Meditation...

First of all, I do have a qi gong master that I have been working with for several months (group lessons at first and now private lessons). In my last lesson, we were talking about my meditation and he mentioned that I should not meditate longer than 1/2 hour to one hour every day. My question is...is it ever harmful for one to meditate too long?

Karroons,
From when I trained with my meditation teacher (Check out my profile I should have a pic of him... heh) I learned the following (in a nutshell that is).

When you meditate with a conscious mind (open eyes, walking or standing mediation generally speaking) the power of your mind will increase by the conscious effort in using your technique for meditation. However when the mind dips into a deeper trance state, perhaps pursuing emptiness, or perhaps vissapana jhana (Buddhist contemplation) you will actually use the power of your mind to accomplish these states. Thus a conscious meditation will build the fuel for the deeper states of meditation. Throughout the Theravada monasteries the training for monks encompasses hours of walking meditation each day accompanied by seated trance meditation so as to keep the balance. When most people meditate they sit and enter the state of emptiness (zen) of contemplation (vissapana) after a few minutes of settling in and meditating consciously. This tends to burn more fuel than one is actually building and can result in all kinds of illusions and phenomena that are just the imagination. Thus your teacher saying to meditate only 1/2 hour or so (which is exactly what I was told) is trying to help you build and not burn the minds power. Remain conscious and after some time meditating you will have accumulated enough 'mindpower' to delve into deeper states of mediation without running a deficit.
I hope this makes sense?
Here is my masters website, might help as well: Luangphor Viriyang Sirintharo

BTW What style of qigong do you practice?

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"If you meet Buddha on the road, Kill him."

I would say it really depends on what your doing and why... I have sessons that can last from 30 mins to 12 hours but not for the same reason or result

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You are not where you have been and you are not where you are going you are only here.

I have also heard that for the novice, internal qigong can generate so much heat that it can hurt you.

Eight Fist...you asked what style of Qi Gong I'm studying... It is DunHuang Buddha Qi Gong. Let me know if you want more specifics. My master use to live in China and just recently came to the United States.

thanks eight fist..........very helpful information............I wish I could afford a sifu where I live.

I just wanted to say that the replies did help. On a side note, I'm looking for a new qi gong master/teacher. It was so hard to find the first one but after talking with a friend of mine who has been doing this stuff for 30 years, he was concerned that there were some things that were not being properly taught to me and was concerned for my well-being. So, back to the drawing board with trying to find someone. Thanks.