HARD QIGONG

In ancient China people, including martial artists, Buddhist monks and Daoist priests, would have to travel from province to province, mostly on foot, and they would frequently have to encounter bandits, and even ferocious feral animals on their journeys. Some would have already known martial arts, but they would have needed an equalizing skill such as Hard Qigong too. They could have to deal with being vastly outnumbered by opponents, or face opponents that were heavily armed with blades, spears or staffs, or simply they may meet an enemy with superior skills, or they might even be surprise-attacked. So, they needed very strong bodies too, not only for extra strength and power but also to protect the internal organs, from blows, both glancing and head-on from both blunt and edged weapons that they may have been unable to evade or block, as well as to heal the body if damage had been inflicted. This is how Hard Qigong originated - out of necessity and survival.

There is an old saying, "Training in martial arts without internal training will amount to nothing". This means that external training will give you only tools and techniques. This are useful when you are young but when you are old without Qi you cannot use them, so you have nothing. External training will make you fit but not make you healthy or bring balance and extend your life. With internal training you should be able to do your practice when you are older. So, it is when you are old that you will discover the true meaning behind this saying.
Strength alone is not enough to guarantee longevity. For example, the "World's Strongest Man", Paul Anderson, who won the 1956 Olympics and achieve the Guinness Record for a backlift of 6,270 pounds died at just 61 years of kidney failure. Most strength training does not consider the internal organs or the effect of the training on them. It releases energy, pushes blood circulation to extremes and places great stress on the heart. The external body becomes bigger and stronger, in the process, but at the expense of the internal body becoming weaker. With the internal body weak health is very precarious and illness can strike at the first opportunity. Hard Qigong specifically trains the muscles, bones and skin, but it develops the internal body first and then the external body simultaneously.

All Qigong belongs to one of five schools - Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, Medical and Martial. Hard Qigong belongs to the Martial school, but there is both Daoist and Buddhist Hard Qigong. Heavenly River Monastery, like Shaolin temple, is a Buddhist method. Sometimes Hard Qigong is also known by the name "Iron Shirt' or "Golden Bell'. Heavenly River Monastery Qigong dates back to the Ming dynasty, around 400 years ago. The monastery, long ago destroyed, was situated in Hebei province. My teacher, Master Michael Tse, studied with Grandmaster Zhan Jia Liang, of the 9th generation.

Traditionally, all traditional Chinese martial arts contained some form of internal training to bring balance, protect the body, nourish the internal organs, replace expended Qi, and heal the body from injury. Hard Qigong trains stamina, fitness and conditioning beyond what the martial skill alone provides. Today, most Qigong has been omitted from the martial art systems trained today, and both martial arts and Qigong tend to be trained separately. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, there is a certain amount of cultural secrecy and when the Chinese martial arts were exported and taught to Westerners/'outsiders' special skills such as this may not have been readily divulged to maintain some form of advantage. Also, a lot of time and energy is needed to develop the skill, and most Western students just want fighting skill or beautiful forms, or both, and see internal training or spiritual training as an unnecessary inconvenience. So the skills have been tailored to fit the Western lifestyle.

Ironically, most Western martial artists do supplement their combat skill with weight training equipment for strength training and cardiovascular work for fitness. Actually, not only does this kind of training fail to nourish Qi, the internal body, mind and health (in the long term), but it can also make the body overly bulky and stiff, which can, in fact, offer resistance to physical actions, and thereby impede the full potential of a martial artist. Of the many martial artists I have met over the years few have I encountered that truly achieved a high level of health through their martial training alone. Many of the older martial artists have arthritis, bad shoulders and backs etc. All Qigong is for health and is the one thing that can prevent and heal these complaints.

Soft Qigong uses gentle movement and gentle breathing. Hard Qigong, by contrast, uses dynamic forceful movements with strong forceful breathing.

The breathing, even by itself without the forms, is most invigorating and exhilarating. The effect on the mind and spirit (meaning sense of vitality) is immediate. Just three to five breaths alone you will notice how alive, and clear and different you feel. Heavenly River Monastery Hard Qigong is to suck the air through the mouth, like a vacuum cleaner, filling the lungs with Qi, to use in a variety of ways. The primary skill lies within three 'special' breathing techniques that govern the various forms or movements. One is explosive and fast like a thunderclap and is used with punching, palm striking, and pushing to develop and issue power. This requires also directing Qi to the crown of the head or to the Dantian, depending on the form, synchronized with the exhalation and movement. Another breathing method is very forceful yet slow and steady, to develop strength. With movement it is like dynamic tension, and you use the energy as you would to push a stationary car. The last is the most 'internal'; very gentle, and involves swallowing Qi to the Dantian, with the breath.

