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INTERNAL CULTIVATION COURSE

Healing Part I
By Li Jiong
http://www.yiquando.com/
newyiquan@yahoo.com.cn
Copyrights2000-2006 All Rights Reserved
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Statement
This is a correspondence course run by the author Li Jiong, each license
is for one individual only. The term of this course is one year, in this term,
you have the right to ask free questions of internal cultivation, and get
their answers from Li Jiong in time. Please join the Gongfu Online Group
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yiquando/) to get help, and you may also
get a lot of useful information of internal cultivation there. Long time
edification in a good group is vital for internal cultivation, if you do not
take part in our group, you will lose at least half benefit of this program.
Thank you for your cooperation!
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Table of Contents
Authors Preface...6
I. Elements...9
II. Experience Relaxation..15
III. Hunyuan Gong......32
1. Wuji Standing.33
2. Turning Taiji (hands)..37
3. Turning Taiji (shoulders)39
4. Warm the Eyes40
5. Warm the Face42
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6. Warm the Ears.44
7. Warm the Nose46
8. Knock the Teeth..48
9. Collect Yin Qi from the Earth.52
10. Hunyuan Standing (low)...57
11. Collect Yang Qi from the Heaven.59
12. Hunyuan Standing (low)...64
13. Hunyuan Standing (round)...66
14. Wuji Standing...68
15. Warm the Face..70
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16. Circumfluence Flap......71
17. Points for Attention...82
IV. Other Points for Attention..84
1. Keep your Shen in your center all the time....84
2. About life style84
3. About food..85
4. About training time.85
5. Feelings in training.88
6. Practice and knowledge..89
7. About home study...90
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8. About sexual activity..91
9. About strenuous sports92
10. About environment...93
11. Accumulate merits and virtues.94
Acknowledgment........95

Authors Preface
By studying, translating and practicing <The Real Meaning of Dao De
Jing>, and by exchanging experience with some Daoists for a long time,
my level on internal cultivation has been improved a lot again. Looking
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back on the path that I have come through, I now know there are some
detours that can probably be avoided. Internal cultivation is a quite
different realm with the external world. For research in the external world,
science works very efficiently in the recent centuries. Therefore, the
externalism thoughtway is rooted in the most brains, which is also called
scientism. However, the key of internal cultivation is uniting Shen and Qi
as one, only when we give up all wild thoughts as well as all intellectual
thoughts; it will be possible that to unite Shen and Qi unite. So here is no
room for displaying ones intellect. Many practitioners doing internal
cultivation their whole life, but never attain any significant achievement,
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the reason lies here. I have come through some detours before, the reason
is here too.
I think this apperception and experience is vital, so I am reworking the
Gongfu course. The new course is composed by three parts: 1. Internal
Cultivation Course Healing Part, which introduces how to attain a
internal balance and so that your Jing, Qi and Shen can be cultivated step
by step; 2. Internal Cultivation Course Power Part, which introduces
how to cultivate your power step by step, some self-defense skills are also
offered; 3. Internal Cultivation Course Dao Part, which is just the
inconceivable book Real Meaning of Dao De Jing.
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Internal cultivation is so wonderful, belief is the only portal; lets leave
external to science, and leave internal to ourselves (true I).

I. Elements
The Real Meaning of Dao De Jing explains the elements of internal
cultivation perfectly, it is suggested to read this immortal book again and
again, and the benefits you can attain from it will be inconceivable. Here I
offer a brief explanation.
First, lets review some concepts that are often used in internal
cultivation:
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Jing Jing can be considered as essential life substance, such as semen,
blood, saliva and hormone etc.
Qi(Chi) Qi can be considered as life energy. There are the one and only
congenital Qi and acquired Qi. The one and only congenital Qi is also
called original Qi, it is the manifestation of the Dao when it runs from
Wuji to Taiji. It is an absolute existence without an opposite side, so we
call it one and only. It is the ultimate source of all lives. The one and
only congenital Qi comes before God, and since it is an absolute
existence, it is impossible to explore it by external technology. The
acquired Qi come from food, water, atmosphere, heaven, sun, moon and
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stars, it can be divided into Yin Qi and Yang Qi, the feeling of Yin Qi is
cool, and the feeling of yang Qi is warm. The one and only congenital Qi
and acquired Qi are both vital for ones life, and only when you
experience them, will you really know them.
