HUNYUAN QIGONG ADVANCED INTRUCTIONS These notes are taken from the dvd “Detailed Hunyuan Qigong” by Master Joseph Chen.
WUJI POSTURE In a class, hold it for 1 to 3 minutes. Later on, you can hold it for 30 minutes. Feet are in slightly wider than shoulder width stance, so that a vertical drop from the outside of the shoulders will hit the insides of the feet. This is so the centre of gravity does not become top heavy. The feet are not parallel. If they are, the knees will lock up. Sink, allowing the hands to naturally hang at sides. Do not lean either forwards or back. Open the lower back by tucking it down so there’s a stretch in the spine. The knees are always bent. Eyes are halfway closed/open. Focus to get rid of all extraneous thoughts. Use a trinity system to allow you “to tie your horse and monkey down”. Concentrate on the dantian. The three things are: i) Think you can hear the dantian: this is like listening to the crackling of a fire. ii) Think you can see the dantian : Imagine the dantian as a coloured ball. It will probably appear red at first, darkish. Over time it will probably become a pure white. iii) Think you can feel the dantian : You will probably feel it as increasingly hot. The body will go into its own rhythm. It may move a little, don’t try to control it. Imagine the qi going all the way to the feet. Count your breaths as a method of helping the focus. Count from between 8 to 16 breaths for each cycle as your breath adjusts to about 4 breaths /minute. In the wuji posture, the hands can be either at the side, at dantian height, or at shoulder height.
1. LOWER THE QI AND CLEANSE INTERNALLY
When doing the hunyuan circles, be careful not to stick out your hip. To locate the laogong points, make a light fist. It’s where the tip of the middle finger touches.
The arms come up, hands turn and the laogong points aim at the baihui point at the top of the head. As the arms come down, when they are roughly at chest height let the arms pivot at the elbow and lower so they come to the sides then knee height as you sink. The hands do not go up with physical force but are pumped up by the dynamic of your body sinking downwards. There should be no effort from the shoulder, otherwise qi flow will be blocked. Enlarge the movements to begin with until it becomes natural and your velocity causes the hands to move up. As the hands go down from the top, it’s as if the feet pull them down. The shoulders pull down the elbows, which pull down the hands. The hands are very close to the body, so close you can feel the heat, but never never touch. The hands slightly slow at the area of Shanzhong at the chest where there’s a natural slow down of qi flow. Use mind intent to open this point so the qi can rush through. Once the arms are more or less parallel to the elbows, lock the elbows and let the arms just pivot down to approx the upper sides of the belly. Then sink a little and let the arms come to the sides. Now stretch the finger tips, particularly the middle finger, down towards the ground and pump your lower back down. When the hands reach roughly above the knee, pump the back down further and the arms go out and up, using the mind intent to turn the hands. When the arms are roughly level with your side, pump the back down again and the arms come all the way to the top. This is how you use your body to move the energy. You’re using very little actual effort. When you use effort you are not using qi. However, at the beginning you do need to use a little effort since it is not possible to transition to an energy body right away.
CLOSING IN BETWEEN EXERCISES This is necessary because the exercises open the energy and send it out to the body. You need to take time to gather the energy back into the dantian and let it settle. Otherwise it will remain dispersed, where it can escape. This can lead to “qi psychosis”, involuntary spasms and madness. After closing 3 times, do wuji standing again for a few minutes, right hand against belly, left hand on top (same for men and women).
2. GATHER THE QI TO THE DANTIAN The feet are much wider apart than shoulders. i) Top Dantian: located slightly higher than level with ends of eyebrows. Really draw/pull the qi in, reaching out. The hands are not higher than the shoulders. Arch the back to extend out, at the same time sinking the posture. Pull the qi into the upper dantian but let it drop down right away into the middle dantian. The upper dantian is known as the “pure palace” and if murky qi lingers there it may bring on headaches and confusion. ii) Middle Dantian: arms come up to shoulder height each time, then pull the qi into the belly. Imagine the qi as something solid. If there is only time for one exercise, do this one 100x. For power training you can modify this exercise, shorten the stance and imagine the dantian is opening and pulling in the qi on an audible breath as the arms pull in. iii) Lower Dantian: The stance is lower for this one, about shoulder width. Start by pulling the hands up. Pull the qi up into the huiyin, pull up into the dantian, circle to the kidneys, circle up to mingmen, come back to the dantian and repeat.
3. TWO HANDS RUB THE BALL Legs wider than shoulder width and sink down. Raise hands about chest height. Imagine there is a large ball. Make big circles on both sides of the ball. Don’t move the waist too big. Just rotate the waist, don’t push out the shoulders. The intent is that there is a fixed dot in front of the dantian. The hands rotate around it. Focus the attention on the dot, not on the hands. By maintaining this focus the movements will be coordinated and your qi will be encouraged to flow.
