Qigong and autonomy
Attaining Autonomy in Qigong practice
Hi friends, today I want to talk about an important subject which also isn’t that common in the Qigong world, the matter of how we gain autonomy as practitioners.
Daoism has an important saying 吾命由吾不由天 Wu Ming You Wu, Bu You Tian, it means “my destiny is decided by me, not by the heavens.”
All technical terms, practice criteria and standards of individual schools aside, this is the most essential idea of Daoist practice.
The core idea is that we are born with destiny and karma, but that these things only define us if we allow them to and we also have the choice to change our destiny and become free of our karma.
You can make a religious reading of this idea, but maybe you should avoid using a westernized ideation of what religious doctrine means, since it misses an important element of Daoist practice.
Daoism and Confucianism are two schools of thought which believe you can become liberating through practice. This is quite different from Abrahamic traditions which may rely on criteria such as:
historical affiliation with a social demographic group,
conversion,
statement of faith.
While it is true that Daoist religious people broadly believe you must have the ascent of the deities to become an immortal, from the perspective of internal alchemy practice this is a formality and exists more in order to emphasize the importance of the concept of “not being excessively brave and putting the world first.” In point of fact the majority of internal alchemy texts which deal with the final phases of practice hold that there are specific meditation techniques which are used to become an immortal, which incidentally is a somewhat ambiguous subject in Daoism.
If you practice Neidan at a respectable level you will discover what the real meaning of this subject is through your own experience, but then you will have to make a decision about whether you will really go for it or not. Personally, I do not think that I will try to finish the process since it would be too disruptive to my life, but you never know, maybe after my kid finishes university in twenty years or so.
Having said that, spiritual autonomy and immortality in the Daoist context are linked, but not preciesely the same idea.
If we want to talk about changing destiny it is a process which relates to our gradual psychological and physical transformation which comes about as a result of embodying understanding derived from three sources:
being taught by someone who has achieved a good level of practice,
reading and understanding the classics,
practicing to a good level.
This is not a static thing and it can be improved over time, just the same as Daoism and Confucianism both hold that intentional practice can transform us.
I made a decision last year that I would shift immortality study away from only talking about Neidan to opening up ideas about Qigong and internal martial arts. This is partially because I have practiced both for decades, but more importantly because true practitioners of Neidan are very few and it can be helpful to talk a little about practices which more people are familiar with. Even though I want to knock down all the bad information about Neidan in the spiritual marketplace, I’ve come to recognize this is simply not possible, so I feel that while gradually sharing accurate information about internal alchemy practice, I can also add a little to the discussion about Qigong and internal martial arts which are a little better established and easier to find common ground about.
With that having been said, given our knowledge about destiny changing and intentional practice, let’s discuss how this works in the Qigong context.
Qigong is much broader than Neidan, rather than being one technique which instantiates profound transformation over time, Qigong consists of thousands of possible techniques which all have different results.
This makes it both faster to perceive positive results, but also more difficult to organize effectively.
This means that if we wish to transform our destiny using Qigong our first problem will be to identify how we want to practice.
My belief is that there are basically two ways to practice Qigong:
central focus on improving the condition of the physical body through gentle exercise,
changing the body and mind through intention driven energy work,
Thus if you suffer from physical issues such as tight muscles, consider it as part of your current destiny situation and begin by applying physical exercises which emphasize opening the sinews.
Yijin Jing, Baduan Jin and Luohan Gong are all great for this.
Energy work practice will also be effective and those practices have energy work, but for opening the body this kind of “Neigong” approach is usually the best at first.
If you suffer from internal illnesses it may be better to use energy work which can be either done combined with movements or in stillness. Styles like Zhineng Gong, Xiang Gong etc... are all great for this approach.
If you are in relatively good health already you should focus on energy work since it is like putting money in the bank.
Keep in mind that the first step of dealing with a negative perspective of your possible future (what we call destiny) starts with addressing the problems you know about since they are the most relevant to your immediate situation.
Qigong practice is powerful and many people can significantly recover from chronic health conditions through assiduous and correct practice.
The next layer concerns what you should do after you partially recover from your immediate problems.
In my experience this is the more difficult layer of practice because you are essentially dealing with deeper problems such as psychological habits you have developed for many years.
As an example, I have struggled with my weight since I was around 12 years old.
This was a product of 1990s Canadian ideas about nutrition, how food was produced and delivered to us, and a general lack of high quality lifestyle education in our country at the time.
In the words of the American singer Mistki “I’ve been big and I’ve been small and big and small again,” and even with sincere effort it was very hard for me to keep weight off for long periods of time. I used many methods and techniques to deal with this problem such as following low carb diets, engaging in fitness (I have to say I’ve always had great cardio and endurance as a result of skateboarding and martial arts), but issues like stress at various times made it hard to maintain a healthy weight.
Over the past few years I’ve finally managed to lock in to a healthy lifestyle which leads to gradual and maintained weight loss. Part of that process is related to learning to simply control the amount of calories that go into my body rather than listening to whatever current fad influencers are talking about. For most metabolically healthy people weight management is about calory consumption more than anything. Nevertheless, the main thing that precipitated improved self control I diet is actually energetic health. After decades of practicing Qigong and meditation I know the basic benchmark for feeling good and comfortable in my body. I know a specific weight beyond which causes issues of tangible inflammation and chronic pain and I make sure that the scale doesn’t pass that point.
