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Spring Forest Qigong was developed by Master Chunyi Lin, now
residing in Chanhassen, MN. Master Lin's expressed idea in the
development of Spring Forest Qigong was to devise a form that was
easy to learn, yet powerful enough to be felt immediately.

Qigong and its offspring Tai Chi are considered "meditation in
movement." You will try to think of nothing other than your healing.
When meditating, one tries to empty one's mind. If something comes
into your mind during meditation, acknowledge it, push it aside, and
continue to focus on your breathing, on your breath.

Posture

Stand with your back to the sun, feet apart the width of your
shoulders. The feet should be pointed straight forward and parallel
to each other. This will feel as though you are standing pigeon
toed. Relax. Your knees should be slightly bent. Your arms relax at
your side. The chin is held slightly back and up so that you are
looking straight forward. Your tongue is touching the roof of your
mouth; its tip is just behind the teeth at the point where you would
form the letter "L." You stand straight, but not stiff, as though
your body is a dangling chain of pearls.

Breathing

You will breathe through your nose taking what is referred to
as "baby breaths." If you watch a baby when breathing, its tummy
will rise with each breath, not the top of its chest or shoulders.
It seems that as we get older, we begin breathing up in our chests
and lower diaphragm breathing ceases unless we consciously choose to
breath that way. You will breathe in focusing that breath, aiming
that breath, at your "lower tan tien." The lower tan tien is your
center; your body's main energy center, according to Chinese
medicine. It is located (approximately) one and a half inches below
your navel, and one and a half inches inside for most people; the
number of inches inside dependant on how much cushioning you have
acquired. It is there you will focus your breathing.

When you inhale, picture the air coming in through each pore in your
body. When you exhale, send that breath to the ends of the universe.
It is best to practice this breathing a bit before getting started.
If while doing the exercises you find yourself breathing out of the
top of your chest, just take time to focus on breathing into your
diaphragm. Watch your tummy expand as you breathe in, and watch your
tummy contract as you breathe out.

Preparation

Breath deeply and silently through your nose. Relax. Now it is time
for an affirmation. You may or may not know what an affirmation is,
but a French man once initiated a change in millions of people
simply by having them state each morning: "Every day in every way,
I'm am getting better and better." That is an affirmation.

The affirmation you will say (either out loud or silently to
yourself) is an affirmation of your oneness with the universe.

Where is the center of the universe? According to Albert Einstein,
if you were to measure the distances all around you to the edges of
the universe, and then hop in a space ship and travel at 300 times
the speed of light for one year, get out and measure again, you
would find that the measurements are still the same. You are always
at the center of the universe.

The affirmation I was taught by my Master, Master Chunyi Lin, is: "I
am in the universe. The universe is in me. I and the universe are a
single entity." You may say this, or anything that says for you that
you and your universe are one, such as: "I and my Creator are one,"
or "I and my universe are one." The point is, we confirm our oneness
and open ourselves to the infinite possibilities of our fabulously
perfect universe, created out of unconditional love for all things.

When you are ready, your right hand will move to your upper chest
and your left will cover your lower tan tien. Neither touches your
body. Your hand movements come from the elbow. You are relaxed. You
are about to mix the energy from above with the energy from below.

When two rivers run together, have you ever noticed the little
whirlpools created by their junction? That is what we are about to
do. We are going to help create the whirlpools from the mixing of
these two energies.

Your right hand will move out and down as your left hand moves in
and up. You will coordinate this with your breathing. As your
breathe out, your right hand moves down. As you breathe in your
right hand moves up. There is no pause in the movements. The
movements are one continuous flowing action. Let your right had
control your breathing. Let your breathing control your right hand.
Breathe deeply and slowly.

Picture the energy coming out of your chest, down your front, into
your tan tien, out your lower back, up your back, and into your
upper back.

If something itches while performing this exercise, do not scratch
it. Focus on your healing. While maintaining the proper stance,
maintaining tan tien breathing, you may talk to yourself: I am
healing. I am perfect. My kidneys are healing. My liver is healing.
I am completely healed.

