[mystic_taoist]

Hi,

I'm a beginner in Chi Kung.

I recently started to practice Chi Kung, and I'm experiencing sleeplessness.

If I practice in the evening, I feel quite energetic and even restless and agitated, and it takes me hours to fall asleep. There is also some tension (not sure if this is the right word) in chest area. My body also feels hotter than usually.

I do mainly these exercises:

- The Great Tai Chi Circle Breath (hands raise from sides to over head, and then down palms down in the middle during exhalation)

- Embracing the Jug (standing with arms raised shoulder level, palms facing body and mentally holding a "paper ball")

- Zou Bu -steps (taking slow and deliberate steps with mentally created "friction")

The first one is from Daniel Reid's book "Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity", and the two latter practices are from Yi Quan, to which I've received instruction.

I've seen it mentioned somewhere that after Chi Kung practice we should collect the energy to lower Dan Tien. Is this what I'm missing? Would it help me, because I'm not doing it currently?

While added energy is nice, first and foremost I am looking for calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health. After a few sleepless nights, I don't think this is now very healthy to me

Any help would be appreciated.

[fiveelementtao]

mystic_taoist, on Dec 8 2009, 01:04 AM, said:

Hi,

I'm a beginner in Chi Kung.

I recently started to practice Chi Kung, and I'm experiencing sleeplessness.

If I practice in the evening, I feel quite energetic and even restless and agitated, and it takes me hours to fall asleep. There is also some tension (not sure if this is the right word) in chest area. My body also feels hotter than usually.

I do mainly these exercises:

- The Great Tai Chi Circle Breath (hands raise from sides to over head, and then down palms down in the middle during exhalation)

- Embracing the Jug (standing with arms raised shoulder level, palms facing body and mentally holding a "paper ball")

- Zou Bu -steps (taking slow and deliberate steps with mentally created "friction")

The first one is from Daniel Reid's book "Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity", and the two latter practices are from Yi Quan, to which I've received instruction.

I've seen it mentioned somewhere that after Chi Kung practice we should collect the energy to lower Dan Tien. Is this what I'm missing? Would it help me, because I'm not doing it currently?

While added energy is nice, first and foremost I am looking for calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health. After a few sleepless nights, I don't think this is now very healthy to me

Any help would be appreciated.

1) Get a teacher. Don't try and do it yourself. A teacher can help you choose appropriate exercises for you.

2) If your energy practices keep you awake, then do them in the morning and simply meditate before bed...

[markern]

mystic_taoist, on Dec 8 2009, 01:04 AM, said:

Hi,

I'm a beginner in Chi Kung.

I recently started to practice Chi Kung, and I'm experiencing sleeplessness.

If I practice in the evening, I feel quite energetic and even restless and agitated, and it takes me hours to fall asleep. There is also some tension (not sure if this is the right word) in chest area. My body also feels hotter than usually.

I do mainly these exercises:

- The Great Tai Chi Circle Breath (hands raise from sides to over head, and then down palms down in the middle during exhalation)

- Embracing the Jug (standing with arms raised shoulder level, palms facing body and mentally holding a "paper ball")

- Zou Bu -steps (taking slow and deliberate steps with mentally created "friction")

The first one is from Daniel Reid's book "Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity", and the two latter practices are from Yi Quan, to which I've received instruction.

I've seen it mentioned somewhere that after Chi Kung practice we should collect the energy to lower Dan Tien. Is this what I'm missing? Would it help me, because I'm not doing it currently?

While added energy is nice, first and foremost I am looking for calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health. After a few sleepless nights, I don't think this is now very healthy to me

Any help would be appreciated.

Not sure if you are doing something wrong or not but some practices are meant to be, or at least more suited to be, morning practices. In yoga there are sun salutations and the lesser known moon salutations. THe sun salutes energize you and makes you hot whereas the moon salutes calm you and make you physically cool. Guess which ones are for morning and which for the night .

I do six healing sounds close to bed time and I find that to work very well, but they involve sound, visualisation and suggestive power not movement. Sort of like a meditation. THe inner smile meditation has both an energizing and a calming version.

How you breathe influences what energy you get from your practices a lot. Have you considered doing a good bit of belly breathing/longevity breathing. I would suspect it is described in Reids book, otherwise Bruce Frantzis is a good resource in that department. Getting good at it will increase the benefit you get from your qigong and it will make sure energy moves where it is suposed to. By itself it will also give you the calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind and at least a lot of the health that you desire although of course you will get more of each the more you practice otehr qigong.

[durkhrod chogori]

Very common beginner's sensation. It happened to me and everyone else involved in this practice.

Make sure you don't practice in the evening until you have all your channels fully opened and your organs cleansed. This process may take years depending on a variety of factors.

Practice early morning.

