more about Qigong
                                                        

One use to say that Qigong primarely is about three things.
A slow movement, breathing and concentration.
Like a thread through these three, runs the importance of relaxation.

Sometimes it is said, though, that the most powerful Qigong is done without any
movement at all. Here one is standing still in different positions.
The method is called Zhan Zhuang, and is very, very old.
 
In this training we are searching the centerline of the body,
while focusing on the TanTien, the area below the navel.
One is also searching the deep relaxed breath,
while doing ones best to still the mind.
                                       
      




With calm, nice toughts, you "ask" the body,
and the tensed muscles, to relax.

In the training we strive to let the body itself find a "balanced tension".
Meanwhile one is waiting, breathing deep and calmly.
We are training ourselves to observe the restless mind, with equaminity...
.... to observe the buzzing and whirling thoughts.
 
"They are not important, only proof of the tensions in the personal
nervous-system", one is actually saying in the Zhan Zhuang-school.
 
If we continue the practise patiently, the mind will now and then relax.
Very shortly to start with, but these moments are important to acknowledge.
They will become more and longer.
 
Practising Zhan Zhuang regularly, is to slowly learn an extremely
powerful meditation. With patience you will bit by bit take control over the
mind and the thoughts, at least sometimes and partly.

Drivingforce and motivation is necessary.
This you may find in, for example, your wish to become healthier and
stronger, or more agile. Maybe you will find it in your wish to have more energy,
or become more relaxed, etcetera.


 The breath ... a gift to the body

To learn "bellybreathing", the real deep breath, is to give back to the body
the gift of once again letting it breathe naturally, without contracting a lot of muscles,
and without effort. It is once again letting it breathe like it did lying in mothers stomach.

To "re-learn" breathing, is also a voyage of exploring. Towards the discovery
that we, as grown ups, only use small parts of our
breathingcapacity. To discover the original breath,
the relaxed and effortless breath,
is for most people an extraordinaty experience.
 
                     
The power of thought

 Regular practise of these old chinese exercises may also result in an increased awareness
about how the thoughts "are going", and how they influence the body.
You become aware of where in the body the tensions are hidden, and how you,
with a focused mind, can work towards "letting them go".

You may also become aware of how feelings and attitudes influence:
and how we actually quite often "give away our qi", how we "drain ourselves".
 
I have heard people rapport that they feel themselves sometimes
becoming powerless and tired as a result of their own
evaluating and commenting of things and people around them.
This is also very much my personal experience.
              
                   
                  

                  
 Zhan Zhuang


The Qigong, and maybe especially Zhan Zhuang, offers a possibility to
train all of the body at the same time. Muscles, inner organs, the mind,
the nervous system, etcetera.
The secret lies in the fact that one is training contracting and relaxing simultaneously,
not after eachother, like in normal physical training.
  

 As a summary, in the Qigong we are training ;
                   

* Relaxing the mind
* relaxing the body    * concentration

We are training the mind to relax bodyparts where we have found tensions.
We are also training the mind not to get stuck in negative thoughts,
evaluating and commenting ...

We take the body and the mind to a meditative state ...
everything becomes still
 We are in the present. Body is at rest, but alert and awake.
It is relaxed without being limp.

The mind is still and attentive .... mindfullness   

                                           
                                                         Peter Buchar

                    
        www.qiart.com