Shen Shen includes Shi Shen, Yin Shen and Yuan Shen (Yang Shen),
perhaps they correspond with mind, soul and spirit respectively. Acquired
Qi can nourish one's Yin Shen/soul, but your Yuan Shen/spirit can be
nourished by the one and only congenital Qi only. Yuan Shen/spirit is
what we say ones real nature, true I or real self etc, and in internal
cultivation, generally when we say Shen, we suggest Yuan Shen/spirit.
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Wuji It is the original state that can also be said as emptiness, there is
nothing that can be held or thought of, but all possibilities of creation are
there.
Taiji It is a state that is perfect round, it is born from Wuji, and it is one
and only without an opposite side.
Yin The character of the things such as the earth, moon, water, female,
coldness, darkness, quietness
Yang The character of the things such as the heaven, sun, fire, male,
warmth, brightness, activity
Center In internal cultivation, generally it suggests a room around the
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inner of the belly button, but again the space should not be strictly limited,
when you get into deep quietness and emptiness, sometime you will feel
it is an infinite space. It is also called mysterious hole or mysterious
entrance/portal, in some Daoist schools, it is also the same as Dantian.
Besides the Dao, all things have both Yin side and Yang side, and as a
healthy state, one must have a dynamic balance between Yin and Yang,
recover from imbalance to balance, this is called healing. A good health is
a necessary foundation of internal cultivation. Further, there are different
grades of balance, the Dao is the top grade, and it is an absolute existence,
there is neither Yin nor Yang. Recover from imbalance to balance, and
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then cultivate yourself from low grade balance to high grade balance, and
finally to the Dao, this process is called internal cultivation. The essential
way of internal cultivation is letting Yin and Yang unite as one, and
mainly, it is letting Shen and Qi unite as one. When Shen and Qi united,
Shen can be nourished by Qi naturally, Qi will not leak when Shen is
there, and so Qi will be accumulated more and more. Shen and Qi can
also help one to accumulate and refine his Jing. Thus, Jing, Qi and Shen
all can be cultivated little by little, and your internal world will be more
and more wonderful.
Well, lets start the wonderful internal cultivation travel now.
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II. Experience Relaxation
Internal cultivation seems strange; will it be very difficult to approach?
Take it easy, truth is always simple and easy to approach, so long as you
can believe it stably.
Lets just start from Relaxation. Relaxation is the basal natural state of
one's life, it is an inborn ability to stay in relaxation state, but somehow a
lot of individuals always have too much unnecessary tension, and perhaps
have not experienced real relaxation for a long time already. So here are
some simple exercises to let the practitioner get the feeling of relaxation
and then get back the inborn ability of relaxation.
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Relaxation means the muscles of the body not being contracted, and the
mind being quiet. It is a state where the brain, central nervous system, and
the muscles are at rest. But is it possible to relax all the muscles? No,
certain muscles must always be supporting the frame, otherwise one will
fall down. So relaxation means lack of any unnecessary tension. One
should not, however, take the approach of dividing the body into different
parts and different muscles but see it as a unity. The way of analyzing is
artificial; it is not the way to do internal cultivation. Analysis can explain
the theory, while the real thing can only be understood by personal
experience; both have their own value and use.
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In order to feel relaxation in its simplest form, stand still in a natural
posture, your hands hanging down relaxed on the sides. Note that if your
hands hang away from your body, it means you are tensing to keep them
up, once you relax them completely, they will hang down touching your
body. You may ask someone to grab your wrist and lift your hand and arm
up, and then let it loose, let it drop down. Here your friend can test
whether you are relaxed or not, if your hand feels light you are tensing up,
while a heavy hand is a sign of relaxation. That is because by tensing one
will keep the hand up with one's own strength, thus the other person does
not need to exert any strength. When he drops your hand, it should fall
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down immediately and slap your leg or hips when it comes down, any
delay before the hand falls down means tension. A relaxed hand feels like
a loose heavy rope, and feels and looks like one even if the other person
shakes it. Some might be able to do this right away, while for others it
might take a while to learn to let go of all tension. After you can do it, it is
time to move to the next exercise:
Exercise 1
Stand with your legs parallel, at about your shoulder width.