First the Dantian must be opened. This is a major energy center located within the lower abdomen (the physical centre of gravity) where Qi is stored. Hard Qigong concentrates on four main acupuncture channels - Ren (front), Du (back), Chong (central) and Dai Mai (belt channel). The First Level develops specifically the lungs and kidneys. The kidneys create internal Qi needed to withstand punches, kicks, and weapon attacks. The lungs create the power needed for punching, pushing, pulling, and lifting etc. Later levels require equipment and special ways of lifting heavy objects, as well as hitting the body, first using the bare hands, then progressing to solid wood and then iron bars, as well as working with a training partner. Strikes progress from light in the beginning to extremely hard. Level Two trains the Yang parts of the body such as the the head, back, and arms. By Level Three you are training more Yin parts such as the neck, throat, ribs, fingers (joints). Having achieved the standard required for the Level Three test you have attained what is referred to as 'Iron Body'. By the end of Level Four you can have a truck driven over you. Later levels train Qing Gong, or Light Gong. This involves various ways of carrying weights with jumping and running (think 'Jedi training'!) so by the end you can walk on raised rice paper without tearing it or on an inflated balloon with bursting it. Eventually hard becomes soft. This is balance.

Most people see the Hard Qigong demonstrations, experience the wonder but (naturally) would not conceive of training it, mostly out of fear of pain and injury. Actually, with the First Level there is nothing to fear, and no pain or risk of injury. It is simply strength and stamina training for health, and can be trained by men and women, and young and old alike. It just takes commitment.

The training itself has little do with what you may see in the demonstrations or tests. It lays the foundation for later levels that enable you to withstand heavy blows, but does not mean that the training requires taking blows. The First Level is a complete exercise on its own and for many this is sufficient for health and strength. There is certainly nothing to fear and no pain. The real 'bitter', the experience of pain, begins later, and this, as you may come to learn, is only a state of mind that can be overcome. So Hard Qigong training is every bit as much mental as it is physical. Success has little to do with gender, age, size or inherited strength, but inner fortitude. For example, I have one lady student who is over 60 years old. Not only did she take up the skill at this age but built up her standard to fifty of each exercise and passed the test! She continues to practice and loves the skill. Now compare this with some 'hard' men/martial artists, with strong gym bodies, that I witnessed learning Level Two with my Sifu who complained about pain and worried about injury to their head or fingers, and then gave up.

So you can begin gently and slowly build up to become stronger and stronger. Ultimately, you do need to train with 100 per cent effort. Otherwise you are only cheating yourself. The quality of (effort put into) each form is more important than the quantity. It is better to do fifteen to twenty repetitions of each exercise with maximum effort than to perform fifty in a lazy easy way. This is one Qigong that should be avoided when you ill or depleted! However, there are a couple of forms from Level One that can be practiced because they are more gentle. With later levels you do begin to hit yourself. This is called 'Kit Pei' or 'Pai Da'. The more you hit yourself the more your spirit is raised and the more energy you feel. When the average person (including some martial artists) is forcefully struck (by punch, kick, or weapon) both fear and the experience of pain causes Qi and spirit to drain. The person becomes temporarily paralyzed, demoralized, and acquiesces, ultimately becoming a victim. Hard Qigong changes this, and brings up the 'warrior spirit".

The training creates much 'fire' in the body, and raises the spirit. This is why it is especially good for those with poor circulation or suffer depression - 'Yin-type' people. However, too much 'fire' can lead to restlessness, impatience, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, instability of mental function, insomnia - an imbalance of Yang excess. So, meditation is essential to Hard Qigong; equally as important as the physical training. It is needed to 'calm down the fire' created by the forms, and balance the mind, Qi and the body. Without it, and practicing the forms every day, the student would unquestionably 'burn out' and suffer mental/physical fatigue. So, it simply cannot be omitted.

There are specific rules to follow for safe training including times to practice and times to avoid, warming up sufficiently beforehand and spending sufficient time in meditation afterwards. Deviating from these can become quite dangerous to health. Later levels demand celibacy for the duration of the 100 days training required before the test. Releasing Jing (essence or semen) causes Qi to be lost and Qi is needed for the training. Without Qi the training would totally exhaust the body and the tests themselves would be highly dangerous.

