Chi Kung For Magicians Options

Which is the best form or school of Qi Gong, one that works well with a persons development as a magician?

Have been practicing yoga for a while now and its benefits are astounding, wasnt keen on Qi Gong as the slow movements seemed to go against my more firery temperament but after much back and forth regarding the benefits of the two, yoga and qi gong, someone said it... that Qi Gong teaches you how to manipulate energy, yoga dosent, at least not at all in the same way. Sounds glaringly obvious but it swayed my opinion which was one for the marriage of yoga and magick as the perfect matrimony, being able to open physically blocked channels and assume new positions marking the progress of development etc.

Surprised to read just how many variations of Qi Gong there are, some involving elements such as sound into things and so I thought I'd ask and get a better opinion on which form would go well with Magick, am looking into the Alchemy of Baguazhang...

Think this should be in the Eastern section, forum has been sloooooow recently, not even sure if anyone is around (IMG:style_emoticons/default/face08.gif)

Peace
.M.

Qigong is mostly involves moving energy/qi. Initially you use physical exercises that tend to cause the qi to move and circulate through your body without your conscious awareness. Then the teacher will tell you about how to move qi consciously. My teacher used to say "energy follows intent," which is quite correct and accurate, but tends to confuse people who have never done anything remotely lie this before. Generally I tell them to put their awareness into their right hand. Feel your hand. Put your awareness into your hand. I repeat this like a mantra for a couple of minutes until their focus is in their right hand. If we do this during several classes they generally will notice that their right hand feels swollen with energy. They feel heat, tingling, or something else. An awareness of what qi feels like in your body helps to provide valuable feedback to the practitioner. Having a good awareness of your body in general is another important aspect. Being able to visualize or feel your body is an important part of being able to lead your qi from one part of your body to another.

Another slightly different method of directing qi is as one friend of mine says, "pretend until it becomes real." Visualization (which is often kinaesthetic rather than visual) is an act of imagination. You imagine your mind/awareness leading qi from one part of your body into another part. Initially it is imaginary or pretend, but with practice you begin to feel your qi flowing. This feedback demonstrates that it is reality, not imagination. Imagination is a useful and adaptable tool for beginners. We use our imagination in many parts of our lives if you think about it. We have good mental command or control of our imagination.

Those on this thread have compared and contrasted Qigong with Yoga. One major contrast between Qigong and the New Age energy work workshops is that in Qigong most of the work is with the meridians (jingluo), while in workshops such as Reiki etc, they work almost exclusively with the chakras. I think that this is for several reasons. Firstly, you can learn to feel and open or close your chakras quite quickly. It fits in with the shortness of the workshop courses. Qigong masters and practitioners are certainly aware of the existence of chakras, but consider them to be less important than the proper flow of energy through the meridians/jingluo. My estimation is that there isn't much that much than can go seriously wrong with the chakras, and that they can't be improved and promoted much beyond normal functioning. In contrast, most serious (health, spirituality) issues are caused or reflected in meridian blockages. The other part of the equation is that with regular qigong practice can open up energy flow to a level that will likely allow the development of not just good health but also sensitivity to energy that manifests itself as spiritual abilities siddhis, or paranormal abilities, whatever you want to call them.