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Picture 1
Bend your waist forwards about 45 degrees, keeping your back straight.
Let your hands and shoulders hang down loosely.
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Picture 2
If you stay relaxed like that, without doing anything for a while you'll get
a heavy feeling in your hands due to the blood packing in there, but that is
not the purpose or the goal of this exercise. Next start moving your
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weight from one leg to another, keeping your hands and shoulders
completely relaxed. The movement caused by moving your weight will
make your hands wave like two big pendulums, or two thick and loose
ropes. Let the hands go with their own speed, don't even try control them.
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Picture 3
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Picture 4
If you ask another person to give a slight push to your hands at any
moment, your hands will give up and weave to the direction of the push
without any resistance. Again some might be able to do it right away, or
after a few minutes of practice, while for others it might take days, or
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even a couple of weeks to learn it, it all depends on the level one starts
from. Many practitioners even with dozens of years of experience might
lack this basic skill of relaxing, and some might have made their bodies
stiff and tense by incorrect practice. But even if you would find it difficult
to relax, remember that relaxation is inherent in every one of us, it is an
inborn and natural state of ours, only hindered by tension. Anyone can
attain it; all it takes is to stop tensing. For many people it might indeed be
more difficult not to do anything, than to do many things. After one has
learned to enter the state of relaxation in this simple movement, it is time
to extend this relaxed state into a slightly more complicated movement.
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Exercise 2
Just continue the first exercise, now unbend your waist, and stand straight
with your legs parallel at shoulder width, as if you were hanging from a
rope from the crown of your head. Let your hands hang down on your
sides. Then start turning your body back and forth around the central axis
using the waist only, and your upper body will naturally follow, but your
head keeps upright and does not turn with the body, the hands and
shoulders still being like loose ropes, or pendulums of a rattle-drum.
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Picture 5
Here you can feel your hands slapping your body in the front and behind.
You can try doing this movement with maximum speed, and if you do it
correctly, your relaxed hands will be hitting your shoulders or chest so
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hard that it hurts very much.
Picture 6
There's no need to keep doing the exercise with such speed and get
bruises, just try it to find out whether you can keep your hands and
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shoulders relaxed.
Picture 7
A qualified teacher can see it right away whether one is relaxed when one
does this, but without a teacher one has to count on one's own judgment.
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If the hands are moving together with the rotation of the waist, you are
tensing the shoulders. When the hands and shoulders are relaxed they will
follow the movement with a small delay and hit the body when it is
already turning to another direction. This collision will naturally change
the direction of the hands. It is most likely that the more one thinks of
one's hands and relaxing, the more one will actually tense. Forgetting the
hands and shoulders, letting go of the tension will help in relaxing them.
So a beginner can pay his or her attention to turning of the waist, make
sure one does the movement around the central axis, without moving the
buttocks from side to side. If the hands do not slap the body at every turn,
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another one in front and the other behind, it is a clear sign that one is
tensing them. The reason for the hands not slapping the body might be
unconscious fear, but after one can get over it, one will notice that there is
no pain involved.
After this has been learned, it is time to go on. What is meant by
"learned," is that one does it correctly every time. There are three phases
for each of these simple exercises: 1. "Completely wrong"; 2. "Partly
right, partly wrong"; and 3. "Always right." If one cannot overcome the
first phase in a few minutes, it's no use to keep on doing that exercise, but
one should move back to the previous exercise. In the second phase, one
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should do the exercise much, practice earnestly until one reaches the third
phase. After getting to the third stage one does not need to keep on doing
that exercise anymore, it has served its purpose, that is, given you a
feeling of a certain state. At that point it is time to move to the next
exercise. One can, however, always return to the previous exercise to get
a feeling of the correct state.
Now you have experienced the right feeling of relaxation, you may try to
keep this feeling anytime, anywhere, when you are walking, standing,
sitting or lying, often use a few seconds to check whether you are in
natural relaxation state or not, if not, adjust yourself immediately. When
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you find you are always in the right state, this exercise is complete over,
and it is not necessary to practice it any more.

