Fully Alive Levels 1 - 4
Qigong translates as skill in using energy.
The four foundation qigong courses will allow you to progressively develop energy skills including:
- Generating an energy flow
- Using energy flow to clear tension and improve health
- Increasing your vitality and resilience
- Reducing stress
- Developing calm focus
- Enhancing your everyday activity
Levels 1-4 contain a huge amount of depth.
If you were only to ever practice these foundation levels, you would still gain enormous benefit from the practice. In fact there is enough material in Levels 1-4 for a lifetime of practice.
What you learn in Level One will be enough for you to be confident in your own practice, and you may decide to pause or stop there. Or you may wish to deepen your learning and skills and explore further with Level Two onwards.
After Levels 1-4, you can apply the skills you have learnt to more advanced techniques such as Bone Marrow Cleansing and Sinew Metamorphosis.
Levels 1-4 are the foundation levels of Qigong practice with Fully Alive:
-
Generating an energy flow for improved health
-
Deepening conscious flow & ease
-
Building energy for increased vitality & resilience
-
Nourishing energy for calm, connection & stability
These four foundation courses will give you a clear understanding and grounding in the energy skills of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong.
At each level, you will gain the confidence to use the techniques you learn in class in your own practice, so you can continue to develop and explore your skill in qigong outside classes.
Whether you are new to Qigong, currently practicing or returning, the first course - generating energy a flow, is a great place to start. Many experienced practitioners feedback their practice is deepened by returning to the foundations of Qigong.
Tim talks about the progression of the Level One to Four courses (1 min).
Level One: Generating an Energy Flow
Level One focuses on developing and improving the skill of generating an energy flow.
You can use energy flow to clear unnecessary tensions and stress that lead to chronic pain, inflammation, and illness.
The fundamental skill of all Qigong practice is being able to generate an energy flow. Without this skill, Qigong or Chi Kung can easily become just gentle physical exercise, with limited benefits and outcome.
Once you learn the skill of energy flow, you will be able to use it in numerous practical ways, such as
- Balancing the nervous system
- Supporting the immune system
- Increasing vitality
- Managing stress and negative emotions
- Increasing focus
- Improving sleep
Using energy flow is a direct, simple and effective way of clearing illness, having more energy and generally feeling happier and healthier.
The method of clearing energy blocks in order to increase health and well-being is the foundation of all Chinese medicine. By learning to generate an energy flow, you will start to clear blocks and unhelpful habit. So energy can flow more freely in your qigong practice and in your everyday life.
In the Level One course you will:
- Learn or deepen the fundamental skills of energy flow for clearing illness, increasing energy and happily engaging in life
- Get a direct experience of energy working for you and the confidence to practice by yourself
- Understand how Qigong skills can be used to address specific issues in your everyday life and how to practically apply them
- Be clear about a 15-minute practice that you can use every day to help keep you clear in body and mind
Level Two: Deepening Conscious Flow & Ease
The fundamental energy skill is to be able to generate an energy flow, which is something we cover in-depth during our Level One course.
Level Two focuses on working with the rate and quantity of energy flow, and explores how you can choose to use the different types of energy flow in various situations.
The ability to consciously affect energy flow and movement is not always taught explicitly as it is not associated with any particular Qigong technique or pattern.
In Level Two, you will learn the skills necessary to use energy flow in many different ways. These include:
- Being able to control the quantity of energy flow
- The extent to which that flow affects your body and mind
- How to use the mind more skilfully in your practice
As you progress through the course, you will become more aware of how you are using your energy in everyday life. You can then use the techniques you learn in class to avoid energy depletion, or to apply energy to a specific task or situation.
Over the eight weeks, you will go in-depth into the stages of Chi Flow from Flowing Stillness, through Gentle Breeze/Floating Clouds, all the way through to Self-Manifested Chi Flow.
All the skills taught in this course are necessary for successfully being able to build energy (level 3), improve the quality of energy (level 4) and for more advanced skills such as Bone Marrow Cleansing and Sinew Metamorphosis. But most importantly, they will enhance and deepen your fundamental Qigong practice.
In the Level Two course you will:
- Deepen the fundamental skills of energy flow for clearing illness, increasing energy and happily engaging in life
- Learn how to regulate energy flow and movement at five levels of flow
- Get an experience of each of the five levels of flow and their outcome
- Understand how these Qigong skills can be used to address specific issues in your everyday life and how to practically apply them
- Be clear about how to incorporate these skills in your daily practice
Level Three: Building Energy for Increased Vitality and Resilience
The essence of all high-level Qigong is the ability to generate a flow of energy. The secret to enhancing the quality of life is in learning how to apply this skill for different purposes. The Level Three course focuses on using energy flow to build internal force.
Internal Force is a function of the amount of energy you have available, the smoothness of flow and the ability to apply it effectively.
In daily life that translates as:
- Inner strength or resilience to keep going in difficulty
- The energy to do things efficiently even when under pressure or tired
- The vitality and mental stamina to do well in the things you enjoy or need to do
You will learn the differences between flowing and consolidating force, practice a number of techniques to develop these skills, and gain confidence in knowing how to apply them.
In the Level Three course you will:
- Learn or deepen skills for developing both flowing and consolidating internal force
- Get a direct experience of internal force
- Understand how the skills of flowing and consolidating force can be used to address specific issues in your everyday life and how to practically apply them
- Be clear about how you can incorporate the techniques into your daily practice.
Level Four: Nourishing Energy for Calm, Connection & Stability
In Level Four you will learn to refine energy, or increase the quality of energy flowing in your mind and body, to nourish your body and mind/spirit.
You can use these skills to feel calmer and more balanced in everyday life, or to rejuvenate and revitalise yourself.
You could imagine the process of nourishing energy in a similar way to improving the signal and getting rid of ‘noise’ in a radio or electrical system.
It shows itself in a sense of deeper peace, feeling nourished and being completely ok with yourself and your surroundings.
Nourishing energy can also lead to powerful states of quiet, stable stillness and a feeling of expansion in the mind and body, which can be used as a platform for more advanced Qigong skills or meditation practice.
This course will also introduce you to what are considered advanced skills – massaging organs and Cosmic Shower.
Over ten weeks, you will learn the skills necessary to achieve states of physical, emotional and mental states of balance.
When people first experience a feeling of soothing peacefulness, which can lead to experiences of expansion, it can lead to unusual happenings and many questions. Slowly building over eight weeks allows a gentle progressive experience for students with many opportunities to ask questions and get support.
In the Level Four course you will:
- Deepen the fundamental skills of energy flow for clearing illness, increasing energy and happily engaging in life
- Learn skills for refining the quality of energy
- Learn to apply energy at different levels to nourish the organs, the body and mind/spirit
- Learn the technique of Cosmic Shower
- Understand how these Qigong skills can be used to address specific issues in your everyday life and how to practically apply them
- Be clear about how to incorporate these skills in your daily practice
When You Book a Course...
- You will receive login details for the Fully Alive Academy, where you will be able to access the class recordings and supporting notes. You will have permanent access to all your courses here.
- Each Level 1-4 course consists of eight to ten one-hour classes. We suggest you take around a week between each class if you are taking a pre-recorded course.
- If questions come up for you as you practice, you can get in touch by email for extra guidance and support.
- As a member of the Fully Alive Academy, you also get access to extra bonuses such as audio meditations and class recordings.
For more information about joining a course, go to our Frequently Asked Questions page.