qigung

As students arrive at diferent time, Master Chang will tell as to do meditation before the class starts. Meditation is much about breathing, he taught us to combine our nose with our Dan-Tien(丹田), an idea of course was mysterious enough. This Sunday the mystery developed further. He first told us to move our eyeballs at circles, which made sense. Then he asked us to move them at circles of different dimensions: instead of left-down-right-up, the circles should be down-back-right-forth and left-back-right-forth. After that he told us try to inhale with our left eye and exhale with our right eye or inhale with right eye and exhale with left eye. The air we inhale with one eye supposedly will go through the Spirit Gate(神門穴), an Apuncture Point between our eyes, and reach to another eye.

According Master Chang, the Seven Holes(七竅) on our face: eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears are connected to each other, there is no reason that nose is the only one breaths. Master Change said once you can operate your Qi freely in your eyes, you will not only see the outside world but also every part of your own body.

I know Qi Gung is much about changing one's mindset, but what we are told by Master Chang would be considered exaggrating even in a fiction. For example, in the most advanced class students don't even move or stretch out their body like what we do in the beginning class, the only activity is thinking. Through thinking only they operate Qi in their body.

Hitherto the only thing I learned about the eyeball Qi Gung is "Close your eyes to cultivate or rest your spirit"( 閉目養神)which we do every now and then. For seeing things we desire, and our desires consume our energy.

Last Sunday Master Chang taught Qi Gung for eye protection. That's exactly what I need as my eyes began degenerating. I suppose I need cataract surgery soon, to replace my degenerated lens with artificial ones. Master Chang said after some QiGung emphasizing hands, we can conceal our eyes with hands so our eyes will be able to absorb the Qi we just operated in/between hands. He taught us to breath with our pupils.

A newcomer of our class raised a question that has been in everyone's mind: "How come our pupils will breath?" Master Chang explained that our breathing through nose to lungs provides only outer Qi, and our inner Qi comes from breathing of every part of our body other than nose and lungs. That's the purpose of abdominal breathing(diaphragmatic breathing), too. One of my sisters, a scientist trained in the US, doubted what we were doing of practicing diaphragmatic breathing. Now I know what to say to her, no mater she buys it or not.

I felt nothing when struggling to breath with my pulpils. I guess all my classmates felt the same way. But I am not frustrated for I began to feel the very subtle flows of air above my palms when I concentrate. The following task is how to operate the air flows into other parts of my body.