III. Hunyuan Gong
Hunyuan means your Jing, Qi and Shen are completely united as one. The
original version of Huanyuan Gong comes from an old friend of mine,
who had learnt Dao cultivation from a Daoist in a high mountain for three
years. Later, I unite Hunyuan Zhuang (the Round Standing) with it, thus,
this manner comes into being. I have practiced it for years, and now this
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is still my favorite.
1. Wuji Standing
First, find a quiet place; it is the best there are big trees around. Stand
naturally, your feet at about shoulder width, the toes pointing forward or
slightly outward - try it by yourself and find the most comfortable
position for your feet. Your hands hang at two sides naturally. Sit down
slightly, as if you are sitting on a high stool, but do not push your stomach
out. Keep the head and spinal column upright, as if the spine is hanging
from a thread, but do not raise the chin. Close your eyes lightly. Touch the
palate by your tongue lightly; there is a point on the palate that Qi will
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leak from there if it is not shut by the tongue, so it is important to train a
habit, always touch the palate by your tongue lightly (dont do this too
forcible, that will result in unnecessary tension) whenever the tongue is free.
And shrink the anus slightly, anus is also a point that Qi will leak from
there if you do not shrink it a bit, try to form a habit, always shrink your
anus slightly (dont do this too forcible, that will result in unnecessary tension)
whenever it is free. These specifics are small knacks, but they are very
useful for your internal cultivation, dont neglect them.
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Picture 8
Stand naturally, keep relaxed and quiet, this is a state of Wuji actually.
Keep your Shen in your center naturally. Use your thoughts to keep your
Shen in your center. Your Shen will go where your thoughts go. But it is
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important to not focus too much on this. Try and not allow your mind
wander, but if it does, just bring it gently back to your center. At the same
time, feel the undulation of the inner breath which is just like a bellows in
your center. When you breathe in, your abdomen expands, and you feel
that Qi sinks down some; when you breathe out, your abdomen
compresses, and you feel that Qi raises some. Be sure that the inner
breath cannot be too high and also cannot be too low, if it works too
high, one will suffer from excessive internal heat; if it works too low, it
will result in nocturnal emission. And again, your attention on the inner
breath should not be over careful; it is just as if it exists, as if not. Keep
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this Wuji state as long as you like, and let Shen and Qi unite in your
center and nourish each other.
2. Turning Taiji (hands)
After stand in Wuji state for a long time (or just a while), suddenly, there is
a feeling as if Qi moves, this is what Taiji appears. Then swing your
hands following nature. The backs of hands forward, and the palms of the
hands backward, the left hand moves first, the right hand follows, draw
circles slowly (generally one circle for a breath) at two sides twelve times.
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Picture 9
If you feel Qi flows, or as if there is something moves you, and makes
your body shake, it is natural, just let it be and do not pay attention to it
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too much. Picture 10
3. Turning Taiji (shoulders)
Two arms hang naturally; two shoulders draw circles(back-up-front-down)
slowly 24 times.
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Picture 11
4. Warm the Eyes
Rub your palms each other to hot.
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Picture 12
Close your eyes, do gently massage on two eyes by your hot palms from
the middle to two sides 3 times.
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Picture 13
5. Warm the Face
Rub your hands each other to warm, and then massage your face slowly,
form the chin to two sides of the mouth, and then up to the two sides of
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your nose, then up to the forehead, and then down to the cheek, and
finally turn back to the chin. This is a circle; massage the face 9 circles by
your warm hands.
Picture 14
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6. Warm the Ears
Rub your hands each other to warm, and then massage your ears 18 times
by your warm hands.
Picture 15
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And then cover the ears by your palms, and put the fingers on the
occipital bone lightly, put the index finger upon the middle finger, and
then the index fingers slide down to knock the occipital bone, you will
hear a sound like a drum, repeat to knock for 24 times.
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Picture 16
7. Warm the Nose
Rub your thumbs each other to warm.
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Picture 17
And then rub two sides of your nose by your warm thumbs, 36 times.
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Picture 18
8. Knock the Teeth
Put down your hands slowly, and let them hang at two sides of your body
naturally. Close your mouth light; knock the upper teeth and the lower
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teeth each other with moderate force, 36 times.
