Qi Farming

Posted on | January 7, 2009 |

My grandfather was a farmer of corn, barley and soybeans. He had dairy cows and I remember that he drove a dusty saffron-colored tractor. Farming is in my blood, even though I am now a child of this small city. I think of my grandfather and his land every time I go to my Qi Gong class. I know that small farmers in the midwestern United States aren’t the image that usually comes to mind when we talk about cultivating Qi - and they certainly don’t fit into the serene photographs of the terraced hills that are home to domesticated rice. This is the story of farming that lays in my ancestry though, and I know that it has an effect on my ability to cultivate Qi within myself.

Yesterday in Qi Gong, our teacher asked us if we had a Qi Gong practice outside of school. We all raised our hands, but when she asked whether we were using the Jin Jing Gong that we are taught at school - only one student said that he was practicing it regularly. For myself, when I have time (which I am still learning how to create) I go to a yoga studio in town or practice yoga in my living room. I consider this to be my Qi Gong. Our teacher was curious as to why many of us were choosing other methods of Qi Gong - and this prompted me to thinking about why I have not been moved to practice the Jin Jing Gong. I realized that I am not attracted to most of the Chinese style Qi Gong that I have been taught and I find this problematic, considering my career choice.

I started to think about what else, besides yoga, has really made me feel energized and as if I am able to release and find some receptivity in the moments I am practicing. I had the realization that all of the forms of exercise or Qi Cultivation that I prefer have some degree of pain and it is through this pain that I find satisfaction with the practice. It’s almost as if I can only bring myself into the present when I have the pain of a stretch to hold onto, or the shaking legs from a never-ending horse stance to deal with.

This brings up all kinds of questions for me about what Qi Gong really is - and what I expect of it. I wonder what my teachers expect of it. I wonder if I am somehow stuck on a physical level in all of this when everyone else around me is able to transcend to higher levels of awareness when making motions of turning an old-style waterwheel. Perhaps I need to use my imagination and concentrate more when doing these exercises and in this way I will begin to feel something. These are all questions that I plan on investigating during the course of this next quarter.

When it all comes down to it, I wonder if it might have to do with the difference between a corn farmer from the midwest and a rice farmer from China. I wonder if my Qi might require a loud and dirty, diesel-driven tractor and huge amounts of sun to grow - or if maybe I am just trying to hard and once I stop, I will come to a place where nature just takes over and the wildness of the crops can come back.

Comments

3 Responses to “Qi Farming”

Adam
January 12th, 2009 @ 1:30 am

I’ve been trying to think of a good way to respond to this blog since I read it last week. I have failed. Qi gong (and tai ji, yoga, meditation, etc…) has the potential to do many things: create a high, expand awareness, increase focus (like the jhanas in indian mysticism), get you in good shape, teach you how to stand correctly, teach you how to breath, teach you to heal, teach you how to access qi, teach you how to comfortably bullshit about new age mumbo jumbo…

I’m just learning about medicine too right now, and I’ve been told that qi gong does help to see and feel qi when needling in the clinic.

Unfortunately, no matter how many qi gong forms we learn, how much we practice, how many breathing exercises we use and how many hours we spend sitting in meditation we still have to deal with all of the painful bullshit that life sends us (and we create) while trying to accept, appreciate and create all of the good things out there.
HS
April 22nd, 2009 @ 11:40 am

Hi,
I have been doing qi farming for a while. How odd to read about qi farming in the US since it is a different paradigm environment.
I will expand more on qi farming in the months to come as I find more general acceptance.

Best Wishes

HS Wong
Malaysia
jeannie
June 24th, 2010 @ 7:38 pm

I think that practising this type of awareness always comes from the inside.
The greatest part of your article is when you said pain brings your presence. That is a fact. You become conscious of your physical matter when it hurts. Otherwise, it’s just for granted.
But to become very aware of everything you have to get rid of a lot of your desires. You have to clean your whole mind of social pressures and the expectations of others -and yourself.

Lot’s of time it occured to me that I felt unsuccessful, but still happy inside. It was because I made the distinction between myself and the world. In the world, I wasn’t what they prescribe I should be, but inside, my actions concorded with my human nature.

You understand? Read Eckart Tolle, or listen to his podcasts. They are excellent. They remind you to be present and aware.