The method of practicing kungfu is to adjust your breath, body and mind first. The so-called mental adjustment is to consciously control conscious activities, which is the central link of qigong exercise. Its basic requirement is "abstinence", getting rid of other thoughts and achieving a "quiet" state. Practicing qigong for the first time is a big obstacle. Because meditation is related to the effect, we are often anxious to be quiet, which leads to impatience. The more you practice, the more annoying it is, and the harder it is to be quiet. The so-called "quietness" means turning "thinking" into "thinking only" through "intentional defense", and then achieving "thinking without thinking is useless", quiet, happy and carefree. The so-called "intentional defense" means focusing on a certain part of the body or an activity, or trying to do something beneficial to the body. The most commonly used method of "intentional defense" is the combination of the intentional defense of breathing and the intentional defense of "Dantian". Dantian refers to the "Qihai point" one and a half inches below the navel. The combination of Italian breathing and Italian abdomen is called "pneumoperitoneum". The general methods of gas infiltration into the abdomen are: abdominal breathing, when inhaling, the diaphragm shrinks and the abdominal pressure increases, so that the lower abdomen bulges, as if gas is inhaled into the abdomen through the lungs; When exhaling, the lower abdomen retracts, as if gas comes out of the lower abdomen through the lungs. This method is the main measure for qigong to produce good results, which can not only strengthen the spleen, but also communicate the heart and kidney.
The so-called pranayama is to consciously control breathing, and its basic requirement is "thin, quiet, even and long" and gradually achieve silence. In this case, if you survive, if you die. At the beginning of training, let nature take its course, do not force it, and slowly achieve from sound to silence, from short to deep. It's best to practice the method of "Guan Qi dantian". As for luck methods such as "big Sunday" and "small Sunday", it takes some effort to learn.
Luck is to draw air purposefully, open the channels and collaterals, follow the qi purposefully, and run the Sunday by taking a deep breath and stopping breathing. In ancient times, it was also called "breath-holding", "breath-moving" and "luck". If luck attacks the affected area, treating yourself is called "moving qi"; If you are lucky, you will be angry when you go out to treat others, which is called "dividing the gas".
The significance of pranayama is to improve respiratory efficiency. Although the ventilation per minute decreases, the tidal volume increases, the vital capacity increases, the carbon dioxide in exhaled breath and alveolar gas increases, and the oxygen decreases, indicating that the energy consumed is the least and the oxygen obtained is the most. Moreover, due to the slow breathing movement, the pressure in the chest and abdomen changes rhythmically, which has a gentle massage effect on the internal organs, thus improving the blood circulation of the internal organs.
The so-called body adjustment is to consciously control the posture and movements of the body. Adjust your body branches, stand, sit, lie down and do things. These five situations should be coordinated with self-regulation and interest adjustment. The general requirement of body adjustment is undressing, comfortable and natural, and informal. Ok, stand upright without shaking, pay attention to the road conditions, breathe through the abdomen, exhale and lift the anus, and inhale to relax.
Stand upright, feet parallel to shoulder width, knees slightly bent, trunk straight, chest in, arms half raised forward, wrist bent like a ball when bending over, eyes half closed, staring at the nose, and then pranayama, which is called "three-lap standing pile".
Sit, there are two kinds of freestyle and cross-legged: freestyle, choose a chair with the right height. Sit on a stool or bed, with your feet on the ground, your legs shoulder-width apart, your hands on your back, your palms together in front of your lower abdomen, your eyes half open, or your hands folded like Buddha's eyes half open, and your fingers half open. Sitting cross-legged, there are single cross-legged, double cross-legged and natural cross-legged. Cross-legged is to put one leg on the other; Cross-legged is to put the right calf on the left calf first, then lift the left calf and put it on the right calf. The two calves are crossed and the soles of the feet are placed on the thighs. Natural cross-legged is that the legs naturally cross into a figure of eight, and the feet are pressed under the thighs. The upper body posture is the same as freestyle. It is feasible to prepare a soft pad for exercise and accept exercise after self-massage when your legs are numb.
