Nei Gong Notes, September 8, 2026
Last Tuesdays’s lesson was Taiji Standing 8 – Brush Knee.
Wednesday: 20m Du Stretch. 1h Wu Ji; 15m Ji Ben 3 and 5m more Wu Ji. 40m Calm Abiding.
Thursday: 40m Song Breath 2. Rewatched the Releasing the Feet for Taiji video, because that feels important for me to work on. Busy morning, so no weapon practice today; 15m Releasing the Feet, 10m Taiji Standing 8, went through the 37 form and the Xinjia first form. (The latter of which felt good, more than normal going on inside my body.) 20m of Wu Ji and 10m of Coiling Snake; I think I should have stretched more before doing that, my lower back was surprisingly unhappy. Went through the Reverse Abdominal Breathing / Wood Wu Xing zoom class; that version of the Wood Wu Xing is very different from my memory of how it was presented in year 1! Reviewed the Hunyuan 48; honestly, I’m getting tired of doing that on my Thursday evenings, but I think rather than stop the correct thing would be to push through and actually learn the form, instead of half-assing too much of it the way I am now… (Update: actually, I think I am going to pause: learning it might the correct thing but I don’t feel motivated enough in practice to actually do it, so no sense constantly feeling guilty about that.) Watched Maryland 2022 Qigong Cultivation 5 lecture.
Friday: 25m Du Stretch, 30m Wu Ji, 30m standing Dantian Gong, 40m Earth Hui Chun.
Saturday: 35m Song Breath 1. 20m Releasing the Feet. Regular Chen class, trying to work Releasing the Feet into my form. 30m Dragon Dao Yins, going through all four. And I’ve been noticing the last couple of days that my spine is hanging wrong and I’m doing less well at figuring out how to fix it than last week. Also I’m not sinking into my left Kua properly.
Sunday: 40m Song Breath 2. 75m Push Hands. 25m Dragon 2.
Monday: 25m Du Stretch; 30m Wu Ji; 30m standing Dantian Gong; 10m Lotus Dao Yin / Wu Ji. Was planning to do longer on that latter, but my bowels had a different opinion; not sure if I was just a little off or if I’d moved stuff around wrong during Dantian Gong…
Tuesday: 40m Song Breath 1. Chen pole weapons. 20m (slightly iffy) Sinking the Feet; 15m Taiji Standing 8. 37 form, Laojia first and second forms. 30m Dragon 3; emphasized the chest part more than normal in the walk, and during one of the standing sections there was a lot more stuff moving around in my chest than normal, helping get it open. Went through the recording of Rick’s September 5 Zoom course; good to have a second Wood Wu Xing refresher in close succession.
Also, I’m thinking I’m going to dial back my Tai Chi practice. I’m feeling like I don’t have enough unscheduled time during my weeks, and also I’m not getting as much programming done as I’d like, so I think I’m spending too much time on internal arts. And right now I’m making more progress in Nei Gong than in Tai Chi, and I’ve got teachers that I’m learning more from in Nei Gong than in Tai Chi; that latter might change next year once the Foundations weekends end and I potentially start taking a push hands course, but for now dialing down Tai Chi seems right.
Concretely, I think I’ll stop doing Tai Chi on Tuesday mornings, and pause the IAA Taiji course. And I might go to Saturday class and Sunday push hands a little less often, but those are good for me for social reasons as well, so I think what I’ll do instead is continue going to them by default but I won’t feel guilty if I’ve got a reason to skip them on one particular week.
And it’s possible I’ll try to free up all of my mornings: switch my Thursday Tai Chi practice to the afternoon and only do a little bit of Nei Gong those days? We’ll see.