Hi,
I’ve been doing this one exercise where you put your hands together and then move them slowly apart, and then back together without touching while paying attention to any sensations in the hands.
I get these tingling and sort of “pulsating” sensations in my hands, does anyone know how this works?
It’s called chi, qi, ki, prana, mana, probably other names I’m not aware of. It’s great that you have these sensations, it proves you’re alive!
Try imagining the energy ball expanding as you breath in and contracting and growing more dense as you exhale. Moving your hands slightly outward as you breath in and slightly inward as you breath out will add intent to your practice and intensify the sensation. A cool exercise to do is once you get to where you can feel an energy connection between your hands when they are stretched at arms length is to move one of the fingers of one hand and see if you can feel it in the other palm. Once you do this for a while you will feel almost like a feather brush sensation on the opposite palm. I found this to be a great way to learn to transfer energy. Eventually your training partners will begin to comment that your strikes seem to be "penetrating" deeper when you're striking handheld targets, kicking shields, etc., even though you're not using any more muscular force!
William
guohuen is on the money. The exercise you speak is a qigong warm-up exercise according to Ken Cohen. Think of holding a ball and when you inhale try to push in at the finger tips and when you exhale focus on seperating the palms. Hope this helps.
Does anyone know, what good is it?
I saw this exercise from Sim Po Oh of Nam Wah Pai Singapore a lot of time ago, I realized but I don’t know if is a mind game or a real sensation.
William/quohuen
The warm-up I mentioned above is the warm-up prior to marrow mashing. The first exercise was a beginning tai chi posture making a circle clockwise then counter clockwise (2) and finishing with holding the ball exercise at the end (3).
William/guohuen
Marrow washing not mashing. “Excuse please,” as Charlie Chan would say.
Hmm
The exervcise is good for settling the shen as the two points in the palm of your hands are Laogong, which are the Jing Well points on the Pericardium channel. These points can be activated manually or energetically usually to expel heat or overactivity from the heart so as to steady and rest the shen. They also have a strengthening effect upon the heart so as to harmonise and solidify then Shen.
Thanks all, good info.
Article about this exercise
Greetings -
I have an article that describes this exercise and offers a scientific explanation for the pulsing sensations you describe. The article has been re-printed in numerous online and paper magazines, but you can get a copy of it through my website.
Just go to the following page on my web site, scroll down to the “Free Articles” section and request the article entitled “Chi (Qi) Emission - Is It Real?”
The Mind-Body Secrets of Tai Chi and Qigong
Best wishes,