Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Practice Active Exercise 1 and 2 Same Time

Can you practice active exercise 1 go right into active exercise 2 and then finish with Havesting the QI movements?

You 'could' do that, but I don't know why you would do 1 and 2 active exercises back to back in the same session. I could think of several other variations of practice that would make more sense. I experience them as different exercise sets, with different overall purpose and focus, aside from the fact they both cover keeping you healthy, in and of themselves. Think of overall balance for a day of practice. I would choose to mix in a meditation session instead, or lengthen the time in one group of exercises, or lengthen the time in one exercise, as an additional experience, after or during, covering my base of one active session. Immersing into a specific exercise for a longer time can bring a new experience or break through. Morning, noon, late afternoon/early evening, later at night, are all good times to exercise. It probably varies from person to person, but I feel more benefit doing an hour session twice a day, at key times, rather than one for two hours. It feels more continously connected for me, as opposed to one encounter 24hrs apart. The more of those time periods you practice, the more connected the overall experience. Inactive exercises also should be considered part of your qigong work ,study and growth. Mix it in , in proportion to the active. Maybe exchange one of those active sessions for a meditation. Think of the perferrable time periods during the course of the day, and do something at those times, if you can. 5 minutes, 2 hours, whatever... For myself, I find expanding the times in the level 2 exercises very appropriate, and worthwhile. Sword fingers and thunderpalms are more challenging to expand the times in. 10 minutes is much more difficult, than five. It is possible, and worthwhile to spend 30 minutes, or 45mins in 10,000 hands. Not necessarily every day, but every once and a while...It can be a wonderful experience. Spread the wealth.
I also find that following a physical, or active qigong exercise session with a meditation session is very good. Often, it happens for me, that the active exercise is just for that, to prepare for sitting meditation. Especially if it is for longer meditation sessions. Spread the wealth over the day.

Gallen, I'm a little confused... I took his post to mean: Can you practice *just* Active Excercise 1 and 2 from Level 1 (and skip the rest) and then do Harvesting Qi? It seemed like you were talking about mixing the Active Exercises from Level 1 and Level 2. Did I miss something?

Actually, I'm sorta curious about this subject, too. In the course materials for Level 1, it says that you can practice any of the Active Excercises in any order and then finish with Harvesting Qi. I was wondering what everyone's experience was with omiting some of the exercises for time purposes. I'm assuming that the sequence given in the course is the optimal one...

Hi--
The question was whether you could do all the active exercises from Level I, not do the havesting qi at that point, continuing into all the level II active exercises, then harvest qi at the end. Two complete active exercise groups followed by one harvesting qi. I thought that wouldn't hurt you, but didn't see the purpose, instead, opting for other approaches to deepening practice.
You are right, doing a sequential complete set is optimum.
It is ok to do just one exercise, especially to address limited time. I would always harvest qi, to some degree afterwards, even if I only did one exercise.
In the big picture, you do want to think balance, but that balance can come from a broader perspective. At any point in your varied practice, one complete set of active exercises balances your energy. If I then go do 10,000 hands for a half hour, I don't necessarily become out of balance. I just gathered more spiritual energy...over time, if I just gathered spiritual energy all the time, my physical body my get out of whack. Common sense... Sometimes I look at a daily balance of qigong work, sometimes weekly. As you progress, I think you sustain more balance in general.

Thanks for clearing that up. I always practice Harvesting Qi... it's my favorite part!