Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Just Being

Hi,

I have listening to the Level 1 tapes and although it says in the manual that entering the emptiness is very important - there is no reference to it in the quided meditations. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on doing and not just letting go and just BEING in meditation - which I think is essential to attaining inner peace and harmony. Can anyone explain to me at what point (if any in level 1) one is supposed to let go and give up trying to visualise channels opening,cultivating nice feelings etc.

Thanks

Mervyn

Hi Bluesky,
I am going to throw out some assorted things relative to your question:
1) It was found, and still is found, that say, monks who devote themselves to just the spiritual piece of all this, develop physical problems later in life.
2) All methods of meditation that I am aware of, start with an alignment and focus. An alignment can be both physical, like tucking the chin, or a visualization, that empowers a positive feeling that has a positive effect on the physical body. When you sit to meditate, your physical body and mind, are two big parts that can interupt or limit, your pursuit of emptiness, or time in the emptiness.
3) I have the best meditation sessions, preceeded by active qi gong. My body is warm and open, and I am able to remain motionless in a lotus position longer.
4) SFQ is a type of qigong. It has a piece of medical qigong, and spiritual. It starts with healing the body, along with introducing a meditation practice. It moves from healing the body, to more focus on the spiritual piece, as far as a self practice goes. There are two meditations in level I. Small Universe, and Self Concentration. Small Universe stems from Taoist source. Taoists, practiced longevity. It is excellent for that. It can have a sustained focus, or, you can use it as a stepping stone to emptiness. "Possible" considerations are losing the tape, and slowing down the breathing, losing the external guide.. Sometimes, you can even discover a higher level of that meditation as a continued focus. We are all different with this. Some people are really like the guided meditation with Master Lin, some have to lose the tape, or CD, and try their own pace, keeping Master Lin's presence, or whatever. The other benefit to this meditation, is that it also, can clear and heal the body.
Self concentration, is about as paired down and simple an alignment and initial focus as there is. You do this physical alignment and visualization, then you are free to do whatever you want. Like just BEING. If you come down out of that, you can subtley 'align' again, regarding the spine, smile, or visualization. These simple things scoot you on your way. If you want to lose the tape, and make it less guided , other than you setting up the alignment and focus, that's fine.
4) The lotus position allows one to sit in the emptiness, the longest. I feel it as greatly empowering, clearifying or intensifying, anything I am doing, in my meditations. Getting into a lotus, for me, involved physical clearing. That is a process I still feel going on. Small universe helps that, as does active qigong exercise. When I refer to a practice of lotus sitting, I include all the sitting position steps up to that, starting with a chair, and having the goal of lotus sitting. The body counts in this progression.
5) As you progress, you spend more time in meditation, and do maintainance on the physical piece. At least, that is a possibility in this pracitce. If you take a dip and get sick, or injured, or sense a decline in your phyical body, you give a bigger spin to clearing that up.

Perhaps self concentration is closest to your current interest. Try the above suggestions with it. Don't discount the body and physical health in all this. You have one. It can limit your experience of BEING, in a meditation practice, if it is not taken care of.
love,
gallen

Gallen,

Would you please elabroate a bit more about visualization? I have problem on visualizing an engry column for "the moving of Yin & Yang" exercise. Do we "see" the energy column inside our body? Or in front of our eyes? What colour is it? If I can't visualize it, what should I do?

Regards,

LittleBoat

Hi Gallen,

Thank you very much for taking the time to post such a detailed reply to my post. I totally agree with all your main points. I have found from my own mediation experience that I go a lot deeper into "emptiness/beingness" when I have practised qi qong beforehand and I do believe for a balanced healthy life we need to balance the passive /yin meditations with the active yang exercises. The reason I bring this subject up is that about 15 years ago I used to practise with another qi gong master and he taught us numerous techiques for cultivating chi and transforming negative emotions - at first I was really enjoying the practise but about 5 years later I went through a really bad period of panic attacks ,which I don't think were related to the practise ,but I was trying every taoist techinique I knew to try to transform the negative to the positive - with little success. After months of real mental and emmotional pain I realised what I was doing was not working and by some good fortune I happened to listen to a tape by an Indian priest and he said something in the tape which reminded of the Tao Te Ching "Yielding is the way of the Tao" and "Stillness and tranquility set things in order in the UNIVERSE". (He actually used the Christian phrase "Resist not evil.").Anyway when I made this connection everything started to change - when I started to experience my next panic attack ,instead of resisting it or trying to transform it by some techique, I just stayed with and sort of let myself go into it and was amazed by how quickly I came through it ..then I started noticing that the attacks were getting less and less and finally after a couple of months they just went !. The biggest lesson for me was the power of just letting go and accepting what was happening. I am really drawn to SFQ as it seems to be be a more balanced practise then my previous one - especially when I read in the training manual the importance of entering the emptiness. What I do now is just after the quided self concentration exercise - the bit when Master Lin says "feel yourself lost in the harmony of the universe" I let go of trying to visualise or do very much and just try to just rest in stillness. I just would have preferred some sort of instruction on the tape to this effect as in most of the actual quided exercises the empahasis seems to be doing and not enough time to just being. I quess I just what reassurance that in SFQ practice there is a recognition of the importance of getting to a point of trusting in the balancing power of the universe and getting the mind out of the way !

Aloha Bluesky,

Thank you for your post.