I know that if things are going in the right direction my shoulders and neck don’t get tight, I feel totally free when I move and I don’t easily tire. If my Ren, Du and central meridians were not already wide open I do not think I would be able to identify what it means to be energetically open, but as a result of completing those processes it is very clear to me when things are going right or wrong.
Beyond that, having sufficient Dantian Qi can help you overcome hunger so I can stay on a reduced calory diet without being uncomfortable and sometimes if I have a bad day or week I can cut back to one meal a day for three or four days before feeling overly hungry. What this means on a practical level is that as a result of being experienced in energy work I have more self control and can choose to go up or down in nutrition depending on what my condition requires.
This isn’t completely unique to energy work, actually weight lifters do this work all the time, but just as Qigong isn’t for everyone, the same can be said of weightlifting. Whatever you are doing to keep you healthy that you identify with and are willing to dedicate yourself to passionately is what you should do.
Not everyone has weight problems, but everyone has unique challenges to their health and once you are in the door in practice, a major part of your advancement comes from recognizing these challenges and gradually working to overcome them (by the way, I’m not skinny, but my current condition is manageable and much better than it was in the past, so I just keep going).
During this phase of practice another way you can begin to get a grip on the direction of your destiny (how you perceive your future will be) is to improve your knowledge level.
Knowledge doesn’t only refer to health, but a good way to start is by learning about Qigong and the culture of Qigong. If this is your big hobby then you should treat it like you are serious. It takes about a decade or daily study to understand Qigong completely. Study in this context does not mean practice. You should practice every day and you should practice more than you study, but if you really want to understand Qigong and be able to use it for your own purposes, especially if you are a teacher, you should spend at least 30 minutes a day reading Qigong books, listening to Qigong lectures and learning about the philosophical, scientific and cultural background of the method.
English books are fine, but you need to pick the right books relative to your level of experience.
Beginners in English speaking countries should read Yang Jwing Ming’s The Root of Chinese Qigong. It is not a perfect book, but the general categories he mentions are correct and can give you an idea of the general character of Qigong.
Intermediate students should read books associated with their style, so for instance if you are a Zhineng Qigong student you can study Pang Ming’s books etc... It is also a good idea to read about Chinese Medicine Qigong (there is a great textbook written by Tianjun Lu that everyone should read, very standard and accurate method taught in Chinese TCM Colleges) even if you do not practice TCM since this approach to practice can help you understand how Qigong intersects with TCM and health preservation.
Beginner, intermediate and advanced students should also read Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian manuscripts, especially philosophical works, Yang Sheng and Neidan literature as well as Tiantai, Chan, and Vajryana works since all of them are relevant to practice and represent the deep aspect of study.
You do not have to read Chinese to engage in this study, although it would certainly help and I’m very proud that I’ve managed to help several Qigong instructers start their Chinese language learning journey and that our study groups have read more than 50 texts together since 2020 (it is probably closer to 100).
Knowledge about Qigong gives you insight into practice and that insight eventually traslates to freedom of choice about how you practice.
I’ve said it many times, Qigong is not like a car with an enginge that takes fuel, it is like a palette and paints which requires your creative input to create beauty.
Obtaining core knowledge is how you learn to use the paints and without it there is little choice to create beauty with Qigong practice.
Beyond this there are other considerations which are tangential to practice such as cultural and aesthetic apperciation and achievement.
My biggest observation in the past couple years has been that the study of music has profoundly influenced my perspective on Qigong, meditation and martial arts.
I study with a well known Bass guitar teacher named Jeff Berlin and his ideas about pedagogy, how to regard music, and the importance of fully understanding and being able to execute foundational concepts in music have profoundly advanced my own perception of the practices I’m knowledgeable about.
The exact same thing could be said about fine art, design, or a myriad of other creative pursuits.
Ultimately the lesson is that these things come from your soul and it is up to you to use your inner light to express beauty in the world, but at the same time the study of beauty, whether it is singing, painting, doing Qigong, sitting in meditation etc.. is transformative to your soul and your enjoyment of being alive.
I think this is the deepest lesson, that it isn’t about Qigong and meditation, those are vehicles for freedom and even though you have to get good at them for the freedom to manifest in the dust, ultimately it is you, your being, your soul that becomes liberated.
If you are interested in gaining autonomy in Qigong practice, the above essay kind of sum up my ideas at this moment. I’m not sure they are all completely correct, but I am sure that if you consider whether they connect to your views about practice, how you could apply the ideas you like, and how you conceptual the long process of becoming autonomous that you will benefit.
Lots of love,
Rob.
Speaking of texts about specific Qigong styles, behind the paywall today is a chapter from Pang Ming’s book Jian Ming Zhineng Qigong (Easily Understand Zhineng Qigong) about the idea of Yi Yuanti/the original body of the mind. Pang argues that perception of inner energy originates invisibly at the subatomic level, but become available to us at the level of the nervous system. Any perceptual activities whether associated with vision, smell, hearing, taste, touch or the mind integrate with this original body of the mind which occurs at the neurological level. When paired with Pang’s particular view of cultivating primordial mixed energy we can discover how to obtain deep benefit from Qigong practice. This is important because in the west it has been common to explain the technical matter of Zhineng Gong such as individual body locations and methods where energy is produced, but the deeper aspect has not been emphasized as much, perhaps because these ideas are difficult to translate without particular context. I’ve been working on learning Pang’s body of work more deeply over the past couple years and am happy to share his writings and my interpretations of those writings as well as wisdom of picked up from my teacher Hai Yang Shifu (who was a direct student of Pang for many years starting in the 1980s) when appropriate.
Enjoy the translation!!