Chi flow
Learn the Foundation Skills of Qigong
Develop Energy Mastery in this unique 14-month online course.
Qigong means energy work or skill in using energy.
If you are yet to have a felt experience of energy and energy flow as a natural, everyday part of life, the idea of reaching energy mastery might not even make sense.
But if you have read this far, you probably haven't dismissed the idea of being able to influence your own energy as 'woo woo'. And perhaps you would like to learn more.
The first two modules/eight weeks of the Energy Mastery course will teach you the skills you need to become aware of your energy through body awareness, breathing and relaxation practices.
You will discover the old habits and conditioning that can cause tension and stop energy flowing freely. Then you will learn to generate and circulate energy, and to use this in movement, walking and working.
Being able to generate an energy flow is the fundamental skill of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong that sets it apart from gentle movement exercise and makes it powerful in helping you clear tension, stress and illness.
Discover: Relaxation, Breath and Body Awareness
The first four weeks of the Energy Mastery course explore alignment, breathing and relaxation. You will learn techniques to increase your awareness, let go of old habits and enter deeper states of relaxation.
This part of the course is all about developing awareness of energy in states of stillness. With these skills in place, you will have a strong foundation for the mind and energy practices that come later in the course.
Energy Mastery 1: Discover consists of four hour-long recorded classes to take in your own time, with permanent on demand access and support by email. Price £79.
Circulating: Generating Energy Flow
The next part of the Energy Mastery course, starting Wednesday 1st February, will focus on the skills of generating an energy flow and circulating energy.
If you want to learn to experience energy flow and be able to use it in everyday life, this part of the course is ideal for you. And if you are already experienced, you will be able to go deeper into your practice, refine your skills and develop your awareness and understanding even further.
Book Energy Mastery 2: Circulating Energy and join classes live online, every Wednesday 7-8pm in February, or take the four classes in your own time using the recordings. Price £79.
After the first two modules, you may find you have enough to work with, or you may want to develop your skills further. With this course, you can pick and choose modules and dip in and out as you want to.
Mastering energy is mastering self.
Rather than just getting through the day, week, year or life we start to embrace all things that come our way.
With the mastery of energy, we learn how to heal ourselves, situations, relationships and others.
We get to experience life as a ‘meaningful flow of energy’. We feel connected to something beyond ourselves. You could say we become at one with everything.
As human beings we are resilient by nature, often able to adapt to demands and conditions.
We also waste a lot of energy as result of our conditioning, thoughts, emotions, actions, beliefs and automatic reactions. As you develop your energy skills, it will become clear where your energy is going and how you can use it differently.
Qigong for More Energy
A lot of people find qigong because they want or need more energy. Maybe they feel tired most of the time, they have chronic tension or pain that depletes their energy, or they need more energy to deal with a stressful job or home life.
A 'Golden Exercise'
There are certain qigong exercises that are really good for restoring energy. One of these is Carrying the Moon. It is known as one of the 'golden' exercises of the 18 Lohan Hands (a set of 18 qigong exercises passed down from Bodhidharma at the Shaolin Temple). Carrying the Moon is a beautiful exercise that helps to release tension, reset the nervous system and restore emotional balance.
This video takes you through the form of Carrying the Moon:
Mind and Energy Skills
Doing Carrying the Moon at the physical level (just doing the movements without using any skill of mind or energy) will have some benefits. But qigong becomes much more powerful when you include mind and energy skills, including:
- Entering a Qigong State of Mind, also known as entering Zen
- Generating an energy flow
- Allowing energy to circulate
- Coming to stillness
Relax, Release, Restore
In classes with Fully Alive, you will learn these skills step by step, to supercharge your movement practice. You then only need a short 10-15 minute qigong practice to release unnecessary tension and restore your energy.
Once you have the foundation skills of qigong, you can use any of the qigong forms you know to rebalance your mind, body, energy and emotions. You can start to explore the ways they affect you, and the different outcomes they have.
