I spent the last five days at a Lotus Nei Gong course taught by Damo Mitchell (with the help of a senior student of his). I’ve been impressed by Mitchell’s books, and I liked him quite a bit as a teacher: good at explaining, funny, and I really liked the mixture of stuff he taught, going over core practices, teaching us (most of) one important sequence, occasionally lecturing on basic concepts, and mixing up the difficulty level nicely. (I’m definitely more prepared than I was for the Nei Gong course I took a couple of months back, but this one was also less physically stressful, except for one morning.)

My Wu Ji positioning was pretty good; I was told to go a little lower, and sometimes my tilt wasn’t quite right but I got corrected to tilt both more and less at different times, so I’m okay on average? The tip that I picked up on the tilt was to ease up on my lower back, and I think I can feel what that’s talking about: if I stand what feels straight up to me, I do feel a slight tension in my lower back, and I can lessen that by tilting a bit. Also, my hands weren’t nearly low enough, and also should be wider, a little wider than my body, and I should make sure to keep my neck up.

Sessions regularly got kicked off with a set of stretches, I should probably try to do those. The main theoretical concepts that were discussed were about Yin Qi and Yang Qi: letting your mind sink to your Dantian to build up Yin Qi, having it go from there into the rest of your body, opening up space in your joints to let the Yin Qi flow in there (at least I think it was the Yin Qi?), how opening up your Lao Gong helps you manipulate Yin Qi, how Yang Qi leads to various sensations which you should basically ignore (which is too bad, I can feel those and they’re kind of fun!), how Yang Qi will open up the meridian on your back and that’s super important, once it’s there then other meridians will start to open. And, once you’ve done that, opening up the meridian in front is the next major goal, and doing both of those will make a significant difference in how you feel; Mitchell presented that as in reach, even in reach within a couple of years, but also something which almost nobody in the class had yet reached.

So then there were techniques in support of that: lots of stretches, for example, to open up joints, lots of sinking the mind to your Dantian. And sinking was emphasized as a key: if you just place your attention in your Dantian then it won’t really be there, part of it will still be in your head. Don’t trust your mind: instead, do a combo of paying attention to where your body can feel contact from your mind and then letting that feeling skin. Also in support of this was a technique during sitting meditation: once it has sunk, then open your hands at your diaphragm with your Lao Gong down, that helps keep the Qi down there. And then you can move your hands to hold your Dantian like a ball, and play around with it. Also, if your Qi is sunk, you can do reverse breathing (but don’t do that if your Qi isn’t sunk): don’t make a big physical production of it, instead make sure that your attention is in your Dantian and then, when you breathe in, think of a bag contracting around where your attention is.

We also spent significant time on the Five Animal Frolics, though we only learned four of them. I’ll do a separate post with notes on that.

It definitely made me want to keep on doing the Lotus Neigong stuff. I think I’m going to replace the silk reeling exercises that I do at the start of that with stretches, and I’ll sometimes replace the Qi Gong sequence I’ve been doing with the Animal Frolics. (And, when I’m doing that, I’ll do the long Wu Ji before the frolics, with only a smaller bit at the end, that’s what we were doing in the class. Though the bit at the end is very important, it lets your body learn from the frolics!) And I’ll see if I can find more time to work in bits of practice, e.g. maybe doing some sitting practice on days when Liesl is walking Widget?

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Here are my complete notes:

First day:

Wu Ji: sink back more, arms noticeably wider, tilt forward a bit more than I had. When sinking into my feet, let my weight spread the bones of my feet.

Sink the Qi by noticing where my mind interacts with my body and letting it relax and sink down. Seems like a pretty key practice. Don’t try to directly place my attention on my Dantien, that won’t have the desired effect.

Reverse breathing: after sinking Qi, inside of abdomen contracts around where my attention is. Don’t move outside muscles. Not worrying about that so much for now, I’m not good yet at sinking my Qi…

Afternoon: in Wu Ji lean forward just enough to relax my lower back. Arms are spread pretty wide to the side, a little wider than my body. Got corrected on my neck once, I should indeed force it back and up a bit.

Felt like I’d sink my Qi correctly once, pressure inside my abdomen.

Second day:

Wu Ji: got told to lower my hands a bit more.

Third Day:

Open up space between joints, sink the Qi, have the Qi full up space between joints. This is probably what’s going on in Silk Reeling Exercises, with the gathering energy between exercises? So the exercises open up space, but we need to get Qi in there?

Should probably work in something stretchy, a Daoyin, hopefully I can find a good description of the animal frolics?

Cleansing: feeling a surprisingly concrete line going down my body.

Fourth day:

Morning was rough, but I made it through.

