A PRACTICAL AND COMPLETE PATH THAT TAKES YOU FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE FINAL RESULT
Nei Qi Gong aims to grow awareness of Dan Tian, the "energy reservoir" of our body, and fill it with Qi (vital energy), more than is necessary for a person's health, in order to use the surplus for therapeutic, spiritual and/or martial purposes.
To achieve this, many Taoist schools have developed various methods.
Some have developed a softer approach to the problem, while others are more direct and harsh. Strict Chinese discipline often believed that one had to choose among the numerous suitors, who were truly fit and ready to be educated and initiated on this path.
For this reason, students had to bear very hard preparatory exercises, often useless, which did not fit at all with the subject of the teaching, for the sole purpose of discouraging those with little will.
Those who passed these "tests" showed that they were ready and had the basis to continue.
Instead, the path of Nei Qi Gong coded by Shifu Costantino goes instead "direct to the point" and condenses the methods of his mastery and his experience into a clear and well-structured step-by-step system (where Chinese teaching is often instinctive and not very structured).
The system is especially suitable for those with little time to practice and can take from the beginning to the final result.
It is open to all and the only selection is based on the desire to learn and dedication to practice, without which no result can be achieved.
The course is structured into 9 basic practices (divided between physical, breathing, and meditative exercises) and 6 superior practices.
9 BASIC PRACTICES
First physical practice
1° Xing Shen Zhuang Gong
With the first basic practice, we begin the study of a form of Qi Gong which comes from the Emei Shan tradition, which has multiple objectives.
Physically, it unlocks the circulation of energy through postural exercises that open the individual joints and free the meridian pathways. Some of these exercises can be physically intense.
This sequence is called XING SHEN ZHUANG GONG. It is "the method of the reunification of the Shen, the formless, the spirit that aspires to heaven, in the Xing, the container, the form, the framework."
A clear indication of how Qi Gong cannot ignore an important relationship between the animating energy and the animated body.
This apparently basic work is actually a complex system of exercises in which the mind directs Qi at key points in the Chinese energetic system, which are physically stimulated by specifically designed postures.
The practice of the true Nei Qi Gong leads to a relocation of the entire energy system to the Dan Tian, the area below the navel, seen as a Qi reserve, a gold reserve to use in case of need or if launched towards higher goals of self-realization.
It is a sequence of fifteen exercises that involve the whole body.
It is an excellent practice for health in general and is important as a first exercise because, through slow and controlled movements, it makes you become aware and unlocks some points and areas of your body that are important for energy circulation.
It also strengthens the "body frame": the spine, joints, and medulla.
First meditation practice
2° Zheng Song Da Fa
It is a key exercise for correct meditation. We search for the right posture and the necessary quietness of the mind. It is a fundamental process and development for self-understanding.
We align the body segments, hang the Bai Hui (top of the head) to the sky and open the connecting channel between heaven and earth. We make energy run from one point to another within the body. And we also focus attention on each of the three Dantians.
With this practice, we start with the first so-called meditation exercises. In reality, meditation cannot be "done". The meditative state is a particular psychophysical state that can or cannot be reached. We can do some exercises that can facilitate the attainment of this particular state called meditation.
First breathing practice
3° Hou Tian Xi
In the first breathing practice, using the meditative structure we built previously, we begin to perform breathing techniques called HOU TIAN XI, Postnatal Breathing, which follows the natural flow of air in abdominal breathing.
This technique is a great example of how, step by step, you can work on the Dan Tian, opening its doors and coming to have a tangible perception without false feelings of Gui Qi, illusory Qi.
The Dan Tian area will begin to jump spontaneously and, with the correct practice, the sensations often described in the texts, such as a natural vibration, the development of heat, and the precise sense of a vital presence in the abdomen will become reality.
Second breathing practice
4° Xian Tian Xi
In the second breathing practice, through the practice of XIAN TIAN XI, we transform the horizontal breathing into a vertical one, reversing also the natural flows of Qi.
Second physical practice
5° Zhan Zhuang
A sequence of static positions is performed which directs the energy inside and outside the body, with the help of intention and breath.
