Practising chi kung with one arm

[ryanberg]

I'm having surgery on my shoulder next week, and won't be able to move my left arm at all for a few weeks afterward while it heals. Is it ok to continue practising chi kung with one arm? And just do...half the pattern? I mainly do lifting the sky. What would you guys recommend in this situation? Are there any patterns that would work better with only being able to move one arm?

Thanks,

Ryan

[Joan]

Dear Ryan,

I am sorry to hear about your shoulder.

I have had a few students with different degrees of mobility of arms and shoulders.

If you can't move your shoulder at all, I would suggest perhaps Turning Head as the pattern of choice.

If you do not know Turning Head then I suggest:

Relax Smile from the Heart and go into the Chi Kung state of mind.

Then allow the chi to flow gently for some time (as in your usual practice)

And end as usual.

You may feel some pain in your shoulder area, but do not worry, it will be the chi clearing out negative chi and healing you.

My nephew (10) fractured some bones in his wrist last year and ended up with a cast. He still continued to practice his Chi Kung and would help his right arm up with his left when doing Lifting the Sky. During the first few sessions he felt pain where the damage was.
After three weeks, he had his cast removed due to the rapid progress of healing.

I recently had a lady in my class, who had suffered a whiplash injury due to a car accident, four days before she started Chi Kung. Her movements were very very limited. The first night, I just allowed the chi to flow for her, second night Turning Head (with little movement) and later Pushing Mountains only, for most of the six weeks. She feels that she has most of her movement back now. I will actually put her testimonial on the testimonials section shortly.

Good luck with everything Ryan, and let us know how you get on

Smile from the Heart,
Joan

[ryanberg]

Thanks very much for your reply Sifu Joan! It is much appreciated.

There are a couple other exercies that have come to mind that I was wondering if you think would be appropriate...

I remember in The Art of Chi Kung (which I unfortunately don't have a copy of...because I gave it away to a friend awhile back)...there was an exercise called something like "Lohan Holds Barrel". Where you basically pretend to hold a barrel in front of you, and twist your hips back and forth. I think I might be able to do that, as long as my upper arm stayed straight against my body? Are you familiar with that pattern, and would it be ok to modify slightly like that (as opposed to holding my entire arm out)? I think that pattern was used for going into self manifested chi flow...I remember trying it before I learned chi kung from Sifu.

Another thing I thought of was an exercise I also practised a long time ago, that Sifu explained in one of his question and answer series. He was answering someone who was in the hospital a lot, I think. And told them to gently visualize energy from heaven coming down into their head and cleasning away toxic waste through their body and out their feet.

Do you think either of these would be appropriate?

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

[Andrew]

Don't modify what Sifu has so generously shared in his books. It is asking for trouble. Joan has offered great advice. I would advise you to follow it.

Andrew

P.S. Wish your shoulder better soon.

[Joan]

Dear Ryan,

I totally agree with Andrew.

Keep what you are doing simple. Do not try and practice something which you are not familiar with or even worse try and modify it.

The Chi will find the problem in your shoulder once you allow it to flow. Do not direct it there either, just let it flow.........Simple!

The best of luck with everything.

Smile from the Heart,
Joan

[ryanberg]

Sorry, I was just a little worried that I might lose out on a lot of the benefits I've been getting without any forms (I guess I still need some work on not trying to be smarter than my teachers ). But I trust and respect your advice, and will follow what you have said with smiling from the heart and going into chi flow.

Thanks for your help! I will keep you posted on how it goes

Ryan

[Kenrik]

Hi Ryan,

Sorry about your shoulder - (Just wonder what's wrong?).

Last X'mas (Dec05) I had a serious pain on my right shoulder, because I did quite a bit of spot cleaning on the wall and kitchen stove especially with my thumb and index finger, and that evening my shoulder had a unbearable pain.
I checked on books and website and learned that it could be RSI (repetitive strain injury) and another explanation is an injury of the lung meridian (Donna Eden's "Energy Medicine").

