Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

Qigong Classes on Monday Evenings in July

This Summer will be the seventh year I have offered free Summer Qigong classes. The first year I held them in Whatcom Falls Park in Bellingham. Every Summer since I have held them at the glorious garden space of my home. 

These classes are open to anyone intrigued or entranced by Qigong, whether new to the art or a seasoned practitioner.  

Free Qigong in the Gardens

Summer 2010 

When:     Each Monday in July (July 5, 12, 19, and 26) 

Time:     6:00 pm to 7:00 pm 

Cost:      None  

Where:   1095 East Axton Road 

Who:      Anyone interested; and whoever they invite  as well.  

Directions and Confirmations

There is no need to confirm you are coming. Just show up. However if you need directions, please contact me directly and I will send them to you. 

Come to any of the classes you can get to, or to all of them. 

Contact Robert Bates to get directions 

2010 Free Qigong in the Gardens whole page

2010 Free Qigong Classes postcards (multiple copies)

Qigong is an Investment

Qigong (“Chee Gung”) is the art, science, and philosophy of natural healing and personal energy management. Qigong is extremely effective in increasing wellness, ensuring longevity, and curing many ailments. Qigong is remarkably effective as a significant health care approach, yet amazingly inexpensive (especially this particular series of classes). Practicing Qigong is a superb investment for both building wellness and saving money by staving off current or future health problems. Someday Qigong may be a primary part of American healthcare. The way the medical money tide is growing and insurance avalanche is going, that day may come soon. Start learning it soon so you will be ready. 

Gentle Exercises for Grand Results

This summer’s focus will be on The Five Flows Set, and on specific Qigong Prescriptions. The Five Flows Set is a satisfying set of slow and gentle exercises that brings great balance to the body and calmness to the mind. Prescriptions are specific exercises designed to help particular health conditions. The Qigong Prescriptions will include exercises for several common problems, including colds and allergies, insomnia, hot flashes, heart issues, and nausea. We will start each class with the basic Five Flows Qigong. Then I’ll lead people through particular Medical Qigong Prescriptions. 

To front-load your Qigong means to do lots of Qigong ahead of time, in the days or weeks before some upcoming need. You may or may not know what this future need is.

Prepare for Anything

There are two ideas here: Prepare for the unexpected and the expected. Practice enough Qigong so that you can handle whatever unexpected splats or splashes may come at you in life. Also prepare for anticipated times of busyness.

Pre-Manage Your Qi

In a conversation about this topic the other day, a student of mine reflected that “a challenge is just Qi to be managed.” This makes sense to me. When you can, manage that Qi ahead of time, that is to the good.

Prepare for the Unexpected

Qigong can help you deal with the requirements of life, but sometimes life asks much of you. It makes sense to front-load your Qigong: Do more than you usually do so you have plenty of energy for those busier or boggier times that sometimes descend upon you. Front-load your Qigong so you can deal with the stress and activities of your life with strength. If strained, busy or traumatic times come into your life, it is difficult then to step back and do a bunch of Qigong. When heavy events and hefty emotions take up your time and energy and focus, it is best to have a full reserve of Qi—a full tank. But if your tank is empty, strong responses are harder to come by.

Prepare for the Expected

You can plan ahead also. If a big project, busy time, or problem looms in the near future—step up your Qigong practice in advance.

Front-Load Before Traveling

Recently I front-loaded some Qigong before a trip. I was on my way to Florida—an all-day long air journey from Washington State. I didn’t know if I would be able to complete a Qigong practice that I am trying to do every day for a while. Besides various other Qigong, Taiji and Xin Yi exercises I tend to do, I was in the midst of a 100-day practice of three Wild Goose Qigong sequences (Bagua Palms, Soft Palms, and The Second 64.) 100-day practices are a great method for deepening the understanding and ability of the chosen form or exercise, and a good way to ensure the benefits are accrued.

