Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Neck pain.

I'm half-way through the audio-tapes and have ran through the video-tape about 6 times so I'm kind of new.

I'm going to school right now and spend allot of time studying, sometimes 10-15 hours a day.

When I was doing the active exercise today I felt pain in my neck. I think it was because the exercise made more aware of my body. Because my neck usually does get sore when I'm studying, I usually prop the book up and also roll my head around to loosen up the neck muscles.

During the exercise I did focus on my neck but I couldn't get it to go away right away. I took a break before I did the harmony of universal energy exercise (it's the long exercise right before the one were you step your foot and send-energy through your 7 chakras.) to read through the steps because it's a complex exercise.

So after the break I may have been de-sensitized but I felt better after that one.

I have been thinking about my posture and I was wondering if I'm breathing right also.

When I breathe, I suck my stomache in and expand my chest with my mouth closed and tongue at the roof of my mouth. When I breathe out I push my stomache out and push my chest in.

So does anyone have any tips for an energy blockage in the neck?

I was listening to the tape about massageing your hand for a low-blood sugar level. I didn't quite understand that either. Am I just supposed to massage my index finger and ring finer (is that the one next to the pinky?) and say my blood sugar level is good. Am I supposed to do this to both hands.

Thanks for you input.

Stace,
For the breathing, i hope Gallen replies. But, there are some informative posts on that breathing. Check out the thread below.

I don't think you are doing it correctly. It was my understanding that you suck in a little the area at your solar plexis. That area just below your rib cage. Then when you breathe in the lower part of your stomach expands. Then reverse it when you exhale. I hope someone verifies that what i've just written is correct. If the way you are doing it is correct, then i'm doing it incorrectly.

About the fingers i'm sure of. Pete replied to this question. For high bp, massage the sides of the fingers from the tips to the hand. For low bp, massage the sides of those fingers from the base to the tips.

For your neck, lower your head and breathe and release tension as your head is lowering. Breathe right into that area & keep relaxing it. Or, move your neck area slowly and where you feel tension, breathe and relax. You should be able to feel it easing up.

good luck & i hope you are doing all those hours of studying in layers of 30 minutes

I'm still confused about breathing. I looked at the post on reverse-breathing, which is what I believe I'm supposed to be doing.

I looked at this website: http://members.tripod.com/internalart/the%20art%20of%20meditation/breathing.htm

What I got out of it was when I breathe in I contract my stomache and when I breathe out I expand my stomache. Thanks.

There is alot of info already posted concerning breathing, that should help you there. The words you use for breathing, push, suck, push, push,,,,sound a bit forced. Perhaps it's just your description, but soften up a bit, if not. Relax more, and try to make it more natural. "Pushing" the chest in sounds forced. It should be natural and more relaxed breathing. As both Margaret and myself have said in a recent post, relaxation is key. Especially for you. In the beginning, or anytime, relaxation , and a feeling of opening up, aids all aspects of practice. If you really relaxed, your neck pain would "change" immediately. It might not disappear, immediately, but you can produce a change, or shift, with relaxation, that would lead to clearing that blockage. As you are studying so much and creating tension there, you might have to take frequent breaks to relax for a few minutes. With intense work that effects your neck, sometimes, you have to hold your own, do the best you can to maintain, until you get a chance to recover completely. How much time you are doing "good" for the neck , versus neck abuse. If you incorporate the active exercise in a daily routine, you can get to a point where you can manage neck pain , and keep that area completely open , on a daily basis. I will list a few neck things to try, for short breaks from reading/studying.
1) Sitting, relaxed. Let your eyes gaze downwards (@45 degrees). Focus on relaxing your eyes. Any eye tension/strain can tighten the neck and add to closing that area. Drop and open up the tops of the shoulders, relax the top of the spine. Move energy down to your palms as you relax your shoulder area. If you have the extra minutes, after you relax the neck shoulder area/ out to the hands, focus on the lower dan tien in that relaxed state and move the energy/relaxation process down to the bottoms of the feet. In general, these things move energy, relax you, open you up, move tension/blockage out of that area. Use your mind to envision stress, tightness, etc., leaving. You can envision a sun or bright light in the top of your spine, shoulders, burning off blockages and energizing the areas.
2) Don't rub your neck. It can be the opposite of moving energy through or away from that area by relaxing and focusing on palms/feet from the above sequences. It like putting more energy into a blockage, that you don't need. "Only" , if you are aware of what you are doing energetically, could you self massage that area and open it up. Notice I say massage, as opposed to rub. Deep pressure with knuckles or fingers, in combo with relaxing , can, open up the area too, but not rubbing.
3) Again, in a sitting position: Roll the neck down. Think of the image of a fan, spreading, or fanning open as you "roll" down. Basically, I am saying bend your head down, but not in the sense of crimping or cutting of energy flow. Pull through the crown point as you roll down the neck, spreading that fan, opening all those vertebrae, releasing energy trapped in the vertebrae. Again , you can visualize energy being released as you do this. After this relaxed stretch and opening, try coming back up, center your head/neck, and very relaxed/softly do the neck circles Master Lin does after meditation, or in harvesting qi. Horizontal circles left and right, and dolphining the neck. Consciously releasing the blockage tension is better first, so you are more open when you circle the neck.
3) frequently twist the spine, with your head looking forward, again , from harvesting qi exercise..
4) Using sword fingers through the throat area to break up blockage in the C7 / top of the spine area in back. Visualize it leaving/releasing, or literally grab it out with your hand, again from the front side, and throw the energy you grab out into the ground, knowing it is leaving your hand, and going into the ground. Grab softly, slowly with feeling, visualing yourself grabbing out the blockage. Lastly, hold your Palm by the base of your throat, and send healing energy(visualize) to the area in back you cleared. Warmth, relaxation, sending qi through the palm. I am assuming you are doing level I. This gets into level II, with a few parts missing, but it will still help.
4) You can get up and do a movement like touching your toes. Keep your back straight as you go down to waist level, lead the movement with your heart area(aligned to the earth), then relax and hang down as you reach the bottom part of the movement. Again, like the neck roll, this time think of the whole spine, pulling through the crownpoint, with gravity assisting. Also the earth. Let it all release into the earth. Just hang there a bit a let your vertebrae spread and open. When you come up, roll up one vertebrae at a time all the way up to the crown point. Exhale as you roll down. This is hard to write a description of , but hopefully it will give you the idea of what you are doing. All I have mentioned as to do with opening up, relaxing , and moving energy.
5) Being aware of your alignment as you study. If possible keep you spine straight, crown suspended as you study. Breath correctly as you study. You can be exercising , in a way as you study. It's like the idea of gung fu, or kung fu. Work/skill. You can do kung fu doing anything. Cooking, mowing, studying, etc. It is a matter of alignment, awareness, breathing...Same for qigong. You can be doing it as you preform a task, or, all the time.
Even if you do the whole level I exercise, neck pain may not leave immediately. Usually, it should be completely gone by the end of the exercise, once you have a daily practice established. You can clear this completely on a daily basis. Maybe focus more on your neck, after you finish studying, so your healing/recovery extends into down time. As you go to bed, call on the master's energy , to help you rejuvenate as you rest, and to help you get through your work and care for yourself. Be open to insights and ideas of what is best, to do when, as you study. Qigong can help you maintain through difficult work periods.

