Customer Reviews

Understanding Qigong: Keypoints & Qigong Breathing -DVD Two

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD is comprised of courses 3 and 4 of the ongoing series on Qigong taught by Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming. The two courses are taught as if one is in a classroom setting with Dr. Yang. Subtitles are displayed during the course, with Dr. Yang speaking in English.

As Dr. Yang explains, the first two DVDs of this series, parts 1 through 4, cover the fundamentals of Qigong. Later releases of the series will go into more advanced studies of Qigong. I start to chuckle when reading that these two DVDs are just covering the fundamentals of Qigong. For many practitioners of Qigong, the "fundamentals" found on the DVD represent an amount of material and related ability that is beyond their own level.

Course 3 - KEYPOINTS OF QIGONG
Regulating the Body
Regulating the Breath
Regulating the Mind
Regulating the Qi
Regulating the Spirit
Four Transformations (Refinements)
Partner Practice

Course 4 - QIGONG BREATHING
Importance of Breathing
Upper Level Qi and Lower Level Qi
Regulating the Breathing
Abdominal Breathing
Normal Abdominal Breathing
Reversed Abdominal Breathing
Other Breathing Techniques

Course 3

Those of you who have studied Qigong and/or read books by Yang, Jwing Ming are familiar with the concept of the five regulatings. Dr. Yang explains how these five regulatings are not separate entities but are part of the whole. Dr. Yang points out that true regulating is when you don't regulate.

So for part one, regulating the body, a student would focus on the external aspects of the form and slowly ensure that the body is aligned properly, the shoulders are not high, the pelvis is tucked in, the body is not leaning or in an unbalanced position, etc. As a student becomes more proficient they reach a point where they are naturally moving in a Taijiquan manner and can go through the form without having to think about the basics of the moves.

Dr. Yang gives the example of when one learns to drive, you have to constantly think about what you are doing, in contrast to a seasoned driver who can drive efficiently without having to spend much energy regulating, as the moves have become natural and can be done without thought.

Dr. Yang links the five regulatings as follows:
Body is the Battlefield
Breath is the Strategy
Mind is the General
Qi is the Soldiers
Spirit is the Morale

Once the student is able to regulate the body without regulating, then it is time to move on to the second step, regulating the breath. Fortunately, as the five parts are part of a greater whole, when the student is learning to regulate the body, the breathing tends to change and become closer to the ideal. The relaxed movements of the Taijiquan form can subtly effect the breathing of the practitioner.

When the students moves on to part two, they will find that their breathing is already changing for the better. Each of the sections can prepare one for the next step. The five regulations should be studied and learned in the order given as any other order would be counter productive.

One of the main goals of regulating the mind is to use your logical thinking or calm mind to control your emotional mind. The philosophy indicates that there are two minds, Xin and Yi. Xin meaning heart and Yi meaning something akin to logical mind or wisdom, as Dr. Yang translates it. Dr. Yang pulls no punches and says directly that regulating the breath and then the mind takes a lot of work and is not easy. Fortunately, in contrast to the past when the student only had access to very symbolic and vague writings on the subject, Dr. Yang provides clear instruction on what is necessary to achieve these five regulations.

Dr. Yang states that the Chinese traditionally considered the emotional mind, Xin, to be a monkey and the logical mind, Yi, to be a horse. The problem of how to control the emotional mind was pondered for many years by practitioners. Just as a monkey can be led by a banana, Dr. Yang explains that the breath is like the banana, and it can be used to lure the emotional mind, the monkey, into a cage where it can be controlled. What's interesting is that as one needs to learn the five regulations in order, when the practitioner is having difficulty with a level, as in how to control the emotional mind, the answer can usually be found in the previous section, illustrated by the previous example of using regulating the breath, part two, to assist in regulating the mind, which is the third step. This further proves the argument that the five regulatings are not separate but rather part of a whole.

Dr. Yang gives numerous examples, many in the field of driving, that illustrate how regulating the five can lead to peace in your life. Regulating the breath is not just for Qigong, but can be used to calm the emotional mind when one is in a situation where the emotional mind starts to take control. Dr. Yang uses the example of being in a traffic jam and slowly becoming more and more angry. By regulating the breath you can calm down and actually begin to enjoy yourself again. Dr. Yang exclaims, "I love traffic jams", as he uses the time to practice his Qigong and actually benefits from the situation of being caught in a traffic jam.

The four transformations or refinements are covered at the end of part three. the four transformations are:

Convert the Essence into Qi (Convert fat to Qi)
Convert Qi to Spirit
Train or refine the Spirit
Crush the emptiness (Independence of the Spirit)

Course 4

Due to the importance of proper breathing techniques in the practice of Qigong and the five regulatings, Course 4 focuses on this subject. The course begins by reviewing material that was covered in Course 3.

