Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

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 third of Five Videos on Reducing Depression with the “Old Man” Qigong Set.

Open the Heart and Release Armoring

Opening the heart area can release stuck and stagnant emotions such as impatience, frustration, criticalness, anxiety, cold-heartedness, and armoring against feeling. All of these emotions get in the way of healing; as well as living a full, vibrant, friendly life.

The Healing Sound of the Heart and the Sparrow Fist

The Heart healing sound used in the “Old Man” exercise is a sighing, descending “Haaa.” The hands are held in a partly open palm shape called a Sparrow Fist. The hands descend from head level down to the lower chest as you make the chest-vibrating “Haaa” sound.

It is also important to slowly, slightly lower the head with the movements here, bringing  your gaze somewhat downward. This helps lower excess rising Qi.

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

There are three movements in the Old Man exercise, beginning with the Lung Movement, as taught in this video.

Open the Lungs and Release Grief

In the Lung movement you will stretch the lungs open, massage them repeatedly with relaxed arm movements and release sadness into the earth. Each movement is accompanied by a directed healing sound, one that is specific for that area, bringing loosening vibration to the cells of the targeted area. The Lung sound is “SHHHH” or “SSSSS”.

Contraindications for Practicing Healing Sounds

According to Jerry Alan Johnson people should not practice Qigong sounds if:

• They have any bone fractures
• They are in the throes of an acute illness
• They are pregnant
• They are menstruating

I’m not sure about the last one. It seems to be more of something to be cautious about and aware of your own body’s needs. Refer back to the second principle of Qigong: Modify.

Note: The “Lung” movement is also a Kidney strengthener. Bending over while imagining your feet are in warm water is–in the Five Elemental Energy conception–nutritive for your Kidneys.

Without going into it in too much detail in this post: Full, strong Kidneys give you energy, healthy bones, mental clarity, and a sustaining connection to Nature.

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!

One way to look at Qigong practice is to ask if you are practicing in Single exercises, Sets of exercises or with Sequenced forms. In this post I talk about Sets.

Sets

Sets are collections of exercises that have a particular theme. Each exercise is practiced several to many times as a drill. A Qigong Set is an organized collection of exercises that you practice in order, doing so many of each exercise before going to the next. A Set is not a hodge podge, but is put together with particular training goals in mind.

The Five Flows Qigong is an example of a Set. It is designed to teach basic principles of Qigong while taking you through 2 successive movements to build health.

Shibashi

One famous Set is called Shibashi (also known as Tai Chi Qigong.) Shibashi has 18 movements adapted from the moves of Tai Chi Chuan. Shibashi–and Shibashi 2 and 3—are modern sets, put together recently.

Eight Brocades

A much older and famous set—one with many versions—is the Eight Brocades—just 8 exercises, often used as a warm-up in classes.

Snake Qigong

Snake Qigong is a Set I learned from Jang Jie in 1995. Intricately designed, it contains 36 different moves, separated into ten sections.

An example of a Set designed to develop flexibility in the joints is another 18 movement set called Wuji Hundun Qigong. There are also meditation Sets, standing Sets, and many more permutations.

This is just a small, overview sample. There are thousands of Sets out there.

Benefits of Set Practice

One of the benefits of a Set is that it is easier to remember a number of exercises when they are so organized.

Another advantage of practicing a Set is that each exercise tends to support the effects of the other exercises.

Sets usually have a balanced number of movements on the left and right sides.

In my next post I will talk about Sequences.

Here is a video of the First 64, the most well-known formal sequence from the Wild Goose Qigong, or Dayan Qigong , system.

Fast Versus Slow

I perform the set quite fast in the video. Faster Wild Goose practice tends to activate more Yang energy and eliminate more stagnant Qi than doing it more slowly. (And the rain was coming any minute as I was filmed.)

Performing at a slower pace is also a wonderful way to practice this form.

I do the form (as best as I can emulate) in the style of Paul Li, my most recent teacher of Wild Goose Qigong.

A Famous, Fun System of Exercise

Wild Goose Qigong is an intricate system of many movements done in the general style of Wild Geese. It is a famous system in China and getting more known here in the West all the time. It is great fun to practice.

There is so much just in this one form. There are

• Many point-charging movements
• Snap releases of Toxic Qi
• Stretches
• Qi Channel flow-increase movements
• Qi absorption techniques
• Organ regulating methods
• Brain and nervous system regulating
• Rooting stances to build a strong foundation
• Kidney charging for building the body’s energy
• Lung opening moves
• and more

Arms of the Goose

Notice how the arms are usually kept bent, like wings. This helps the Qi flow strongly through the arms.

Shimmering Hands

The special shaking hand motion is called Shimmering Hands. As far as I know this motion is unique to Wild Goose Qigong. Fast shimmering can break loose stagnations, open blockages, and build a more balanced nervous system. It can also be used to rapidly and repeatedly bring in new Qi and release old Qi.

In the 5:17 video below I teach three simple and relaxing exercises that can reduce high blood pressure.

Exercise 1: Belly Breathing Retraining

Breathing high and hard in the upper body can put extra pressure on the heart. Many, many people breathe this way and have for years, it having long ago become an ingrained, unconscious habit.  Breathing in this manner over and over and over, every day, for years, leads to habitual stress and underlying, unresolvable tension.

Belly breathing is the natural way to breathe; the first step for most people in retraining how they breathe.

Using a belt or flat strap, you can gently retrain your breath to become comfortable with going lower, slower and deeper. Simply wrap the belt around your abdomen–not tightly, just snug. Inhale, sending your breath deep to your belly. Such an inhale will create expansion against the strap. This teaches the muscles a better way of breathing. It shows them what to breathe against–the palpable pressure of the belt.

Exhale by relaxing the belly, allowing it to deflate.

Exercise 2: The Healing Sound “Haaaahh”

Look down and make the sighing sound “haaaahh.” Make this healing sound as the hands are expanding out and down from the heart, opening the hands forward, outward and toward the the ground.

The sound vibrations help release tension energetic stagnation in the center of the chest.

Opening and lowering the arms and hands dissipates tension out of the chest into the earth.

Looking down sends energy and consciousness downward; which is what you want for lowering your blood pressure.

Exercise 3: Rooting the Heart Energy in the Dantian

Begin with your palms facing down at the upper chest. With an exhale, press down from the upper chest to lower abdomen. Intend that excess energy in your heart to descend to your lower energy center, where it stays.

The premise of this exercise is that most people with high blood pressure have too much energy in the chest and too little in the lower energy center (the Dantian.) By redistributing the energy, a new and better balance in the body is established, leading to easier breathing, easier blood flow, and more calmness.

See a Larger Version of the Video on Youtube.