In Wu Ji I got corrected to not lean forward as much.

Maybe it’s the long days but if we do something quiet at the end day, I do feel like my mind is in my abdomen more. And having my palms at the diaphragm open and facing down might be having an effect?

Fifth day:

Interesting lecture at the start. I shouldn’t try to do the Microcosmic Orbit with my mind, it doesn’t help. But opening the channel in the back is key (and it leads to other channels opening.). Opening the Mingmen involves stretching it; so it can vibrate like a guitar string.

Separate note about animal frolics.

One hour practice: 35-40 minutes moving energy through the body. Wu Ji counts as this.

Spend remaining time on body work (e.g. Dao Yins) or sitting practice: they don’t stimulate the Yang Qi.

Dangerous to spend more than 35-40 minutes on Yang Qi exercises without support. Can start by foods to support kidneys, Yin, and blood.

Practices:
1) Wu Ji
2) Sitting practice we did to train sinking of the mind
3) Dantian work: rolling hands, for example
4) Animals

Avoid cold food until Dantian is consolidated.

One thing I was thinking about following up on the Qigong special class last week: she mentioned breathing through the hollows in your body. And, when I’m meditating, I actually do feel something in time with my breathing in the palms of my head, a sensation that could reasonably described as breathing through my palms. Makes me curious what the mechanism is there; and, as the meditation goes on, sensation starts spreading up my arms, like something is coming in through my palms and going up. Interesting feeling, at any rate.

On Saturday, we spent extra time on Kick with Two Feet Up: turns out that lots of us aren’t doing it right, either not swinging our arms over from behind or not hitting our leg / foot before we land. Something to work on!

On Sunday, I tried doing my Lotus Wu Ji before my Tai Chi instead of after; a lot easier, felt just like a weekday, so I guess the reason why I’ve found it hard in the past is because I was tired. The main thing I noticed during my Tai Chi practice on Sunday was that I’ve gotten sloppy again on the weight transfer in Six Sealing Four Closing, I should make sure to transfer weight solidly to my right foot.

This morning I was rereading the section on Wu Ji in Mitchell’s book, and the pictures there were more upright than I think I’m being when I look at myself in the mirror when practicing in my bedroom on Sundays. So I tried not leaning my torso as much, and it was a lot easier. I also accidentally noticed most of the way through that my center of gravity was higher then normal; I’m pretty sure that also helped making it easier, and that was a mistake. But I think the leaning less that I was doing today was probably correct? Hopefully I’ll learn more at the seminar next week…

I was in Cincinnati last week, helping Miranda move out of the dorm, and I didn’t do any Tai Chi or Qigong or anything the whole time; bad me. And I was too tired when I got back on Sunday to practice that afternoon, either.

I did at least get back to the swing of things today: I did my Lotus Wu Ji and Qigong over lunch, and I went to class this evening. It was actually a special class, because there was a visitor who was an expert in the Hunyuan variant of Chen Tai Chi; she demonstrated the Hunyuan 24 posture form (lots of circles!) and then taught us some Qigong. I’m already pretty full of Qigong ideas to practice, so that mostly went in one ear and out the other; it was pretty dramatic at one point, though, where after changing positions, it really felt like I was holding something in my hands. And she also told us to do standing meditation for 54 minutes, which is kind of a long time!

Early notes this week since I won’t be at Tai Chi class on Tuesday. The Lotus Wu Ji is still going well; I’m staying at 20 minutes for now instead of going up to 21 minutes today, since for whatever reason I find it harder on Sundays, but I did make the full time on Thursday and Sunday. And I feel like it’s reorienting my shoulders somewhat, which I hope is good; I’ve actually noticed that I’m swinging my arms more freely when I’m walking, and I’m pretty sure that is good.

On Saturday my teacher went over my form. Notes:

• I should spiral when doing the Ji to left at the start, I shouldn’t just push.
• When on one foot before the first Jin Gang, don’t move my right elbow back, it breaks the energy at my shoulder, move my arms out from the body instead.
• When pounding in the Jin Gang, be a little more full with elbows out.
• After the second Jin Gang, keep my back full when extending my right arm and stepping back. In general, be more full in that section.
• In Oblique Posture, lead more with my shoulder.
• Move left elbow back more when punching, to help with getting energy from twisting my body.
• When transitioning from Fist under Elbow to Reverse with Spiraling Forearms, strike forward with my left hand. But you don’t do that in the repetition of Reverse with Spiraling Forearms: that comes after The Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg, so you’re pushing up there instead of forward.
• After the Oblique Posture following Reverse with Spiraling Forearms, don’t lean forward or reach up and over, instead sink and grab an arm right in front of you, doing a Lu on it. And expand out with your top arm in the two blocks at the start of Flash through the Back.
• In Kick with Two Feet Up, make sure the right arm goes back, up, and over.
• After the second Pat the High Horse, have the left hand turned around so the back of the hand is on your stomach before starting to turn your foot/body/right hand.
• In general, I should expand a little more: when bending my arms, don’t bend my elbow so sharply, keep my forearm further away from my body.