Regular Breathing is the first type of breathing taught, with an emphasis on relaxing the muscles on the ribs, to allow full use of your lungs.
Allegedly, the average person only uses 60 percent of their lung capacity. By using the techniques in this DVD, a student can increase the capacity of their lungs. Besides increasing the capacity of the lungs, different body positions and breathing techniques can direct the breath or energy to different parts of the lungs, helping to regulate emotion/mind. Health benefits can also be realized by becoming familiar with how to use the breath.

As Dr. Yang explains, the Chinese view of cancer, for example, is a loss of circulation of energy in the affected area. The main focus in the healing of cancer in China is to increase the circulation of energy to that area. The breathing techniques and knowledge taught in this DVD can be used to accomplish such a task.

What's really great about the way the material is presented is that Dr. Yang not only teaches you the techniques, but also the theory, which leads to a greater understanding of what is occurring and a greater chance of success. Dr. Yang cautions the viewer, "Everything I say, put a big question mark on it." In this way, his students can become independent thinkers and not just be led, but instead grow on their own by using the approach taught by Dr. Yang.

One of my teachers used to tell me that a standard teacher teaches you the form, a good teacher teaches you the techniques and a better teacher teaches you the key. Dr. Yang is one of those teachers who gives you the key, if only you make the effort and PONDER and THINK.

Abdominal breathing techniques as well as other types of breathing are covered during the remainder of course 4. The amount of material covered is vast and every minute has vital information. No wasted space on this DVD.

In Conclusion

Dr. Yang's inquiring mind and scientific approach, combined with his experiences and background in the martial arts, make him one of the few people that can create a DVD like this one, in which not only is the classic material presented, but it is combined with clear explanations that demonstrate a true and accurate grasp of the subject. When Dr. Yang, Jwing Ming chose to leave his former career to pursue his studies and teaching of Martial Arts, we all received a great blessing, evidenced by the large volume of excellent material that he has produced over the years.

I don't recall watching a teaching DVD where the teacher will be discussing one of the topics and exclaim, "This section is beyond my understanding." Dr. Yang is honest in this approach and doesn't merely repeat information he has read but instead only passes on the material when he is able to fully understand it himself. At least, that's how interpret his approach. In the regulation of Body, Breath, Mind, Qi and Spirit, he explains that Regulating the Body is relatively easy, where Regulating the Breath and Mind are difficult, but once they are mastered then Regulating the Qi becomes easy.

For learning to Regulate the Spirit, he states, "This is beyond my understanding." Yet, the material in that section that he does understand is very illuminating to fellow Qigong knowledge seekers.

It has always been difficult for me to attend the seminars by Dr. Yang, so having access to this DVD has helped to fill that void. As is true of many of his publications, I would recommend this DVD to practitioners of martial arts or Qigong of any level in any school, as well as newcomers to this type of knowledge.

Peace,
Patrick H. Dickson

Dr. Yang has continued the high quality of instruction he displayed in DVD 1 of this series (see also my review on Understanding Qigong DVD1 (YMAA chi kung) Dr. Yang). He takes a very deep knowledge of traditional Chinese Qigong and Martial Arts, links them with his Western style education and manages to create a structured, logical explanation of esoteric Qigong material.

I found that within the first few minutes of watching the first of the two lessons on this DVD that I was getting 'Aha' moments. I have read about and experimented with Qigong exercises for many years but have always avoided working in depth with them because I was aware that ignorant experimentation can lead to problems. All of a sudden though, Dr. Yang was creating the structured understanding that is so necessary to retaining information. He draws together a huge range of both Western and Chinese material - Physics, Electricity, Biology, Qi Theory, Chinese Calligraphy, and more - and creates simple yet profound linkages between them.

This is a very, very good series.

Dr. Yang jwing-ming is a terrific teacher. This series (a total of four DVDs) will provide you, from the ground up, with a complete Qigong practice. The detail provided by Dr. Yang is the best I've ever seen, and he is a clear and effective teacher, not to mention his warm and friendly style. Thank you Dr. Yang...whereever you are!

I thought I had a good understanding and grasp of Qigong until I started watching this dvd series. It is amazing the amount of knowledge one person has. Dr.Yang has not only studied but practiced Qigong for over 35 years and it shows in the information he brings to us Westerners and in the presentation of the facts. I only have the first two dvd's out of six (6)in this series for now. There are two courses to each dvd and yes they are courses for study so as I have often said about Dr. Yang's material, get out your notebooks.

Dr. Yang is big on history and correct interpretation of the facts. He wants you to get it right. He does not like to spceculate as to the meaning of what the ancient sages had to say about thier studies. I know for a fact that if you don't practice Qingong properly you can hurt yourself without even knowing how you did it, or why you are having unexplained physical ailments.

