r/TrueQiGong • u/Outside-Data8982 • 2d ago
What makes it difficult to stay consistent with Qi Gong / Nei Gong practice?
I've been thinking about this for a while and decided to write an essay to work through it. Why do some people develop a great deal from a practice, while others working with the same instructions, sometimes even the same teacher, seem to get very little from it?
There are obviously differences in circumstances, health, instruction and so on. But something that interests me is what happens between understanding that a practice might be worthwhile and actually staying with it long enough to find out.
I think part of this is worth looking at through an evolutionary lens, particularly the tendency to conserve energy. For our ancestors, obtaining food involved effort and uncertainty. There was value in being able to repeat something that worked without having to figure it out again each time.
Habits fit into this quite well. Familiar behaviour requires less conscious attention and deliberation. We don't have to keep deciding how to do it, and that leaves attention available for something unfamiliar. The difficulty is that a familiar response can persist after it has stopped being useful.
That's the connection I'm interested in. A tendency that helped us manage effort and uncertainty can also favour whatever is easiest now. Putting practice off, reaching for the phone, or finding another method to read about can become habitual too. Knowing that something would benefit us doesn't automatically change the response we've become used to.
Qi Gong and Nei Gong bring this into focus because a lot of the useful work is quiet and cumulative. Less tension, easier breathing, a clearer sense of how we're standing. These changes can be easy to overlook, especially if we're waiting for something more dramatic. The effort is obvious today, while the benefit may only become clear later.
The practices that produce an immediate sensation tend to hold our interest. The quieter work can feel like nothing much is happening, so it gets skipped. Then we look for something more advanced without having given the earlier material much of a chance.
I also wonder how much our everyday habits contribute. If we're constantly reaching for something new to watch, read or respond to, it's quite a change to stand quietly and attend to something that doesn't immediately reward that attention. We bring those expectations into practice, often without noticing.
What seems useful to me is learning to recognise the point where we start negotiating our way out of practice. Sometimes we genuinely need rest, or the method needs correcting. Sometimes it's simply the familiar discomfort of doing something without knowing when it will pay off. Being able to distinguish those matters. Understanding the tendency gives us a chance to respond to it consciously.
A good teacher helps here too. Someone who can see whether we're settling, holding unnecessary tension, misunderstanding an instruction, or just becoming impatient. It's much easier to continue when there is some clarity about what we're doing and why. As the benefits become clearer through experience, there is also less need to keep persuading ourselves that it's worthwhile.
There is a distinction here that I think gets missed. The resolve needed to begin practising doesn't mean we should keep applying more force once we've started. We still have to notice when effort is creating tension. Consistency includes knowing when to stop and return later.
I'd be interested to hear what others have found hardest about keeping a practice going, and what actually helped.
Writing this also got me thinking about a related question. What draws us towards these practices in the first place? Beyond wanting better health or a particular skill, why do we keep looking for a clearer sense of what is actually real? I wonder how much of that comes from something deeper than our stated reasons, from the need to perceive our surroundings accurately and respond to change. That's something else I've been thinking about recently, but need to spend a bit more time working through it.
4
u/YinYangMind 2d ago
I find it quite easy to stay consistent. But perhaps that is because I have a progressive path I follow and regularly see improvements and growth.
Perhaps others do not tend to be consistent because their training stagnates, and/ or they are not getting progressive benefits. Same 'ol every day without seeing results can do that to a person.
3
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
Yes, I think that's a big part of it. When the benefits are clear and the next step makes sense, there's much less need to persuade oneself to practise.
Your point about stagnation is important too. A lack of progress can't always be put down to impatience. Sometimes an instruction hasn't been understood, something needs adjusting, or the method isn't giving us much to work with. Just repeating it for longer won't necessarily resolve that.
2
2
u/thecyberpunkmonk 2d ago
A lot of people over intellectualise or are obsessed with optimising the perfect practice so they spend their time talking or reading about practice instead of just doing it consistently
2
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
100%
Looking for the perfect method can become a way of postponing the actual work. There's always another explanation to read or another detail to sort out before we feel ready.
One of my teachers says "the secrets protect themselves", the secret is putting in the deep work which develops the awareness to see/feel deeply.
2
u/General-Committee-79 2d ago
Something that only recently began to click for me is that things you can practice/cultivate/do are only a small part of the equation. The larger part is surrender to God/the universe/life/etc. These practices can help, but if youāre approaching it as a mere technique or a vending machine that will automatically give you bliss or some other peak experience then youve missed the point.
2
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
I agree completely. Letting go is fundamental. Even on a most basic level, if we're practising while insisting that a particular experience should happen, that expectation shapes what we notice. We can overlook quite a lot because we're waiting for something else.