4. THE THREE DANTIAN OPEN AND CLOSE i)
Upper Dantian: When you open, sink and extend the back. When opening, the chest pushes out and the arms rotate and the shoulders pull back. When closing, the chest is pushed back and the shoulders rotate forward. The mind intent is that when opening imagine heavy objects on the back of the hands resisting, when coming together imagine a stick between the palms and you are squeezing it shorter.
ii)
iii)
Middle Dantian: When opening, the hands come to shoulder height. When coming together, the hands come close but do not touch. As always, pay attention to the three things – see, hear and feel the qi. Lower Dantian: This is done on a vertical plane, not horizontal like the previous two. The feet are closer together. Don’t keep the eyes centred on the same place, let the head and eyes rotate to follow each hand in turn. Start from the lower position. Don’t bend the back too much. Hands come up to no higher than shoulder position. When dropping down, relax everything.
5. THE SUN AND THE MOON TURNING Rub the hands together until they are hot. Place the laogong points on the nipples. Imagine the heat of the palms are like iron on the silk of the chest and the creases on the chest are opening and melting. Keep this going until the heat of the hands and chest merge. When flicking down the Ren channel, use mainly the index, middle and ring fingers. When doing the circling with the hands, the mind intent is imagine iron filings are on the sheet of the chest and your hands are magnets moving them. In this exercise, you are erasing bad energy flow habits and resetting with a new pattern of activity. The speed will be controlled by the extent to which you can feel the hands causing energy movements to the chest. Do not lower the head. Make sure the shoulders and elbows are relaxed.
6. CIRCULAR EXTENSION AND CONTRACTION Step out with the left foot first. In long horse stance. The rear heel can lift when going out and the toes can lift when coming back. Large as big as possible. Keep the elbows tucked in and hidden. Eventually your feet will not move anymore and they will remain flat. You’re trying to make a connection between the three lines – the line of the torso and head and then each of the two legs, with the switching point at the dantian. In each case you are working to make two lines become one (either of the legs in a straight line with the torso/head). This allows the energy to seamlessly flow from top to bottom and vice versa. “Try to make a connection between the three lines and try to make one line dominant. Two lines connect to make one line. When you return, you return to the centre where
there are three lines. You constantly shift. The connection is the place where you generate qi. The connection is what causes you to have power”.
7. SINGLE LEG ASCENDING AND DESCENDING Start at the top, right side. Don’t bend the body forward too much. Sink down as far as you can without losing structure.
8. DOUBLE LEG ASCENDING AND DESCENDING Done in slightly wider stance than #7. Start at the bottom and come up. Circle round each time to huantiao. Mind intent is when going downwards, keep the head upright. You can roll the shoulders and hips, but do not bend. Feel that there’s a rod inside you stretching up and down as your hands go up and down.
9. BELT MERIDIAN GRINDING
i ) Small Grinding: Arms only go 180 degrees. At beginning level, do with both palms face down. Start on the right side. Make sure the body is centred, don’t lose the central pivot and try to stretch as far as possible. You want to feel a connection of the stretched fingers to the toes. This is a “drastic” feeling. ii) Large Grinding: Arms go 360 degrees. Mark a spot behind you to return to each time. We do the grinding because we assume energy goes in 18 strands, equally spaced, up and down the body. They are like May pole strands. If the body is not exercised correctly they can knot or stick together. The belt meridian is located where the belt is tied, between the rib cage and hips. By spinning the belt meridian you create an evenly spaced separation of the energy lines. When they are spaced apart they are more functional.
10.HEAVEN AND EARTH OPEN AND CLOSE This used to be called the “great power training method”. Step quite wi.de, left arm crossed over right in the first part. Start from a small spot in front of the dantian, rise up and then split at the top like a fan. Imagine your hands grabbing something, pulling down and shrinking it down, then placing it in the dantian. Never do this 100% symmetrical since this will cause stagnation. You’re a little bit off to one side and that gives life to the exercise. When closing heaven and opening earth (the 2nd part), the hands do not cross. When the hands are at about chest height, drop the hands and then zoom down. The mind intent is to connect the energy of the ground in the feet with the hands. Later on you don’t need to go so high, you can pull more to one side or the other. When powering up with the fists, keep the insides loose and relaxed. This is also called “separation of yin and yang”. The outside may be making a fist but the inside is soft and loose. 11. COLLECTING THE QI TO THE DANTIAN Also done in a wide stance. Imagine the air in the space around you is filled with qi and use your palms to collect it. After the previous 10 exercises, our body is filled and surrounded by scattered qi. Here we collect this qi and put it in the dantian. The 2nd exercise is called “gather the qi”. This is a larger movement to collect any loose qi.
12. HEALTH MASSAGE TECHNIQUES These are designed to help us return to the everyday mode of normal activities. GRAND CLOSING In the end you want to gather all remaining loose qi and put it back in the dantian. When finishing and the hands are crossed over the dantian, the thumbs cross. Again, refocus on the three things – listen, watch and feel the dantian. Finally, brush down the arms, torso, face, head, and legs to get rid of any lingering static charge on the body.
