A new sense

Through qigong, I have begun to develop what I consider to be another sense... somewhat similar to touch, or the perception of heat.

For me, the first stage of development was perceiving a subtle yet distinct vibration/field in and around the parts of my body I focused on (some qi centers, such as palms/dan tien, are a good place to start). Sometimes I would simply direct my awareness to a location, other times I played with various mental images... light flooding into that part of the body, etc... for similar results; subtle warmth, spontaneous movement, feeling of health.

Second stage involves learning to concentrate qi in one area. By focusing with the mind, perhaps using some visualization techniques in the beginning (yet I recommend discarding these as soon as you're able), and most importantly "feeling" the qi of a particular body area, I'm able to generate significant heat... spontaneous movements also increase in strength. The "feeling" that I speak of has been an elusive technique for me... a lot like learning to use a brand-new muscle group. I experiment with this every day.

The stage involves transmission of qi from one area to another. Hands are good place to start... I often concentrate qi in one hand, transmit to the other (receiving is another technique altogether)... and create a circuit back up the arm, through the shoulders back down the arm and so on. After one or more cycles, I switch direction. Transmission exercises with a partner are also very interesting.