White Crane prequisites question

[Yue]

I know that Dr. Yang recommends I think it was six months of soft qigong and then six months of hard qigong before training white crane gongfu, but is that completely necessary? Can white crane still be trained successfully without it?

[yat_chum]

The White Crane I was taught, traditionally began with about eight months to a year of Sam Chien.

[Yue]

Also, as a P.S. (I forgot to put this in the first post, sorry) I read in the White Crane book that to truly master Jin techniques it is a necessity to learn small and grand circulation. Is this an exaggeration, or do I really have to learn those excersises? I would prefer not to have to dabble in small circulation for a while because I have to learn to calm my mind first, which will take a LOOONG time for me

[Dvivid]

You just answered your own question. You NEED to do soft qigong and meditate for six months to move forward. Once you dedicate yourself to six months every day, the rest will come much easier for you. Four gates develops naturally during soft qigong. Calming your mind and small circulation both happen naturally during soft qigong.

Make the time for yourself, make it happen.

Decide now that it will NOT take a LOOONG time for you, and it won't.

The Yi Leads the Qi.

[Yue]

Thanks. I guess I'm mostly apprehensive about small circulation because of all the dangers associated with it. What did you mean when you said that small circulation happens naturally during soft qigong? You lost me on that part.

[Dvivid]

This discussion belongs in the Qigong forum. Read about Small Circulation in more detail there.

Small Circulation happens all day, every day naturally. It develops and becomes stronger when you practice the spine waving movements of soft Qigong.

Small circulation is really not dangerous if done correctly, and you should not be afraid to practice qigong.

Rather than worry about it, just practice soft qigong and you'll feel the small circulation developing on its own.


http://www.ymaa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1367

[fearless93]

does it have to be soft then hard

[jfraser]

W What is the best reference on the spine waving Qigong Practice?

[Dvivid]

Dr. Yang recommends soft before hard. Its is easier to learn, rather than developing hardness, and then trying to learn softness.

"BEST spine waving reference"?
http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/dvd/qigong_DVD/shaolin_white_crane_qigong_DVD

"Least expensive?"
http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/dvd/qigong_DVD/simple_qigong_back_painDVD

[darth_freak]

but when you do qigong hard you'll have to do soft just after. So if you plan an hour of hard qigong you should know that you'd need as much soft.

[Dvivid]

When I say "soft before hard", I mean train soft qigong for 6 or 12 months until you really get it, before you start any hard training.

After that, you can mix them, and yes Darth - then train soft to cool down after hard qigong...

[darth_freak]

well I said that because when you read the first it may seem like 6 months soft, no hard then 6 months hard no soft. So I wanted to say that hard has to be followed by soft especially if trained diligently during 6 months