How To - Qigong Foundations (Theory Lecture)

A short talk from the Yi Jing event aimed at helping beginners understand how to develop their body for practice.
This was taken from a Zoom event Damo was running in an informal manner for a group who were studying Qigong alongside the Yi Jing (I Ching). It was recorded during Covid lockdowns when Damo was in a hotel in Orlando, Florida.
Apologies for the camera angle, but we tried to include photos of what was being drawn on the whiteboard.
Hopefully some of the info here can be helpful to some.

[tranquil_dude]

Each time point when Damo switches to a new drawing
(which I think is a good way of sectioning the video):

2:04 Making the body more conductive (by separating the mobiliser and stabiliser muscles)
11:58 (Continuation of above)
17:59 What to do with specific parts of the body: spine, hips, trunk, feet ...
31:34 Consolidating the Dantian
38:58 Assisting with the hands (no drawing used)

Y'all are welcome! :)

[dgross]

man he describes the process so eloquently. every thing he describes sends off a cue in my memory from my practices

[carlosroji]

THANK YOU SO MUCH DAMO, IT IS A PITY THAT ONLY UNTIL VERY RECENTLY I STARTED TO REALLY WATCH YOUR VIDEOS, I HAVE BEEN POST STANDING FOR ROUGHLY 7 YEARS & NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE TO DO A LOT OF UNLEARNING, REDO MY FOUNDATION IN POST STANDING.

[conifermorze]

Wow-I watched this video before I began his online classes and thought I understood what he was talking about but watching it now after a month off so of doing his on line classes I now see I didn't understand it at all --I have spent years looking for exactly what he is teaching-the inner alchemy -lots of unlearning

[AndrewUKLondon]

Going to listen to this a few times over a period of training.
Thanks for sharing!

[TaichiOsorno]

I have been waiting for years to find an explanation as detailed and accurate as this one. Thank you very much Damo for spending all that time on something so fundamental and little understood and for sharing it for free.
Just a couple of questions:
When you talk about the inner sac in reverse abdominal breathing, do you mean the connective tissue that supports and surrounds the intestines, that is, everything that is under the diaphragm? And does this happen on its own by continuing belly breathing past the smooth phase?

Greetings from Chile.

[sinabehbahani]

Verbalised quality of Gold as always D!

[theunspeakable]

Brilliant! Love this! Next time you are in the states or near CA I would like to attend. Thank you for posting. I have a gentle brief daily chi kung practice and this teaching will activate a new direction of attention in my practice.

[jabvat]

The light of empowerment is always crazier than it’s gonna come to you

[NBT]

Love this video and all Damo's videos. I would like to have been able to see the drawing pad on the right as it is used near the end. BUT mostly thank you, always enlightening and brings a new frame of reference as a take away.

[SubparFiddle]

Are there any videos on these practices? A good place to start learning these positions and stretches? Or are these part of the training courses on your website?

This is the first time the whole concept of Qi Gong actually clicked for me intuitively. I definitely want to learn!

[brittasdanceqi]

Thank you so much for these amazing tips Damo ❤

[flordelsur]

Is he teaching online at the moment ? sending gratitude for this teachings ! So much needed ! Thank you

[laurat]

Any videos on this practice? I am actually in a real need of this kind of exercises right now. Thank you

[starrshoemaker]

Thank you for sharing this, very very helpful as I am learning to deepen these techniques 🙏

[greendog]

Here you point to the reverse breathing method the most important thing to regather the disperse energy field in the abdomen into consolidated, spheric, Dan Tian and it makes sense. However, in the book "A Comprehensive Guide to Daoist Nei Gong", the main method you share for this purpose is the rotation of the Dan Tian.
In the book, reverse breathing is only recommended much, much later in the process. In this video, on the contrary, you only recommend rotation after the consolidation and pulling take place. Also, here it should be assisted by the Dan Tian Gong, with the hands (in the book there is only the rotation of awareness). Should I consider the information in this video to be more updated and correct?

[christinestone]

Hello, wondering if you might have a card deck with line drawings like the ones you show in your theoretical lessons with a summary of the points made on the back of each card. Enjoying the lessons. Thank You! Oh and perhaps a few cards with cross references to relevant lessons.

[makt]

"tongue into the roof" when must use this doing Qigong, if you do a video about it would be useful and i will be very grateful for that. 🙏

[mirzabaig]

Damo, thanks for your video. Been watching you for a few years now. A couple of clarification questions if you don't mind: Is the building of the dan tien in qigong vs nei dan just two different methods of achieving the same result? If so, are there similarly two methods for establishing the microcosmic orbit and other alchemical stages? thanks again

[futuremutant]

Every video I watch I gain insight into some weird thing that has happened or is happening to me 😅 tysm