Space Enough, Time, and Courage

These Wild Goose Sequences—especially the long form known as the Second 64—take considerable space to perform. I didn’t know how easy it would be to run through them as I would mostly be in cars, airports and airplanes on the travel day. Maybe I’m a little chicken about practicing such involved, unusual moves in public airport spaces.

A Special Rule

Wanting to continue my 100-days in a row process, I made a new rule for myself: If I could go through my required sequences four additional times the day before the trip, my daily string of success still held. The extra reps would catapult me past the inactive day. Or, to use another metaphor, the one plus four repetitions would be a bridge of Qi that connected the practice days. Or perhaps more of a running jump over a chasm to land on the feet, and keep walking.

Two plus Two is Too Much

I read once that at one point in his life, the famous Aikido master Koichi Tohei disciplined himself to two hours of breathing practice everyday. If he missed a day, he made all of it up the next day, doing four hours of breathing. This is a great idea if you can make it happen.

Front-Load Before Meetings

I once met a British Columbia man at a Qigong retreat who had a business harvesting shellfish. He said that fairly frequently he had stress-inducing meetings with suppliers, governmental authorities, fellow fishermen, and customers. He found that by practicing Qigong breathing practices on the way to these meetings he was able to get through these verbal sparring matches still relaxed.

Three Hours Reading, “Everyday”

Chiropractor and success teacher John Demartini’s most important daily practice is to read non-fiction books for three hours. Sometimes on an especially busy day he doesn’t get his 3 hours in. He finds time for catching up on his requisite reading later, such as when air-traveling. Airports and airplanes are ideal opportunities for reading.

Catching Up Adds Up

These are examples of catching up that display great commitment and discipline. I haven’t had much success with catching up on dropped tasks or late projects. That is one reason I like to get more Qigong done ahead of time.

Always Overestimate Travel Time

My travel time to Florida was longer than expected. One of the flights I was on was delayed one and half hours because of an electrical problem. The heater in one of the cargo bays would not work, which meant that the two pets sitting in that compartment would have gotten very, very cold at 30,000 feet. While that problem was worked out, I read and studied the workbook of the seminar I was going to (I was repeating it.) I touched down in West Palm Beach later than I had anticipated.

A Long Day and a Successful One

After a long day that began at 3:20 a.m.—and the disorientation of settling into a new locale—I could have done my 100-day Qigong practice. I could have found a flat, open space to practice in. But it was dark now, and dinner beckoned. I didn’t know my way around. The little motel area I was staying in didn’t appear to have a big enough area to practice these forms in. I was satisfied though. I felt at ease about it because I had front-loaded the day before. I had managed some breathing and stretching along the airways and planned to get back on track the next day with my full practice . Which I did.

Progress, Not Perfection

Qigong is not about perfection, for there is always more to work on, play with, go for. Qigong is about the process. Progress is made in health and life clarity by engaging in the process in a regular, and (I believe) gentle, disciplined practice. By my special-case front-load rules, I am still making progress on this particular 100-day practice configuration. If I don’t miss any more days, I complete it on June 30. I’m already thinking about and getting excited about what my next 100-day focus will be. Maybe the complex sequence Plum Blossom Stepping.

The Last Day

Incidentally, on the last evening and morning of my trip there was a magnificent thunderstorm. The skies poured and poured–as they will in some tropical places. I was not able, in this terrific downpour, to go outside and practice in the park on the last morning.

So I moved all of the furniture our of the apartment living room to create enough space to get my Wild Goose Qigong discipline in. The glass table was an especially heavy and awkward piece of furniture. It took some clever manipulating to transport without scratching the floor. Witht he space open, I managed to get my practice done; though it took some scrunching of steps and intermediate shifting of positioning within the Second 64 form.  

A Note on Terminology

The term “front-load” doesn’t seem to be listed as recognized term in any discipline but finance, but I like it for this Qigong usage.  “Preload” is a more widesperad term, with a wide variety of meanings, including to stretch the heart’s ventricle, to drink booze before going out to drink more booze, and to have already included software in some gizmo. Since I was calming my heart down, doing it soberly, and performing naturally, “pre-load” didn’t fit.

