I posted this on the chi kung forum, but I thought I’d get more response here.
I’ve been having problems the last week or two, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment, but I wanted some input from you guys. I’ve felt like my kidney is bruised or something, yet I haven’t done anything recently to bruise it to my knowledge.
Anyway , what kind of chi kung is safe to do during such times? I can’t seem to do much heavy workout stuff right now, but I’d like to do some chi kung to maintain my health. The main exercises I do are one to build up my chi, one to show how to direct it to the arms, and one that shows how to direct it to the legs(pardon me if my terminology is incorrect, as I am by no means a highly knowledgeable chi kung practitioner).
I’m kind of nervous, as my grandfather had a birth defect that caused him to be born with three kidneys, one fully functional, and two only partially functional. By the time he died, he had only the one left, though he lived a full and long life. I’ve never been checked for this, but I have a lot of other similar traits to him.
from the sounds of it we are doing very similar breathing exercises. the set i do for feeling energy in the hands is done in a stationary horse stance, concentrating on your center, while moving the arms in simple movements with your breath.
i don’t see how this could be bad for you even if you have a bruised kidney though im no expert either.
the other set i do involves allot of holding very low horse stances, rising up and back down again . .. moving again with the breath and not moving during 2 second pauses in breathing. this is much more demanding and i would avoid anything of the sort until you go to the doctors.
basically i guess im saying i think you’d be fine doing anything that doesn’t require allot of physical strain.
Our sets do sound similar, though I have not practiced one like the low horse stance one you mentioned.
My thought is to focus on the one for building up chi, and if it feels OK, doing the other two. The rest of the chi kung I know is specific to techniques and fah jing used in my style, and I’m not sure how they specifically address health issues, so I am avoiding them for the time being.
I will give you some advice but your question takes far more than a simple explaination of a excersise. But I will share with you a great kidney qigong routine that will definatly help if you are serious about it and you practice it daily…
Stand in horse and relax, using the backs of the hands rub the kidneys back and forth and up and down, continue until they feel warm about 2 -4 minutes then tap the kidneys with the backs of your hands alternating L and R dont tap too hard.
this stimulates secretions of the adrenal glands, tapping dissloves chrystilines which turn into kidneys stones and also stimulates filtering and excretory functions. there is certain foods that are too yin to avoid but I will have to refer to my chinese medical books and do some research so maybe and herbologist on these boards would have them named by memory, but again I would have to look them up and get back to you…
I remember reading from somewhere once that says that ancient chiense martial artists believed that the kidney is the source of “jing” which in turn transforms to “Qi”.
So IF we take that argument, and that your kidney is indeed damaged, i think the last thing you want to do is to make it work harder by producing more jing, hence Qi.
Then again, they said that the kidney was also the place where sperm was made too so you can tell how reliable that source was. eitherway, if you find it appropriate, ignore this message.
No problem KC please try this for a week and let me know how you feel. I have had great succsess with this excersise, you can feel the kidney qi flow when done for a while.
Not quite sure fi you undertand the importantance of proper kindney function so I would just like to say that the adrenals secrete lots of hormones used in immunity and store primordial energy which is what the chinese call (wei chi) weichi is the protective chi that surrounds the body that is a couple of inches above the surface of the skin, if our weichi is low that is when you are supsepptable to colds flu and viruses.
Ok I looked up and found that kidneys are the balacners of acid/alkiline in the body in order to balance proper chi flow to the kidneys being that is is a diuretic you must eat only yin foods ie salty foods, yin fruit, lots of water etc.. this should flush out impuirties should so again if you are serious practice the excersise daily and go yin foods for a least a week… take care I hope this helps…your freind E.D
You might want to avoid eating red meats for a time as they contain uric acid, which strains the kidneys. This may or may not have anything to do with your condition. Meat can be boiled with carrots to rid it of the uric acid, which stores itself in the carrots, then you throw the carrots away. Ask your doctor about it.
-FJ
Geez, GDA, I didn’t even know you could look innocent.
Don’t pretend that you aren’t a menace to society. There’s a great number of forum members who are afraid to use the words ‘meat’, ‘member’, and ‘penetrating power’ because of you.
you asked for yin foods or what foods and fruit are yin? I had to dig out my journles but here are a few…
yin cooling
raw fruits
raw veggies
summer squashes
slad greens
tofu
seaweed
bulgar
rice
milk
bean sprots
raw fish
Also with balancing your acid /alkiline you should eat
alkiline
coffee
tea
fruit
veggs
sea weeds
garlic
salt
stay away from yang foods which would be the opposite of the list above.. thake care E.D
RD,
No, no such pain. Now you’ve got me thinking of what else might be hurting. Let’s see, the kidney hurts from both sides(front and back), at its worst there’s a dull ache in my back on the same side(mid to lower back) that extends around to the front of the leg(siatic(sp.) sort of thing). That’s all I can think of now.
ED,
Thanks, you went above and beyond. What’s funny is that a lot of those foods are what I’ve been hungry for lately(I’ve been eating raw carrots like crazy the past few days).
I’m sure it’ll be fine. Even if I take after my grandfather and his mutant kidneys, the man smoked for forty years, lived to 86, and died of old age, so I could do worse as far as longevity.
Plus, he never had the advantage of modern western medicine and eastern medicine. I’ll be fine.
And thanks for the chants. Hey, if you get the chance, throw one out for my friend. He fell for a girl, she didn’t like him, and his self worth is so tied up with such stuff that he gets just crushed whenever it happens. If you don’t got the time, its cool, I just don’t know any chants, so the best I can do is chear him up and give him advice when he wants it.
From someone who was born with a dysfunctional kidney (it’s there, but shrivelled up like a pea and comletely useless) and prone to kidney infections, and had just about every male member on my dad’s side of my family die early becuase of renal failure, please let me give a little advice.
The pain you are describing is EXACTLY what I feel before the onset of a kidney infection. And I mean exactly.
Make sure you don’t have a fever. Not even a low one. Use a thermometer and make sure. You are going to a doctor, so make sure they check your temp as well. If you have a fever, or feel like you’ve had a slightly elevated temp for a long time, let your doctor know.
STRETCH YOUR BACK. Do the exercise Yoga practitioners call “the plough”. Do it every day for at least 10 mintues. Do something like the “Wheel” or something like the bridge popularized by Matt Furey to balance that out.
Go home, take some arm and hammer baking soda, scoop out two tablespoons, and mix it in a 16oz glass of warm water. Drink it all. Don’t chug, and don’t sip. Just sit there and take a few drinks until it’s all gone. Keep it down. Don’t barf. Do that twice a day for three days. This one is a miracle worker.
Drink more water than normal. Make sure you get your RDA, and then add a third to it.
Masage is a good thing. The kidney is a pretty solid organ, and massaging it, physically moving it and kneeding it really helps it’s function.
Thanks JWT. I suspect you might be right, as I haven’t taken any kidney shots in sparring, yet it feels the same.
Questions:
-How old were you when the problem started?
-could someone describe the plough and the wheel to me? I’m pretty sure I’ve done them before, might still do them, but I can’t place the name with the exercise.
-What does the baking soda do? I’m gonna drink it, so if this is some clever prank, ya got me.
