Episode 10 - What Does Qi Really Feel Like?

00:00:00: Welcome to Chico Academy's podcast this week.

00:00:03: It is all about today, what is Qi and how can you feel that?

00:00:11: And What Is That, What Do You Feel?

00:00:14: I come from a perspective of the morning practice where i came across that which was said long time before my body felt stiff.

00:00:24: Is that a chi feeling I have when i just push my hands straight on?

00:00:29: Or is there kind of physical body reaction which is just the signal, oh i'm relaxing or is it just the same.

00:00:36: So john what do you think about that?

00:00:39: um okay yeah thanks for that.

00:00:42: this is uh This is a major soap box of mine.

00:00:44: You know It's A Major Soap Box Of Mine!

00:00:46: You Know That I Will Just Go On And On About It Definitely.

00:00:49: Therefore I Just Stop Hearing Gala Coffee and Come Back.

00:00:54: Let's say it is.

00:00:56: You've lit the blue touch paper, you can go off!

00:01:00: Okay so... The reason its such a soapbox is down to two things.

00:01:08: I think that the idea of Chi has been turned into something way too esoteric and mystical.

00:01:15: And i think when we hear people saying things like feel the chi There's kind of a weird expectation about well, what would chief feeling cheap look feel like you know Would I?

00:01:27: What do I feel heat through my whole body?

00:01:29: will i experience the hole in My Body illuminating?

00:01:32: am I going to dissolve into The universe?

00:01:34: um You Know there's Kind Of These these Somewhat grandiose big Ideas That People have with what.

00:01:44: What Would A cheese sensation be

00:01:46: all right?

00:01:46: I want To Directly Throw Something Else Into that don't forget.

00:01:49: What Do you Want to say?

00:01:50: okay

00:01:51: When you listened the last episode with Jeremy, he talked about dissolving into the universe.

00:01:56: He felt a universe.

00:01:57: is that feeling she?

00:01:59: um

00:02:01: well yes it is but actually She's cheated me in I view as any invisible force that creates change?

00:02:12: I Viewed us categorization of things.

00:02:15: and so if suddenly You have what Jeremy spoke about last episode this sensation just being completely connected into the whole universe, this is an aspect of Qi.

00:02:28: But in the same way as if you've been sitting too long and you go to move and suddenly realise that part of your body's a little bit stuck or painful... This is Qi!

00:02:45: It's very broad range of things.

00:02:48: Can you mention when you sit so long liquid sheet needs to flow through all that bits and pieces who just got stuck because you said, stop flowing.

00:03:01: Let flow the G so-to say?

00:03:05: Yeah

00:03:06: I mean... Is there an image we can work with?

00:03:09: I think so yeah!

00:03:09: Because i think We Can Talk About The Idea Of Cheap Becoming Blocked In Certain Parts of The Body.

00:03:15: And When It Becomes Blocked Because You're Standing The Way That You're Sitting or an idea that you're holding in your mind, it means that... ...you cannot allow the chi to flow any other direction than that particular narrative.

00:03:31: These are all examples of Chi becoming blocked.

00:03:35: When when you've got so emotionally engaged in something That It means The World To You Then Your Chi is...it's kind Of Stuck In That There's a river running through landscape, and you've just dug great big ditched to it.

00:03:55: And your going its always gonna travel in that direction.

00:03:58: That is not necessarily chi blocked But we have many ways We can direct our Chi, stop moving.

00:04:06: It allows us to travel down certain channels.

00:04:09: We work with them different way.

00:04:13: Sometimes the more grandiose necoteric ideas of Chi mean We're always looking for something beautiful, we are always looking to be transformative and wonderful.

00:04:35: Let's just go with wonderful when actually every experience that we have is an experience of Qi.

00:04:47: Oh, that was just the most amazing practice.

00:04:56: You know I had this happen and that happened... ...and everything is moving beautifully!

00:05:01: And as you have a person in the practice.

00:05:03: if your running the session then looking across there will always be someone in the background going no i just stood here and waved my arms some legs around.

