BEAUTIFUL WORLD AND TENSING MUSCLES
Beautiful World
Question
I can still remember how beautiful the world seemed after my first course with you, as I looked at the world with a more open heart. Most amazing though, is that so many years later the world continues to become more beautiful. But in different ways. Like loving my wife a little more deeply each day. I am very thankful to have been accepted as your student, and look forward to all the things I still have to learn.
-- Ryan, USA
Answer
The world is indeed beautiful, though we never forget that many things are still ugly. Practicing our chi kung regularly is a sure way to make the world beautiful.
One of the best ways is to smile from the heart, as it opens the heart (and in Chinese the "heart" means the spirit) and makes the world beautiful. Practicing our chi kung also gives us good health, vitality and longevity.
It is important to love your wife a little more deeply each day. She gives the best part of her life for your well being.
Question
Regarding tensing your muscles, does it matter what muscles you tense? For example, if I were performing Lifting the Sky would tensing only my arms create a different outcome than tensing only my legs? Are there any muscles you should avoid tensing? And are there any timing factors; like is it ok to tense muscles in the middle of spontaneous chi flow to slow down the flow in case you accidentally generate too much chi?
Answer
Guarding against over-training is a very important issue in our school as our chi kung is not only genuine but of a very high level. The three golden rules, which I did not formulate when you first attended my Intensive Chi Kung Course, are (a) not to worry, (b) not to intellectualize, and (c) to enjoy our practice. These rules apply to us; they may not apply to other people.
Not tensing the muscles, which constitutes one of the two essential conditions for practicing chi kung, the other being to be gently focused, applies to muscles in general. It does not refer to any particular muscles.
When you perform "Lifting the Sky" or any chi kung exercise, you generally relax, i.e. you do not tense your arm, leg or any muscles. If you tense your leg muscles and not your hand muscles, you still tense your muscles. It will affect your performance of chi kung.
However, if you find that your chi flow is too powerful -- manifested outwardly as vigorous chi flow movements, or inwardly as forceful flow making you feel charged though you may not move much outwardly -- you can purposely tense your muscles to stop the powerful chi flow. This is done on purpose. You purposely tense your muscles, any muscles, to prevent over-training.
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