Qigong and Staring?

Qigong and Staring? - 08/28/08 01:10 AM

Perhaps an oddball question, but I wanted to ask people about something I find comes up now and again whenever I read/research anything about Qigong/meditation.

Occasionally, whatever ti is I am reading will mention something about "Not staring/sitting/standing/lying down" to an excesss when meditating/practicing Qigong. When I asked my instructor about this, he said "What does your common-sense tell you?". While I agree totally with that I notice also in some styles practice is meant to go on for thirty to forty-five minutes or more in a single posture, standing or sitting.

I'm a novice at Qigong, but it peaks my curiosity.

Excatly what timeframes would you consider the "too long" benchmark for staring/standing/sitting/lying down/etc when meditating/practicing Qigong?

In advance, I appreciate any replies.

Posted by: Zach_Zinn

Re: Qigong and Staring? - 08/28/08 01:29 AM

Quote:

Perhaps an oddball question, but I wanted to ask people about something I find comes up now and again whenever I read/research anything about Qigong/meditation.

Occasionally, whatever ti is I am reading will mention something about "Not staring/sitting/standing/lying down" to an excesss when meditating/practicing Qigong. When I asked my instructor about this, he said "What does your common-sense tell you?". While I agree totally with that I notice also in some styles practice is meant to go on for thirty to forty-five minutes or more in a single posture, standing or sitting.

I'm a novice at Qigong, but it peaks my curiosity.

Excatly what timeframes would you consider the "too long" benchmark for staring/standing/sitting/lying down/etc when meditating/practicing Qigong?

In advance, I appreciate any replies.

I'm generally a novice at this sort of training as well, but I would think that amount of zhan zhuang ( I think that's the term)for the purely still training would be 'advanced' at time frames of 45m or something.

Most of the stuff I have read indicates however that as far as still postures go maximum benefit is obtained at something like 20 minutes a day, so maybe don't underdo it either. My own (again fairly limited) personal experience with standing training is that 20-30m was optimum in terms of the benefit I saw in martial arts.

I have never pursued other modes of this kind of training thoug, such as long term practice of qigong specifically for health.. As a side effect it did do wonders for my bad back though.

I think also your motivation for this form of training would play some role in how you use it, how you view it, and what you are doing with it. i.e. whether it is for health, martial purposes, or something more esoteric.

In some traditions a period of reflection lasting 45m (if that's what you are defining as meditation) would be perfectly reasonable I think.

Posted by: janxspirit

Re: Qigong and Staring? - 08/28/08 01:50 PM

Quote:

Perhaps an oddball question, but I wanted to ask people about something I find comes up now and again whenever I read/research anything about Qigong/meditation.

Occasionally, whatever ti is I am reading will mention something about "Not staring/sitting/standing/lying down" to an excesss when meditating/practicing Qigong. When I asked my instructor about this, he said "What does your common-sense tell you?". While I agree totally with that I notice also in some styles practice is meant to go on for thirty to forty-five minutes or more in a single posture, standing or sitting.

I'm a novice at Qigong, but it peaks my curiosity.

Excatly what timeframes would you consider the "too long" benchmark for staring/standing/sitting/lying down/etc when meditating/practicing Qigong?

In advance, I appreciate any replies.

Just relax, concentrate on your breathing posture and movement - and everything will take care of itself.

Posted by: jkdwarrior

Re: Qigong and Staring? - 09/08/08 10:54 AM

I agree janxspirit. Sometimes my meditations lasts for 10 minutes and others for 2 hours. I find that paying attention to time can be a distraction. When it's time to change posture you'll know because your daydreaming will increase.
Since you're a novice though demonologist, you'll be daydreaming most of the time so just hold it until it is no longer comfortable.

Posted by: Anku

Re: Qigong and Staring? - 10/26/08 01:52 AM

in my martial arts training we do 2 1/2 hours of standing meditation a day, broken into 1 hour in the morning, half an hour in the afternoon, and an hour in the evening, i do not find the sessions too long. if you are new to meditation i suggest around 30 minutes.
pretty much get comfortable with it then do as janxspirit says and dont think about the time.