The objective of internal practice is to improve through the refinement of physical movement and stillness using volition to develop a greater sense of ease and flow that is of a higher quality of energy. It is best done subjectively. Constantly evaluating one’s own maintenance, improvement, or atrophy. Don’t turn it into an external competition against others.Just because we do it, does not mean it is working. Why, what, and how are the trinity of learning. Study and practice are it’s pillars. The mind’s intelligence, emotional state, and spiritual will are just as important as what we experience viscerally from the body. Make the mind and body stronger by noticing the holes in the bucket and repairing them. Qigong exercise is a venue to find flaw and improve our condition using the appropriate means. Beware of identifying the problem, but applying the wrong cure.
Our nervous system has two antagonistic sets of nerves. Expressed simply as “Fight or Flight” and “Rest and Digest.” They both react to what is taking place outside ourselves in our environment and with our internal mental state at the time. The point being, we need to remove our self from stressful environments periodically, so the body can destress by resting and digesting. We may simply be stressed out because of our own actions and and not removing ourselves from destructive environments. We can not condition a peaceful environment for practice and think it will aid us in a turbulent environment. We need to learn how to deal with our self properly under stress. What can we do in the moment? No amount of meditation or Qigong exercise in the morning will address what we do to our self the rest of the day. Internal Qigong is not the laborious work of external Kung Fu. It is more about repairing than building on more. It is slow, soft, steady, stable, and silent. It is trying to use as little force as possible and remove our own self-generated restrictions and impingements. It is “rest and digest”. Internal is the mind leading the body. How well we are educated in the system determines how well we practice the system.