Lie down, suitable for people who are weak or insomnia, and you can do this before going to bed. It is best to lie on the right side with your head slightly forward. The lower palm naturally bends in front of the pillow, with the palm up, and the upper palm naturally rests on the thigh, with the palm down, or in the abdomen, with the palm pressing against the abdomen. The leg posture is that the lower part is naturally straight or slightly bent, and the upper knee is bent 120 on the other leg.
Doing has two meanings: one is to take a reasonable posture that is not easy to fatigue according to the nature of work and cooperate with abdominal breathing. Its spiritual essence is that you can practice dantian anytime and anywhere; The second is to guide Yin, Tai Chi Chuan and other factions in dynamic techniques. There are various postures and movements, so scholars should choose one and conscientiously implement it.
In short, adjusting the body is to adjust the body and make the body conform to the training posture. Formal requirements.
2. The essentials of practicing Qigong
The famous qigong master believes that practicing qigong should master the following essentials.
(1) Relaxation and quietness complement each other and conform to nature. There is a close relationship between relaxation and quietness. Full body relaxation can promote quietness, and it will inevitably show full body relaxation after quietness, so the two are complementary. The so-called relaxation, on the one hand, is the relaxation of the whole body muscles, and this kind of relaxation must master the state of relaxation and perseverance. Lying flat is easier to relax the whole body, but after posing, shake the whole body slightly to achieve the comfort of lying flat. The maintenance of standing posture and sitting posture requires a certain degree of muscle tension, but it also requires maximum relaxation. Another aspect of relaxation is the relaxation of consciousness. First of all, relax the muscles of the whole body and let the whole body feel comfortable and relaxed. In addition, it is necessary to eliminate tension and achieve mental relaxation. The so-called silence means that, relatively speaking, you can breathe in and out of silence and feel carefree. In terms of consciousness, you emphasize that you can enter peace by keeping consciousness and eliminating distractions. In a word, relaxation is the key to practice. If you master it well, you will get good results soon. If you don't master it properly, you will often make mistakes.
(2) practice your mind and spirit.
Qigong's "Qi" mainly refers to the true qi (vitality). When you start practicing Qi, you must start from practicing lung qi (breathing qi). The exercise of lung qi adopts different breathing methods because of different methods. Even so, no matter what skills, most of them require breathing to be leisurely, even, thin, long and slow. A well-trained person breathes two or three times a minute, forming a slow abdominal breathing. The practice of breathing qi must be practiced from shallow to deep, from fast to slow, step by step, and it is not required to form a complete deep breath in a short time. When practicing for the first time, you must be induced by your mind. When you practice to a certain extent, you can breathe naturally. The so-called practice: first, eliminate distractions and achieve silence; Second, stay in the abdomen and let the whole body undergo more profound changes. It is difficult for beginners to get rid of distractions quickly. It takes a certain period of practice to gradually reduce distractions and achieve the requirement of quietness.
How to combine the intention and spirit of practice in the process of practice? When you start practicing breathing, you should also keep breathing consciously to help you practice breathing as soon as possible. Maintain depth and length. After the formation of uniform breathing, pay attention to the ups and downs of the abdomen with breathing. When breathing exercises are very skilled, even if you don't pay attention to breathing, you can naturally reach your abdomen. At this time, you can simply stay in the abdomen. In this way, the two can be closely combined to achieve the unity of God and God, so that the true qi is abundant and the purpose of treating diseases and keeping fit can be achieved.
(3) Emotional balance and good mood.
In qigong therapy, we must emphasize emotional balance and happy mood, so as to promote health, eliminate diseases, and feel comfortable and happy after each work.
(4) Step by step, don't rush for success.
In the initial practice, you can't rush for success, you need the drug effect, and the effect is gradually revealed with the process of practice time. Although the training method is not very complicated, it needs to be mastered and practiced for a certain period of time. Take internal training as an example, you can master posture first and exercise deep breathing. When you are proficient in deep breathing, you can add stop and close. After you stop and close your breath skillfully, you can add silent words, and then you can add your tongue to the palate. These movements are skilled, you can master them step by step, and they are often smooth.
(5) Training and training should be combined closely.