Refine Your Qigong

A crucial principle of Qigong practice is to refine your skill. An example of refining comes from a Qigong practitioner I once advised who had been having trouble sleeping. I had an exercise prescription for insomnia in mind that I wanted to teach her, but first I asked to see the Qigong she regularly practiced. She showed me several static postures. Each posture was to be held for 100 breaths. The primary posture looked something like the following photo.

Shoulder Tension

Notice how much force and tension I am bringing up into my shoulders, neck, upper arms and upper chest. Not only is there a great deal of effort going into the pose, but everything in the upper chest, shoulder and neck is getting squished. Holding such posture for very long will create energy but allow it no place to go. The Qi will be trapped by the contractions of the muscles and the compressions of the joints. Compression builds Qi; but then a release of the holding is needed. An open, easy flowing can then happen.

Relax the Shoulders Down

One of the important points taught in Qigong and the internal martial arts is to relax the shoulders–let them sink down. Likewise, relax all of the body. Unless you are specifically performing a strength-building exercise, always take it easy. Be vital and involved, but easily. If you perform a dynamic tension, Charles Atlas-style exercise, you need the soft Yin of letting go to follow the hard Yang of holding. Follow tension with relaxation. Follow harder training with nourishing training.

Drop Deep into your Body to Sleep

One of the keys to sleeping well is to let the extra energy of the day trickle down and settle into your body. You want to reverse the focus of consciousness from forward, up, and out to inward, down, and back. If your consciousness is high, tight and agitated, sleep is difficult to drop into. If you are building and exciting energy higher up in your body, you are training yourself to excess and imbalance.

Here is how I suggest refining the pose from above:

Let the Shoulders Down

Now my arms are lower and everything is more open. I want to hold this pose and relax the muscles as much as possible to build the Qi. I want to smooth my breathing and soften my attitude.

Yet I can let down more. With an exhale I release more holding, and come to this:

Relax even more

So let those shoulders stay down. If they rise up, let them down again. Down, down, down. Let the undersides of the arms and elbows be heavy and let those shoulder and back muscles release.

Spaciousness Allows Flow

Now you have more space in your shoulders and chest. Blood, Qi, and lymph can flow easily and fully. And your Qi can drop. A high-shoulder, tension pose holds the Qi in, frozen in place. Little can flow up, and more importantly, mere trickles of Qi can flow down. Too much energy gets stuck in the head. It is hard to relax and difficult to sleep well if, you cannot allow the busy energy of the day waft and be drawn downward.

Sink the Qi

The Qi should sink to the lower abdomen. This is a real experience you can learn to access and allow, an experience that feels nourishing and truly stabilizing. Qigong and Taiji teach you how to do this–and it is more than worth the training.

Our Shoulder Tension Society

What I find most intriguing about the shoulder-tension pose above is that it emulates what most Americans and those in the rest of the modernized world are doing anyway. We are societies of rising shoulders. We raise and hold our shoulders up as protection from perceived social danger, as a way to avoid breathing deeply, as a method to force the completion of tasks, and as a way to avoid relaxing into our being and our true and essential connection to the Earth.

Here is a photo of another holding pose:

Arm and Shoulder Tension

If you hold the above pose for 100 breaths you are sure to build a tremendous amount of energy. The compression of the muscles, bones, and soft tissues will create what is known as piezoelectricity. You will create energy, but the tension held for so long gives it no where to go, and it also fosters an imbalance in the body. You will have more energy up high, than lower. If you want a nightly repose that is deep and long, this kind of exercise will probably prevent that. If you want to toss and turn for hours and have wild and fantastical visions in fitful sleep, such poses would be a good way to create that.

It would be better to do more intense kinds of exercise in the morning, as you are fully in the Yang, rising, energy-building part of the day.

