Kevin Wacknov's Insights Notes

Internal Practices of the 5 Elements

Element Practice
Wood Observe
Fire Feel
Earth Accept
Metal Breathe
Water Listen

Quick QiGong Exercises (in addition to the 10-minute Form) Taught by Professor Qu Limin during the June 25-26, 2016 Yi Jin Jing Workshop in the South Bay

NAME OF MINI-EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS BENEFITS
"I am Not The Best." Bend thumb of one or both hands. antidote to cockiness. Used during a bow.
Baby Fists
  1. Open both hands.
  2. Touch your thumbs to the first segment of your ring fingers. This are Liver (spirit) points.
  3. Gently close your fingers and make a fist with both hands, like a baby does when crying or frightened.
protect your Soul from leaving your body.
Sit on the Legs Japanese-Style
  1. Bow with the hands together at the chest. Place your hands in front of you on the floor while you...
  2. Sit on the fore legs (Stomach meridians soothed) with the left foot back and the right foot back.
  3. Feet should be ankles together, bottoms of the feet facing up.
  4. Back straight, chin in.
  5. When it gets unbearable, stand up.
heals knee pain. Also, the Japanese secret to longevity.
Move the Water in the Shoulder Wells
  1. Roll shoulders back, both at once or one at a time, to loosen up the stiff muscles and tendonds.
  2. If doing both shoulders at the same time, bring shoulder blades together at back.
  3. Roll in the other direction. (3x backward rolls, 3x forward rolls.)
good to keep chi healthy after age 50
Empty Liver Anger from the Armpits
  1. Keeping back straight, clasp hands behind head and open elbows out to the sides.
  2. Keep the head slightly up.
  3. Look at the left elbow and stretch it open more. Then return gaze forward. 3x.
  4. Look at the right elbow and stretch it open more. Then return gaze forward. 3x.
good for frustration in relationships
Empty Spleen Stagnation from Hips (Kua)
  1. Feet shoulder width.
  2. Hands on hips bones so you can feel them move.
  3. Roll weight, toe-by-toe, across all right toes, from small to big toe.
  4. Roll weight onto left heel.
  5. Roll weight, toe-by-toe, across all left toes, from small to big toe.
  6. Roll weight onto right heel.
  7. go back to step 3.
  8. You should feel your hip bone move as you do this.
good for helping with diabetes
Roll Fingertips of Tiger Claw Hands on Table
  1. Make Tiger Claw Hands: all fingers bent into claw shape.
  2. Press all fingers of both hands down firmly on a flat surface.
  3. Keep attention at tips of fingers, top of head, and toes (extremities).
  4. Roll the fingertips slowly on the table many times.
  5. Reverse direction of the fingertip rotations.
good for overall strength and to increase your intelligence
Cool the Heart Fire with Kidney Water
  1. Scoop hands along sides of waist to 'scoop up' Kidney Water
  2. Bring hands together up toward mouth and pour in the water over your heart as you lower hands, fingers first, down to original Kidney level.
  3. While pouring cooling water over heart, think the "Heeee..." sound with decreasing pitch.
  4. Breathe in bringing up the Water, breathe out lowering the hands.
  5. Do this 3x.
good to calm yourself down
Help Digest a Big Meal
  1. Sit up straight.
  2. Put flattened hands on sides of belly, middle fingers almost touching.
  3. Expand hands outward slowly.
  4. Think inside the Spleen sound, "Huuuuu...."
  5. Contract hands to original position.
  6. Repeat 3x.
good after a big meal

Basic Chinese Medicine Ideas taught by Professor Qu Limin

  Image Notes
the Yi Jin Jing, Classic Book of Muscle-Tendon Changing

Written by Zen Buddhist Patriarch Da Mo (Bodhidharma) after meditation in front of a cliff wall for 9 consecutive years in 500 AD and thinking about how to get the meditators of his day in shape after focusing only on their Minds (Chi), not their Bodies (Blood, or Liver fluid).

Professor Qu Limin is the source of most of these notes. She gave a workshop June 25-26 in San Jose, CA and Sunnyvale, CA through Tai Chi Master Tony Wong's support.

Why is the YJJ the only Classic Text of QiGong? Because it starts 50% Yang and 50% Yin, leading with the thumb side of the hand, not the back or front of the hand.

TCM Basic Acu-Points

The Most Yin Point (Hui Yin, Perineum, the point between anus and genitals) is the starting and ending point for all energy in all QiGong exercises, says Professor Limin Qu.

The Bubbling Well points are where the Human Essence begins to emerge from the Earth's energy.

The Most Yang Point (Ba Gua, "Bah-Guey") is where 100 yang lines (all yang paths of the body) meet. There is another such point, at the big bone protruding at the vertebra at the base of the neck.

The Shoulder Well points (where the Clavicle is felt between the shoulder muscles) on either side is the most important Health Maintenance Point in gigong. The basic exercise for "moving the stuck (tight) energy in the Shoulder Wells" is slow shoulder rotation exercise.