The so-called combination of training and training means paying equal attention to training and reasonable rest. Only practicing without paying attention to reasonable rest will be an obstacle to overcoming the disease, so training and rest must be closely combined. Reasonable rest should include: paying attention to proper rest, regular life, optimistic mood, moderate diet and moderate physical activity. These contents should be paid attention to in the whole practice process and even in the whole life, often to overcome diseases and obtain health protection. Every exercise should carry out the requirement of paying equal attention to training and training. For example, when practicing internal strength or strengthening exercises, after practicing for half an hour, you can give up breathing and abdominal stay, simply relax and rest on your back 10 ~ 20 minutes. You can continue to practice after raising it, and the effect is also very good.
(6) Fixed achievement method, suitable for working hours.
At present, there are many martial arts circulating all over the country. Some techniques have been widely used in clinic with good results; There are also some methods that are only practiced by individuals, not fully publicized, or rarely used. It is still difficult to determine the effect. Practitioners should choose 1 ~ 2 suitable exercises under the guidance of doctors according to their own illness, physique and daily habits, which is not only easy to master, but also easy to achieve results.
(7) Sum up experience and avoid deviation.
Qigong therapy mainly means that patients master the requirements and methods of practicing exercises themselves and keep exercising. Most of them can't be smooth sailing in exercise, and serious deviations will occur. The most common reasons for this situation are eagerness to achieve success, failure to step by step, excessive breathing, blind pursuit of depth and slowness, or blind pursuit of a certain feeling, which leads to poor breathing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, even respiratory disorder, headache, dizziness, mental tension and so on.
The formation of deviation is often from slight to obvious and from light to heavy. When it begins to appear, it is easier to correct, and it takes a short time. If the deviation has been formed, it will be more laborious to correct it. Therefore, at the beginning of practice, we must thoroughly and carefully understand, sum up experience, find shortcomings, correct them in time, and avoid deviations.
3. Precautions for exercise
First of all, we should choose a suitable training place. A quiet environment is especially important for beginners. To practice outdoors, it is best to choose places with fresh air such as Woods, lawns and flower beds; When practicing indoors, you should also keep the air circulating. The light in the practice area should be dark, which is beneficial to quiet down faster. But whether indoors or outdoors, it is not appropriate to let the wind blow directly on the body, especially to avoid blowing behind the neck. Secondly, get rid of troubles and be happy before work. Intense physical and mental activities should be stopped 20 minutes before work, so as to ensure that the muscles of the whole body are relaxed and the mood is calm during practice, which is conducive to adjusting breathing and keeping quiet. Take off your coat before work and loosen your belt, so that you can relax your muscles and breathe freely. If it is horizontal, take off your coat and lie on the bed. Rule out defecation before practice.
Also pay attention to the number and time of practice. Beginners practice once a day, 10 ~ 15 minutes. Skilled practitioners can increase their training time by 20-30 minutes at a time. Those who recuperate in nursing homes or at home can also practice kung fu 3-4 times a day. During the practice, life should be regular, nutrition can be appropriately increased in diet, and alcohol and tobacco hobbies can be removed. At the same time, we should pay attention to avoid the interference of seven emotions and maintain emotional stability. Don't stand up after practice. You should first wipe your face with your hands, gently rub your eyes, and then stand up slowly and move your limbs. However, it should be noted that after being hungry, it is not appropriate to practice; You should stop practicing when you have a fever, diarrhea, a bad cold or physical fatigue.
Seven Suggestions for Beginners to Practice Qigong
Text: Zhang Yingxue
Many people don't believe in qigong. They will think like this: What is Qigong? Qigong is just a boring thing to kill time. It is normal for the elderly to play Tai Ji Chuan and practice Qigong. But if a young person likes Qigong, in their eyes, it is simply heresy. All kinds of well-meaning advice or cynicism will flood the young man. Even they will look at qigong in this way. Those who spread qigong are liars, those who practice qigong are fools, and those who are cheated.
Our generation of poor people don't care about life, don't believe in their own potential, only care about power and money, and only believe in hypocritical love. Our poor qigong world has done so many stupid things that make people misunderstand themselves and produced so many liars. Is it not normal to get to this point?