Hold Poses with Ultimate Relaxation

Usually, at least as I have always seen in Qigong training, such long-held postures are held with ultimate relaxation, not maximal tension. In other words, you hold the pose with as good as posture as you can—upright, expanded, and relaxed as much as you can at the same time. This will calm your Qi, calm your mind, settle your heart energy. Your muscles will let go, yet the energy will somehow become more full. Most importantly, all the extra tension and energy will sink and accumulate in the lower abdominal center (the Dantian.) You want this to happen.

Looking at this photo, I could probably relax down much more yet, another level or two or three of letting go. But this is a good start.

Holding tension-types of poses looks much like a Yi Jin Jing exercise, translated as a Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic. The purpose of Yi Jin Jing practices are to strengthen the tissues of the whole body to build resilience and strength. The Yi Jin Jing exercises are said to have been developed about 1500 years ago at the original Shaolin monastery.

Here is an old drawing showing some Yi Jin Jing.

However, Most of these posture–maybe due to the artist’s ability–show too much shoulder tension. Over the almost one and half millennia since these drawings were executed, the understanding of the principle of “heavy weight underside” has permeated the teaching of internal martial arts and Qigong.

In the Yi Jin Jing I’ve seen, the postures are held for at most a few breaths. Then a purposeful relaxation follows. This leads to a sudden increase of blood through the tissues and a release of blocked energy, which has been built up by the holding. This energy is then circulated through the body.

The Lower Dantian should be the biggest and fullest of the three dantians, yet it is often the smallest and weakest.

Qigong Will Warm Your Hands

If you have cold hands, Qigong can warm them up. Qigong increases the Qi and blood flow to the hands. The hands get pleasantly fat and full and the palms and fingers turn reddish. Sometimes there is a red and white mottling. Warm hands indicate many good things: Your internal organs are charging up, excess energy in the heart is distributed to the periphery, overall blood flow is better. Hot hands can also indicate that harmful excesses of heat in the head or heart are being safely shunted to the hands–a place much better for body heat to reside. Qigong can warm cold feet too, which means the Qi and blood flow through your legs is improved and the body is more rooted, balanced in energy, and infused with life force.

Five Pairs with a Loyal Flush

Five Pairs of Hands

Above is a photo of my hands and four of my students’ hands taken at a Qigong class with a heat camera. The heat camera is a special device designed for finding heat leaks in houses. It works great as a Qigong tool of exploration. My hands are the white ones ringed with red, which indicates a lot of heat in them. Notice the palms of the others, which tend toward a middle-heat yellow with some warmer orange-ish red. Also notice the blue in the fingers, indicating coolness.

This photo was taken at the beginning of a Qigong Practice, showing my Qi-charged hands which are habitually, healthily warm already. In 1995, after practicing Qigong regularly for about a year, my hands turned on. They get pleasantly warm almost every time I practice my healing methods on someone, or practice Qigong exercises. They are warm to start with and get warmer.

Qigong Will Balance the Energy of Your Hands

Many exercises of Qigong help equalize the Qi, blood, lymph, and neural energy between your hands. Balanced hands indicate a balanced body. The blood vessels on both upper limbs are equally open and strong. The divisions of the cerebral cortex–left and right, front and back– are in equilibrium. The nerves coming from the spine to the hands are engaging equally as they travel through the shoulder complex, arms, and into the hands.

One Cold and One Hot Hand

The heat photo of the above pair of hands shows an imbalance between left and right. The right is much hotter. Qigong can help balance the temperature of these hands.

The Good Hands Practice

Robert's Hot Little Hands

These are my hands after 50 minutes of Qigong practice and teaching. Note that even the fingers are quite warm. An important part of my hands-on healing work involves using each finger, both independently and in conjunction with the rest of the fingers, the palm, and my whole body. I think that this engaged finger individuation also helps with keeping the Qi alive and warm in my hands.

To Sign Up for Classes: (360) 398-7466, or email

Monthly Wild Goose Qigong Workshops

Once a month on Saturdays, Robert Bates will be teaching 2-hour Wild Goose Qigong Workshops. The workshops will be for both beginners and continuing students. Everyone will work on the First 64 form. Continuing students then can stay with the First 64 practice or work on Spiral, Soft Palms, or Slapping Healthy.

