Morning Practice

Nei Jia: the Qigong and Taijiquan Forum Taijiquan and the Internal Martial Arts
1

who wakes up early and practices there internal arts and qigong? have you been to china and seen the hundreds of practioners in the morning? it is quite and amazing spectacle. here in america you never see something like that, it even makes you look crazy in the morning here if you do taiji or pakua in a park. The chinese think that the morning breathing has the best time to cultivate ‘chi’. science had proven this that the air has more oxygen cause of the plants giving off more O2.

what do you practice in the morning? i find bagua to wake my body up alot more than taiji, but taiji with balance my circulation that bagua woke up.

2

need to start

I currently practice at night around 11, but I would like to do some morning practice. Bagua seems to be too much though for the morning, I’d rather do some qigong. Right now I just need to get myself out of the bed early enough to do anything but shower and leave for work. I may start doing my bagua practice in the morning though, how is it for you? Difficult at all getting warmed up?

Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing the self is enlightenment- Lao Tzu

3

morning practice

Great Topic !
I personally try to do at least 15- 20 min. standing qigong (holding ball/ hugging tree) in a mabu stance, followed by taiji form at least once. I usually repeat this before bed, however sometimes i get lazy ! :wink:
I wish I had bagua/ xingyiquan available in my area but it isnt so…
Regards,
Dave

Remember to be self- centered but not selfish

4

this makes it easier

Going to bed a little after 11 pm and definetly asleep by 12:00am. wake up and drink warm water, tea or something if its cold, if not just alot of water. -recommended by chinese doctor

right now its to cold for me to practice in the park next to my apartment, but some crazy old chinese guy does post standing for an hour there. i practice in my living room and just crack open the window for fresh air. Eating a breakfast is a must,but i do that a little bit after practice, at least give my chi some time to circulate before making it have to digest the food.. I only get a short practice since i have to go to work like everyone else.

5

I do bagua 8-posture qigong and eight heavenly stretches at dawn.

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Actually, better to go to bed by 9:30PM or earlier. Wake up and do your stuff before sunrise when yang chi is rising fastest. Can drink hot or warm water afterwards, but not cold as that can stop your chi flow.

Anyways, all much easier said than done! Going to bed by 9:30 is pretty rare for me, much less getting up pre-dawn before work - now that sure as h*ll never happens!

7

Time

Over the years i found that nightly practice works for me. around 11:00 which i found out much
later corresponds to the beginning of the chi cycle(11:00pm - 1:00am) I’m aware of the theory
of morning practice but i just can seem to get with it. I don’t know if it would help in my advancment or not. Does any body know?

                             Maoshan :)
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From what I heard Maoshan…

My chinses doctor says a few things about late night practice. One is the gall bladder meridian opens which is part of the wood element system, once your wood is burning with the fire of practice it can make you have a hard time going to sleep by inbalancing the heart and kidney chi. Late night practice can lead to ‘empty fire’ seems like you have alot of energy but it is false. the gall bladder is associated witht he liver, the liver stores some blood at rest and when active it contains a little amount of blood. the natural funtion of the sun and tao cycle is to rest at night and let blood settle and go inward, while in morning allow blood and chi to move outwards. that is why some herbs are taken at night like peppermint tea to help the chi go inside and contract while ginger tea is drink at morning to expand and awaken the chi.

also late night practice at 12am makes you vulnerable to bad spirits and ghosts when a ‘mysterious’ door opens.

Lastly there is a special store of energy that opens up and helps you at night, but if you really use it up, it leaves you bankrupt in the end.- TCM doctors opinion

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hmm

Maybe I should move my practice time from 11 PM to 5:30 AM? That’s gonna be real tough for me, since I have trouble getting up at 7. It would be a nice start to the day though. Anyone have advice on getting up early? I have trouble going to bed early, so it’s mad hard. I guess when you start getting up at 5 AM falling asleep around 10-11 isnt hard.

Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing the self is enlightenment- Lao Tzu

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From a converted night-owl

I attend a Chen Taiji class at 7 am, mon-fri. It makes morning classes a breeze.

Ma_Xu_Zha, I concure with what your doctor said. The “mysterious door” is also related to the fact that the liver stores the Hun. The Hun is considered the Yang “soul” and is related to the pre_heaven aspects of consciousness. If the Hun cannot rest in the liver then the mind may become diturbed at a very deep level. While the mental emotional effects may be subtle the long term challenge to vitality may take years off a person’s potential life span.

“The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon” Wang Xiangzai

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Ma_Xu_Zha

Thank you for the info. Much thanks.