Picture 19
And then stir your tongue between the teeth and lip,
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left-up-right-down-left for 18 circles, and then left-down-right-up-left for
18 circles.
Picture 20
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Then gargle 36 times by the saliva, and then swallow the saliva down in
three times.
Picture 21
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9. Collect Yin Qi from the Earth
Two hands move out slowly, the palms forward down to the earth and are
concave slightly, keep the fingers open, keep the wrists higher than the
hands. Raise two hands little by little, if you feel as if there is Qi that rises
following your hands, dont care this too much.
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Picture 22
When your hands are a bit higher than your shoulders,
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Picture 23
bend your elbows, and turn your palms slowly to face each other, your
will feel as if you are holding a ball of Qi, again dont care this much.
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Picture 24
Turn your palms toward the QiaoYin(the middle of two eyes), and press Qi
into your body via QiaoYin.
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Picture 25
Turn the palms downwards, the fingertips point at each other; fall slowly
to the front of the lower abdomen.
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Picture 26
If you feel Qi rolls over and over in your heart, slow down the falling
speed, but your attention can not stay here.
10. Hunyuan Standing (low)
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Two palms face each other at the front of the lower abdomen, the arms
form a semicircle, the elbows brace out, the fingers point at each other, as
if hold a Qi ball.
Picture 27
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Keep 24 breathes (breathe in and breathe out one time is a breath). And keep
your Shen in your center naturally.
11. Collect Yang Qi from the Heaven
Two hands move out slowly, the palms forward up to the heaven and are
concave slightly, keep the fingers open. Raise two hands little by little, if
you feel as if there is Qi press your hands, never mind.
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Picture 28
When your hands are higher than your shoulders, bend your elbows, put
two hands above your head,
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Picture 29
and turn your palms towards Baihui(the top of your head), and press Qi into
your body via Baihui.
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Picture 30
Then two hands fall slowly to the front of the lower abdomen.
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Picture 31
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Picture 32
12. Hunyuan Standing (low)
Two palms face each other at the front of the lower abdomen, the arms
form a semicircle, the elbows brace out, the fingers point at each other, as
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if hold a Qi ball.
Picture 33
Keep 36 breathes. And keep your Shen in your center naturally.
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13. Hunyuan Standing (round)
Raise your hands to the shoulder level slowly; keep the arms round, as if
you are holding a ball of Qi. Do not raise the elbows to the same level
with the hands and the shoulders, but do not let them hang too low either.
Your palm and fingers are opened as if you are holding a rubber ball in
each hand, and your fingers support slightly as if you are nipping some
cotton between the fingers, and also as if try to break loose some ties
extrinsic (with a light attention on this only, dont over do it, that will
result in unnecessary tension).
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Picture 34
Keep relaxed and quiet, this is also a state of Taiji actually. Keep your
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Shen in your center naturally. At the same time, feel the undulation of the
inner breath which is just like a bellows in your center. And again, your
attention on the inner breath should not be over careful; it is just as if it
exists, as if not. Keep this Wuji state as long as you like and can, and let
Shen and Qi unite in your center and nourish each other.
In the beginning, perhaps you are able to hold this posture for a few
minutes only, dont worry and dont hurry, just change to Wuji standing.
So long as you practice properly and studiously, you will be able to keep
this posture for about twenty minutes or more each time soon.
14. Wuji Standing
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Put your hands down slowly, and let them hang at two sides of your body
naturally, it is just the same as the beginning.
Picture 35
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We start from Wuji, run to Taiji, and then Yin and Yang are born from
Taiji, then Yin and Yang united as one to be Taiji, now we turn back Wuji
again. Keep this Wuji state as long as you like, and let Shen and Qi unite
in your center and nourish each other.
15. Warm the Face
When you feel it is the time to finish, rub your palms each other to warm,
and then massage your face slowly, form the chin to two sides of the
mouth, and then up to the two sides of your nose, then up to the forehead,
and then down to the cheek, and finally turn back to the chin. This is a
circle; massage the face 9 circles by your warm hands.
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Picture 36
Now open your eyes slowly, and do the circumfluence flap below.