Understanding Qigong is part of a series and if you want to get a more complete knowledge of Qigong get the entire series and practice only after getting proper knowledge. Dr. Yang gives you keypoints for Regulating your Body, Breath, Mind, Qi, and Spirit. Spirit does not refer to religion like I thought when I first looked into Chinese martial arts. There is even a part for refinement of the Four Transformations: Convert Essence to Qi, Convert Qi to Spirit, Train or Refine the Spirit into Emptiness and Crush the Emptiness.

Importance of breathing, Upper level Qi and lower level Qi, Regulating the Breathing, Abdominal Breathing, Normal Abdominal Breathing, Reversed Breathing and other Breathing techniques round out the study on this dvd. Breathing is very important to Qigong done correctly can lead to mastery. Done incorrectly can make you a bully. Remember I said if not done right you can injure yourself, that also includes mental aspects. This section alone would benefit most people who practice some form of Qigong.

To Dr. Yangs' credit instead of making up stuff, as so often happens in martial arts, he said he didn't understand Crush the Emptiness because he is only a beginner. Meaning Dr. Yang doesn't think he trained long enough to know what the last one means. It is beyond his present knowledge. I don't know about you but a master that would admit that on camera is worth listening to. It speaks to his integrity. Unless you are fluent in Chinese you won't have a clue as to what any of this means and it is very important to your study of Qigong.

The Chinese language is very discriptive but the words do not always have the same meaning as it does in English. That is why it is so important to have someone of his practice and caliber explain the little nuances and subtleties of Qigong and a language that we don't completely understand. Thank you Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming.

After watching the first DVD of the series, I continued my learning of Qigong with these two other courses. I noticed that some other reviews are quite details and I cannot top those but only share what I experienced.

I was quite annoyed at first when the instructor talked about the different kinds of breathing. C'mon: breath in, breath out... breathing is natural. We know what happens when we stop doing that. And yet, ancient wisdom puts our sophomoric arrogance to shame. Yes! There are different ways of breathing and it's so fundamental to learn how to breathe properly in order to maintain a good connection with our bodies. Quite thankful for this insight.

As with DVD 1, no fancy stuff - just the instructor in front of a white board sharing his knowledge. Highly recommended!

The second volume of the "Understanding Qigong" series with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming contains courses 3 and 4. The courses are "Keypoints of Qigong" and "Qigong Breathing" respectively. While not as long as the first DVD of this series, this volume still contains a wealth of information for the serious Qigong student.

In the first course, the key points, Dr. Yang discusses the relationship and interconnectedness of Body, Breathing, Mind, Qi, and Spirit. The discussion revolves around regulating these important parts of the whole. After the discussion on these Five Regulations, he then discusses the Four Transformations. These are Convert Essence into Qi; Convert Qi into Spirit; Train or Refine the Spirit into Emptiness; and Crush the Emptiness.

The course is a lecture, but it is an interesting lecture. Dr. Yang writes some of the important concepts on a white board in English and Chinese, but more importantly, he uses different stories and metaphors to help you understand the concepts he explains. I really liked the last little gem of wisdom Dr. Yang shares at the conclusion of this lesson. He reminds us that life is short and every second is precious. The first lesson is approximately seventy-six minutes long.

The second lesson on this DVD is Course 4 and its focus is on Qigong breathing. Dr. Yang starts by explaining the importance of breathing. From there he explains breathing concepts such as regular breathing, abdominal breathing and reverse abdominal breathing. Other types of breathing and their purposes are also briefly mentioned. He also makes the case for why a person must understand the theory behind what he or she is doing. Just learning the physical motions without understanding the theory behind them, is not full understanding. That, he says, is why he made this "Understanding Qigong" lecture series, to understand the theory behind Qigong. This is also why I say this series is great for serious students, because serious students want a complete understanding of theory and motion, not just a few "tricks." I also really liked the part about practicing Qigong all the time and making it a habit. The second lesson on this DVD is approximately 88 minutes long.

"Understanding Qigong" volume 2 continues this outstanding lecture series on the deeper theories of this ancient Chinese practice. I wholeheartedly recommend this series of DVDs for anyone who wants a deeper and better understanding of qigong.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series.

After watching this dvd I think i am not even 1% qualified to talk about review of this great knowledge. But the only reason of writting this review would be to encourage other people who wish to know about the concepts of qi and qigong which so far always found very mysterious, secretive, beyond comprehension of common person.

It is better to view this dvd after viewing part i of the series of understanding qigong.

These dvds explain the concepts scientifically and hence it would certainly appeal to those who would first like to understand, analyse, go deep into a suject, think over it and only then would get convinced.