Bigu experience?

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Pigu is a very broad subject and the ways to use this with patients/students is correspondingly broad as well. Our use of pigu with patients is largely described in the pigu text by Master Tam. The application, however, does vary from patient to patient. The basic (or ideal) way of working with patients is as follows:

Fast Length - anywhere from 7 to 45 days depending on patient and purpose.

Type of Fast - ranges from water to a simple meal daily or slightly more for patients with certain medical conditions. For longer fasts this varies as well with small "breaking" of the fasts throughout a longer time frame.

Patient involvement - for us we have the patients do 2 main things - the first is the qigong exercise the Tai Chi Dao Yin (which is described in the pigu text, as well as in the Tai Chi Dao Yin text). They do the exercise twice daily and then when hunger is strong - essentially they get the urge to eat, do qi gong, if they feel good then don't eat, if still hungry, the have something. Part of the work here is to break emotional and bio-chemical addictions to food - eating out of habit, etc. and reseting/training the bodies metabolism so it works more efficiently. The second main thing is either Tong Ren (daily) as you describe and/or visits to a Tong Ren practitioner (usually weekly) who can "charge" their energy similar to the ways most qigong masters do for their students. This simply helps their qigong and keeps their energy elevated. Not every qigong master can do this well, however, and not every person can accommodate the energy in their body well so the fasts have to be varied accordingly until the persons system is stronger.

With these steps the vast majority of people have no problem going through the fast. You do have to work with people though and perhaps start with shorter ones until you do longer periods. It is safer for the person this way and will lead to better results over the long run than doing too much initially.

Comment by Archived User

You glibly mention qigong masters charging theri students with energy. Can you explain this - Is sounds like a phenenomona form a western perspective. Where can reliable info be found about it?

Thak you

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

This isn't to sidestep the conversation, but my answer to questions like this is that you train with a teacher and experience it yourself. We could talk about this forever, but without talking about personal experience it is all one-sided. You don't read about attainment, you attain, and then share with others. If you are interested in matters such as this, I suggest that you find a teacher and train with them.

When people have experience and training, ideally in the same field (meditation, tai chi, etc.) you can have in-depth conversations which are beneficial to all involved. When people are stuck at the simple existence of generally accepted phenomena (among people with personal training/experience), there is little that can be talked about that is beneficial to either party.

Most aspects of qi gong, tai chi, and even acupuncture simply have to be experienced. Then when people have first hand experience of these phenomena they can entertain and discuss theories about why these things are happening and what is behind these sensations, effects, etc.

Comment by Archived User

Dear Eric/Hanuman~

I love your spiritual name!

My experience with pi gu practice is I consumed reading Tom Tam's interpretation while

training with him, tai chi and tong ren and chigong energy practice in a large group setting.

For me, I understood it was not to be fasting per se. The guidance was to eat when hungry.

This was new for me to step out of regular time for meals which I had been conditioned by for

many years here in America. I realized I didn't know when I was hungry; that I hadn't been hungry for a very long time.

I did the daily exercises recommended in his book that include chigong standing practice, building the chi in the lower dantien and circulating chi and building in all 3 triple burners. And, one that I found potent for me was imaging my stomach and compaciting the chi with my palms before my belly. Also, rubbing my belly clockwise and counterclockwise when grounding the chi down my central channel to close my morning practice.

Naturally, I was eating more like one main meal a day and perhaps a piece of fruit and vegies.

I released about a pound a day, 14 pounds in 2 weeks!

It was a miracle for me to realize that this pigu/chigong state could help rev my metabolism and help me be more in tune with when I am hungry and eat then, not from habit or emotional reasons.

Sounds to me that you were following a protocol you thought was right while you continued to have your body become weaker. Rest is so important in this practice, to relax when energy is low, and not push ourselves or false revving with caffeine.

Were you trying to release weight or toxins in your body? From what you said, perhaps you were in a healing crises when you felt weakened and you body was naturally healing and coming more into balance.

During weight loss class with Tom and other practitioners, we do put the lazer on ST meridian, but usually lower toward the abdomen, T24-26 and also CV 4-6 and as we relax as a group, several practitioners are intending shrinking our stomach with chigong energy and movement.

For fun, we have measured our waists and hips prior to an hour pi gu weight loss class and afterwards. We have lost inches from 1/4 to one woman who shrunk 2 and 1/2 inches in 1 class! We also have a scale and people have lost 1/4 pound to several pounds.

Each person's body is unique to their own way of storing fat, water, lymph flow etc.

Thank you for sharing your experience and I hope mine is helpful to you!

Nancy Grace Rosen, M.C.