For those who don't believe in Qigong, I really don't need to say more. Because Marxist principles tell us that practice is the only criterion for testing truth. Discussing with someone who tells you what to do if you don't practice Qigong is simply "a scholar meets a soldier, so he can't say it." Anyone who tries to refute Qigong or who knows nothing about Qigong but is interested in Qigong needs to do some basic exercises of Qigong and then let the facts speak for themselves. If I want to refute Qigong after practicing Qigong, as I said, it proves that Qigong is a pile of useless garbage.
For a beginner, Qigong has some basic principles to follow. Unfortunately, many qigong enthusiasts either think that these principles are too simple to follow, or they don't know them at all, so they haven't made any progress after practicing qigong for several months or years, and finally they have to give up qigong.
These principles include:
One: Practice when the will is clearest. This is very important for a beginner. Many practitioners miss Qigong because they ignore it. Traditional qigong circles always say that the best time to practice is midnight (at night 1 1 to early morning 1 p.m) and noon (1 1 p.m/p.m). I want to ask, at this time, people's energy is usually at a low ebb. How do they experience practicing qigong? You can't feel anything but groggy and disorganized.
The practice of Qigong is the practice of consciousness, and it is a process in which consciousness keeps moving forward. At noon or at noon, your consciousness is usually in a disorganized and groggy state. At this time of practice, you are "sailing against the current", not "pushing the boat with the current". The most suitable for beginners is "pushing the boat with the current". You practice when your will is clearest, and you can move forward easily. As long as you take a step and understand the mystery, the next step is not difficult. Step by step, you will eventually reach the other side. The stupidest thing is that you can't take this step. Practice will prevent you from taking the first step when your mind is distracted. Maybe someone will ask: practicing qigong is practicing consciousness. If my consciousness is scattered, shouldn't I adjust it? But this only applies to well-trained talents. For a beginner, it is best to practice when you are awake and focused. The biggest objection is to practice when your energy drops. If you practice when your energy drops, you will soon get tired of Qigong. Because qigong took up your time, nothing happened.
So you just got up in the morning and are full of energy. It is very suitable to practice Qigong.
Two: Both the internal and external environment need to be quiet. The external environment refers to a person's material environment. Beginners are afraid of being disturbed when practicing qigong. Constant interruption will make you upset. Being upset is a taboo in practicing Qigong. When you are practicing qigong, you need to find a quiet place, preferably a quiet room, turn off the mobile phone copier and tell others "please don't disturb." At the same time, you should walk into this small room with a calm and happy mood. A calm and happy mood is your inner environment. If you are sad, angry or excited, etc., you have strong emotions. This time is not suitable for practicing qigong. Although practicing Qigong will make you feel calm, your sad words will make you forget the sorrow, your excitement will make you calm, and your anger will make you realize that anger is actually unnecessary. Similarly, this only applies to those who are well trained. For beginners, don't practice qigong when you are emotional.
Three: follow the principles of nature. Qigong is a process, a process of continuous progress of consciousness. This process does not need artificial encouragement, as long as you take the right road, you will see the scenery along the way. Everything will happen as long as you are on the right path. You sow a seed, as long as you water and fertilize it in the right way, the seed will grow into a flower, so you don't need to worry. Please remember: nature. Only in our nature can avoid deviation and walk on the right path. When you walk on the road of consciousness, there will be a lot of scenery, that is, "Qi perception" and "illusion" in Qigong. Don't care too much. Remember, you are not it. Qi sensation is just some physiological reactions, illusion is some conscious reactions, and these are just a process. For these phenomena, we should abide by the passive and natural principles and never take the initiative to investigate them.
Four: Be patient and don't rush for success. In fact, people who practice qigong have many purposes, many of which are very utilitarian. You always want to get something from Qigong, or you want health or an understanding of life. These requirements are not too much. Too much is to gain fame and benefits from qigong and some unreasonable things. Whether your purpose is utilitarian or not, you should be patient, haste makes waste. As long as hard work is required, Mo Wen will gain something. It takes two or three months to practice qigong. Slow? Very slow. Qigong is not so fast. As long as you are on the right path, as long as you sow the seeds, the seeds will become flowers sooner or later. What are you worried about? It is reasonable to have a certain utilitarian heart, which is your motivation to practice Qigong, but don't be blindly driven by utilitarian heart. Many qigong practitioners, once they gain something, will immediately be driven by a stronger utilitarian heart, want to achieve greater success, and lose their cool heads and reason, so the problem arises.