00:05:13: I obviously don't get it but actually which person gets it?

00:05:19: because one of them has caught big narrative of how wonderful everything is, and the other person has been absolutely practical.

00:05:30: And going no I was just waving my arms legs around.

00:05:32: so did you wave your arms and legs away in a way that felt different to what he'd normally do it?

00:05:40: Because if you didn't feel she moving any differently.

00:05:48: Speaking about that i observed myself somehow sitting in front of the computer and going into one specific topic, to kind of tunnel mode.

00:06:00: So my understanding is that I take the G and let it follow my focus on a single thing.

00:06:10: But I'm sorry for saying this but it feels like not so healthy overall!

00:06:18: How do you think about that?

00:06:20: And is there maybe a better approach to say I just take sixty percent or maybe eighty percent into this tunnel and let twenty out.

00:06:29: Oh, well how

00:06:32: did he do it?

00:06:34: because sometimes Sometimes i Just feel after two or three hours deep work oh i need To go to toilet After finishing the task.

00:06:43: Yeah What?

00:06:44: uh yeah what an interesting question.

00:06:47: um I think there are degrees of answer to this.

00:06:57: If we take the kind extreme hyper focused type approach, it's like we've got blinkers on and can't see anything other than that thing.

00:07:14: There are certain exercises within Geneng that were always designed to do this.

00:07:19: It's one of the ways they trained sports people, where they would train them in hyper-focus of Chi.

00:07:27: So sometimes you hear the line look at a small void point but one of those exercises was hanging like a small bean on very clear fishing line and getting someone just focussed to the exclusion of everything else, and it's about creating hyper-focus.

00:07:50: It means that you can become completely task focused.

00:07:53: so there are jigong exercises that teach you to become hyper-focused.

00:07:59: So You cannot therefore say its a good thing or bad thing.

00:08:02: Its just something we train in Jigong.

00:08:05: But do you point one hundred percent off your energy?

00:08:10: I think, certainly my understanding of those practices is that it's the intention.

00:08:15: Can you focus a hundred percent of your chi into that single point?

00:08:20: Okay

00:08:22: But... That doesn't feel like a sustainable way to be with your Chi.

00:08:27: Not really Because to me Qigong is an awareness practice.

00:08:31: Um..I Like the idea-the phrase in eight phrases where it says Yi Nya and Bo Chi which not a single thought worth following, but you've got to get back to that single thought first.

00:08:46: So if you kind of look at it on a big scale of things... If you can imagine standing in a very busy city where there's loads of noise and loads of traffic There are lots of stuff happening all around you And you feel completely overwhelmed by everything surrounding You.

00:09:07: That is the opposite end of the scale being hyper-focused

00:09:12: To open for everything.

00:09:13: Yeah, one of them is too open.

00:09:15: One of those two focused now.

00:09:17: the hyper focus is a really helpful technique to use if you're dealing with very specific healing or trying to achieve a very specific task but it's something that you shouldn't hold onto for that long.

00:09:34: so there is application in being hyper-focused But being overwhelmed doesn't have any particular benefit.

00:09:45: But at the same time, we're looking for somewhere between two.

00:09:48: The place is when you are able to have an awareness of everything that's around you but not allow your energy be drawn by any of it.

00:09:59: You can notice every thing and still maintain a quietness inside.

00:10:07: That is ultimately the aim of Chigong Certainly when I trained in some of the healing aspects and some of their healing arts that i worked on, you were kind of encouraged towards a hyper-focused view.

00:10:26: So there is application but difficulty or problem because it can be too long for you to focus on an area that becomes restrictive or damaging.

00:10:37: Arguably its also one stress responses which means putting all your energy into that, and not allowing all of your internal systems to do what they should be doing.

00:10:48: You'll digest if you're immune or reproductive for the other systems get compromised by becoming hyperfocussed.

00:10:55: Okay relate back to the entry question.

00:10:59: I would say is there a relation too bad?

00:11:04: And two yeah feeling she and holding on she are holding on the filling off chain.

