Over the course of my internal cultivation practice I have made progress in stops and starts. At times I can hardly believe how my internal energy state has developed and strengthened, at others I despairingly wonder if I will ever be able to break through to the next phase of development. My wife suggests that I must have a talent in [Jing/Qi/Shen] and my progress, in the absence of a teacher, would never be where it is today without it.
When I started my practice I was able to feel my Qi, but only when using a strong forceful intention. Within a year of starting, I could direct my Qi using a far more gentle intention, I was able to start my lower dan tien rotating, was in the full grip of spontaneous energetic movement, could clearly feel my Wei Qi field expanding and contracting, had partially opened Yongquan (K1) and had started to become aware of Qi in people around me when they were emotionally agitated.
Then came a serious lower back injury that put everything on hold for a year. Spinal compression from an old sparring injury crippled me for 7 months and tested me emotionally and mentally. I had never had my body fail me like that before and navigating the bleakness and fear was only made possible (I believe) because of the teachings of the Buddha and my meditation practice (which had no internal cultivation elements during my recovery and rehab process). Not surprisingly that year also aligned with the year gap in posts on my blog.
Now, a year later and after three months of intense Physio lower-back rehabilitation I’m mostly whole again and the spontaneous energetic movement has completely subsided. I feel an almost constant bubbling-purr of energy from my lower dan tien, have become aware of the central branch of my thrusting vessel and can gently direct Qi up and down it. I can feel my governing and conception vessels, a little bit of my girdling vessel and I have been able to project my Qi so that another person can feel it. On the down side, I have thoroughly lost my Yong Quan (K1) point, I can’t feel it at all anymore since my injury and I just can’t seem to open Lao Gong (PC8) or Tai Yuan (LU9).
As a direct consequence of these backward steps I have started the simple practice of 100 days of inner cultivation, called a Gong. Every day I sit in meditation for 10 minutes. I try to open Lao Gong (PC8) or Tai Yuan (LU9) in a standing on stake stance for 10 minutes and I run through a form of Qigong called JiBen Qigong. Along side the 100 days of practice I also train Tai Chi three times a week for an hour and a half. Today is day 8, so 92 days to go and already I have been challenged in my commitment twice and both times I dragged myself into the practice and the lessons on proper time keeping have been embedded into me.
I’m looking forward to the rest of my 100 days and I’m quietly confidant that with diligence, discipline and commitment I will be able to open Lao Gong (PC9) or Tai Yuan (LU9) and Yong Quan (K1). When I read over my first posts about developing my Qi and view where I am today from that perspective, I have advanced very far in quite a short time! My true end goal is to develop my internal cultivation and Buddhist practices towards Enlightenment. Even though I strongly suspect that true Enlightenment will elude me in this life, the journey, right now, in this moment and the next, is so profound, wondrous and humbling that I know without any doubt. This is my Path.
Serenity in Movement 