16. Circumfluence Flap
With your right palm slap your left arm repeatedly, moving from the
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shoulder to the hand on the inner side. Each slap should overlap so that
the entire area is covered. Then slap back from the hand to the shoulder
along the outer side; do this three times.
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Picture 37
Now change hand; use your left hand to slap the right arm just as above.
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Picture 38

Then use your two hands to slap the front of your body from the top
down. Again, do this three times.
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Picture 39
Slap the back of your body from the top down three times too.
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Picture 40
Now, slap your legs along the outer flank from the top down and slap
along the inner side from the bottom to the top, three times.
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Picture 41
Then slap the middle line of your body, one hand slaps the front of your
body, and the other hand slaps the back of your body at the same time,
from the top down, alternately for three rounds.
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Picture 42
79
Picture 43
At last, your right hand slaps the left Jianjing(the middle between the shoulder
and the neck) nine times,
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Picture 44
and your left hand slaps the right Jianjing nine times.
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Picture 45
You may repeat to do the circumfluence flap a few times, if you have
enough time. This exercise also can be done as a supplemental exercise at
the beginning or end of each training session.
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Ok, now you have practiced the whole Hunyuan Gong over, just take a
walk for a while. And then you can do other things normally.
17. Points for Attention
This formula is easy for us to make progress; especially it is very helpful
for the practitioner to experience and accumulate Qi rapidly. But please
notice that your Shen grows slowly, here is a danger that it will result in
an imbalance between your Qi and Shen, and then the Qi will be out of
control. Therefore, every time after three months practice, please stop
practice it for a month, just read the Real Meaning of Dao De Jing, or you
can do some movements that will be offered in the power cultivation part.
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So that your Shen can grow naturally, and catch up with the speed of your
Qi cultivation, and then you can keep a balance between them. And
anytime if you feel the state is going to be out of control, please stop to
practice it immediately, even if you have not practiced it for three months
yet. Wait your Shen grows and the balance between your Qi and Shen is
regained, then you can start practice it again.
Hunyuan Gong is simple but profound; it is not only for healing. Actually,
the essence of power cultivation is here; the essence of Dao cultivation is
here too.
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VI. Other Points for Attention
1. Keep your Shen in your center all the time
Internal cultivation is a full time job, not only in the dedicated training,
you ought to keep your Shen in your center naturally, but also in all the
time, youd better to form a habit to keep your Shen in your center
naturally. And this will not impede you to do other things; on the contrary,
it will be an enhancement to for your living.
2. About life style
Since you have attached yourself in internal cultivation, your life style
will not too bad. Just in case you have not waked up to something. Brief
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speaking, a simple life style is very helpful for ones internal cultivation.
If you really want to attain a great achievement of internal cultivation, it
is necessary to retreat from the unnecessary worldly things little by little,
and to be as simple as possible.
3. About food
Youd better eat fresh and light food, such as vegetable and fruit etc.
Fragrant food and peppery food will dissipate your congenital Qi, often
eating meat or fish will result in your acquired Qi being coarse, be careful!
And do not eat too full each time.
4. About training time
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Following this course, just experience relaxation first; when you mastered
the relaxation state well, it is not necessary to practice these relaxation
exercises any more. Only when you feel that you lost the proper
relaxation state, you can turn back the relaxation exercises to get the
proper feeling. After experience relaxation for a few days or a few weeks,
you can focus on Hunyuan Gong. Generally, you can practice Hunyuan
Gong once each day, and each time the entire practice duration can be
around two hours, of course, you may reduce or increase the duration
according to your condition.
In addition, according to my personal experience, all time are good time,
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whenever you have the time to practice, all will be good, unless if you eat
too much or when you are very hungry.
This is a correspondence course for one year, but it does not mean you
can finish Hunyuan Gong in one year. Actually, it can be practiced for
many years; some practitioners even practice it lifelong. One year
correspondence and practice can just let you grasp the essentiality of
Hunyuan Gong. Again, it is also not fixed that you must practice
Hunyuan Gong for one year first and then you are able to take the further
course after. If you have grasped its essentiality well, and you have
accumulated Qi a lot, it is allowed to go further even if you have just
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practice Hunyuan Gong for a few months.
