| Testimonials - Fa Soong Gong for Relaxation
Fa Soong Gong (also transliterated as
Fang Song Gong)
Many people enjoy the Fa Soong Gong because it is easy to feel
relaxed and to experience the sensation of qi (internal energy) in the
hands. They are pleasantly surprised at how simple but yet profound
these movements are. Many have also found that doing the Fa Soong Gong
before any sitting or standing meditation helps to settle the mind and
enables them to be deeply absorbed in their meditation practices.
"I
have been a student of Fa Soong Gong and Hun Yuan Tai Chi 24 Form
for over two years. As a busy working mother of two young
children, managing a small team in the Public Service ........... life
can become quite hectic.
I find that practising Fa Soong Gong has given me the ability to find a
new level of peace and calm and allowed me some time to
myself. I can really feel the warmth and energy flowing throughout my
body and that my energy is becoming more balanced. This universal
energy continues to flow into my practice of Hun Yuan Tai Chi 24 Form.
It has made me more aware of the tension that I hold in my body,
especially in my shoulder and neck, from working in front of a computer
all day.
It is worth a try if you are a busy working Mum like myself."
Lyn, Busy Working Mum in the Public Service
"I
first started learning Tai Chi whilst living in London over twenty years
ago. All this time, I have struggled the most with the practice of
Quiet Standing. After working all day, cooking dinner, doing the dishes
and getting the kids ready for bed, all I feel like doing is collapsing
into a chair. So meditating standing up is really the last thing I'd
like. My body often aches and it is difficult to really relax.
Since we have started doing the Fa Soong Gong exercises, I have found
that the gentle rocking motion from side to side in combination with the
subtle arm movements very soothing to my body. Layers of my day seem to
fall away, my breathing deepens and my brain actually manages to stop
thinking! It is so calming that by the time we switch to Quiet
Standing, I am already in a state of meditation which I can sustain for longer.
It's amazing. I always leave class feeling refreshed and glad I
made the effort to go."
Jennifer, Photographer
"Fa Soong Gong
is probably my favourite part of my Tai Chi practice. Before I
began to learn Tai Chi, I was very stressed. I was busy balancing
work with graduate study and a semblance of a home life. I had
difficulty focusing, and found myself getting easily irritated by
seemingly trivial details.
From the moment that I first tried Fa Soong Gong, I began to
relax. I had tried sitting meditation before, but found it hard to
concentrate. I found Fa Soong Gong much more comfortable and
easier to practise as it is performed in a standing position, and
gradually moves from slow circling movements to tranquil and natural
stillness. I immediately felt more centred, and noticed that I was
able to free my mind from worries and random thoughts with relative
ease.
Since I began
to practise Fa Soong Gong, many people have commented on how much
happier and healthier I appear. I got married six months after I began
to learn the Hun Yuan form, and my friends and family were amazed at how
calm and collected I was during the preparations. Of course, the Fa
Soong Gong practice helped tremendously."
Serina, Public Servant
“I
find the Fa Soong Gong an extremely efficient way to slow down and relax
from the stresses and pace of daily life.
If
there are time constraints and I cannot fit the Hun Yuan Qigong set into
my routine, I will use this as my preparation for the form with great
results. I also practise the Fa Soong Gong before commencing my Tai Chi
Bang training. For me, it is a very real reminder of the mind/body
connection referred to in Tai Chi literature.”
Dave, Carer, Environmental Consultant
"Fa
Soong Gong exercises for me are all about concentration and relaxation.
If I concentrate on the intent of the exercise, I can begin to feel the
energy move through my body and my hands and feet warming up! Through
this concentration, I find my body slowly relaxing and my mind clearing
which makes Quiet Standing more
effective.”
Callum, Student
“The practice of Tai Chi has changed the quality of my
life and resulted in health benefits beyond my expectations.
I came to Tai Chi about three years ago following a long period of pain
from a severely frozen shoulder. Although months of excellent
physiotherapy had enabled me to use my left arm again, I knew that there
were changes needed at a more fundamental and integrated level. I was
looking for some kind of holistic approach where both my mind and my
joints would experience a new level of relaxation.
At that stage, I did not really understand much about the underlying
philosophy and principles of Tai Chi and imagined I was going to a class
where I would learn to do some gentle exercises in a graceful sequence.
So began my Tai Chi journey.
There is much I could comment on but I would like to say something about
my experience of the Fa Soong Gong segment of training.
Although I read, and was told early on, that Fa Soong Gong and the Quiet
Standing that follows were the inner core of foundation training, it
took quite a while for me to appreciate just what that meant. At first,
I was a bit impatient doing the very slow Fa Soong Gong exercises and
then ‘just standing there’ with my mind buzzing. I was a bit
relieved when it was over as I wanted to get on to ‘the real stuff’,
where I could see and feel my arms and legs ‘doing Tai Chi’ – the
graceful sequence I had imagined! How little I knew!