                               peace
                                 Maoshan :)
12

very soon

as of right now, i practice in the evening and nightime…after my 9-5 job. if i were to train in the morning, i’d have to start at 5am. that’s a bit too rough for me.
BUT
i’m switching jobs VERY soon and my work day will be starting at 10am. i made this career move, among other reasons, to be able to wake up at 6:30 and train to 9am. i have also heard and been taught it is best to train in the morning and am looking very forward to 8 animal circle walking with the sun rise!
peace

13

One of the senior students in my class and another guy whose been practicing bagua for 6 years (I"m relatively a beginner) meet almost every morning at 6am to practice and I was invited. I know its a great opportunity for me to learn alot and fust (pushing hands with them, etc..) but its REALLY hard for me to wake up that early, plus they have to so they can go to work but I don’t. Anyway, I’m trying to make myself need less sleep (improving my diet, etc..) Anyone have any suggestions on making your body need less sleep?

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Sleep is good for you. How much are you getting now?

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Well I was averaging close to ten hours, but I just quit smoking, am currently fasting, and will be changing my diet to a more vegatarian one, so all those things plus others I figure will definitely cut the sleep time down.

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sleep

In all the books I’ve read, the consensus seems to be that 6-8 hours of sleep a night is ideal. More and you’ll be lethargic, less and you’ll be tired. Going by that, you could cut down a few hours.

Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing the self is enlightenment- Lao Tzu

17

did it

I actually got up an hour early today (by accident). My alarm went off as it does an hour before I have to get up so I can hit snooze 40 times and for some reason I was awake, so I decided to get up and practice. It felt great, it was very quiet and was better than waking up and running around. I may have to make this a daily practice.

Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing the self is enlightenment- Lao Tzu

18

New moon,/chinese new year/24 sections

good for you 8 diagram boxer!

maybe because its a new moon!?!

well the chinese have some special i-ching/feng shuai calender where at certain times twice a month the universe takes a “cosmic breath” and sucks the chi out of everything, so the taoists would do qigong at those times to preserve their chi. I dont have the calendar this year but i had one 1999 year. Certain things can happen at these times like you can get sick, or old people usually die at those times.

Lately i have been waking up at 4 am so I just do some deep breathing and sleeping yoga to fall back asleep, I practice taiji/pakua at 8am.

here is the 1999 zhongqi/jieqi times to show what i mean-

1 LI CHUN-BEGINNING SPRING-FEB 4, 1:57PM

2 YU SHUI-RAIN WATER-FEB 18,11:47 PM

3 JING ZHE- AWAKENING OF INSECTS- MARCH 5, 9:58PM

4 CHUN FEN- DIVISON OF SPRING (SPRING EQUINOX) MARCH 20.10:46PM

5 CHING MING- PURE BRIGHTNES- APRIL 4, 2:45AM

6 GU YU- CORN RAIN-APRIL 20, 8:46AM

7 LI XIA- BEGINNING OF SUMMER- MAY 5, 7:01PM

8 XIAO MAN- RIPENING GRAIN-MAY 21. 7:53AM

9 MANG ZHANG- CORN IN EAR- JUNE 5 11:09 PM

10 XIA ZHI -ARRIVAL OF SUMMER- JUNE 21. 3:49PM

11 XIAO SHU- SMALL HEAT- JULY 7, 7:14PM

12 DA SHU- BIG HEAT-JULY 21, SUMMER SOLSTACE 3:49PM

13 LI QIU-BEGINNING OF AUTUMN-AUG 7, 7:45PM

14 CHU SHU- LIMIT OF HEAT- AUG 23, 9:51AM

15 BAI LU- WHITE DEW- SEPT 7, 10:10PM

16 QUI FEN-AUTUMN EQUINOX- SEPT 23, 7:31 AM

17 HAN LU- COLD DEW -OCT 8,1:48PM

18 SHUANG JIANG-HOAR FROST-OCT. 23 4:52PM

19 NOV N/A

20 NOV N/A

21 DEC N/A

22 DEC-22 WINTER SOLSTACE N/A

23 XIAO HAN-SMALL COLD JAN 6, 2:53 PM

24 DAN HAN-GREAT COLD-JAN 20, 7;20 AM

19

I’ve been slowly adjusting myself to getting up earlier and earlier

Twice last week I awoke at 4:30 am, and could have gotten up no problem. I’d like to get to the point where I’m going to bed around 10:30 and getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 so I can get 3-4 hours of bagua and qigong in before work. The key for me is in adjusting my natural sleep cycle. As long as I’m relying on an alarm to wake me up, I won’t be waking up with the right energy level to really work, and my practice will only suffer for it. Anyway, it’s a tough practice to maintain, but from what I’ve experienced so far, it’s well worth it, and a necessary step in my training.

The way of the samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man. Common sense will not accomplish great things. Simply become insane and desperate. - Hagakure

20

Ma

I don’t know if it was the new moon or what, but I never wake up at that time and think “I’m not tired, I might as well get up”, hopefully it will continue. That’s pretty interesting about the dates where chi is sucked up, if you find the dates for 2001 I’d be interested to see them.

Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing the self is enlightenment- Lao Tzu