5. Feelings in training
Generally, one will get some special feeling in sometime of training, such
as: feel some part or whole body warm, cold, itch, pain, tingling like light
pins and needles, heavy, light etc.. You may experience some of them or
all of them, these feelings indicate your Qi is increased, and the body is in
a good adjusting. But don't pay much attention to these feelings, dont be
scared, and also dont expect the special feelings, dont try to keep them,
just following nature, these are some lower feelings of Qi, they will
disappear naturally when you advanced, and you will find more
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wonderful sensations ahead.
6. Practice and knowledge
It is necessary to learn the knowledge of internal cultivation, but the more
important thing is practice. I did meet some individuals who had
multifarious knowledge of internal cultivation, but they neither had a
good health, nor had a good power, and say nothing of spirituality. We
call these guys wastebin; they can talk about a lot of specious theories,
but do not have any true experience. Dont run into the self-cheat trap, if
you have not experienced something personally, you cannot really
understand it. Practice and more practice, when you get actual progress,
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when the internal Jing, Qi and Shen improved, your wisdom will be
improved naturally, and you will understand many things by yourself
naturally.
7. About home study
Some may ask: Can we really learn internal cultivation from a home
study course?
My answer: of course we can! Internal cultivation is a process of
self-realization. The teacher can just lead you come into the door, other
things depend on yourself. In ancient years, communication is not
convenient, and many secrets of internal cultivation are not revealed on
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the paper, so the students have to learn internal cultivation face to face.
Now, things are changed, it is very convenient to communicate with each
other even if we are far-between. What the teacher can tell you orally,
they can also be expressed by long distance communication; by pictures
and videos, some forms and actions that are hard to be described can also
be expressed now. Internal cultivation cannot rely on the external persons
or things two much. If you place all your hope on an external teacher, that
will be foolish. Lao Zi says: You go out farther, you know less. Why
not stay in home and keep your spirit in your center?
8. About sexual activity
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Frequent sexual activities will consume a lot of Jing and Qi. But we do
not advocate forbidding sexual activity forcibly, things will be even worse.
Nothing is forced in this course, just following nature. When you get
quietness and stay there in more and more time, when your Jing has been
accumulated more and more, you will decrease the desires of sex
naturally. And sometime when you cumulate Qi too fast, you have an
imbalance between Qi and Shen, doing sexual activity will be a very
efficient way to get back the balance.
9. About strenuous sports
The strenuous sports such as boxing, climbing mountain and football etc.
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will also consume a lot of Jing and Qi, and if you indulge in these
strenuous sports, your heart will go crazy, that will harm your internal
cultivation. However, sometime when you cumulate Qi too fast, you have
an imbalance between Qi and Shen, doing strenuous sports is also a very
efficient way to get back the balance.
10. About environment
We are influenced by environment every moment. A good environment
will help your internal cultivation greatly; on the contrary, a bad
environment will impede your internal cultivation a lot. Choose a good
environment to live, and try your best to protect and improve it, another
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side, make friends with nice individuals, this will improve your social
environment.
If the weather is bad (rain, snow, wind or thunder), dont practice outside.
It is a good choice to do internal cultivation in home.
Something special: don't touch cold water just after training; dont be
exposed under cold wind; in training, the pores of your body are open, if
you wash your body or hands by cold water or exposed under cold wind
just after training, it is easy to be sick.
11. Accumulate merits and virtues
Everything you think, everything you do, God knows! Nothing is for no
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reason at all. This internal cultivation is a repayment of your merits and
virtues. Only when you have accumulated enough merits and virtues, you
have the fortune to meet this course, further, you are able to comprehend
it properly, and you have the conditions to practice. And your merits and
virtues are the best safeguard of your internal cultivation. Accumulate
merits and virtues whenever you have the chance, thats something
important for your life which can really be grasped by yourself.
Acknowledgment
First, lets appreciate all internal cultivation predecessors, especially Lao
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Zi and Huang Yuanji; they are illuminating the way of internal cultivation
for us.
On the way that I grow up in the internal cultivation world, many friends
have helped me, and these helps are vital to me, utmost thanks to them
all!
Kevin Pinkerton had given me some useful suggestions on this part,
thanks a lot to him here!
Li Jiong
24
th
Jan 2006
In Hangzhou