I have been practicing an advanced form of qigong for almost 5 years now. The name of this practice is Falun Dafa.Have you ever heard of or seen Tai Chi? Falun Dafa is similar and yet very different. It is similar in
sense that is has slow and gentle movements. It is dissimilar in sense that it is easy to learn. There are only 5 gentle exercises to that are so simple and easy to learn that a small child or an extremely elderly person could still learn and do them.
Another major advantage that Falun Dafa has is that it is free to learn and practice. There are no class fees or ongoing monthly dues to pay. You can download video instructions from a Falun Dafa web site or you can learn from an actual volunteer instructor.
The volunteer instructors can be found in almost every major city around world. And they won't charge anything to teach you this wonderful, energizing, health promoting exercise practice. I know this for a fact because I also serve as a volunteer instructor in Kansas City area.
So what have I obtained from practice after 5 years? That's an easy and exciting question to answer. After just two months of this practice, a nagging and recurring back pain that I had for many years went away. I was able to stop getting back treatments from my chiropractor. That was 5 years ago and I haven't needed any further treatment since.
What is exciting about above example is that previously I tried many things to alleviate my back problem. Nothing else worked!
I've always been relatively healthy with only minor health issues throughout my life. I have met other people that had more severe health issues that also received total relief from practicing Falun Dafa.
What do exercises entail? Let's talk about them here.
What I'm about to describe is from my own experiences, if you would like a more accurate description and explanation of exercises, please reference a book by Li, Hongzhi, man who brought Falun Dafa out to public. The name of his book is Falun Gong. You can get a copy of his book for free from main Falun Dafa web site, falundafa.org.
The first exercise is a gentle one that involves stretching from head to toe. To perform one cycle of exercise takes about 3 or 4 minutes. It is done from a standing position with knees and hips relaxed, until gentle upward stretch that accompanies each of exercise's movements.
When practiced this 3 or 4 minute exercise is usually repeated three times. In normal circumstances, it takes about 12 minutes to repeat this exercise a total of three times.
The second exercise is a standing stance with 4 positions. Each position is held for a length of time that can vary depending on ability of practitioner. In beginning it would be fine to just hold each position for maybe 1 minute each or even less, depending on person's ability and comfort zone.
Advanced practitioners might work up to as long as 7 minutes or more for each position. However, you can gradual improve your time according to your own wishes and abilities.
The third exercise is a gentle exercise where you move your arms up and down in front of body. In first half of this exercise hands go in opposite directions. In second half, arms go in same direction. Each repetition of exercise
takes about 3 minutes. Generally, when practiced, people will repeat this exercise three times, for a total duration of about 9 minutes.
The fourth exercise is similar but different in that hands trace a path around entire body. The path travels along front of body and then up back of body. The hands reach about level of mid-back before being brought in front of body again. The path is traced for a total of 9 times constituting one repetition of exercise.
