Questions about storing Qi

Your teacher is of course the best person to ask. My guess is she is telling you what I tell my students and that is not to focus on it. It if best to just let whatever is going to happen, happen - otherwise without intending to you will create stagnation. As for storing, generally before and after form practice some period of standing meditation with -light- focus on the dantian should accomplish the grounding that she is referring to.

Hi Matthew,
Your questions is a normal and usual one a beginner may have besides the question of how to breath when doing the form. It tells me that you are doing the one thing my teacher emphasized when I began - “abdomen relaxed, breathing calm”. Why? Because people need to appreciate having a portion of their awareness focused on their dantian, which you obviously are doing. This focus allows for a relaxed diaphragm, lungs, and abdominal muscles so that you can take in and "store more qi. Sort of like an energy savings account. When this account is much fuller your teacher will begin to share with you ways to then use your mindfulness of your qi to distribute it in various systems of your body for your healing. But as the other respondents have written, this is not a process you need or want to rush in any way. Your qi will naturally store there as long as your mind is focused there. That is in the maxim: “where the mind goes, qi will go also”. Right now Matthew, enjoy your being in appreciation of yourself feeling the form, and always let your teacher know what you are experiencing. Welcome to the internal arts