Nei Gong Notes, January 4, 2022

This week’s lesson in Damo’s course had us continuing with going deeper into the Ji Ben Qi Gong, this time doing the fifth one. Unlike the previous four, it’s not about setting up a pump; instead, it started with working the side branches (which is what is most accessible when you do the exercise normally), and then had me leaning forward in a way that caused the Dantian and Kua to get involved, in a way that Damo compared to Silk Reeling exercises. So that was pretty interesting; I don’t know that it’ll be my favorite exercise, but it was good to feel that connection, and also to feel the movement in my torso?

I also watched an annual predictions video from Damo which led me to watching his 2021 video; the second half of that previous one was presenting a seated exercise around developing concentration. And that was pretty interesting; I’d been thinking I should maybe spend some time working on seated exercises for mental training instead of energy building, so I think I’ll give that one a try?

In general, a good practice week; Wednesday was fine, I didn’t put in as much time on Friday as I normally do but still noticeable amounts on Friday and Sunday, and I did a long practice on Monday as well since I had that day off. And things were getting more active by the end of that; on Monday, in particular, I went through the five energies balancing exercises, and I had several bits where that felt more interesting than it had in the past. Nothing huge, or anything, but still, it felt like a bit of progress?

And I did the Jing Gong exercise a couple of times; not a strong feeling, but there was definitely something bouncing around in my Dantian. I rewatched the Jing Gong 1 video, and it sounds like the sensation should get stronger; I should make sure to keep on doing Dantian Gong, as per the recommendation of that video, but I’ll also keep at the Jing Gong. And I’ll probably watch the Jing Gong 2 video and experiment with adding that in.

I didn’t do any of my regular Tai Chi most of the week, because it was raining outside; I did watch the next video in Damo’s Tai Chi course, though. It was on the first half of his version of the eight energies drill; interesting stuff, among other things because it had me focusing a little more on what my Kua was doing. I’ll also have to be open to the possibility that his interpretation of those energies is different than what I’m used to?

Tai Chi class on Saturday was good; nothing particular to report there. And I did get in good practice on Sunday and Monday as well; on Monday, maybe because I was thinking about my Kua, I think I figured out one thing that had been bothering me. When stepping forward in Jing Gang Pounds Pestle, I often felt off balance; but what I noticed on Monday was that if I closed my left Kua more and made sure I was facing forward, I felt a lot more stable. Hopefully that will stick; if so, good to have it figured out.

I wrote a blog post about relaxing your shoulders; longer than I would have liked, but maybe there’s something useful there. It’s certainly useful to me, in particular thinking about how the shoulder blades affect things.