If you encounter sleeplessness ever again in the future, practice walking meditation very slowly to balance your excess energy out. Click here for more info:

http://www.durkhrodc...on-walking.html

The monk in the video is using the simplest of walking meditation steps, probably not the best example but hey at least you can get an idea of how it is done. He also steps to fast, the action should be mindfully slow paying attention to each step (or parts of each step if you happen to read the info provided in the link).

[z00se]

mystic_taoist, on Dec 8 2009, 06:04 PM, said:

Hi,

I'm a beginner in Chi Kung.

I recently started to practice Chi Kung, and I'm experiencing sleeplessness.

If I practice in the evening, I feel quite energetic and even restless and agitated, and it takes me hours to fall asleep. There is also some tension (not sure if this is the right word) in chest area. My body also feels hotter than usually.

I do mainly these exercises:

- The Great Tai Chi Circle Breath (hands raise from sides to over head, and then down palms down in the middle during exhalation)

- Embracing the Jug (standing with arms raised shoulder level, palms facing body and mentally holding a "paper ball")

- Zou Bu -steps (taking slow and deliberate steps with mentally created "friction")

The first one is from Daniel Reid's book "Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity", and the two latter practices are from Yi Quan, to which I've received instruction.

I've seen it mentioned somewhere that after Chi Kung practice we should collect the energy to lower Dan Tien. Is this what I'm missing? Would it help me, because I'm not doing it currently?

While added energy is nice, first and foremost I am looking for calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health. After a few sleepless nights, I don't think this is now very healthy to me

Any help would be appreciated.

Mate i've been practicing for 3 and half years pretty intensely and i still can't go to sleep well if i've practiced an hour or 2 before bed. Just practice earlier. Even if i do the healing sounds my energy just increases and i can't sleep. If i do 3 or so half assed ones without hand movements and that i can have a nice sleep. If i get right into it and do 9-12 of each i'll be awake for ages.

Just do it earlier and enjoy your caffeneless energy boost

[markern]

z00se, on Dec 8 2009, 04:14 AM, said:

Mate i've been practicing for 3 and half years pretty intensely and i still can't go to sleep well if i've practiced an hour or 2 before bed. Just practice earlier. Even if i do the healing sounds my energy just increases and i can't sleep. If i do 3 or so half assed ones without hand movements and that i can have a nice sleep. If i get right into it and do 9-12 of each i'll be awake for ages.

Just do it earlier and enjoy your caffeneless energy boost

You could try yoga nidra. Excellent for helpin gyou laern to sleep and improve quality of sleep and to compensate for lost sleep if you do it in the morning.

There are also brainwave entrainment tracks to put you of to sleep.

There are also specific get to sleep qigongs. Dr Wang Yan amongst others teaches one.

[zazaza]

i have the same problem, hyperactive energy is keeping me awake...
i wonder if it would be ok to just lay in bed awake all night but try to relax the body as much as possible...

and to then just have 3 hours of REM-sleep per night? maybe that's enough sleep?
i doubt that's very healthy because the body slows down much better during long sleep.

unless you have a very good relaxation technique,
hmmm..

Quote

Someone asks question:Is not the purpose of
meditation to dam up the energies on the higher levels, or to
push them back and up, so as to enable the higher levels to
prosper also?
Nisargadatta answers: It is not so much the matter of levels as of gunas (qualities).
Meditation is a sattvic activity and aims at complete elimination
of tamas (inertia) and rajas (motivity). Pure sattva (harmony) is
perfect freedom from sloth and restlessness

nisargadatta's website

i think the reason i'm so hyperactive is because i have not fully let go yet.
this might even be causing the adrenalin glands to release adrenalin.

maybe we need to make a conscious effort to relax and let go.
the problem i see with this though is that this means we need to make conscious effort,
and such thing does not really promote sleepiness - i think.
it would help the body to calm down though for sure...
so maybe it would promote sleepinness after all.



the best way i know to promote sleepiness is to descend into the ego.
indulge in a warm bath, in a "good tasting" snack, watch a movie...
become an energyless-couch potato...

the problem is once i feel i'm making progress
i don't like to trade it in for becoming a couch potato.

This post has been edited by zazaza: 08 December 2009 - 06:25 AM

[buscon]

mystic_taoist, on Dec 8 2009, 09:04 AM, said:

Hi,

I'm a beginner in Chi Kung.

I recently started to practice Chi Kung, and I'm experiencing sleeplessness.

If I practice in the evening, I feel quite energetic and even restless and agitated, and it takes me hours to fall asleep. There is also some tension (not sure if this is the right word) in chest area. My body also feels hotter than usually.

