For the past sixteen years, I have had a regular Qi Gong 18 Style practice. Often, I say to people that the Ritual Practice has been my best teacher. From practicing, I truly have learned many subtleties of Qi Gong.. The Ritual has guided me to make minor adjustments in my structure and my awareness.
All of that being said, it has come to my attention in the past few weeks that with time, I have drifed away from one of the basic ground rules of the ritual, which is “keep your gaze on your hands as you perform each movement”. Over time, by not paying attention to this “rule”, I had let my practice move from a place of being present in the practice to a place somewhere on the horizon–out of my “presence”. I had moved from being centered in the world to being out in the world. My focus had become narrowed. I was not being aware of all that was around me. As a result of this change in focus, I was too intent on what was “out there” and not aware of all of the “possibilities” that were and are at hand.
Fortunately, this narrowed focus was brought to my attention. As I did my practice and concentrated on keeping my focus on my hands throughout each movement, which was actually difficult at times, I often caught myself drifting out and away. However, after a few days of focused effort on following my hands within the gaze, I began to feel more centered and more aware of “My” world. I was again Present in the World not Away in the World.
The lesson here has been to not lose sight of the BASICS. As you practice, remind yourself of those simple steps that make your Qi Gong practice the powerful Ritual it is.
