Nei Gong Notes, July 22, 2025
I was visiting my parents for most of the week, so no new lesson and not a ton of practice most days. And, unfortunately, I think I probably sat around too much and/or sat around in a less-than-ideal position, because my back is feeling not super great? Nothing horrible, just a little achy / weak.
Anyways, as to the days:
Wednesday: 30 minutes of Wu Ji, 25 minutes of breathing practice. Also, I was noticing that my shoulders not infrequently want to expand, I think the opening work really has had an effect. And I read some random article online that day which got me thinking that maybe I’ve been logy after my afternoon naps recently because I slept too long and went into a deeper sleep phase, so I was thinking I should set an alarm for 45 minutes; I’ve been putting that into practice since I got back, I think it’s helped.
Thursday: 50 minutes of Spine Shoulder Dao Yin, 20 minutes observing the breath.
Friday: 20 minutes Wu Ji, 40 minutes Kidney Hui Chun.
Saturday: 30 minutes Ji Ben 4, 25 minutes of Spleen Hui Chun, and I also went through the Chen Xinjia first form. (That was the only Tai Chi I did while on vacation.)
Sunday: 15 minutes Wu Ji, 40 minutes of just sitting, 20 minutes of Yin Yang breathing. (The latter two of which I did on the way home, good to be home.)
Monday: 45 minutes of Wu Ji; like I said, my back wasn’t feeling great, so I didn’t go a full hour. Though I didn’t feel like the Wu Ji was compressing it, I actually felt like the Wu Ji was stretching it out, so hopefully that will start helping? And I did an hour of Dantian Gong plus thickening.
Tuesday: in the morning, I reviewed Single Whip, I went through the Yang 37 twice with a video and twice on my own, I did 20 minutes each of Taji Standing 4 (Push) and the Four Energies exercise, and I went through the Chen pole-like weapons. (Guan Dao, staff, spear.) In the afternoon, I did 60 minutes of Calm Abiding; I wasn’t hanging out as easily in my body as I had the previous week, my body felt kind of tight? But I attention was pretty stable, so I kept at in, and as I relaxed my body I made it in there further. And I got some pretty good mental Song, too. So, all in all, it felt like a rather good session; and I’d actually been feeling more monkey-mind-ish than normal recently, so I was glad to be in a good mental state that time. And then I watched a video of a class that Rick gave at the end of June – I’ve decided that I want to start attending his classes going forward (at least the ones on Wednesdays, Saturdays are a less good time so I’ll probably do those via the recording), so I decided to go through the four ones from June / July. Interesting class, I’m glad I watched it; good Golden Orb practice, in a way that I got different things from than from Damo’s class a few months back.