To the kind people of the Spring Forest Community,
I'm sure that some of this has been covered in other posts but I am looking for some advice on a way to move forward with my qigong. At the beginning of August I came down with what seemed to be a virus; swollen tonsils, swollen glands, fever, chills, crushing fatigue and a burning feeling in my chest. I was literally in bed for 23 out of 24 hours a day for almost two months. I have recently started to get a bit better, all of the fever, chills, sore throat, and malaise have finally gone and I'm able to sit up now and walk a little bit but I'm still so fatigued that I can't even put a home meal together yet (and I'm a chef!). As you can imagine I've been to every specialist in the city and they have been unable to diagnose what is wrong with me. I am being tested for Valley Fever this week (a fungus that lives in the soil in Arizona and California - I travelled to the desert in May) but they think that is a long shot.
In one of my darker moments a friend appeared with some information about Spring Forest Qigong and I saw it as a really tangible way to help myself. I ordered Course One and have been working on my practice for the last ten days or so. What I have found is that when I try to do the active exercises (which I can only do sitting down), I can do them and really enjoy them in the moment but about an hour after I'm done my lungs burn for about a day. I'm obviously doing too much.
Can anyone out there give me some advice on how to incrementally build up my qigong practice? Is there anyone who has been in a low energy situation like me who has managed to build an active practice up to at least a half an hour. How did you do it? I know that Spring Forest Qigong is going to help me but I don't want to take ten steps back before I take five steps forward.
I can do the Small Universe meditation lying down and it really helps me with the feelings of depression and hopelessness I feel right now. I always feel much better afterwards. I know that Master Lin emphasizes that active exercises are more important in the beginning but Is it enough for me to do just do the meditation until I regain more of my strength?
Any feedback that anyone has would be appreciated. Thank you. Lynn