The training prepares you physically for the tests but before the test you have no idea psychologically of what it is to lie on the floor and look up at the person about to jump on you from a height, or to be kicked and punched, or to have bricks, slabs, and pieces of wood broken all over your body etc. So, the test is every bit as much a mental test as it is physical. Fear and doubt must be overcome, in order to pass. Students may train hard to attain a high personal standard of strength and fitness, but fear and doubt can cause the perfect unity of concentrated mind, spirit and Qi to come undone, and prevent the student from achieving his potential. Ultimately, you need to trust the skill that has survived hundreds of years, trust the teacher who has been through it all ahead of you, and ultimately have faith in yourself.

Someone once asked me what it is like to have bricks broken over the head or to be kicked front and back by two people at the same time. The best way to explain is that there are two stages. The first is the wait - a bit like having been strapped into a roller coaster, you've climbed the incline and just before you go over the precipice before the ride begins; you know it is coming, there is no way out, nothing to do, and nowhere to run, except brace yourself and face it. (With the bricks you can't even see as it is coming from behind you.) The second stage is over on a second. In the case of the bricks there is an almighty BANG, you hear the sound and feel the vibration pass through the body in a brief second and then it's all over. You stand up, dust yourself off and then go about your business. It is quite empowering when you think about what you has just occurred and how unaffected you are by it. In the case of being kicked, people have asked whether you feel pain. Pain is all perception and in the mind. It is not a sharp pain that you might recoil from. It is a blunt force that you must withstand. Again, you feel the full force of impact and the vibration ripples throughout the body, but there is also a feeling almost like an inferno coursing through the body for a few brief seconds and then it all over, and again you feel no injury, only a sense of indomitability, feeling 'charged' afterwards. It is because of this feeling, almost euphoric, that meditation is so necessary - to bring balance to the mind, the body and Qi, to calm down this 'fire'.

Actually, the test itself should never be a matter of passing or failing. Passing should be a forgone conclusion. if you have done the work and reached the required standards then there should be no reason at all to fail. There should be no doubt at all in your mind. It is when the student's mind doubts that fear enters and paralysis occurs, preventing the student from reaching his or her potential.
Once the test has been completed then you know what you can do and can demonstrate, so after the test there is no more doubt or surprise.

With every level's test there are three things being scrutinized. One is the the student's understanding in demonstrating the forms and energy. Up to three mistakes are allowed. If the forms are incorrect then the Qi cannot develop properly. Second is the stamina and endurance. If the standard is not high enough and the student is becoming exhausted during the demonstration of forms then he would not have enough Qi to protect his body from the strikes etc. so he would not be allowed to take the last part of the test. The last part is withstanding whatever is required at each level. This part is the psychological test. Training to the standard demanded means you can handle whatever you must face. Occasionally, a student that may have done all the hard work and reached a good standard but may not be able to handle this part due to the doubting mind.

Each test requires one hundred days of daily intense focused training. With the advanced levels it can literally take over your life for the duration. Everything seems to revolve around the training. So, once the test is over there is a tremendous feeling of elation, from an incredible personal accomplishment (everyone remembers their test date) but also that life can get return to normal. You do not need to train as hard every day, you can afford to take it a little easier but you still need to work to keep the skill.

The Level One test is not too serious and mostly involves the Dantian. This is punched (quite strongly but not with maximum force) and jumped upon from a height of about one meter (table height). This height is raised with successive levels. Lastly, the student needs to lift a partner of equal weight lying crosswise and toss and catch the person several times.

By Level Two the test includes being struck full force to the body.The student testing is punched to the Dantian, slammed across the chest and back with forearm, and (roundhouse) kicked to the chest and back, all multiple times. Then concrete slabs are broken over the chest and Dantian with a sledgehammer, and lastly, up to four bricks are smashed over the head with a sledgehammer. There is no cloth (to protect the skin) between the bricks and head.

The Level Three test requires the student to have an assortment of sticks of varying thicknesses broken over the chest, back, ribs, and arms, as well as a solid piece of wood (three feet long by eight inches thick) beaten over the back and ribs. Then he must lie between two chairs, with the base of the skull resting on one and the heels on the other, forming an 'Iron Bridge'. This requires a strong neck as well as a strong Dantian. Then, as the student lies there large stones of increasing size and weight are placed onto the Dantian and then dropped on the Dantian. Next the tip of a double-ended spear is placed against the throats of two students facing each other, and then they must walk towards each other, building up the force and pressure on the throat, until the spear shaft bends and snaps. Penultimately, three concrete slabs are lined against a wall and the student must break them with one kick. And lastly, the Dantian and back is tested against a battering ram in the form a solid trunk of wood - or the body of a Wing Chun Wooden Dummy - approximately four feet long and perhaps eighteen inches in diameter - which is launched into the body multiple times.