Margaret,

I may well be wrong on this, but I don't think you are doing the breathing correctly.

It is my understanding that the area to gently pull in, on the in breath, should be below the navel, not at the solar plexus.

My reasoning is as follows:

When you pull the lower abdomen in you also pull up slightly on the perineum (the area master Lin calls the "bottom"). I remember from studying Mantak Chia's techniques that pulling up the perineum on an in breath builds the chi up in that area, so it can be distributed through the small universe circuit.

Also, pulling in at the solar plexus would inhibit the action of the diaphram and severely limit the volume of the breath.

As this seems like a very important distinction, I would appreciate clarification on this.

Michael

Aloha Amstar,

Yes, when you inhale, the area of your stomach below your navel should draw in a little. You then allow the breath to permeate and fill all the way up the body, as in a normal breath. On the exhale, the breathe evenly flows out and the held place releases along with the abdomen muscles.

"Breathing is important to your practice. In level one it is more important that you breathe slowly and evenly than it is to do Qigong breathing."

Much Love, Shawn

[This message has been edited by Shawn_Grim (edited September 30, 2002).]

Ok, now i must be breathing incorrectly here. So, i'm to gently pull in the stomach and then the chest expands? Is that all there is to it?

I've read everything on breathing & i guess i still don't get it.

Thanks!

Thank you Shawn. Once I stopped struggling with this it became quite simple. I am happy to have you confirm that is really is simple!

Margaret,

Perhaps what is confusing you is the term, "stomach." Anatomically your stomach is up high in the abdomen. People often use it to mean the entire abdomen.

Specifically, the area to gently pull in on the inhale is the lower abdomen, meaning between the top of the pubic bone and the navel. The rest of your breath should fill up normally for you.

One other thought; In order to learn to create a full, natural breath, without forcing, it is helpful to watch or recall the way a baby breathes. Then visualize that easy, full body expansion and release, and model it kinesthetically for yourself.

The only difference I can see in reverse breathing is gently pulling in the lower abdomen on the inhale.

I hope that helps some. If I am adding to the confusion, let me know and I'll hush.

Michael

Shawn, and Michael's last post, seem very clear and right to me. I think the tendency is not to do it naturally in the beginning. Just like dancing. Getting out of the forced or awkward stage. I certainly don't want to confuse this , but one can define a difference between filling the abdomen/lower lungs, and upper lungs. A two stage filling of inhale, that really is full. Sometimes I focus on filling the lower part(in a very smooth relaxed manner), then continue, filling up the upper lungs. Like filling a bucket from the bottom up. I learned a form of medical qigong once, that when working on the lungs, separated or defined these two areas of filling up, lower and upper. One of the exercises was done in stages. The first stage just filled up the bottom. When you got to doing both, one was very aware of how full you could fill up on the inhale. The exercise focused on "filling" the lungs to expand and energize them, beyond the normal capacity usually experienced. I find, defining this lower and upper helps create a fuller breath.
I also find that being aware of pullin up the huiyin area, coordinates nicely , with pulling in that area below the navel. I have seen qigong exercises that just focus on reverse breathing. The form they took was very similar to the breathing of the universe exercise in level I. I think that exercise is a great one for practicing reverse breathing, as your hands move apart and together.

Thanks, Michael and Shawn. I have to work on my breathing because i've been doing it wrong. I hope i get it right this time. Your posts seem very clear & i've read them a few times. I'll try it tonight.