On each side of the body, the Bubbling Well is where our Personal Energy starts, and the Shoulder Well is the peak of our Personal Energy.

Professor Qu Limin says, "If you align the Bubbling Well Points with the Shoulder Well Points of both sides, and the Most Yin Point with the Most Yang Point while standing, this is better than doing the exercise form 100 times."

TCM Main Channels (Meridians)

The Governor Meridian runs along the skin from the Perineum up the spine, over the head through the Most Yang Point, and down to the hard palate just behind the front teeth.

The Conception Meridian runs from the Perineum along the front of the body to the tip of the tongue.

When the tongue curls slightly at the tip and touches behind the front upper teeth, the circuit is completed and Qi and Blood flow well. When talking the circuit is broken.

Hold a slight tension in the Perineum to keep the essences from "dripping out" the bottom of the loop.

The Qi and Blood can circulate in either direction, and to force it to change in either direction is thought to be unnatural.

This energy loop is called the Microcosmic Orbit, because Qi and Blood are thought to be like the Sun and Moon moving relative to the earth, and the Human Body is like a universe in miniature.

This is why the 9 Palaces Map is also used for Feng Shui, enabling practitioners to adjust living spaces according to the same universal principles which govern the human body and its organs.

TCM Chi Flow Side View In reverse direction, cooling occurs. This can be done naturally, as when the body gets ready for sleep, or deliberately, as a meditative exercise.
TCM Eight Vessels to Empty Energy stuck in these vessels (4 left, 4 right) cause health problems. Actively release them before and while doing the Tai Chi or QiGong forms.
TCM Organs

Yin Organs are Female, protected indoors (Rib Cage), and collect the money (Nutrients)

Yang Organs are Male, work outdoors (not in rib cage), and are always moving.

TCM Body Grid (9 Palaces Map)

Western European Anatomy studies show the Liver on the Right side of the abdomen under the ribs; Chinese Medicine feels the Liver Blood to be rising on the Left side of the body.

Clockwise DanTian rotations starting from the Water region build energy according to the 5 Element Creation Cycle: Water -> Wood -> Fire -> Earth -> Metal -> Water...

Therefore, Counterclockwise DanTian rotations starting from the Water location (below navel) break down or release energy since you are moving your internal energy with your hands against the 5 Element Creation Cycle: Water -> Metal (Lung) -> Fire (Heart) -> Wood (Liver) -> Water (Kidney or Bladder).

Empty yourself before refilling, of course. When your hands are positioned below your navel and you're starting dantian rotations, go to the right first.

Men are more Qi dominant, so they encourage Yin-Blood-Liver-Left Hand covering the Right Hand when doing dan tian rotations; Woman are more Blood dominant, so they encourage Yang-Qi-Lung-Reft Hand covering the Left Hand when doing dan tian rotations.

Since Blood moves slower than Chi, start your qigong or tai chi form by moving the left leg (Liver-Blood side) first to give it a head start. Then activate the Chi by turning the big toes in toward each other imperceptibly, which opens the lumbar back very slightly. Now your Yin-Yang Chi Engine is ready to go!

Start the form very deliberately, and End the form very deliberately.

TCM Basic Chi Flow Direction, Front View

In reverse direction, energy is 'destroyed,' or released.

The maximum potency and minimum space of yang is at Y1, like in a baby boy.

The minium potency and maximum space of yang is at Y9, like an old man.

The most stable yang energy, at Y4, is said to be 4x9=36 year old male, said Dr. Qu Limin.

The male reproductive energy is best at 4x8=32 years, according to the Yellow Emperor's Internal Medicine Classic.

At Y5 (40 years old), the male energy is already deteriorating, says Dr. Qu Limin.

For women, the formula is similar, but the best yin energy is at Y4, (? years old). The Yellow Emperor said women reproduce best at 4x7=28 years old.

TCM 6 Healing Sounds

Form your lips and throat into the usual shape to say the sound out loud, but make the sound only in your head to keep the energy inside.

Make the internal sound and do the corresponding exercise the number of times indicated for that organ's position in the 9 Palaces Table.

The Heart Sound (He) can be made with decreasing pitch in your inner voice as you cycle energy Down, Forward, Up, Back, and Down to "pour Kidney water over the Heart fire to cool it."

///// End of Professor Qu Limin's TCM Notes /////


Mind Body Aware Games

GAME NAME INSTRUCTIONS
Feel Rising and Falling Left and Right
  1. Sit Japanese Style.
  2. Place hands on thighs.
  3. When you feel energy rising on your left side, turn your left palm up; when you feel energy falling on your left side, turn your left palm down.
  4. When you feel energy rising on your right side, turn your right palm up; when you feel energy falling on your right side, turn your right palm down.
Be Aware of One Thing Each Minute
  1. Face a clock with a minute hand while doing the Yi Jin Jing.
  2. Do one step each minute.
  3. Wait to finish the minute if you went too fast.


Next Page | Previous Page | Main Menu | Include Old Pages

Copyright 2016 by Kevin Wacknov. Home Page.