Time: 10:00 to 12:00

Dates: February 20, March 20, April 17, May 15 and June 19

Cost: $80 for the 5-class series or $20 per class

Location: Robert’s Healing Studio: 1095 E. Axton Road, Bellingham, WA 98226

Gain Greater Health and Have Fun Doing it

Wild Goose Qigong exercises are Chinese longevity exercises that originated in the Taoist tradition in the Kunlun mountains of Western China, many centuries ago. Long a secret, Wild Goose Qigong became widely practiced in China in the last few decades. The exercises represent the daily routine of a wild goose—a bird of longevity and high energy. Wild Goose Qigong is effective at helping treat disease, increase energy, improve mental clarity and brain functions, and maintain general fitness.

The Fabulous, Famous, Fantastic “First 64”

The “First 64” is one of the most well known Qigong sequences in the world. It is usually the one first taught in the Wild Goose system. It consists of 64 named moves of great variety that are performed in succession along a specific stepping pattern, much like a Tai Chi Sequence is done. Each of the moves has particular benefits for health, wellness, and healing. The movements flow together in a flowing, active tapestry. The “First 64” is a lot of fun to practice and has many unexpected and unusual moves. The form includes turning, twisting, stretching, leg strengthening, balance building, and spinal strengthening. There are moves to eliminate old, stuck and toxic energy from your body and fill yourself with fresh new energy.

These classes are moderately vigorous and will include warming up, stretching, Qigong drills, and instruction in the profound and fun movements of the of the long sequences.

Below is the fifth of five videos on Reducing Depression with the “Old Man” Qigong Set.

The final video in this series puts each part of the the form together into a flowing whole.

The Ratio of Moves

Once you have practiced each of the 3 moves separately and can perform them well–with good amounts of feeling and healing–then you put them all together. The connected movement ratio is as follows:

1, 2, 3

2, 3

2, 3

Put Another Way, You Do

1. Lungs

2. Heart

3. Middle Burner

2. Heart

3. Middle Burner

2. Heart

3. Middle Burner

Then start over, again starting with the Lungs.

The Daily Exercise Prescription

The basic formula for practicing the full “Old Man” exercise is to do it for set amount of time. Get into a flowing groove by the set over and over and over again for 5, 10, 20 or more minutes at a time.

As you practice, you don’t need to count reps. Just glance at a clock every once in a while.

Urgent Prescription

Those who need to get their bodies on track quickly can elect to do 25 minutes of the “Old Man” 3 times a day.

Below is the fourth of five videos on Reducing Depression with the “Old Man” Qigong Set.

The Middle Burner

In this section of video training, I detail how to release blocking tensions in the the center organs of the body: the Spleen, Stomach, Pancreas, Upper Small Intestine, Gall Bladder and Liver, as well as the Solar Plexus area. The entire area is known as the Middle Burner.

Emotional Release in Masse

Releasing blocks in this area will help you easily release repressed emotions such as worry, over-thinking, anger, grumpiness, and rage. It will also help generally clear held-onto emotions from your body, resulting in more freedom for feeling well.

Ho, Ho, Ho

The healing sound used for this central section of the torso–the Middle Burner–is a long “Ho.” This sound is expressed to vibrate the target area from left to right (or right to left.) While making the sound you lower the bent arms to the lower ribs and turn the torso from left to right (or right to left, if you like.)

Twist the Towel

The torso-turning is a unique method that will take a little practice to get. It is an organ-wringing style–like twisting a towel–that is done from the center, between the chest and the belly button. This massages the organs of the upper abdomen and helps release tensions, trapped emotions and toxins from them.

Below is the first of five videos of a movement and healing sounds Set that is very effective in helping to alleviate negative emotions. The full name of this exercise Set is Old Man Searching for the Reflection of the Moon at the Bottom of the Tide Pool. That is a mouthful; I usually just called it “Old Man.”

