chi kung making me sick?

[Matt F.]

It's been a week since the end of the FL courses. I've been practicing twice daily, and loving it. However, for the last 3 days I have been getting sicker and sicker. It started as general body ache and today just exploded, and took over my body. I'm having a hard time breathing with clogged sinuses, I'm getting dizzy, walking my dog gets me short of breath, my stomach is messed up and I can't figure out if I'm hungry or going to throw up, and my whole body aches something terrible. This morning the energy flow from chi kung really hurt (normally it feels really great).

Could this be a blockage clearing? Is the energry flow from chi kung pushing the sickness through my body quicker, and therefore more intensly? Or is it totally unrelated?

Since the chi kung hurts, I was planning on taking tonight's session off. Good idea? or should I do it to help work on the sickness?

Thanks.

-Matt

[Antonius]

Hi Matt.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm pseudo-sick too. It's weird. I rarely get sick. Akemi (my girlfriend, who you met at the courses) and I were trying to figure out what's happening to me, and the best explanation we came up with was "chi kung cleansing".

It makes the most sense. Three weeks ago, I was in NYC. Although I was not accustomed to the cold, operating on 3-5 hours sleep per night, and staying with friends who were sick, I did not get sick. A week later, I was back in Florida taking care of Akemi, who had a very contagious gastro-intestinal bug. I didn't catch that either. And yet here I am, exhibiting weird cold symptoms without having a real cold.

So to answer your question, yes, I think that this could be a form of cleansing. The Florida courses were very powerful, as you felt. The Sinew Metamorphosis digs especially deep. I think this is what is affecting me now because I've been practicing it every day. Something very deep is coming out of me. As I joke with my students, "better out than in". It could be something similar with you, although I cannot be sure without seeing you in person.

Taking a session or two off practice is fine. It's also fine to continue practicing. If you continue, it will help to push through more quickly, but the symptoms may get worse. If you take a break, the symptoms may lessen a bit, which can be a welcome vacation. But whatever you do, don't give up on chi kung! Dredging this stuff out is important work, and we will be grateful for it later.

Warm regards,

[Zhang Wuji]

Hi guys,

this is the kind of topic that is close to my heart.

I fully agree with Antonius about the Sinew Metamorphosis. When I learnt it for the first time during the Review course in October, the cleansing hit me like a brick (no, actually much worse). Even before I returned home, I was experiencing serious headaches, body aches and joint pains (hence, my not being at all lively during the wedding dinner). MInd you, I have not been ill since the beginning of the year even though everyone around me was coughing and sneezing during the flu season. But last month, I came down with a serious flu, cough, and cold, plus stomach cramps. Was it cleansing? Sure it was. Was it also falling sick (in the conventional sense)? I think so. My body had been weakened by heavy cleansing and left me vulnerable to the pathogens around the place.

From that time till now, the cleansing has not stopped though the symptoms have changed. Right now, I am going through a bout of sleepiness, and sore shoulders. Plus, my consistent manifestation of cleansing is the non-stop "cracking" in my neck, my sinuses and deep in my skull (I don't know what the symptom really is, but I just keep hearing that cracking sound). If i had to guess, it is probably a Xisui Jing (Bone Marrow Cleansing) effect. As you can imagine, cleansing at such a deep level would manifest itself quite drastically.

The effects of qigong are different for everyone, at least initially. We should be full of health and vitality, but sometimes, getting there is a long journey of suffering. I have to run - lots of work to do.

P.S. I think slowing down your training is a good idea. Better if you also do what most people do when they are ill - rest and drink lots of water. ANd my own experience is, please don't hesitiate to see a Western doctor when necessary. While the idea is not to depend on medicine, sometimes Western drugs are really useful for dealing with short-term symptoms - I have had to take antibiotics when the cleansing resulted in sinus infections.

[joko]

Hi Matt,

Actually, what you are experiencing now is one of the expected results of practicing high level chikung.

The following is taken from the Expected Results (no. 3) of the Intensive Chikung Course given by Sifu Wong.

http://www.shaolin.org/general/ck-course.html

If a student has some internal injury, which he (or she) may not be aware, he may feel slight pain at the site of the injury. If he does not feel this slight pain at the end of the intensive course, he is likely to feel it later as he continues his practice. This is a sign that his chi kung practise is curing his injury, such as clearing internal energy blockage.

Every body has to go through this cleansing phase.

Best regards,
Joko

[subclock]

Hi everyone,

Great advice !

I just wanted to add that from my experience, initially, learning Chi Kung is easy, but the journey is seldom an easy one. And, as with most things in life, you will feel a deeper reward if you get something you have worked hard for.