Also on Saturday one of the senior students was helping go through the second form. One question I had was which foot you turn on when doing the move where you open and close both arms simultaneously, looking to the left and right. (I need to learn the names of the second form moves!) The answer is that you should be planted on your left foot with your right foot moving in both the turns (the one at the start and the one in the middle).

In the Saturday class, we talked about stretches that you can do with the help of the spear. You put the spear across your shoulders, with your arms wrapped around it, with the hands coming over from the back of the spear. The stretches are:

1. Turn your hips from side to side; but always look forward, so you’re effectively turning your neck as well.
2. Bend over from side to side, stretching the side of your body next to your rib cage.
3. Bend while making circles with the end of the spear, doing a sort of figure 8.
4. Same as 3, but with the direction reversed.
5. Fold your chest forward and back.

I led the Silk Reeling Exercises on Saturday; one of the senior students said that I should avoid having my upper hand block my field of view when doing Hand Maneuvers.

We had the Sunday class this week. In the second form, we went as far as Tame the Tiger. After Beast’s Head, you spread your hands and punch; then let your hands fall down and swing back, doing a flip like when switching sides in the Peng-Cai Silk Reeling Exercise. And then, do a shake and punch, and then you step up with the right foot and block (or punch) with your right hand, then block with your left hand, then step back and go down low, with your weight on your back foot (the right one), your right hand extended up, your left hand under your right armpit, and with your left leg extended. But don’t lean, only go down so far.

I finally got to where I can do 20 minutes in Lotus Wu Ji; not comfortable, but at least I’ve succeeded. Which was my goal before the May class; now the next question is whether to stay at 20 minutes or to keep on trying to push it up? I think I’ll probably do the latter: it’s not like it’s actually comfortable to do it for 20 minutes, but the first 10+ minutes are fine, so presumably if I keep on pushing up my total time then I’ll build up my strength.

Pictures from the March Minecraft session:

I didn’t really have a building project in mind, so I flew around for a while taking pictures.

The current state of the mountain, lit up at night.

A top-down view of terraced land in the rain. With, I think, a cave entrance as well?

Looks like these days if a cave roof has loose sand then the sand sprinkles down from it.

Tracks next to Roger’s abandoned church.

A view of my mountain buildings, Dan’s mountain building, and Roger’s church.

A top-down view of the back of the mountain.

A winter moon over the mountain.

Steve joined us for the first time in a while, and he was flying around over the train tracks looping from the city. Then he reported something odd, so I went to take a train and follow him; it turns out that some kind of massive glitch had occurred and replaced a chunk of the lake near the city with a jungle biome. It cut through some buildings and the train tunnel; bad enough, it would have been worse if it had been right in the city!

A cow blocking my way when I went to investigate.

Here’s where the tracks ended, Steve had already put a glass wall in place to hold off the water.

Here’s what it looked like up top, with a forest sprouted in the middle of the water.

It’s cutting through the glass castle and the train tunnel.

The fire palace was cut in half.

The tower with the eagle had a quarter removed. (Quite neatly, I should add!)

Here’s the bottom part of that tower, with the lava escaping from its glass enclosure.

The view from inside the glass castle.

Steve and I started working on rebuilding the train tunnel; unfortunately, I don’t think I quite understood Minecraft fluid dynamics, so my solution for rebuilding didn’t quite work. But hopefully I can get that done this month.

Dan was working on a pit near the bottom of his stairs:

A dark, deep hole in the sand; if you squint, there’s a figure at the bottom.

Another view, this time during daytime.

Here’s Dan working at the bottom of the pit.

Those pictures were from early on, the pit got a lot fancier. I’m actually not sure it’s the same pit in the pictures below as in the one above; I assume it is but I don’t have any hard evidence for that and the size is different so it might not be?

Now the pit has vines and colors.

The bottom of the pit is yellow.

There are colored stripes on the walls on the top half of the pit.

Here’s the view from the top.

It actually gets a little wider (with stairstep walls?) right under the colored stripes.

And Pat and his wife (whose name I am blanking on, I apologize!) were working on the floating city, in particular on the area with floating trees.

A glass pool with a terrace, some flowers, and floating trees nearby.

Here’s a view of the flowers from the side.

And a closeup of the flowers and the wall they’re next to.

A path through the floating trees.

A side view of the whole area.

