Author Topic: Practicing Qigong and yoga  (Read 753 times)

markern

  • Posts: 171
Practicing Qigong and yoga
« on: October 06, 2008, 10:45:28 PM »
I have been practicing yoga for quite some time and I have a little bit of experience with tai chi and qigong. I have read that a lot of people here, cinluding Yogani, practice tai chi in addition to AYP. I am wondering if you consider practicing qigong in addition to yoga safe? As I understood Yogani in a previous post it seems like what he thinks is dangerous is mixing powerfull alchemical practices and breathing practices and meditations from different traditions while blending asanas and other milder energywork like tai chi can be fine. However, in qigong there seems to be a bit more specific manipulation of energy. It also has a bit different principles for aligning and using the body than yoga (it seems to me at least), so I can see there might be some conflict. However, the qigong I want to use is a very normal qigong practice only aiming for general health, it is not specificly geared towards spiritual purposes. That I would think makes it more compatible with yoga. What do you guys think? My reason for wanting to try this is that although I love my yoga, it is so physical that it is not as easy to realy get into the energyflow as in the easy standing postures and extreemly slow movements of qigong. I have also come across a qigong class my accupuncturist says is especialy good for health purposes and strongly recommends.

emc

  • Posts: 2055
Practicing Qigong and yoga
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2008, 10:21:01 PM »
Hi markern

This has been discussed a lot. If you use the search engine on the forum you'll probably find many topics.

Just a quick answer:

The danger with mixing practices is overload. And when it comes to overload we have to find our own limits and try out slowly what levels of self-pacing is necessary.

Myself, I found that practicing medical qi gong, zinheng qi gong, once a week was far too powerful for me in combination with AYP meditation, so I had to quit. I do it occasionally if I have lots of tensions in my body or feel low in energy, otherwise, I get nausea rather quick just after a few movements.

It all depends on where you are on your journey...

Try it out, but be careful! [:)]