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Ron Tisdale wrote:
This is one way the AKI often ends class while sitting in seiza....it seems to have a specific breathing pattern that goes with it. Next time I do it I'll have more of a clue...thanks!
While we're here...there is an exercise at the beginning of class they often do while seated in seiza, where the hands scoop away the air in front of you to either side...does this resemble any traditional chigongs?
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I'd have to see it, since just telling me they "scoop" it doesn't give me much of a picture, Ron. It's bad enough that there are always "style wars" of a sort between the various martial arts ("is Taiji better than Xingyi or Shaolin Long Fist", "is karate better than judo", etc.) but there's also a "style wars" of sorts that goes on about the best way to train ki and kokyu powers. The qigong (Neigongs, "internal exercises", are a subset of qigongs) approaches range from sort of "hard" to very "soft and relaxed". Some are more mental (kokyu and "field" manipulation). So what I'm saying is that there are numerous "qigongs" because of the varying approaches and everyones' preferred training methods.
The point is that the basic principles are immutable. My discussion with a couple of the Ki-Society members was more so I could get a handle on what approach they are being shown, what visualizations, etc. If they understood the principles, we wouldn't have to feel around like this, because the priniciples will always be the same, regardless of the preferred approach. And BTW, I'm just being clinical and literal, not "personal" in comments about the Ki Society. I look at these sorts of studies in the same way I would look at and discuss how to do good woodworking.
"Scooping" the air would be normal and in line with the voiced "breathe the qi" that is stated so often in qigongs, but functionally it always involves more that has to do with the "contraction-extension" and the "movement-stillness" basics. The applicable saying in terms of sort of scooping or pulling the air in is that someone is bringing in the ki *with external movements*... i.e., it's a giveaway that the body is being trained in movement in addition to pressure movements within the body being done.
FWIW
Mike