Five: Let yourself experience something every time you practice. In the practice of qigong, the word "skill" is very doubtful. Because many people have been practicing for many years, they are still standing still. Some people can reach a high level in a short time. So you should make progress every time you practice. After practice, you should consider whether you are better than yesterday. If there is no progress, what are the reasons? There is a saying in Tao Te Ching: There is always a desire not to look at its strangeness, but there is always a desire to look at its strangeness. (I: the boundary, extending to the extreme, is the destination of all things. The meaning of this sentence is: forever annihilate your will to identify with the mystery of heaven and earth and the will of Tao, and always let your will think about the principle of Qigong. You need to constantly learn the theory of Qigong, think about its principles and experience its methods.
Each exercise takes a certain amount of time, usually more than half an hour, preferably about an hour. Time is too short, you can't experience the effect of qigong. If the time is too long, maybe you will get tired of Qigong. Beginners may not even reach half an hour. You feel like you've been sitting still for a long time, but once you open your eyes to see the time, it's only a few minutes. It's okay. Take your time. At first, you only need to practice for fifteen to twenty minutes. Slowly, you will soon be able to practice for half an hour.
Six: Let yourself relax and keep the correct posture. For beginners, the best way to experience Qigong is to relax your body and further relax your consciousness. Qigong has the theory of "three tones", namely "regulating body", "regulating breath" and "regulating heart". As an important part of qigong practice, body adjustment has always been highly valued. For beginners, slowly relaxing yourself can open the door to Qigong. Relaxation is the whole body relaxation. Your face, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, thighs and calves need to be relaxed, especially your forehead. Sad people are people who run counter to Qigong. Only by relaxing your forehead can you make your mind younger and open the door to further consciousness training. Another function of relaxing the forehead is to prevent a deviation called "taking pictures".
Some people may think that relaxation is too simple and neglected. You are wrong. You think you are relaxed enough, but not enough. For beginners, you can never relax As long as you practice qigong further, you will find that you can relax more.
There are many kinds of qigong techniques, including dozens of Buddhism, especially tantric ones, which are a little dazzling and countless. But all body postures emphasize that you must keep your spine upright. With the growth of age, people's spine will become more and more curved, and the operation of energy will become less and less smooth. Practicing qigong will definitely have a negative effect on the spine, so you must stand up straight. On the spine, one is the lower back and the other is the back. These two are the most important. Older people always have backache, and your spine has begun to age. If you insist on practicing Qigong, the waist will become younger when the energy passes through it. When energy passes through the back, the back becomes younger. In order to achieve this effect, you need to keep your spine upright during training.
Seven: suppress the consciousness that has nothing to do with practice and feel your whole body. Qigong is to exercise people's consciousness in the final analysis. Through the practice of consciousness, people can control their own consciousness. To do this, we must first concentrate his consciousness. All consciousness that has nothing to do with practice seems a bit redundant. The consciousness of qigong is concentrated in the qigong system. There is a term called "intentional defense". Qigong practice has many defensive parts. Different technologies have different methods, such as deliberately defending your abdomen, deliberately defending things outside the body, and deliberately defending an illusory scene. But in all mindfulness, you will find that you always have to feel yourself. Paying attention to the whole body will create a balance. You want to stay in your lower abdomen. Your consciousness is too concentrated under your body. This is problematic. Energy is more and more concentrated in your lower abdomen. This is not a good thing, it is dangerous, and energy must be channeled out. You need to feel your body to achieve balance. You want to keep your abdomen and take care of your whole body. In fact, many classics in Qigong tell us so. These classics use terms such as "introspection" and "flashback". To put it bluntly, I feel the whole body. Please note: I feel inside my body, not outside.
I can guarantee that as long as you practice in the right way for three months, you will sincerely sigh: Qigong is so magical and so simple!