I remember the first time my Sifu introduced me to Hard Qigong. I had never felt anything at all like it before, from any of my prior years of training in martial arts and Qigong. I have to say that the effect - the sudden rush of energy - was immediate and palpable, and not imagined. You feel positively 'charged' and buzzing. The feeling within my head was as much like the effect of having a head cold and then inhaling menthol vapour. Everything seemed more vivid and colours seemed brighter. It works far better than caffeine to wake you up in the morning! The feeling is quite addictive, a real natural 'high', which is why meditation at the end is needed to bring you back to balance.

After the first few months of practice I could feel my overall strength and stamina improving. This was proven by the fact that the ten repetitions of the exercises which seemed so arduous in the beginning suddenly became easy, and fifteen became the new challenge. Increasing just five repetitions of each form may not sound like much but it adds up to a lot as there are sixteen forms, so overall it goes up eighty in total each time. Over a period of time the highest standard of fifty repetitions, which seemed impossible at the beginning, is attainable. To complete the practice at the level you are spending well over an hour each time, before the meditation. My body became physically denser, as the Qi was becoming packed in and layered, and I had more stamina for every activity. Even my old Taiji brothers commented that I felt different when in contact with them during our push-hands sessions.

In 2003 I took a boat ride on holiday in Peru. On the trip out my T-shirt became soaked by the rough sea that day that came crashing over into the boat. It was sunny and warm so it did not bother me at the time, but on the return trip the sun had been going down and the air had turned noticeably colder with the wind. I was begin to shiver and had forty minutes of sitting still in the biting wind ahead of me until we reached the shore. I knew that I would soon be in trouble. So, I began to use one of the Hard Qigong breathing methods that happened to create a lot of internal heat. Every time I did this people sitting in front of me would look back wondering what the noise was but the noise of the boat engines and the wind concealed the source. I could not help smiling to myself, but the skill kept me warm and by the time we reached port I alighted safe and warm inside, which would not have been possible without Hard Qigong, and my T-shirt was still damp. So, the skill is a practical survival tool. It can come in useful in unexpected ways that might not be associated with martial arts alone.

On Xmas Eve 2006 I was knocked down by a moving bus, and was cut open in my lower abdomen. After a few hours when my makeshift bandages and Chinese clotting powder had failed to stop the bleeding as the wound was too wide and deep, I was forced to eventually visit the Emergency Room and get 'stapled'. The doctor was convinced I was a knife attack victim, and only when I showed him the purple mark on my toe where the wheel had run over the edge did he believe me. When the bus struck me, with a sound like a sonic boom, I spun and hit the ground, and instantaneously (instinctively) jumped back up (albeit in a state of shock). I know anyone else would have stayed down for a long time or remained there paralyzed with the shock or perhaps injured more seriously internally by the force that struck me - a ten ton wall of metal traveling over 30 miles per hour. I truly believe that Hard Qigong afforded my body protection as it had become used to the trauma of being struck with force by solid objects. Due to Hard Qigong training I recovered remarkably fast and was back teaching within just a few days, even though I could not move too much or even bend down to tie my shoelaces. At the time friends had me concerned about the possibility of internal bleeding or rupture to the spleen but everything was and still is in perfect working order. And I did not bother to check, with the experience of knowing my body and trusting the skill. In the collision my back was wrenched and I was spun around with a great force so I was, initially, somewhat concerned about my back, spine and vertebrae, in the long term, but now almost three years later there is no apparent weakness or feelings or vulnerability as I continue to make the body strong. So, again I have no doubt the skill helped me immensely in this situation.

Friends that have seen my demonstrations have begged me to stop out of concern for my safety but they simply do not understand the training itself and how it protects the body. When things go awry it is natural for people to place the blame anywhere than with themselves. The skill itself is very safe as long as the rules are followed. It is when students fail to adhere to the principles or the rules that injury can occur. I have been studying Hard Qigong for over 13 years and in all that time never injured myself. However there was one time when I know I failed to warm-up my neck adequately before the head stand in Level Three. After several breaths I felt one of the vertebra below the cervical curve at the top of the thoracic curce, suddenly 'pop' so I came down. The next day I experienced a stabbing pain, which was so sharp it virtually brought me to the point of tears. This lasted for some weeks, though it become less painful and transformed to a numbness and tingling in my right arm which lasted a few more weeks. Eventually this all disappeared. Since this time I always pay special attention to the warm-up, as specified in the rules, and there has been no recurrence or injury or any kind whatsoever.
There is no risk of injury like this at all in Level One. It is just later when we train the softer more vulnerable parts that we need to be extra mindful.