You'll find Master Lin talking about "your illness being your master," rather than something to hate, run away from, get rid of, or fix.

quote:

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I just would have preferred some sort of instruction on the tape to this effect as in most of the actual quided exercises the empahasis seems to be doing and not enough time to just being. I quess I just what reassurance that in SFQ practice there is a recognition of the importance of getting to a point of trusting in the balancing power of the universe and getting the mind out of the way !

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At some point you'll smile at the above. Thank you again for posting.

The mind is looking for mental direction to "just be", and is behind the "reassurance" piece too.

Thanks to Gallen for always looking to sharing from an experiencial perspective, while still addressing the constructs of poster's minds.

Another friend of mine just gave a talk to the Spring Forest Qigong International Guild a couple weeks ago regarding this. It was well done and mirrored much of what I share with people who call in for coaching regarding this exercise and Spring Forest Qigong in general.

Although most students tend to look past the Self Concentration exercise in lieu of the Small Universe that is emphasized for its powerful healing qualities–they'll find the core of Spring Forest Qigong, nicely packed into it.

During the Self Concentration Exercise, students are simply and wonderfully led though a relaxing of the body, opening of blockages, and removal of excess energy. Then they’re guided to connect with that "goodness" within, and while in that soul connection, he allows them to...just be.

It is there that one can open their heart. It is there that one can step beyond the ego and experience the harmony of the universe.

Since most of us need guidance for our auditory, kinesthetic, and visual senses in the beginning stages of our practice, the level I and II practice is geared to support that.

But he goes and gives us an opportunity anyway–right there in Level I, to step into the emptiness at a different level. It’s our minds that get in the way, still needing that direction/distraction.

If he had given any more direction at that point in the meditation, it would have just muddied up the intent and possibilities.

So you can tuck the mind into bed, and have it rest assured that getting into the emptiness, or truly just being, is the focus of Spring Forest Qigong practice. It’s in that space that you heal at all levels. It’s in that space of being connected to the harmony of the universe that you cannot help but act virtuously.

Once you are there, the CD's coaching, the exercie's movements, and the visulizations fall aside and you are are in the emptiness. Enjoy.

Much Love and happy Chinese New Year,

Shawn

Hi Shawn,

Fantastic ...just what I was hoping to hear !

I do understand the need for the steps and the guidance - especially if this was my first exposure to meditation. I know how hard it was for me when I first started breath meditating to calm down my constantly chattering mind and I think the guided meditation is very useful. To be honest I doubt if I would have even understood the concept of just "being" or "emptiness" when I first started to meditate.

I was begining to accept that the SFQ was mainly a self-healing system and that "spiritual qigong" was something I would have to find elsewhere - so it is really inspiring to hear that the focus of SFQ is to learn to just relax into beingness.

If you want to become full,
first let yourself become empty.

For those who practice not-doing,
everything will fall into place.

(Tao Te Ching)

Bluesky

Shawn,
Can you expand on this:
You'll find Master Lin talking about "your illness being your master," rather than something to hate, run away from, get rid of, or fix.

How might we incorporate this into our practice. I have seasonal issues in winter that affect my sleep. I know the anxiety I experience is worse than th actual problem. I am working on accepting, etc. But it is a struggle. Any direction would be appreciated.

RodB

[This message has been edited by RodB (edited February 03, 2006).]

Little Boat,
I apologize for the delay in replying to your post.
In the Level I manual that I have, Master Lin states:
"Visualize a transparent energy column of beautiful colors running from the top of the head to the bottom of the torso. While moving the hands, visualize the energy moving up and down the transparent column. Visualize the channels in the torso opening completely."
This is your guidance, to work with. Everyone, will proceed, in their own way. If I define "my way" of seeing it, it would greatly limit you, in finding your way of seeing it.
Let these words create an impression for you, or just a sense of something. Go with whatever your first impression is. If you have none, just do the exercise, and relax into it like a warm bath. It will 'still work for you', you won't miss out on the health benefits of the exercise, and you will make progress with visualization over time.
love,
gallen

Gallen,

Thanks for your reply. I am still waiting for my Level 1 & 2 course to be arrived. Meanwhile, I am learning from " born as a healer".

I am doing the active exercises daily but only for about 10 to 15 minutes a day. I feel a bit of energy flow when doing "the breathing of the universe". I can't visualize the energy column in "the moving of yin & Yang" yet but I am sure I will one day.

When I do the "begining of the universe", I feel my shoulders very heavy. I try to relax my shoulder but then I feel my hands are very heavy. I don't really know how to relax. My shoulders are always stiff , may be because I spend too much time working with computer. (But that's how I earn my living.) Is there any step I can follow to "relax every part of the body"?

I have read all the posts above and learnt a lot although I am not up to the level to understand all. Thanks everyone.

Love,

Little Boat

Hi littleboat,
Bouncing is a great way to relax and release tension. Although it can be done in a very general way for overall effect, you can focus within that on say, your shoulders and C7, or back of the neck if you sense more tension there. If you bounce until you are warm, 7-10 minutes perhaps, it is a great way to then begin your active exercise. If you are short on time, focus on one or two exercises, then harvest qi.
The quality of an exercise is more important than how many different ones you do.
Also, in havesting qi, the spine twists, and neck circles are good to revisit during the day regarding working on a computer and holding tension in the neck and shoulders.
Love,
gallen