00:11:11: I think that's the point at which it becomes a really personal question.

00:11:17: Because if somebody has the ability to become hyper-focused, then things they can gain from Qigong are being able use their ability in a way constructive and not restrictive whereas someone is more prone.

00:11:37: you know, becoming skilful with Qi.

00:11:45: there isn't just one way to become skilfull with Qi.

00:11:48: There are many ways to become Skilful With Qi ,there are many Jigong styles.

00:11:53: ultimately To me I'm interested in the jigong Styles that bring us back into a sense of being quiet and centred while remaining fully aware.

00:12:03: That feels like the place i'm interested In And I know it's not going to be all Jigung Style But My experience is that there are a lot of Qigong styles, which take you back to their place.

00:12:16: I don't know if that answers your question

00:12:18: now?

00:12:18: I guess kind off!

00:12:22: But it's the difference between all this stuff and yeah just... The feeling like I stretch my arm or let us go with stretching and bending your body then feel here in there pain or stretch pain, however you want to call it.

00:12:46: Is that still cheap and change?

00:12:49: Or is there something else?

00:12:50: because as a physical reaction

00:12:53: It's still changed which has been bought about by movement.

00:12:56: so it still relates to Chi.

00:12:58: Okay So basically all this chain is chi.

00:13:01: That's what I'm saying.

00:13:02: Yeah.

00:13:03: Also when you get fired on some thing we're getting new job.

00:13:07: its the change thats chi.

00:13:09: Yeah, you are experiencing Chi.

00:13:10: You're experiencing the way that Chi manifests in emotion and discomfort... It's just.

00:13:19: it is where your energy has responded to an input or a thing which happened to you.

00:13:26: This all reacting this is all Chi

00:13:29: Like I don't know there going on out of some wind when they breathe.

00:13:34: its all Chi exchange kind.

00:13:38: the process itself of exchanging gases is cheap because that's change, isn't

00:13:44: it?

00:13:45: It is.

00:13:45: There there's an unfortunate translation that exists here and I've heard way too many people say she has breath.

00:13:56: No we can experience you through breath but she hasn't breathed She as a far bigger concept than simply breath or We Can Experience it Through The Breath.

00:14:09: Okay Let's Take That You talked about kidney breathing.

00:14:14: Yeah, that's a technique in Chicago isn't

00:14:17: it?

00:14:17: Yeah yeah

00:14:18: okay um why do you or when do you use that?

00:14:22: and is that just kind of creating a change by artificial usage Or by using their technique in an artificial way not like natural which would just happen But all by purpose, let's go with purpose not artificial.

00:14:45: Okay um yes

00:14:48: okay thank you.

00:14:54: Yeah it is and I spoke a bit about the idea of being hyper-focused.

00:14:59: There is there's an aspect within kidney breathing that you are bringing your awareness into very specific part of the body And within Kidney Breathing and this isn't About The Western Structure Of Kidney Or The Western Idea of the organs, but at the same time it gives an idea of the location that we go into.

00:15:19: So what the idea here is?

00:15:21: this is completely tied in with iñán borcí.

00:15:25: It's the same as any meditation technique... ...it's the Same As Any Technique That You Use In Order To Quieten The Monkey Mind.

00:15:34: And We See so Many Variations Of These.

00:15:37: There'S Just Endless Variations.

00:15:39: One Of The Ones I Liked That I Came Across Years Ago Was When you feel the mind going off, You start looking around and naming things in a room.

00:15:49: Going that is my laptop!

00:15:51: That's my microphone!

00:15:55: And it creates this sequence of very simple ideas or points-of-focus.

00:16:02: Kidney breathing... The reason I come back to kidneys was initially taught as part because you can make an immediate correlation between the kidneys and the adrenal glands that sit on top of them.

00:16:18: for those who are caught in, caught-in.

00:16:21: That's the wrong word!

00:16:21: For those...for those that are engaged in Western medicine um now..and you can also talk about the way that adrenaline rebinds through the kidney.

