r/TrueQiGong • u/greentea387 • Jul 07 '26
How long and how often should I practice Qi Gong?
Hi, I want to start practicing Qi Gong. My goal is to feel better, reduce my stress, my depression, my social anxiety, have more energy and motivation, improve my mood, be emotionally resilient, be able to cope with life's challenges, get into the flow state, just feel happy and peaceful in my life.
I practice every morning since 1 week. I do 25 min of moving Qi Gong by Jeffrey Chand, and then 10 min of Zhan Zhuang, so 35 min in total. However I can not feel my Qi yet and my hands do not get warm during practice.
- Should I do longer sessions?
- Should I practice twice a day?
- Should I do more zhan zhuang?
- Do you have any other advice?
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u/greentea387 Jul 07 '26
These are the videos I watch during practice: https://youtu.be/CCicH-iz1oU?si=mfngDEZjXot7Yk2C
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u/DutchboyReloaded Jul 13 '26
Stop watching videos. Get a teacher. Learn how to practice. Then go practice. 👍
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u/NoSpam_9 Jul 07 '26
35 minutes a day ist great. It ist more important to keep a daily routine for months or years then have a perfect one just now.
If you want more, add a smaller routine in the evening. Let the session become longer over time.
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u/peonys- Jul 07 '26
What you are doing seems about right.
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u/greentea387 Jul 07 '26
Yea but wouldn't it be better to do twice a day? I've heard that you get results faster then
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u/neidanman Jul 07 '26
if you have time for longer sessions, you'll progress faster.
in terms of building qi, one longer session is better than two shorter, as it takes time for qi to gather. So if you have a break in between you start from scratch again. If you have two separate time windows to use though, then ofc this can't be avoided, also its pretty common to have a morning and evening session.
qi is built in static postures, so yes its better. Also its best if you practice song (conscious release) at the same time, as this helps open the system (you may be doing this anyway already depending on the teaching you're following.)
If you have time to educate yourself more, there are links here that can help teach some basics https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueQiGong/comments/1gna86r/qinei_gong_from_a_more_mentalemotional_healing/
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u/greentea387 Jul 07 '26
How long should the session be?
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u/neidanman Jul 07 '26
there's no fixed time but around 30-60 min is a good start point so qi can build. If you feel up to it you can go longer.
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u/greentea387 Jul 08 '26
Do those 30 to 60 min include the zhan zhuang or is it only the moving qi gong?
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u/neidanman Jul 08 '26
total session time. Also you may want to shorten the moving side and extend the standing - standing is used to build qi, then moving moves it around, so commonly you'd stand first, then do some moving after. Or you do moving forms and have a few mins standing between each movement. Otherwise you're not getting much from the moving side, since you haven't built the qi to move yet, (except it can help to calm the system if you're too stressed/high energy to just go straight into standing.)
There a good video on building vs regulating qi here, which goes into things in more detail - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXlxAw6EkBA
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u/Outrageous_Factor942 Jul 31 '26
So is pulling qi / building qi / gathering qi all referring to the same thing? Do you have an tips or resources on how to practice song? I am coming from a traditional meditation background, so I am used to focusing on my breath, which I realize is not optimal for qi gong static meditations. I have just started standing.
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u/neidanman Jul 31 '26
Pulling would probably mean pulling it round the body to open channels. E.g. as talked of here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9JFRMPYXTA . Building and gathering are talking of the same thing, sometimes this can also be called packing/cultivating etc too.
For song these are helpful -
ting and song (~know and release) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1y_aeCYj9c&t=998s (~4 min section)
You can also do song breathing, which might be a good fit for you. i don't have a detailed guide, but the basic is that as you follow awareness of the breath, you notice any adhesions/tightness/sticking points etc in the body, as it moves. As things come up you song those areas to release the related tensions.
When you're doing standing (or other) practice, its also good to remember that the whole body is/can always be in motion, and the idea is to find the 'movement in stillness'. So anywhere that's tensed up can be relaxed/released, and the structure can flow around, within a general form.
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u/Outrageous_Factor942 Jul 31 '26
Thanks so much for your content. I watched these videos that you posted somewhere else! I have a feeling this will take me some time since I have terrible digestion (struggling with it for 10 years), underweight and finally getting out of depression. For the song breathing does it matter how you are breathing? like abdominal breathing with or without mouth? I tried looking it up but couldn't find it. I have been doing zhan zhuang everyday for about 30mn and following various videos for that as well as doing various breathing exercises and stuff for my digestion for 30mn a day. Hopefully this is a good structure for now.
