Your experience will change over time. Not from wrong to right. It is good as soon as you engage, at any level. Try to remove any tension in your alignments. The smile is great for that.
Qigong is pronouced CHEE GONG. This is closest. Many people say chi kung.
Same for kung fu and gung fu. The Chinese character is the same in both, and is pronounced gong( same say more like gung). Gong is closest to the actual Chinese pronunciation. Sometimes, differences in terms and pronouncing them stem from Cantonese vs Mandarin words, and then shifting that to English. The character 'gong', depicts a carpenter's square(pictographically), and represents work or work/skill. The larger qigong associations as well as SFQ, use 'gong', and 'qi' / qigong. I believe things will eventually standardize to this.
love,
gallen