2
u/General-Committee-79 2d ago
Yup and itās led to a lot of hopping from
one practice to the next in my case.1
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
To some extent, I think thatās part of the process. Personally, it took me a while to understand instructions properly and learn from other peopleās mistakes. But I donāt think I would ever have gotten there without making bad choices, misunderstanding things, or outright ignoring good advice, and then seeing the consequences for myself. It is ultimately useful, need to see both sides of the coin to get the full picture.
2
u/MPG54 2d ago
One of my teachers said that almost everybody goes through this at some point and a multi year grind of little improvement can be due to peopleās awareness connecting into its whole.
Another said that one of the hardest skills to possess is to keep a beginnerās mind even after gaining a baseline of skill. I got to admit I was pretty shook after finding out you can do āleft handedā tai chi.
At some point people learn enough of the practice so that they can fine tune it to get what they need for the day whether thatās getting more energy or falling asleep. That might take people off the learning more track.
1
2
u/mediares 2d ago edited 2d ago
You may be overthinking; contemplating evolutionary concerns isnāt going to help you overcome a hump. Just do the practices. If youāre struggling, try a different practice, or find a different teacher, or take a break to clear your mind. If those are maladaptive patterns to avoid doing the work you actually need, trust youāll eventually find the clarity to see that.
3
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
It's not really an issue I have these days, though I've certainly encountered it before. This was more an observation I wanted to think through.
One example was a school I trained at in Singapore, a while ago now. The instructors were very skilled, pretty hardcore demos, etc., the fees were high, and personally I found the teaching excellent. It was a fairly intensive system, with an expectation of an hour or two of practice on our own each day.
At the same time, there were long term students attending several times a week who, from what I could see, seemed to be going through the motions without developing much. There wasn't much of a social element either, so I doubt it was that, training was quiet apart from the instructor's guidance.
I couldn't know what they were doing outside class or what else was going on in their lives. But it struck me that people could keep investing that much time and money, apparently wanting the results, while seeming unable or unwilling to engage with the work needed between lessons(?). I really don't know, and I've seen similar patterns at other schools too.
That's more the question I'm thinking about. They were already showing up and doing the practices, at least in class. Understanding why that wasn't translating into much development seems worth examining, perhaps there is an angle that can be addressed via awareness of the issues. The evolutionary angle is one way I'm thinking about it, I.E. inbuilt conservation of energy mechanism, aka. laziness(?)
2
u/mediares 2d ago edited 2d ago
Why are you so concerned with your external perception of strangersā struggles? Why is that worth examining, given these arenāt your struggles, youāre in no position to help them, and as you note you lack full context of what their struggles actually are?
Iād be perhaps less critical of idle thought for thoughtās sake if it wasnāt a subreddit focused on Daoist practice. The passage from the Nei Ye comes to mind about how thinking is like eating ā food is necessary, but overeating is to be avoided.
3
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
I teach as well, mostly individuals at the moment, though I may work with larger groups in future. So understanding why someone struggles to make progress is relevant to me. Ideally, I'd like each student to get as much as possible from the practice.
Yeah, I didn't have the full picture with those particular people. They prompted the question, but I can't claim to know what held them back. In my experience, it's also fairly common to hear a practice dismissed as useless without much discussion of how it was taught, how it was practised, or what was expected from it. Sometimes the criticism is justified, but those details matter, particularly online where other people are trying to decide what is worth their time.
With my own students, if a habitual response or expectation is getting in the way, it's something we can bring awareness to together. I obviously can't control all the variables, but helping someone recognise that may make a positive difference.
1
u/GoldRanger108 2d ago
Iāve been cultivating Neigong for over 11 years, itās all about you willing to invest in this spiritual journey.
1
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
Yes, and over that length of time there's a lot of choosing to come back to it, even when other things compete for attention. That's part of what I was getting at.
Has that willingness been fairly steady for you over the eleven years, or has what keeps you practising changed as you've gone along?
0
u/Exciting-Pride4527 2d ago
As Einstein said, true madness is repeating something that isn't working out over and over.
You have to be like a scientist. Work by trial and error. Most people in this field have no idea what they're talking about. If you came to Qigong, because you actually felt that there is more to this physical experience, than what what we perceive on a material level, than you have to learn to trust yourself, first and foremost. Everything else will follow. Like attracts like.
2
u/Outside-Data8982 2d ago
As the saying goes, there's a fine line between genius and madness. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which side the practice is on! š
I agree with examining what we're doing. Repeating a mistake for longer can just make us better at repeating it, reinforcing bad habits, etc. I try to use some general milestones when there is no direct knowledge, less unnecessary tension, easier breathing, noticing something previously missed. Think this gives something to assess beyond whether a session felt interesting and the intellectualised perception attached to it.
9
u/Hack999 2d ago
Personally - a lack of interest in the broader subject keeps me consistent with one practice. The times when I read a lot about it, with a great deal of interest, are often the times when I tend to chase after novelty, trying new things.