One time after practice I did fail to meditate sufficiently afterwards. and I observed within myself how I felt particularly aggressive and wild. So I came to understand the importance of meditation after the training. When you finish, after the meditation, you should feel very peaceful and quiet inside.

Heavenly River Monastery Hard Qigong is a truly authentic traditional Chinese skill that is both a practical and highly effective means of cultivating Qi. It is a way of training the body and mind unlike any method ever created. The fact that it is so rare in the world makes it all the more priceless.

It is easy to view Hard Qigong as a carnival show, but that is missing the point. It is pure dedication and spiritual training, mind over matter, courage overcoming fear, trust overcoming doubt, strength overcoming weakness, and experience overcoming ignorance. When the body suffers the spirit flowers. The law of nature is 'survival of the fittest', and in the case of Hard Qigong it is is not possible to be fitter. Through the internal training, tasting 'bitter' and overcoming hardship, forging a strong mind, you become better equipped to deal with the challenges and pressures of life itself!

Naturally, damage to the body cannot be considered healthy, and every hit affects the body, like your battery power diminishing (or watching the health meter on a video game decreasing) but demonstrations can be months or more apart and the training itself brings your Qi level to such a high point, the battery is so fully charged that the effect of any damage inflicted is minimal. Then when you practice more and meditate it is nil. Some skeptics may say, "How do you know? What about the long term effect?". All I know is that my teacher has been doing Hard Qigong for around thirty years. He is soon approaching 50 years of age and looks younger and is in better health, more flexible and agile, than martial artists half his age. Of course, if a person were to demonstrate taking blows more than he actually trained then there would certainly be a grave problem. The feats are just the gravy; the training is the meat and potatoes.

Traditionally, Hard Qigong has always been more of a 'secret' skill that was developed away from the curious and prying eyes. It is not surprise that the Chinese military and police include this training for special units! They literally become 'secret weapons".

I have found that many teachers today attempt to make Qigong and Taijiquan easier and easier, to the point where the skills themselves offer little, if any, real value. The more comfort we have, and crave, the weaker we become in body and mind. Perhaps, even other styles of Hard Qigong taught today are not all that 'hard'. I can't comment myself though I know students that have tried one or two other methods prior to learning the Heavenly River Monastery skill and claimed that they did not compare at all. All I know is that there really is no easy way of training and certainly not in passing any of the tests. That requires total 110% commitment. No other internal training requires putting in so much effort so, as I often tell students, the hardest thing about Hard Qigong is actually getting up out of a comfy chair to do it, going out into the depths of winter sucking the frigid air until your mouth becomes numb with the cold, or else venturing outdoors from a nice air-conditioned room into the humid heat of summer, sweating profusely before you even begin the real training - that takes a certain kind of commitment. One you have started, and the ball is rolling, then the hardest part is over.

Hard Qigong probably has the greatest drop out rate of anything! The last seminar I gave we all went out for dinner afterwards. Everyone felt charged from the two days of training, their faces alive and animated, and they felt exhilarated and inspired following the demonstration given at the end of the course. Some seemed genuinely confused by what they had witnessed. Is it possible to have bricks broken over your head with a sledgehammer and then do something as normal as going out to eat afterwards? Over the course of the meal I asked the group," So, how many of you want to take the test? ". Everyone, without exception, excitedly thrust their hands up in the air. Initially, there were almost twenty students for that course. Months later, after some polishing classes, I see that there are only about a handful left that may (or may not) actually take the test. How many of those will actually learn Level Two? And of that handful how many will make it to take Level Two test? I smile whenever students begin to ask about advanced levels as most (I wish it were otherwise) will never even make it half that far.

Hard Qigong ultimately promotes boundless energy and youthful vigor, improved circulation, greater lung capacity, mental fortitude, physical strength, better sleep, and boosts self-confidence. These benefits are available to anyone serious about studying and practicing.

You certainly do not need to know martial arts in order to to gain the immeasurable health benefits of Heavenly River Monastery Hard Qigong, but if you study martial arts you really need a skill such as this, not only to sharpen your tools and maximize overall strength but to remain in good health into old age.

I am qualified by the Tse Qigong Centre to teach this skill. Due to the structure of the teaching Hard Qigong is not taught in regular weekly group classes, but only over weekend seminars or privately.
Anyone interested in studying Hard Qigong can contact through email - wallace@dayanqigong.com or call (212) 330 8327
The website is www.dayanqigong.com

I invite you to view a very brief clip of my Hard Qigong.
Just cut and paste the link below into your browser.

http://gallery.mac.com/adam.wallace#100059