Spread and Depth
In qigong classes, we talk about spread and depth of practice. You might only ever practice a few different forms, and find they are all you need. Your practice continues to deepen as you refine your skill.
You might wish to broaden your practice to include more techniques, as you increase your skill level - bringing in spread as well as depth. What isn't recommended is spread without depth. This is when someone may learn lots of different forms, but without knowing the mind and energy skills that would take their practice deeper.
Coming Back to Basics
It is also useful come back to practicing qigong at the form level now and then. We don't want to get into a habit of always practicing the same way, and that includes always going into a deep state.
Practicing at the level of physical form can increase our body awareness and relaxation, as well as allow the mind to focus. This can prepare the way for deeper levels of training including
- Cleansing (letting go of stress, tension, old habits and conditioning)
- Building (gathering or increasing the amount of energy you have available to you)
- Nourishing (increasing the quality of energy)
Learn More...
All our weekly classes include mind and energy skills along with physical practice to improve your health and increase your energy levels. Beginners are always welcome.
Or you might want to try our Level One online course, which takes you through the techniques and skills of qigong step by step.
And you can find more form video clips on our social media channels:
Chi flow, the missing ingredient
Are we missing something? The simple answer is yes, we are.
We are missing something essential, the building block for all things, yet for various reasons, many people have completely missed it. As a result, it seems that they get stressed more easily, sick more often, and lack sustained vitality.
I'm talking about energy flow.
It's not our fault - we have become so conditioned to focus on material things that we have missed the key ingredient, energy.
Let's take Qigong (Chi Kung) as an example. Many people focus on learning the outward form, or more and more forms, and believe that if they practice the Qigong forms, they will be well, happy and full of energy. However, they never progress to the essential skill of using energy (chi), so they miss out on this energy art's essence and more significant benefits.
If the form (movement) alone was responsible for increasing health, releasing held tension and stress, and increasing energy levels, you would feel an increase in energy flow every time you got up from the sofa. Likewise, every time you unloaded the dishwasher and reached up to put a cup away, you would feel an increase in energy flow. Getting in the car, putting a seatbelt on, getting dressed, bending forward to tie your shoelaces would noticeably increase your energy levels. But it doesn't. Why? Because you are not using or developing the skill in using energy.
If you aim to improve your health, better deal with stress or anxiety, and increase your energy levels, you need that essential ingredient, energy flow.
Over the last 20 years, I have practised and passed on the secrets of energy flow so that people can get the full benefits from Qigong practice.
What you see in this video is a Qigong practice with energy flow. Energy flow comes from relaxation at the physical, emotional and mental level, what we call a Qigong State of Mind. Once you have developed the skill of using energy, your Qigong (Chi Kung) practice changes dramatically, as do the benefits you get.
If you are not used to seeing or experiencing energy flow, it can look odd at first. Some people ask why I am losing balance and wobbling all over the place and that I should stand still and do the form correctly. I smile, for they have never developed the genuine skill of using energy, as passed down from generations of masters, so how would they know?
If you are interested in learning genuine high-level Qigong, then try one of our classes.
Developing health and resilience
Winter is approaching in the northern hemisphere, and here in the UK it's getting cold and damp. So it's useful to have effective ways of keeping ourselves healthy and building our resilience.
This is a time when naturally we want to do less, stay warm and hibernate to some extent. But our busy lives mean that for most of us this is impossible. Depletion of our energy and internal resources can be more likely at this time of year.
In the weekly classes at the moment, we're exploring ways we can use body, mind and energy skills to build our energy and nourish ourselves. We're using techniques that give us more energy and vitality, while being gentle and kind to ourselves.
We are really lucky to have access to these time tested mind-body-energy exercises. They have been used to keep people strong and healthy for thousands of years. And over the years these ancient practices have been refined and developed, evolving to stay alive and relevant today.
In this 3 min video, Tim talks about how in Fully Alive, we continue to explore and stay curious. We are finding simple, effective ways we can use the techniques and skills of Chi Kung and the Shaolin Arts in our everyday lives.