How long should you do this exercise? My daily Qigong routine lasts
fifteen minutes to half an hour. The minimum time you should spend
doing the exercise (below) is five minutes, with fifteen to twenty
minutes being a pretty good optimal length.

Ending The Exercise

If you are female, your right hand, as it comes down to the tan
tien, will slow and stop, hovering over the lower tan tien. The left
had will continue its course and arrive to cover the right hand.
Neither hand touches the other, nor do they touch your body.

Men will drop first their left hand, followed by the right hand that
will cover and hover over the left hand and the tan tien.

To the Chinese, left is yin (female) and right is yang (male).

Take three deep but silent breaths and focus the energy of your
hands into your tan tien. Now comes the exciting part. You are about
to feel your qi.

Some of you may have already felt a tingling sensation in your hands
while doing the exercise. Some may have felt warmth, or fullness. It
really depends on the person. When you do this exercise again, pay
attention to those feelings. There are, I'm sure, Western
explanations for these feelings, but the Chinese call it simply
energy.

So now, let's feel our qi: as you take in a breath extend your hands
outward (keeping everything relaxed). Allow your hands and arms to
flow like seaweed under water. Now, as you exhale, slowly bring your
hands back together (in front of your lower tan tien) and feeeeeeel.

Note: there has been a bit of misunderstanding concerning the ending
of this exercise. When you bring your hands together on your
exhalation, you will keep your hands facing each other. Do not bring
them closer than 6 to 8 inches apart. The idea here is to reach out
and gather the qi into the space between your hands. Touching your
hands together or even pointing your fingers at each other will act
like letting the air out of a balloon and you'll feel nothing. Do
this three times, each time reaching out to gather more qi. You will
feel it, eventually.

If you feel nothing, do it again: breathe in as you expand your
arms, and bring your hands together as you slowly breathe out. Try
to feel. Make sure that your hands are facing each other as you
bring them together and that they are relaxed.

Some say they feel warmth, others an electrical charge, however,
most will feel, as one student put it referring to the tension she
felt as "an invisible spring" between her hands.

If you feel it, then play with it. Continue your breathing and
playing with the energy. I've witnessed so many astonished smiles on
students faces, that I would love to see everyone's first experience
feeling qi.

Again, if you feel nothing, it is probably because you don't know
what your are supposed to feel, or you might have your hands a bit
too high. Keep them level with your lower tan tien. Also, for you
who do feel the energy, perhaps you would like to experiment
with "mind intent." Do this: raise your hands as you bring them
toward each other, to about chest level. You should notice that
whatever you felt with them lower, in front of your lower tan tien,
is lessened, or even non existent. Now, tell the universe to send
energy there, and continue to spread your arms on with an in breath,
and then together to feel the qi on your out breath. Keep focusing
the universal life force into this area, and surely enough, you will
soon begin to feel it. When you've accomplished this, you will Know
(with a capital K) that you can send loving energy to any part of
your body when doing your daily Qigong exercises.

Now before you run and get dressed for work, we must complete the
session with a self massage.

Here I shall teach you the minimal massage. You will use this after
your Qigong exercises, after your meditations, and after any healing
session with a Qigong practitioner.

First rub your hands together (to build a little friction and
warmth) and wash your face (three times minimum).

Then rub (wash) your hands and pat the top and sides of your head
from front to back (three times minimum).

Finally wash your hands and work on your ears. Squeeze and press
every inch of them. If you find a tender spot on an ear (that is not
a pimple or injury to the ear), squeeze it three times hard, then
three times soft (yin/yang) over and over until you think you've
done it enough. End your ear massage with three tugs. Grasp the
entire ear and pull your hands down, sliding over the skin, all the
way to your earlobe.

Now, give thanks and go get dressed.

We have finished the pages of the complete self massage with which
to end your sessions. See the links below for pages one and two of
the Self Massage. We are presently working on Qigong meditations.
Yes, you must meditate, for it has been said, if you do not go
within, you go without.

Happy Qi!

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Wellness Directory of Minnesota