Rub your hands together vigorously.
Video 2—SoundsTrue.com/MasterKeyExercises
Playing with the Qi Ball
Creating a Qi Ball
In the next exercise we will learn how to create a Qi Ball between our palms.
EXERCISE 3 Creating a Qi Ball
1. Rub your hands together vigorously for twenty seconds. Make sure to maximize the skin contact between both palms. This is a simple yet effective way to activate your Hand Qi.
Rub your hands together vigorously.
Video 2—SoundsTrue.com/MasterKeyExercises
2. Hold your hands hip-width apart in front of your body with your palms facing each other. Keep your arms and hands supple and relaxed. Be aware of the sensations both on your hands and between your hands. You might feel pins and needles, warmth, a slight pulsation, or “buzzing” energy. Bring your hands closer together until they are only a few inches apart, and then move them back out again slowly. This movement will stabilize and amplify the energy between your palms. Can you sense an energy field forming between your hands that feels like a subtle magnetic field? This pulsation is called a “Qi Field.” Continue doing this for at least twenty seconds. Stop when your hands are about an arm’s length apart.
Bring your hands together and apart to create a Qi Field.
3. Now keep your right hand still and slowly move your left hand toward the center, in front of your body. Then keep your left hand still and bring your right hand slowly toward the center. Feel pressure building on both palms as the right hand comes closer to the left hand. Don’t let the hands touch—keep the palms at least a few inches apart, allowing the pressure to build. Hold this position for a few seconds.
4. Allow the pressure to “push” your left hand an arm’s length away and feel the pressure release from your right palm. Then move it back toward the center and feel the pressure increase on your right palm again.
Move your left hand away, and then bring it back.
5. Now allow the pressure to “push” your right hand an arm’s length away and feel the pressure release on your left palm. Then move it back toward the center and feel the pressure increase on your left palm again.
Move your right hand away, and then bring it back.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 at least nine times on each side. (In Qigong it is customary to repeat movements in multiples of three. This helps maintain a steady rhythm.)
To get a better sense of what this energetic sensation is supposed to feel like, imagine doing the exercise under water. The feeling of water being displaced is similar to the feeling of pressure in a Qi Field intensifying and diminishing. Do you feel it more clearly now? If not, keep practicing until you do. If you already feel the energetic sensations, then you are ready to create your first Qi Ball.
7. Move your hands hip-width apart in front of your body again, keeping them relaxed. Then imagine that they are like two jellyfish floating in the water, softly moving closer together and then drifting farther apart. Use this action to “pump” energy to the midpoint between your palms. If you wish, you may close your eyes. Repeat this step at least nine times, and as you continue the pumping action, visualize a small ball of Qi gradually inflating at the midpoint. Keep pumping until you feel the energy of the Qi Ball expanding against both of your palms like a balloon. Feel the Qi Ball becoming firmer and firmer between your hands. Pump the Qi Ball another nine times to charge it with even more energy.
Pump energy to the midpoint and inflate it into a Qi Ball.
Congratulations—you have just created your first Qi Ball! Initially your Qi Ball may feel a bit fuzzy. That’s normal. It’s supposed to be a subtle energetic experience. But with practice your Qi Ball will grow stronger and feel more solid.
Now let’s play with the Qi Ball.
8. Bring your hands closer together so that the Qi Ball shrinks down to the size of a softball. Then widen the distance between your palms to increase it to the size of a large beach ball. Now reverse the procedure. Observe the sensation of the Qi Ball as it expands and contracts. Feel the Qi pressure increase as the Qi Ball gets smaller and feel it decrease as the Qi Ball gets bigger. Play with the Qi Ball for at least one minute.
Have fun making the Qi Ball smaller and bigger.
If your Qi Ball still feels a bit fuzzy, try creating another one. Be patient and remember to have fun. Repeat the exercise as many times as you need to until you can actually feel it. Qigong is not a competitive sport. Here, slower is better, so relax and breathe naturally. Let the process reveal its subtleties to you, and with a little more practice, creating a Qi Ball will soon become second nature. Once you become familiar with the procedure, you can skip all the intermediate steps and create an instant Qi Ball in the blink of an eye.
9. Place your hands by the sides of your body, completely relaxed. Then quickly raise them up with your palms facing each other and create an instant Qi Ball. Pump energy into the Qi Ball to charge it. Repeat this step a few more times until you feel comfortable creating an instant Qi Ball.
Relax, and then make an instant Qi Ball.
Nourishing Qi
Soon we will begin to do some more advanced Qigong practices inside the Qi Ball, but first I need to introduce you to an important new idea. Every Qigong exercise includes two phases, an active phase and a passive phase. The active phase consists of the part that requires effort and concentration, and the passive phase is the part where you simply relax and do absolutely nothing. This passive phase is also called Nourishing Qi.
A balanced Qigong practice session requires both activity and passivity. Without one or the other, Qigong practice would feel imbalanced and incomplete. Both are equally important.
Making tea is a good metaphor for the relationship between both phases. Boiling the water and preparing the tea leaves constitute the active phase that requires effort and concentration. Then comes the passive phase, when we let the tea steep in hot water and simply wait for it to brew. Nourishing our Qi allows the energy we generate through active practice to simmer and be absorbed more deeply into our body.
Balancing the active and passive phases doesn’t mean that each one should always take up 50 percent of our practice time. Sometimes you might feel like spending more time being active and sometimes you might feel like nourishing your Qi longer. But ideally, you should nourish your Qi Energy for at least ten seconds at the end of each practice session, and, if you like your “tea” a little stronger, you can let the energies “brew” a little longer.
Here is a simple procedure I like to follow at the end of my practice sessions to nourish my Qi.
EXERCISE 4 Nourishing Qi
1. Stand or sit comfortably—you may even lie down if you like. Relax and close your eyes. There is beautiful light everywhere, both inside of you and outside of you. You are floating in this light. Just let the energy you cultivated flow where it wants to go. Allow it to be absorbed by your cells, internal organs, and even by your bone marrow. Let your body “feast” on the rich and nutritious Qi for at least ten seconds. Imagine that you are a sponge soaking in a warm bath and finish by repeating to yourself silently, “I am in Qi; Qi is in me.” Enjoy the experience.
Think: I am in Qi; Qi is in me.