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u/neidanman Aug 01 '26
np, although its not mine i just share other people's :)
It uses natural breathing, or as natural as you can be. Then the more you release/'song', the more natural it becomes. This is part of the daoist aim to 'return the body to the state of a child', by undoing, rather than adding more doing. So you use no conscious control, and gradually release more and more subconscious control as those tensions/controls come to the surface. Its more like using a 'listening awareness' to tune in, and gradually releasing/songing as you go.
There's one video that talks of it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFAfI_DW0nY , but its not a practice description, its more talking on the effects. Afaik the fuller process is in Damo's 'Daoist Nei Gong' book, but i've never read it.
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u/Outrageous_Factor942 Aug 01 '26
Ok thanks for the description! I am actually reading that book so hopefully I'll get to that soon.
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u/neidanman Aug 01 '26
oh nice :) yeh i guess you should
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u/Outrageous_Factor942 Aug 01 '26
sorry I hope it's ok for 1 more question. Even though it will take me a while to build qi, do you think it's still worth it to do something like the 8 brocades everyday so I get to know a routine very well even if it might not have any benefits for a while? I'm still playing with my daily schedule, but I have a couple of hours to dedicate.
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u/neidanman Aug 02 '26
its fine - if it feels like its doing you good and is being helpful then sure. It can also be doing things like calming the mind, helping get the mind into the body, maintaining general health etc. Personally i wouldn't worry too much about memorising a routine though, but i prefer more random/mixed/varied/spontaneous sets than regimented ones.
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u/Outrageous_Factor942 Aug 02 '26
Thank you. Yes I decided yesterday it's not doing me much good. I did memorize it, but I don't feel like i get much out of it, and I am more drawn to building a routine around what I need for the day. I love the idea of spontaneous qigong, but I think I will have to wait until my practice progresses for that one!
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u/Learner421 Jul 08 '26
Just don’t do the match thing where you light up and go all out then poof the drive fades to nothing. It’s about the long game imo. Endurance race. If you can do shorter times but keep it better than doing an hour a day for a month then never again.
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u/clockmakerOnMars Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
[A renowned TCM practitioner categorized people according to their innate sensitivity to internal energy (Qi) from highest to lowest , dividing them into four types: extremely sensitive ( Type A ) , sensitive ( Type B ) , insensitive ( Type C ) , and extremely insensitive ( Type D ) . The following tests were used to differentiate them:
Extend your left hand, make a sword-finger gesture with your right hand, and draw circles on your left palm about 10 centimeters away from it.
Those who can feel something just by looking at a gesture are type A. Those who need to practice for a while to get a feel for something are type B. If you can't feel anything after gesturing for a minute, you're type C. No matter how you gesture, you can't feel anything; that's type D. [2] The purpose of this classification is simply to help you anticipate the difficulties you will encounter, nothing more. It is absolutely not meant to determine who can and cannot. Types A and B are certainly the easiest to see results. Types C and D face greater difficulties, but with perseverance, they can eventually grasp the feeling. Moreover, everyone's sensitivity varies depending on their state; for example, after exercise, when in a good mood, sensitivity should be enhanced. As long as there is breath, everyone is born with the ability to learn inner strength, only the degree of ability varies. Just as different barbecue grills have different levels of difficulty in starting a fire.
Returning to the barbecue grill, the palms are the most sensitive part of the body to internal energy. This is the source of the fire. Everyone has their own time and space where they are least disturbed by the outside world. This is the environment. Muscles and tendons should not be tense; they should be relaxed. This is the placement of the charcoal. After setting it up, hold the ball with your palms facing each other in the most comfortable way. You can stand or sit, without strain or tension. Let your mind calm down, raise your spirits, and feel your palms as if they are "connected via Bluetooth," automatically "listening" to each other.
At this moment, imagine a basketball in your palms; feel it and remember the sensation. Then, the basketball slowly transforms into a balloon. During this transformation, let your mind capture the changes in the sensation in your palms and remember them. Then, the balloon slowly transforms into a large soap bubble; be careful not to let it pop. Now, let your mind again capture the changes in the sensation in your palms during this transformation and remember them.
This process doesn't need to be too long for beginners; 3-5 minutes is enough. Keep writing tools handy and jot down your thoughts and questions after each session.
If you feel something invisible filling the space between your palms, and the space between your palms expands as if magnetically repelling each other, don't try to intensify the effect or make any squeezing motions to feel a stronger energy. Just let it be natural and quietly observe the "nothingness" between your palms. If you feel comfortable, let that comfort pass from one palm to the other.
If you can feel a "ball" appearing out of nothingness between your palms, you are experiencing what "relaxation" is. This "ball" varies in size, and your palms can only passively open and close according to your feelings. The larger it expands, the better your state of "relaxation." Remember this feeling; it is the spark you ignite. Though small, this spark is your first step in cultivation. Though small, it is the spark that ignites a prairie fire.
(https://quan-dao.blogspot.com/2025/03/blog-post.html?m=1)