Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong TONGUE

IS THE TONGUE PLACED BEHIND THE TOP TEETH OR IS THE TONGUE PLACED RIGHT BACK AT THE PALATE
IS IT JUST THE TIP OF THE TONGUE OR THE FLAT OF THE TONGUE CAN ANYONE ENLIGHTEN ME AS I AM NEW TO THIS THANKYOU

Hi Li,
The tongue is placed on the roof of the mouth where you feel most comfortable.
I personally find that if you say the letter L
the tongue ends up with the tip just above the top front teeth. You can still breathe and swallow and also let the rest of your tongue rise up to the roof of the mouth when resting. Hope this helps.
Love and light
Faune

I asked this same question two hours after this thread was begun (did not look to see if there were any new threads ).

And I like faune's answer: sounds good and may be the best answer.

Still, I would like to offer my questions here from the thread I just started to see if there are any other "good, better, best" possibilities from the ancient wisdom of Qigong as channeled through our teacher Chunyi Lin or any senior students:

quote:

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I have heard and used a few different alternatives for where the tongue goes while practicing Qigong. I even had a recent teacher who argued for the tongue going behind the teeth on the bottom of the mouth since he (he argued) that Qi is an electric energy and since water conducts electricity, it is actually better (or at least as good) to put it behind the bottom teeth.

Having said that, I usually put the tongue behind the upper teeth, just touching the flesh on the hard palate. But I have also heard that it is better to curl the tongue and have it touch further back on the hard palate.

And there is also the possibility (though awkward) to have the tongue touch the soft palette even further back towards the throat, touching that little indentation that points almost directly straight up towards the top of the head.

Any thoughts or direction on this question?

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If faune is correct (don't see how that advice could be "wrong"), I still wonder are there better ways to direct the flow of Qi. And I have heard that one way to "test" is which way produces the most saliva. Anything to that?

The tongue is an important part of the "posture" component of good (or even "best" ) Qigong practice, so I think it well worth discussing.

[This message has been edited by shakurav (edited April 21, 2006).]

[This message has been edited by shakurav (edited April 21, 2006).]

Li Wang Ho and any others with this question:

I just did a search using the word "tongue" in any message for any date and I found this very helpful thread, which also features some beginner tips on some other issues such as drinking cold water, when to stretch relative to doing SFQ, taking a shower before or after etc.
http://beginnerstongue.notlong.com

Here is part of Shawn's response specific to the tongue question:

Shawn_Grim
Learning Strategies Corporation posted September 05, 2003 06:28 PM:

quote:

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1) Just where on the roof of your mouth do you put your tongue? Just behind the teeth or up in the rounded part?
Just behind the teeth. There are different benefits to putting the tongue in the middle or the back of the roof of the mouth. For now just place it on the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth and forget about it during the exercises.

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So therefore, I think that after I get better at doing all the exercises (and maybe even after I learn L2), I may experiment more with moving the tongue to different positions . For now, there are so many very interesting dimensions and parameters of SFQ, I think I will work on others and just keep the tongue just behind the teeth on the upper palate.

Thanks to Shawn and others who chimed in on that older thread.

Aloha Li Wang Ho,

That was kind of shakurav to do the searching in previous posts to help with your and his questions. I still stand by my earlier reply he references in his post.

Like Chunyi mentioned during a group phone healing a couple days ago: Place the tounge at the roof of the mouth gently wherever it will touch comfortably.

At the point in your work there is no need to spend time thinking about it, rather bring your focus to "feeling" the energy during your exercises/meditations.

Much Love, Shawn

thankyou everyone for your help