I have completed ‘100 days of qigong’---beginning on May 1 and ending on August 8, 2012. I did the Level I Spring Forest Qigong Active Exercise every day during this time without missing a day.
All of my sessions were done with the Level I DVD. I could do the exercises without the DVD, but I like seeing Chunyi on the screen (when my eyes are open).
On some days I did a couple of minutes of Level II exercises or listened to the Faith & Confidence Paraliminal after doing my Level I active exercise. Some days I drank a glass of yin/yang water before doing the exercises.
I have done little or nothing with the Sitting Meditations, so far.
I did not begin these 100 days of qigong practice for the purpose of healing a pain or sickness. I wanted to improve my overall health and energy. I believe prevention of illness is important. The hospital in my city is expanding upward and outward as fast as it can to meet demand. If something as simple as qigong can help me stay out of the doctor’s office, it is very useful to me.
In the beginning, I found that the more I did Spring Forest Qigong, the easier it was to find time to do it every day. There were a couple of days when I woke up and didn’t feel like doing qigong---but I did it anyway and I always felt better after doing it.
One morning I had a headache. Instead of taking an aspirin, I did qigong. At the end of the session my headache was nearly gone.
Other benefits received:
* more flexibility and strength in my knees when walking down stairs
* more flexibility in my shoulders and neck. (Most noticeable when looking over my shoulder while backing my car.)
* less tiredness and discomfort on long car trips
* more flexibility in my wrists, hands, and fingers
* Improved posture
* I felt a sense of ease, balance, and wellbeing after doing the exercises. (More so on some days than others.)
One negative result I experienced was soreness in my sides from leaning over to the side during Harmony of the Universe. I thought I was holding my arms out too far from my body and leaning too far. I pulled the movements in. That did feel more comfortable but I still felt soreness from doing it.
I’m always wobbly on the first step in Seven Steps of New Life. I began imagining a string attached to the top of my head, holding me up. That helped some.
After watching the DVD well over 100 times, I still do not understand how the yin/yang energy moves up and down in the transparent column in the center of the body. Does the energy move at the same speed as your hands---slowly?
At the beginning of the video, Chunyi Lin talks about the main channels in the body going up the back and down the front of the body. It seems to make more sense to me to imagine the energy flowing in that way than in a column in the middle of the body. There’s always more to learn and to understand, I suppose.
I like Chunyi Lin and his Spring Forest Qigong programs and I would encourage anyone to try them and to share your own results.
