Summer of 2021, I found my way to Zhineng Qigong. It was actually a return to Zhineng Qigong.
Winter 1986 - 87, in Beijing and in Kunming, I had learnt he xiang zhuang, Flying Crane, which had been created by Dr. Pang Ming, the originator of Zhineng Qigong. It was my first encounter with the practice of qigong; at that point, taijiquan had been my world for some eleven years.
Back in London, qigong began to be mentioned, and in subsequent years I was drawn to various practices, also with Chen XiaoWang, my taijiquan master. For him, superb master of Chentaiji, it was as if the qigong was his own personal delving into qi, there was a sense of privacy around his qigong practice.
The Wild Goose form did attract me, yet the wish to practise qigong in its own right lay dormant in me. The Flying Crane in China had made a lasting impression, although in time the details of its structure receded, into my subconscious.
May 2021, someone alerted me to peng qi guan ding fa, popularly known as 'Lift Qi, Pour Qi down'. There were familiar whiffs, sensations aroused in the bodymind ... I realized it was an emanation of the Flying Crane.
It took hold of me thoroughly. I treasured practising it particularly at night, as the summer constellations passed over. One evening, the hands high over baihui would not meet. Aeons of time were between the palms. One midnight, as I was crossing over the wooden structure connecting the pottery to the house, startled by a flash of green light from a prowler hunting wild boar, I fell, my left knee wham on to a big rock below the bridge, which was not high. Screaming in pain, the first thought was, "Now I won't be able to practise pengqi!". After some 46 years of taijiquan, this struck me as rather odd.
The next two months were spent seated, it was a dry summer, I could be outside till dark. All practice was seated, the pengqi, zhanzhuang, chansijin, and simply sitting, seeing the sky, listening to the valley. My toilet activities were out on the balcony, bathing and washing my hair from the garden hose. It did me so much good, that summer. Everything had stopped, I had to yield, and be cared for.
In this suspended state of mind, I met Xie Chuan. Searching for information on Dr. Pang and Zhineng Qigong, I came across the Qi Channel website. There were recordings of several students of Dr. Pang who had given seminars there, and from amongst them, one stood out : it was an integrity of physical presence, an unswerving attention.
There was notice of a 6-day workshop with Xie Chuan in two days' time. I wrote to the organizer to sign up, and in response to my query as to the subject of the seminar, Martin of Qi Channel said he honestly did not know how to describe what happens when one learns from Xie Chuan.