I asked about White Goose Spreads His Wings on Saturday, because I was trying to figure out if you should round your back during it. I’d thought that maybe you shouldn’t during the middle part, but it turns out that you should during the whole thing: at the move to the right because you’re doing a peng, then when stepping back while you do a chin-na, then at the end.

And then, following on from that, apparently in Oblique Posture you’re supposed to lead with your shoulder when bending over.

On Sunday, Lotus Wu Ji went much better than it had on previous Sundays; that was a pleasant change. And it went well on Tuesday, too. And, at one point, I felt this strange spurting sensation on my right foot; if I’m feeling optimistic, that’s something related to the bubbling well, but it’s probably not.

In class this evening, I noticed that my teacher was always facing his torso in the same direction (towards your leg) when doing the both arm version of shoulder rotations in the silk reeling exercise; I’d been turning my torso, but I confirmed that turning it was wrong.

I’m starting to feel that I’m not getting so much benefit from Dantian Rotations any more; maybe I should stop doing those, or dial them down? I wonder if there’s something else I should do while waiting for the train…

I asked on Saturday about your right hand during Pat the High Horse: it is indeed supposed to be extended.

On Sunday, when I was practicing, it felt like my natural speed for doing the first form was a little faster than it had been? Not sure if that’s a change, or if I was just in a different mood than normal.

Lotus Wu Ji is still being a pain: literally, and also I’m still not sure if I’m getting the positioning right, in particular I’m worried that I’m not leaning the right amount and/or not squatting enough. And, for whatever reason, I’m finding it harder to do on Sundays than I am on Tuesdays/Thursdays; not sure if that’s a fluke or if I’m tired after practicing Tai Chi or if doing Qi Gong first (like I do on Tuesdays/Thursdays) helps. One thing I did notice while looking in the mirror is that I feel like my neck is going too far forward; I kind of think that’s a general problem, I should work on that…

I kind of feel like, when doing The White Goose Spreads its Wings, in the middle step I should be straight instead of having my shoulders forward; I’ll try to ask about that on Saturday. And, when doing the form in class tonight, I was thinking that, when standing up in Drop and Split, my weight was a little wrong over my left foot, I should think about that. The other interesting thing in class was that the person leading the form waiting a really long time before starting, and that made raising my arms feel different, I should try that.

Not a whole lot to talk about this week. I’ve been working on the Lotus Wu Ji a little more than normal; it’s definitely getting harder as I bump up the time. And I’m wondering how much that has to do with me not having the right muscles built up for it, how much has to do with me not relaxing appropriately, how much has to do with my body being in the middle of adapting, and how much has to do with me doing it wrong. It feels right at the start, but I start feeling hunched later on, and also really heavy; maybe the heaviness is good, a sign that I’m setting up my frame well, but maybe it’s a sign that I’m being too rigid?

Also, in terms of my body being in the middle of adapting: when I took the Lotus course last month, the teachers made a point of talking about sinking your shoulder blades; I’d felt I was doing a decent job of that, but this weekend my shoulder blades are starting to ache a bit, in a way that makes me think that they’re actively adjusting more? Which Mitchell’s big book talks about; though there’s certainly a chance that I’m just doing things wrong and messing up my body!

I’m also feeling that I should do more breathing practice; my breathing is feeling forced when I’m concentrating on it, and when I relax, it feels a little shallow?

Nice time going through the form this evening: it felt natural to go faster than I normally do?

I’m getting into standing practice more and more: I feel like the Lotus course taught me some interesting new possibilities, about my structure and about sinking back into my kua instead of just sideways? At work, I’ve started attending the standup of a team adjacent to the one I spend most of my time with, and honestly their standups are kind of long, so I’ve started doing standing practice during that; I feel like the extra practice is helping, and one day last week I felt super heavy, like gravity was unusually strong, which was an interesting change.

I’ve been feeling for a while that the heels on my shoes are thicker than would be ideal for doing Tai Chi (or standing meditation, for that matter), so I ordered some custom shoes, and they finally showed up last week. Seems like a good choice, though I don’t have anything concrete to report about them yet.

On Saturday, my teacher was out, and one of the senior students was leaded. She mentioned that, in the two kicks with your heel, you should have your arms open up as fists with the palm side ending out upward; it does seem to give some extra force to the move, I’ll have to try that.

While going through the form, I was thinking that, in Pat the High Horse, I should probably extend my right arm a little more; I should ask about that to confirm. And the last step in White Crane Spreads Its Wings still doesn’t feel right; I’m thinking maybe the problem is in the middle step, when you go to the left foot: I’m rounding my back there, maybe my back should be straighter? Not sure, I need to experiment with that more.