thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think I can do them all - I also don't think I would make as much progress in SFQ or any other qigong as someone who is spending a lot more time on it. If someone is doing 2 hours a day on SFQ their skill will likely be far greater than mine in 10 years. I accept that.
I'm just looking to experience different qigong & neigong systems. I live the indonesian energy work I do - it's unbelievable. But I also love SFQ. I do the martial qigongs to help with my skill in chinese martial arts - which is not too great ;-) You would think someone with all of the internal background I have would be great - but my abilities are humble at best - realistically they're not so great. But I do it and I love it. I think the same kind of thinking applies to that as well - I'm trying to do chinese martial arts but my main focus is on martial qigong - I only do external forms for about 30 minutes to 1 hour a day if I have time. It's the last thing I do every day and I only do it if I have time. Some days I don't do it at all.
I'm just looking to build my energy in some different ways over the next 20-40 years of my life as I am 33 years old right now. I think I have basically found everything I want in terms of qigong. There's nothing out there I want - I just want to get better at what I have.
I agree with your statement about 3 major areas of qigong: martial, medical, and spiritual. If anyone has any other ideas for categories let me know.
It's not like I'm trying to be confrontational here. I just want to reiterate that there a *lot* of qigongs out there - and they don't all do the same things. Medical qigong can have elements of the spiritual. Medical probably has the most applications to the other areas - but there are other things out there. Most martial schools in china included some type of medical qigong and most high level masters are good in several systems of qigong - they absolutely do not tell their students to study only 1 qigong method at a time. Maybe for 3-6 months but once you start learning one method you get exposed to other things. remember high level masters passed on *several* qigong systems at a time - that's how this knowledge was preserved.
SFQ is great but SFQ is not all of qigong - it's one type of medical qigong. I love it but as I said I take these admonitions to study SFQ only with serious skepticism.