I do mainly these exercises:

- The Great Tai Chi Circle Breath (hands raise from sides to over head, and then down palms down in the middle during exhalation)

- Embracing the Jug (standing with arms raised shoulder level, palms facing body and mentally holding a "paper ball")

- Zou Bu -steps (taking slow and deliberate steps with mentally created "friction")

The first one is from Daniel Reid's book "Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity", and the two latter practices are from Yi Quan, to which I've received instruction.

I've seen it mentioned somewhere that after Chi Kung practice we should collect the energy to lower Dan Tien. Is this what I'm missing? Would it help me, because I'm not doing it currently?

While added energy is nice, first and foremost I am looking for calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health. After a few sleepless nights, I don't think this is now very healthy to me

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi mistyc_taoist,

I use to have strong insomnia, now not anymore. Anyways it comes up sometimes and it's quite annoying. Qigong helped me to relieve insomnia.

I think you're doing exercise that energise you. Try doing quieter meditation exercises like the ones that other people suggested you: sitting meditation (micro cosmic circulation, inner smile) or walking meditation. At the end of your session you always have to collect the energy in your lower Dan Tien, that's quite important - it's enough that you concentrate there and do 3 deep belly breathings.

At the same time continue to do your current exercises, but just in the morning.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers

This post has been edited by buscon: 08 December 2009 - 04:14 AM

[Dainin]

This CD might be of use: Sleeping Chi Kung

I agree with Durkhrod's comments above. Practicing qigong at night used to
keep me up at first, now I think it helps me sleep better. But it takes time for that
to happen.

You don't mention if you meditate as well as practice qigong. I think that many of us
here would recommend balancing qigong (or other energetic practices) with one of the
emptiness meditation practices (zazen, vipassana, "sitting and forgetting", etc.). I find
it to ground and smooth out "excess" energy. Savasana (the "corpse pose" in yoga) and
yoga nidra are great too. There are a number of guided yoga nidra CDs available on
Amazon. Good luck and hope you find rest. Everyone needs it!

This post has been edited by Dainin: 08 December 2009 - 05:57 AM

[Scotty]

Standing is best done in the morning, because it generates a lot of energy. So does the stepping. The great taiji circle breath is okay for the evening, as long as you're doing it in the most relaxed and natural way. It'd be best if you practiced before 9 pm.

I think it's essential to gather all of your qi at the dan tien after practice. Most important part of qigong, and sometimes that is all I do.

You are doing some great exercises, but for your personal goals all you really need is dan tien breathing. "Calmness, relaxation, clarity of mind, and health"...yup it does all of those things.

[Ya Mu]

I agree with Scotty that Reid's exercise is OK to do late afternoon early evening and I agree with all who have suggested you move the other practices to the morning. I would advise to remove the visualization from them, though.

You miss one of the whole points of qigong. Put your awareness on lower Dan Tian. You have to first create lower Dan Tian. Really if you just stand in the morning with awareness on Dan Tian and sit in the early evening with awareness on Dan Tian you can go far with your qigong. I also like to do movement qigong (Gift of the Tao) around noon, especially if I have been projecting qi all morning. But 5ET was correct and you should listen - find a teacher.

I use a spiral rejuvenating qigong exercise that I use when I don't sleep much.

You may wish to temporarily try an herbal or nutritional sleep aid. I sometimes take magnesium malate at night to relax muscles and calm nerves. I take up to bowel intolerance dosage, which for me is 400 mg.

[Eternal_Student]

Ya Mu, on Dec 9 2009, 09:35 AM, said:

You miss one of the whole points of qigong. Put your awareness on lower Dan Tian. You have to first create lower Dan Tian. Really if you just stand in the morning with awareness on Dan Tian and sit in the early evening with awareness on Dan Tian you can go far with your qigong. I also like to do movement qigong (Gift of the Tao) around noon, especially if I have been projecting qi all morning. But 5ET was correct and you should listen - find a teacher.

Exactly!
You are breathing too high in the body. Chest breathing puts extra qi into the heart region.
Get the breath below the diaphragm and you wont collect extra energy in the upper jiao.

Its not what you do with the hands, but the breath and the mind that matter.
In the beginning...

[NeiChuan]

Do your qi gong earlier in the day.. Also do a closing.

[Spectrum]

Integrate in a physical routine that forces you to incorporate your chi gung breathing. Martial art is good for this. You'll work more effectively, enjoy your food and sleep deeper.

[buscon]

Ya Mu, on Dec 9 2009, 05:35 PM, said:

I use a spiral rejuvenating qigong exercise that I use when I don't sleep much.

Hi Ya Mu,

can give us more information about this qigong exercise ? Sometimes I still suffering insomnia and some qigong would be good

@mystic_taoist: try practicing some acupressure, it really helps. You can find plenty of info googling about it; I usually use the book Acupressure's Potent Points: a Guide to Self-Care for Common Ailments

Be well