How to Use Hard and Soft Style Qigong to Maximize Your Inner Strength!
More than a decade ago, the idea of "Yin Yoga" came on the scene, perhaps as a balance to all the "Power Yoga" that was most popular at the time! The concept wasn't new to me, as I had been introduced to it as "Daoist yoga" when studying full time at my Sifu's temple.
I think modern Qigong is ripe for the same kind of balanced Yin/Yang understanding by learning about "Hard Style Qigong".
Hard style qigong isn't necessary for everyone. Indeed, one major benefit of the type of qigong practice we're used to - with its slow and fluid movements - is that it teaches us the important skill of how to relax!
But Qigong encompasses a much wider field than just the trainings in how to slow down and loosen up. The bodymind specialists of ancient China realized that bringing more presence, and congruence of body, breath, and mind could benefit any activity.
It's predominantly in the martial arts that we see the hard styles of qigong preserved, and this is because they needed very tough and durable bodies to continue in their sport or career. Paradoxically, while this type of qigong became most popular for its profound effects on the physical, much of it is drawn from the early teachings of Bodhidharma, which were aimed directly at awakening the SPIRITUAL!
You don't have to be a martial artist to benefit from the strengthening of your bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles that this type of qigong provides - indeed, we're all engaged in the same sport: Life itself. We need resilient tissues to be able to avoid the injuries that can pile up the longer we're on planet earth.
Beyond the physical, Bodhidharma's Iron Body teachings show us that the physical and the spiritual are intimately linked. When performing this set in its entirety the student will notice something strange: they've just gone through a half hour of doing dynamic tension exercises with their muscles, and whacking along the meridian channels with their palms, fists, or a special tool - but at the end, they feel more quiet of mind than ever before!
There's not time to go into the theory of WHY that might occur, but it suffices to say for today that this profound qigong looks "hard" from the outside, but can actually lead us to the most subtle aspects of our being!
If you'd like to experience this for yourself, make sure to get signed up for the Marrow and Ligament Neigong workshop THIS SATURDAY. It's the last of a series of three, but you don't have to have taken the first two in order to benefit. I'm not sure when I'll teach this series again, so get in while you can. I'm also teaching this material IN PERSON, which has been pretty rare these last few years - and I'd love to see you if you can make it out here in Grass Valley!
