Qi Gong Experiences Before Enrolling in the Advanced Class

From Elisabeth

Written on 7/5/2014

General comments:  I typically practice qi gong lying down on my back with my head facing north. I start my practice by thinking of the soles of my feet to detox the cold qi from my body.  Within 5 minutes I experience cold or tingling sensations in one or more parts of my body.  The most common places that I feel cold during detoxification are in my feet,  my calves,  the palms of my hands,  the small of my back, between my shoulder blades, and in the perianal region. Rarely, the top of my scalp feels cool.  The cold sensations come and go during my qi gong practice and occur in different places in my body from day to day.

I feel the qi moving in my body after 15 minutes or so.  Sometimes I feel a sensation of warmth, but more often I just experience a feeling of urgency, like an impulse to move.  It can be quite intense and sometimes feels like crawling or wriggling sensations under my skin.  I often seems that the center of my arm or leg  is being pulled out the end of my limb with all the attached muscles peeling off the undersurface of my skin.  It is like turning a T-shirt inside out.  If I feel a particular direction of movement, I allow my body to move in that direction.  If the qi movement is just vibrating, or wriggling, I move my body with brief intense tremor movements, like shivering (although I do not feel cold at all).  The period of intense movement is followed by a sensation of calm, or floating, or sleepiness and relaxation.  I usually stop my practice during this time.

Specific experiences of note:

I was standing outside collecting qi from a camellia tree and looking at a white blossom.  I gradually felt that my entire being was open and connected to the tree.  I felt peace and gratitude within me.  I had a huge smile on my face.  Gradually my awareness expanded and I felt that my consciousness was intimately connected to the entire world.  There was no division between my body and my mind and my consciousness and the “aliveness” of the universe.

I was standing on a city sidewalk in front of an apple tree that was full of white blossoms.  The sweet smell of the flowers filled my awareness.  I stood close to the tree so that my head and shoulders were surrounded by branches full of blossoms.    As the qi started moving, I was filled with wonder at how beautiful the tree was.  I could “experience” the living tree in a way that was completely different from just seeing the blossoms or smelling the flowers.

I was lying down in my bedroom and the qi was moving my torso and my arms.  My arms rose up off the bed and made a big wide circle, as if I was holding a huge sphere above my body.  I could feel the weight of the sphere all along the length of my arms.  If I tried to bring my hands closer together, a pressure sensation resisted this movement.  I had a feeling of calm and wonder during this experience.

Today, I was lying down and the qi felt very agitated but I could not discern any sense of direction.  My arms and legs and torso were twisting and moving in all different directions.  It was mildly uncomfortable, as if there was an urgency that was not being satisfied.  I found myself flapping my hands and wrists back and forth in the air and feeling streams of qi coming off my fingertips.  Finally, I found myself sweeping my palms over my torso from chest down to my knees in a repeating motion.  The feeling of agitation subsided and I felt physical relief.  I also felt that  qi in my chest and abdomen was moving down into my legs.  My back and shoulders were chilly.  I felt calmer and the hands motions subsided. After several minutes of calm, my arms stretched out to the side.  My palms and fingertips felt “gluey” as if sticky strings of energy connected the two hands.  Even when my arms were completely stretched out to the side, my palms felt “in touch” with each other.  I had the sensation of a huge sphere “resting” along my arms.  This time I also felt that the sphere (of energy?) was interacting with my chest and heart.  I felt living energy in my breathing and in my heart-sensations of love and gratitude.  When I got up from this practice, I noticed a strong feeling of well-being and improved mood.  I had come home from work feeling depleted and overwhelmed and I did not even realize my distress!  How fortunate and grateful I am to be able to learn from Master Zhao’s guidance and teaching.