Nei Gong Notes, November 11, 2025
I finally (with the help of Claude) got mail notifications about blog comments working again, so if you leave a comment, it shouldn’t take me a week to notice it now.
This week’s lesson was Taiji Standing 5 – Single Whip (plus Pushing Hands – Press). Pretty intense, I like that one.
Wednesday: My monthly going through the Sinew Changing Principles Zoom class; good, as always. Also, a random note: I’ve been feeling over the last month or so that the left side of my torso is weaker than the right, I think my TCM doctor was correct about my Kidney being weaker on that side. Probably related to why I normally lean to the left when I’m standing.
Thursday: I rewatched the Golden Rooster video; interesting one, lots of details for me to fix. I did 15m of TS5 (that was interesting inside), 20m WSSF3, and I went through the 37 form twice, the Hunyuan 48 form, and the Xinjia first form (I did a surprisingly bad job, honestly). In the afternoon, I did 30m of Dragon 2, 25m Pulling Down Heaven, and 25m attention to breath.
Friday: I did 45m Wu Ji; my back felt stretchier than it ever has, I think the Dragon 2 is making a difference. And a 65m successful MCO attempt; this is the second time that I’ve gotten it to work after a Foundations workshop, so that’s good. Like the previous one, I initially didn’t think it was going to work, but it just kept on going up, and after about 15 minutes it made it to the top of my head. And there wasn’t any particular blockage anywhere along my spine. Though, unlike the previous time, it didn’t leave my torso tingling for days after…
Saturday: 30m attention to breath, 10m Tai Chi Wu Ji. And the regular Chen class; I was doing a good job of Fang Song, it felt quite different inside, I’ll definitely want to keep on working on that.
Sunday: 20m Pulling Down Heaven, 20m attention to breath, plus the monthly Sunday Tai Chi class. And 30m of indifferent attempt at doing Scholar Breathing that turned into a decent job of feeling the Ming Line, at least.
Monday: Du Stretch video; 20m Wu Ji; 1h DTG / thickening. Also, I’ve recently been noticing a bit of pulsing in my left leg while doing Wu Ji; I’m not sure if it’s blood vessels or fascia. (Somewhat irregular, which argues against blood vessels.)
Tuesday: I reviewed Needles to Sea Bottom and Fan Through Back, and I went through all the Chen weapon forms. I did 20m each TS5 and WSSF1; I felt a weird full body tingling halfway through the latter, I’m honestly not sure if I was just overexerting myself and feeling slightly dizzy or if something was clearing in a useful way or what. I went through 37 form and the Lao Jia 1/2 once each. And in the afternoon I did 20 minutes of Wu Ji, 25 minutes of Dragon 2, 35 minutes of Kidney Hui Chun (been a while since I’ve done that, I should probably get back to it?), and 30 minutes of attention to the breath.
I feel like my back is doing better; not sure if it’s the weekly Du Stretch videos or Dragon 2 or what, probably a combination. Would be nice if that helps make the MCO attempts more successful, instead of only working right after a workshop, we’ll see.