First Experience with Qi

When was your first experience with qi? How did you come to feel/use it in your training? What were you doing when you first felt it? Do you have any advice for someone trying to feel it themselves?

check my post on the icy palm thread for starters...

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"It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought the fool, than to open it and prove it so." KungFuTze
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." T. Geisel

1)Depends on definition. Fifteen minutes after first doing tai chi I got the usual tingling, hands feeling like oposing magnets etc... The first time I did fajing felt pretty cool - happened after a couple of years of training, completely by 'accident'.
2)It happens. I practice moving my breath through my body in certain patterns because it helps my focus and works but I'd hesitate to call it using chi in my training.
3)Tai chi standing. First did fajing in chi sau.
4)Don't. If you find a teacher who's into that they'll have you feeling chi within a few minutes - regardless of your ability, if any one off the street can feel it so easily how can it be a big deal? Way too many people get hung up on 'feeling chi'. If you practice correctly you'll experience plenty of strange feelings. Don't go looking for them. The number of people who achieve nothing but a tingly feeling and go around claiming they've discovered the secret of the ages is about equal to the number who've got an amazing practice but quit because they "can't feel the chi" - even though you can see it in their practice. You don't want to end up in either group.

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Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

I think it was at a family cookout when I was three.


Darn good burger.

qi burger? now thats classic...

__________________
"It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought the fool, than to open it and prove it so." KungFuTze
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." T. Geisel

“	Originally Posted By: bobblehead qi burger? now thats classic...	”

"qi burger, qi burger, qi burger! No Coke, Pepsi!"

"...but all i wanted was a pepsi..."

__________________
"It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought the fool, than to open it and prove it so." KungFuTze
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." T. Geisel

Thanks john, I was just interested in what people had to say, and wanted to see if I was on the right track. I know better than to try to force anything though.

in all seriousness, the first time i had an acupucture treatment, and felt the arrival of the der qi, now that was for lack of a better term, a trip!

__________________
"It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought the fool, than to open it and prove it so." KungFuTze
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." T. Geisel

It was wonderful !!!
I felt like a superman!!!
LOL!!!

All of the classic descriptions of qi fell short of the actual experience. Practicing Tai Chi Chuan, I would wonder if the warm sensations or the tingling feelings were the Qi. Talking with other martial artists about these experiences only proved to me that we were all still searching for something that was a myth from ancient times. The question was always in my mind, "Is that it? Is that the qi? Did I find it at last?" But looking for it too ardently makes it harder to find.

Then, one day during a practice session walking the Pa Kua circle, I was only intent upon doing the stepping properly and not thinking of anything else in particular when all of a sudden a rush of energy flashed upward from my feet, up my spine to the top of my head. It was raw power and energy that enlivened my entire being. Each step was filled with power and energy that filled my body with dynamism. At that instant, all of the teachings of all of the mystic sages and religions unfolded like a flower and I understood what the saints and sages were talking about in the varous scriptures. All doubts about Qi instantly dissappeared.

After that, I needed to learn how to control this energy at will rather than have it appear only as raw power. For this, Qi Gong practice was essential. And now, when I breath, I bring the Qi up from the soles of my feet, up my back, over my head and back down the front to my toes in the Macrocosmic Circulation. It feels very nice and comfortable doing this as well as direcing the flow internally into the various organs and bone marrow. And in martial art, I can sense and feel an opponent's energy and intent before he even moves. Thus, I avoid confrontations easily and enjoy the great beauties of this wonderful world.

Doubt not! Qi is well worth finding within yourself. It is one of the treasures of Life. Seek your Qi and your Qi will find you.

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Free Kung-Fu, acupuncture, and qi gong instructional videos at: http://www.KungFu-Torrents.com

my first experiances were in my handd/ then hand and forearms...then one day i was olding the stake position and i was holding the ball and felt my energy moving rather from hand to hand it was moving from hand to hand to dantian in a circle....that was my first genuine experiance

well,

i guess i can say that mine was during a set of standing pole exercises, but that was only the beginning, to this day i try to keep it alive by experimenting with and learning from it while i spar with people. i interpreted it at first as breathing and opening the body, its very visual, though i think its better to learn from a good teacher. so you have someone to answer all of your questions.

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great ideas hold their roots in a simple thought.

THE CURRENT RUNS DEEP.

poo poo E too too...

I came to IMA from years of yoga and the experience of acupuncture and the energy aspects were what interested me. So it was not a big surprise that I 'felt stuff' really early on. I had tingling, invisible itches, incredible heat, magnetic hands and other things (like violent shaking and even jumping) when standing. It has honestly been the biggest distraction in my training. I don't look to experience it and I get rather bored when I do. I'd say don't even try to feel your qi like that. Let your body do what it does and just keep going. To be honest I have been much more impressed by the way that I don't get jet lag or travel sick any more, my digestion has improved and I can cope without sleep if I have to (which for a former Chronic Fatigue sufferer is amazing)

T

I don't discover it yet by myself, now I train regularly everyday zhan zhuang exercises and my chi kung and tai chi at the gym. Sometimes I feel heat in different parts of my body, but I think that's not chi, but one day in my gym after doing the form and meditation that day I was alone in martial class wit my teacher and he told he wanted to prove something, we were talking about chi, he is TCM practitioner in a hospital, he asked me if I had any health problem or something like, and I answer him I felt well, so he start to concentrate and he put his finger in my head and told me he'd start to circulate the energy through my body, I was lying on the ground and after some time I started to feel some waves of heat through my arms, feet, I couldn't stop my laughts because I feel nervous and rare, but the waves was impressive. It was an incredible experience.