Gradually, however, I began to understand and appreciate the different
aspects of training, and can now feel the difference in both mind and
body. I have come to enjoy and look forward to the measured and
repetitive nature of the Fa Soong Gong exercises as I feel myself
slowing down and relaxing. For me, these exercises provide an excellent
transition between the Warm-ups and the Quiet Standing. The ones I
particularly like doing are Turning the Wheel and the Double Wrist Spin,
during which I can really feel my joints opening out. I also welcome
the feeling of muscles relaxed in preparation for Quiet Standing.
For me, Fa Soong Gong is now definitely part of ‘the real stuff’.”
Jane, Retired
"Since I began to practise Fa Soong Gong, my wife has commented on how
much happier, healthier and relaxed I appear, and indeed my stress
levels have already begun to diminish.
While I am very new to Tai Chi, I already get a strong feeling of
achievement and relaxation after completing the Fa Soong Gong exercises.
Having completed the Beginners’ Course, I am very keen to practise and
refine my Tai Chi exercises and form in the next level."
Alan, Public Servant
Fa Soong Gong has made a great difference to me both in
doing the form and in my daily life. I had a sort of frozen shoulder on
which years of massages had had no effect. But one time when I was
doing the initial Fa Soong Gong exercise, I felt the shoulder give and
now I can relax it as never before. I am now often aware when I am
tensing up, say shoulders and neck, and know what to do about it. My
body seems to have adopted relaxation as the norm and sends me a
message. One good thing about it is that you learn to relax while you
are moving your body. I still have a long way to go but it has changed
the way I do the form. I look forward to the day when I have achieved
through the whole of the form, the same feeling of relaxation, and
movement of what I think must be “qi”, as I now get doing Fa Soong
Gong. I have enjoyed the challenge of adopting the principles into some
daily activities – maintaining the feeling of relaxation when walking,
using the computer, etc.
Lois, Retired Teacher
"I'm just back from a wonderful six week holiday
–
staying in places with very limited space for practising the Tai Chi
form. However, there WAS space for the Fa Soong Gong exercises, and so
I was able to keep these going – with really good results – improved
relaxation (important when you're travelling) and they helped keep me
flexible. One day near the end of a long coach trip, I thought I was
going to be stuck permanently in one position, but twenty minutes of Fa
Soong Gong in the evening helped enormously, and this reminded me about
the importance of relaxing during the actual travel as well as after it.
So I occasionally ‘did’ Fa Soong Gong in my head, as best I could, and
also found I could go through some of the Tai Chi form in my head, which
was fun."
Nancy, Librarian
'I
love the Fa Soong Gong exercises. When I first started doing Tai Chi, I
loved the speed with which it fixed a whole lot of physical problems I'd
been having. However, I really hated the Quiet Standing – either it
hurt my back, or my legs started trembling, or the soles of my feet felt
as if they were on fire. As for clearing my mind, forget it! The Fa
Soong Gong exercises that we now do before the Quiet Standing are great
because they give me time to relax my body, rather than suddenly
expecting it to stand still. They also let me move gradually into a
meditative state of mind. Nowadays, I feel refreshed and relaxed after
the Quiet Standing instead of just feeling irritable and exhausted."
Frankie, Public Servant
"I
consider Fa Soong Gong the elixir of calmness. The benefits to me are
both physical and emotional. They leave me in the position where I
settle immediately into a deep level when doing Quiet Standing. I
practise both regularly and think this constant practice is important.
The physical benefits I attribute to Fa Soong Gong include generally
being more flexible, especially in my lower back (there is a lot of
gentle waist rotation and this results in gentle massage to the spine)
and opening up my joints, especially my shoulder joints.
Emotionally, I benefit from Fa Soong Gong because of the warm calmness
that surrounds me during and after my practice. We all weave very
intricate webs of life and our lives can be very busy and/or
complicated. Slowing down and empting my mind is – as the MasterCard ad
says – priceless. I try to empty my mind and I am usually successful at
this. Sometimes, without thinking of a problem or issue, I find the
solution pops into my mind. On a mesenteric level, I guess this is
related to surrendering my mind to allow the universe to solve my
problem for me. I don’t question this aspect of Fa Soong Gong – just
marvel at the problem solving outcomes.
I enjoy the energy created by the group Fa Soong Gong. If I cannot
attend class for some reason, I will attend to participate in Fa Soong
Gong and Quiet Standing and then leave. I consider Fa Soong Gong and
Quiet Standing relieve me of my worldly woes and at the same time create
inner calm and energy. I always have high energy levels."
Maria, Health Professional
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