Many People Have Benefited

I learned this set from my Medical Qigong teacher Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson. He credits Dr. Her Yue Wong with introducing it into the USA in the 1970’s. Dr. Johnson told me that he gave these exercises to more people than any any other healing prescription. He often found that very sick people were holding so much armor that they were unable to relax enough to let healing enter and spread through their bodies. So he taught them the Old Man to release their holding, usually to impressive results.

Open Blocks and Release Stuck Emotions

Following a sophisticated understanding of the Five Elemental Energies system, the Old Man Set opens blockages in the body so stuck fluids, Qi, and blood can flow again, resulting in healing. By upgrading from stagnant swamp internally to flowing rivers and rivulets, health naturally re-establishes.

Since 2000, I have taught this exercise to many clients. Over and over again they have come back to me with glowing reports of how well it has helped them manage or delete unhealthy amounts of blocking, sludgifying emotions, feelings, and sensations.

Many Emotional States Helped

I’ve truncated the name of the encompassing term of the video to depression, but the Old Man exercise is great for helping with many emotional weights, including: sadness, grief, impatience, judgementalism, anxiety, worry, low energy, unprocessed emotions, indecisiveness, lack of clarity, anger, grumpiness, and rage.

Below is the Overview Video of the Old Man. In the next post I’ll add the video detailing the Lungs and sadness tomorrow; and videos 3, 4 and 5 over the next week or two.

Continuing my discussion of the Three “S”s of Qigong practice: Single Exercises, Sets and Sequences:

Sequences

A Qigong sequence is a series of movements put together into an artistic form. I often call these forms, but many people use the word “form” for a single exercise or a set. I’m playing with the word “Sequence” as a more accurate, separate descriptor.

In a Sequence–or form–one exercises follows another in an arranged order. Sequences usually cover some ground with different types of steps, arm movements and torso movements. These patterned forms usually face all directions within the series of moves.

Forms are Artistic Patterns

Forms–or Sequences–can be seen as patterns performed on the ground, in time, and in the space around you.

Sequential forms are a more advanced way of practicing than Single Exercises or Sets (though not necessarily better.)

Sequences are like books or encylcopedias of skills and knowledge. Often Sets are created by taking and adapting movements from forms into successive drills. I have done this with the Primordial Qigong Sequence, creating the exercise Set I call the Delightful Dozen out of it.

Whereas the Delightful Dozen faces one direction and calls for about a dozen repetitions of each exercise; Primordial Qigong faces each of the cardinal directions eight times in a circling sequence and with varying numbers of repetitions for each sequential movement within the form.

In the formal sequence of Primordial Qigong, each exercise has it’s own number of reps to do—between 1 and 10 reps—before  flowing into the next exercise

Other examples of Sequences include much of the system of Wild Goose Qigong, including The First 64, The Second 64, Soft Palms, Spiral, etc…

Yang Style TaiJi (Tai Chi)

Every system of Tai Chi (at least 6 different major systems out there) has it’s short and long forms as a major part of their training. The Yang Style of Tai Chi Chuan, for instance, has a widely taught beginner form of 24 movements; the intermediate  20 minute (or so) long 108 movements form; and another, rarely seen, more complex, 108 move form.

New Frame Chen Style Tai Chi Form

In my Chen Style Tai Chi class with Bob Lau we practice something called the New Frame. This very long and complicated form (which I have a long way to go to really understand in a significant way) is made of 83 moves. However, most moves have several sequential components to them, so 83 is a but a method of naming. There seem to me to be about 250 separate moves. “Whew.” I’m currently learning a Sequence called Spiral Taiji from my internal arts teacher Bob Lau.

Advantage of Sequences

An advantage of working with Sequences is that they force you to be present and fully conscious as you are training. Spacing out and not paying attention leads to missing your next steps and getting lost. Sequences are a magnificent as moving meditations.

With the differing numbers done of exercises, the exact sequences, the steps being taken and directions to face, sequential forms are masterful ways of training your memory.

Sequences also encourage a the building of artful skill. Forms add a tapestry of artistic color and nuance to Qigong.

And they are fun!