00:16:32: so it's....you can create really clear scientific reference points to them.

00:16:36: So from western medicine it makes sense.

00:16:39: if you want to quieten and reduce the stress response breathe into part of your body that starts to absorb adrenaline.

00:16:48: So, that kind of works from the point-of-view... From a Qigong Point Of View if we look at it from Jing Qi Shen, Jing being the energy in the lower abdomen Chi tending to relate to thoracic space and Shen tending related to cranial cavity.

00:17:10: A horrible oversimplification.

00:17:14: The bottom line is that bringing the awareness down into the abdomen draws it back in to a sense of physical body and stops feeding space on your head, which can take over.

00:17:28: It kind-of draws the awareness out from its head brings you back into the centre.

00:17:33: It makes you more aware of a single point of reference.

00:17:36: so all other things have been drawing energy just to quieten for a moment.

00:17:41: they're still there!

00:17:43: You can just use that technique to bring your focus back and eat our chi down, where the mind goes.

00:17:50: The Chi will follow.

00:17:50: so if you've used the movement And breath in order to bring the awareness back into your center That's why your Chi will come back and sit more quietly.

00:18:01: Okay there for all Chinese drink tea Right with a ceremonial stuff To bring it all of this into one point all that focus, or that outer noisy world into it.

00:18:15: It's just tea right?

00:18:16: Yeah kind of isn't there the thing...

00:18:21: It can be but I've been to tea ceremony where you are expected to understand so much about what is going on and becomes a really cerebral experience!

00:18:32: So yeah sometimes they work like this for me as well which again is interesting.

00:18:39: did i get it wrong?

00:18:41: quite possibly.

00:18:43: Was it not expressed in a way that enabled me to engage with this, and the way that was intended?

00:18:49: Possibly

00:18:52: That's a good one.

00:18:53: Expressing Yeah...that is different topic.

00:18:56: don't go this

00:18:57: way.

00:18:57: Oh yeah right

00:19:00: Do you have any other thoughts about that otherwise than what I would say?

00:19:06: kind of close for their topic To not blow up.

00:19:16: I think that for me, the thing which becomes most interesting isn't the experience of Qi.

00:19:23: It's the quietening of Qi and so we can get very caught in this experience And will continue to have an experience In morning practice.

00:19:34: this week We're working with body-mind form Which is a complex form but there are points within it That when my hands come down Some mornings I feel an immense amount of heat coming through my hands and it's always interesting when it happens But it always passes.

00:19:57: It's okay to feel cheat.

00:19:59: Okay, to have these experiences but you notice them in your loudness pass And maybe they happen again next week.

00:20:07: Maybe they never happened again?

00:20:09: And it doesn't matter.

00:20:11: we don't want to be caught in a process of searching for that experience again, because that isn't Qigong.

00:20:22: That is searching to repeat a change that you have already made or searching for...to repeat an experience that you found

00:20:30: beneficial.".

00:20:32: I was talking to someone the other day and i was saying about the fact.

00:20:35: sometimes I would use the term spiritual masturbation.

00:20:39: it's like self-pleasure And sometimes something very pleasurable happens within Qigong, but it doesn't mean you need to go back and create that same pleasing experience over and over again.

00:20:52: Because actually the places we really learn—the places where they grow—tend to be the places which are slightly uncomfortable... ...the places in which people visit them….

00:21:05: …and there's just kind of a feeling like oh I've got work with this!

00:21:13: That's where the change occurs and sometimes when they change occurs something very comfortable happens from it.

00:21:19: But you don't need to carry on going and block in that place And then releasing it blocking it and releasing.

00:21:23: It so you can have the same experience over and over again.

00:21:26: So don't get caught into cheatrap, that's a short version.

00:21:32: I guess there is good closing word.

00:21:34: So um...and i'm sure we will talk about topic anyway.

00:21:41: Yeah much more In future.

00:21:45: So I would say stay tuned.

00:21:47: Next week we have a special guest again here in the Gigo Academy podcast and yeah take care, see you next week!