This being said, keep a very close eye on yourself and your progress. If you feel in your gut that something is very wrong, then slow down your training even to the point of just doing Lifting the Sky until you are happy to go further. Some people find the cleansing effects of Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung to be too extreme for them, and they should slow down their training to help ease the cleansing process.

On the other hand, sometimes an extreme cleansing is needed to clear more serious blockages. This is why it is so important to learn to listen to your body. It knows the difference between cleansing and deviation.

Any thoughts ?

Best Wishes,
Kevin

[anietog]

Keep practicing and listen to your body.

Actually that was already said in this thread.

Sometimes you feel worst and sometimes you feel much better but my experience is that you have to keep practicing as you body requests.

if you feel you need a day of rest, well take it. If you feel you need to slow down the time of practicing do it till you feel again the need of keeping practicing twice every day 15 minutes as you were said in the course.

But never give up. Keep practicing. and smile from the heart !

[Matt F.]

Thanks for the thoughts/comments everyone. I guess a day, week, month, or even a year of sickness is worth it for a lifetime of health.

[Guest]

Hang in there brother. I am also experiencing some serious cleansing too, i've been bed ridden for the last few days and had a bad fever for the last couple nights. The funny thing is my family has all had the flu(taking antibiotics) and even though I have been helping look after them I have been fine, then out the blue I catch (I have been feeling really good the last couple of months) a serious flu.

Okay I need sleep ... take care..

[Akemi]

Hi Matt,

You've gotten some great answers so far. I want to encourage you to listen to your body and spirit and do as your heart asks. Go only as far as your heart wants to go.

I have a tendency to try and do what I think I should be doing rather than what my heart and body ask. I have since learned this lesson: don't compare yourself to anyone else.

The opposite side of that coin is not to get lazy and forget your practice

In other words, as my seniors have said, such deep cleansing at every level (physical, mental, emotional and karmic) is bound to be uncomfortable.

I wish you joy and health,

[Matt F.]

I feel much better now! Not 100%, but I can eat again. And after 3 days of not being able to eat, I have a whole new appreciation for food!

My sickness/cleansing experience was very strange for me, so I thought I share it. Normally, when I get sick it's for an evening or maybe a day at the longest. This recent experience spanned nearly 7 days. And each day seemed to have it's own focus. I started feeling a bit achy one day. The next day I did not ache, but was getting dizzy just walking around. The next day I felt run down, tired, a little achy, and just not good. The fourth day I felt like I could die and it might be better. Everything hurt, my sinuses were beyond clogged, but at least I didn't have an upset stomach! The day after that, no more ache, no more stuffiness, but my entire digestive track went to hell. I'll leave out those details. For the next few days my stomach issues slowly faded, and this morning I woke up with a irritated throat and a horse voice.

It's been very odd. I've never had a sickness that changes so much from day to day. But I feel like it's coming to an end. I did take a day or two off from Chi Kung, but resumed the day before yesterday. Chi Kung feels good again, and I'm having stronger sensations of chi during standing meditation.

All seems to be good on this end. Thank you to everyone who posted.

-Matt

[Chris Aguilar]

Hi Matt.

It's good to see that you're doing better, getting over your illness/blockage. (I shoulda checked the date of the last post.)

Reading about your experiences, it reminds me of a similar episode I had about two months prior to the Florida courses. It went as follows:

I had a really bad cold for about a week or so. I thought I was about to get over it, because the cold symptoms started to wear off, but then I wake up one morning with a sore throat, which I didn't think too much of, since I had gone to sleep with a fan on, and no shirt. In any case, I have a history of getting over the sniffles and sore throats rather quickly. But not so this time. The sore throat wore off, but as it did, the cold came back, just as bad, but also coupled with digestive problems, general weakness, and an ache in my lower back on the left side, in the area of my kidney. Like, specifically in there, now that I think about it. I was so tired all the time, my lower back ached non-stop, and my insides felt horrible. This episode also lasted about a week, so overall, I was sick for about two weeks.

I kept practicing chi kung during this time, though. I always felt much better during chi flow, and for a while afterwards, until the pain, the cold, the illness in general went away all together.

In hindsight, I think that I had also been digging out a pretty well-embedded, deep energy blockage, but the exercises I used were Lifting the Sky, Pushing Mountains and Carrying the Moon. I didn't know Sinew Metamorphasis yet. I wonder how my chi flows would go if I practiced that more often, as currently I only do it like, every 4 days. Hmm.

All in all, I'm glad to see your practice is coming along well, and that you've cleared out that particular blockage. I hope your practice keeps going smoothly!