Soft Style Qigong Principles- brief on yi, qi, blood

    Soft style principles set an internal foundation for goodness by correcting the mishaps of imbalanced responsibility, passion and/or drive. All three are important but without the right mindset from the beginning you will lack the knowledge to adequately apply yourself to heal and build a solid root in practicing your honorable way. 

​    Learning how to handle your physiological and emotional environment will strengthen you to handle the circumstantial hardships that life will throw at you. With these foundations your personal application of the art will be widespread and in turn benefit your whole life. This is another/ the main reason I say soft style is the foundation for hard style. If only the hard style is trained without the soft there is much higher risk of succumbing to your own ego and the natural inflation that comes from witnessing one’s growth in personal strength. So every time we train we are drawing from our eternal spring within. Every time we train it is as if we are drinking a glass of water, remembering where it came from. Your discipline, passion, and drive to find your way, a good way. The Way. This starts with the phrase...

Mind calm blend with the universe!

A calm mind brings down the natural resistance we have to our opposite. This allows us to open ourselves up to learning yin + yang as well as nurtures empathy towards the subconscious parts of ourselves and other people. This tranquility grants us the opportunity to be aware of, listen to, and learn from yin and yang which draws them closer together in us. In time this puts us in place as the pivot of yin and yang. This path culminates as us authentically being ourselves while blending with the universe. So calmness of mind is a cornerstone for balancing ourselves and building a deeper relationship with all of existence.
​
Our Soft Style foundations can be summed up in 3 phrases:

• Invest in loss and return to the root.
• Mind calm blend with the universe. (this is an applicable take on the two foundational sayings of kwan ying dao “punch the southern tiger from its mountain, and kick the northern dragon from its sea”)
• Yi moves Qi, Qi moves blood.
  • In application this basically means keep Yin (principles, knowledge + substance) and Yang (coordinated movement, testing + application) close and there will always be evolving results. 
  • Yi intention, when properly placed, builds application through following the flow of qi this then brings the blood, as blood flow is a physiological result of stimulation in a particular way. 
  • Blood is synonymous with results in this case because yi (intentional will) inspires actions which move Qi (relationships and circumstance) in a direction that brings blood (results)

​Basic theory of our QiGong practice: Keep yin + yang close with awareness, action, and tranquility, then there will be steady Chi (Qi) and movement. MOVEMENT = LIFE

Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Yi moves Chi, Chi moves Blood. The path that Chi flows is led, assisted, and supported by the Tao. (Tao is loosely translated as the great way, in short it is the way that everything works. It is the inseparable unity and function of yin and yang) These three are also partially how yin and yang are reflected in how each individual person conducts or lives their life. They can be loosely classified as Yi is yang, Chi/Qi is the relationship between the two and Blood is Yin.

In the next few posts I'll dive specifically into our principles that form the basis of how we practically apply the ideas of yi, qi + blood as a part of our Tao or way of life.