I tried many ways of healing but not of much help. It was really bad then. According to what I read, to heal RSI it takes about six months.

I was healed in six weeks. The answer is - Sifu's "Circulating Hands".
(Can never thank Sifu enough)

First night - 100 - felt improvement
Second night - 300 - felt even better
Third night - 500 - confirm it works for me
The shoulder improved everyday.
(Note: For me 20 mins goat stance before circulating hands is even more effective)

Just sharing, kenrik

[ryanberg]

very nice

The smiling from the heart exercise you recommended, Sifu Joan, is working great! The flow in the first couple sessions was really gentle...just some very slight swaying (which was perfect, because anything more would have caused me a lot of pain from moving my shoulder around even with it secured in a sling). During one of the sessions I felt a strong "expanding" feeling in my shoulder for a bit...and also felt chi in a couple very precise points on my right chest (like quarter sized), which is strange for me because I hardly ever feel chi very strongly anywhere.

Tonight's session was awesome. My shoulder is feeling much better already, and maybe the chi knew this because the flow was much more vigorous. At one point I began doing what seemed like pushing mountains with my good arm at a very fast pace and could feel chi swirling in a couple fingers. Then I went into "something like" a horseriding stance (but the chi was rocking me from side to side so it wasn't still) and continued to push my right arm forward and back. It was nice, I felt really good afterward.

My shoulder is doing great. The doctors gave me some really strong perscription pain killers and even a perscription to go in and get an injected pain killer at the hosptial if the pain got too bad...but I only took the pain killers they gave me the first day...and switched to over the counter ones since. I am in hardly any pain at all now without anything.



Ryan

[Joan]

Dear Ryan,

Excellent news!

Now dare I say it?

Very good, carry on

Smile from the Heart,
Joan

[ryanberg]

Practising this exercise has really helped me "fine tune" my smiling from the heart Without having any forms to concentrate on, I realized I was kind of rushing into the practise in general...having in mind wanting to get my chi flowing as quickly as possible. For some reason I always felt that if my chi wasn't flowing really vigorously I wasn't getting as much benefit (maybe because I never really have much chi "sensation" so the movements became my main mesaure).

I've learned to relax and go into the session more gently. I noticed I was kind of "forcing" smiling from the heart a little. And have since had in my mind to do it very gently. This is working out really well. Last night I had one of the best sessions I've ever had. My whole body felt so relaxed...and I could feel just this really good feeling everywhere on my body, like a euphoria kind of. I've gotten that feeling to an extent before...but it never enveloped my whole being like that, and felt so strong. It was really nice. I felt extremely happy.

Ryan

[Joan]

Dear Ryan,

I am glad that you are enjoying Smiling from the Heart more. That is very good. The surgery on your shoulder has been a good learning experience for you.

Do you mind if I ask, how your shoulder is now? How much movement do you have?

While you may continue to practice as above for another while. I would like you to start back on a Chi Kung pattern soon, perhaps Pushing Mountains. GENTLY

Even though you are able to induce a chi flow just by Smiling from the Heart now, it is always good to practice even a few repetitions of a Chi Kung pattern also.

Well done

Smile from the Heart,
Joan

[Andrew]

Well done Ryan.

Andrew

[ryanberg]

My shoulder is doing pretty well. My physical therapist gave me an exercise where I lean against a table, and let my arm hang free at a 45 degree angle and then rotate it in a circular motion. I'm doing that until the end of next week, and then I don't know what they'll have me do next. But if I can easily move it out to 45 degrees now, I would imagine that 90 degrees for pushing mountains would be fine in maybe 2 or 3 weeks (or less?). It just depends on what the therpaist says I can do.

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

[Neil Kelson]

I'd also like to say well done Ryan and thank you for sharing your great progress.
It can be really wonderful to have obsticles such as your shoulder injury at times as they help to show up some new or interesting aspect about our daily practice. I especially like your posts about fine tuning Smiling from the Heart as it shows that you are managing to extract benefit from your situation :-)
Best wishes, Neil.