Third breathing practice
6° Yang Qi Gong
We build one of the classic positions of Qi Gong and bring it to life thanks to an internal filling. This is very important because often people who have worked for years in static positions, not knowing what they had to do in that position, often conclude wrongly that they were useless.
By staying in this position through visualizations and breathing exercises we do some practices that will improve general well-being, also freeing the internal organs from accumulated toxins.
We also increase the diffusion of that manifestation of energy called "Yang Qi" in the body. Good Qi in the Yang phase means having more vitality, strength, vigor, alertness, and greater sexual abilities, and creates the necessary energy resource to be able to do the following practices.
Second meditation practice
7° Kuo Zhang Da Fa
We perform a meditation exercise that will allow us to get in contact with the spiritual world using visualizations and centrifugal forces.
Third physical practice
8° Wan Qi
Through a series of exercises we experience energy and play with it, manipulating it and thus increasing the ability to generate it.
Third meditation practice
9° Ling Qi
Ling Qi means spiritual energy. Using symbols and a mantra one tries to get in touch with more subtle energies.
There is a small ritual, a small initiation, to facilitate the activation of this connection.
It is a very important step in practice. Those who receive Ling Qi will remember it forever because it is a very strong and pleasant experience that allows you to experience things that have only been read in books.
The experience of Ling Qi is similar for everyone. But we never tell to our students what is going to happen, to avoid suggestions and tensions due to waiting for a particular event during practice.
Ling Qi creates a connection that will help spiritual growth in a natural way.
INITIATION
The old ritual of acceptance of the new student takes place between the basic and superior practices.
At this stage, the student becomes part of the narrow family.
6 SUPERIOR PRACTICES
First superior practice
1° Dian Qi Gong
Always attentive to the possibility of absorbing and exchanging energy from natural elements, some Chinese teachers have studied the possibility of using electricity as an energy source in the last century, seeing and observing how, in fact, the most evident manifestation of Qi in those who have the ability to do the Fa Qi (to emit Qi), were a sensation of electric current flowing in the body.
This method, kept secret for a long time, produces:
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An acceleration of the processes of accumulation of Qi
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Achieving a high level of control over the entire nervous system, and being able to control even involuntary contraction of muscles even under electrical or pain stimulation
At the end of the practicing period, the practitioner can remain connected to electricity even at 220 Volts during the practice, without suffering any damage.
A method will be taught to do healing treatments using "finger electrical pressure".
Through physical contact between people, it will be possible to transmit appropriate electrical stimulation at specific points that activate the healing processes, which are decisive for many diseases.
This system is used in some Chinese hospitals by experienced Qi Gong masters, and it has been an important healing system for a long time.
Second superior practice
2° Lian Gong
In the second superior practice called LIAN GONG, energy circulation is directed in certain areas of the body, especially in the Lao Gongs, to stimulate them, and to increase global awareness of energy circulation.
Third superior practice
3° Da Zuo
The third superior practice, DA ZUO, continues the circulation of energy in the body in a sitting position, becoming aware of the path that joins the Dan Tian with the Lao Gongs.
Fourth superior practice
4° Tong Zi Gong
In the fourth superior practice, TONG ZI GONG, the Jing is refined and the Qi is accumulated in the Dan Tian. The circulation and awareness of Qi in the body are enhanced. In this phase, it is possible to transfer energy to others by contact.
Fifth superior practice
5° Lianhe Dantian
In the fifth superior practice, LIANHE DANTIAN, the three Dan Tians are joined together using two particular energy circulations and a specific breathing technique. The Fa Gong (Energy Emission) is practiced at this stage.
Sixth superior practice
6° Shen Gong
The sixth superior practice is the most esoteric practice in the School. It consists of the complete transmission of the symbol (FU or GONG) exclusive to our School, in the recitation of an invocation, in the Mudras in which the hands are positioned, which gives the ability to transmit Qi at distance.
In addition, there is the XIANG GONG practice, the practice of incense, where incense sticks are used and whose duration is linked precisely to the duration of the incense itself.
At the end of the practice, we will undergo the last initiation of the School, the most important! "
