You shouldn't experiment with any new practice with unrealistic expectations. Keep an open mind and always exercise critical thinking.
feedback: melted lower back energy blockage
2020-4-9
Wow, thanks!I practiced and shake and bake, and I have to agree it is very potent since I had a weird melting-like energy blockage in my lower back and it eased it out and got rid of it.
Thank for this potent technique, my gratitude.
I will try to practice the kicking drills.
feedback: great aerobic exercise primer for samadhi
2020-4-21Thank you for sharing the videos. The shake and bake video clarified the previous instructions. My hands were originally draped all the way down on my sides closer to the front. So far I did this exercise a few times and felt that it provides good cardio warm-up and mindfulness practice at the same time. I did a sit right after one of the sessions and it was very easy to get into concentration. The body was warm and loose with good chi flow. I will definitely incorporate all these in my daily routine going forward.
feedback: melted energy blockages in chest
2020-4-18
I only tried it consecutively for a few days, and I am getting some very obvious results. On the first day, my chest and abdomen was getting disproportionately warm comparing to my normal exercises, which is my weakest areas in the micro-cosmic orbit. I was skeptical at first and wonder if it was due to my increase mindfulness during the shake and bake making me aware of the warmth more acutely than my less mindful exercises. Afterwards in my meditations, I definitely felt numerous smaller energy channels freed up all over my chest area, resulting in high levels of pitti. In my mind, I was thinking, "Oh sh!t, this stuff works!!"
I will check in on a later date as I have only started this exercise for a short time.
(a few days later)
Okay, there is no doubt this is working extremely well for me. My energy channels are becoming more open. And it is alarming how easily the mind slips into meditative absorptions even when there was no intention to do so. I could be doing the most mundane daily chores, and the mind just keeps slipping right in. Loud music, disturbing neighbors have no affect on me. Long sits are feeling sooo easy. Thank you, Frank! Gratitudes! π
Question: How fast/frequent are the steps?
2020-04
Q: I have been trying to do your "shake and bake" exercise, but found it
hard to do it for long period of time. What is the recommended frequency
of the "hopping motion" per minute?
A: Don't think in terms of target frequency. Tailor the pace and frequency to your needs. Walking meditation as people normally do it, wouldn't get you the cardio benefit we're aiming for, since you're only using 20% of your lung capacity, and you're not building up heat to melt ice in the body and make the body pliable. And jogging is too intense and tiring for most people. So what you're shooting for is:
1. using 80-100% of your lung capacity and range of breathing, instead of the sedentary 20%, in a taiji relaxed way.
2. enough leg locomotion to get some core/ab work, and enough frequency to build up some heat gently. but not so much leg locomotion to incur the problems with jogging. I don't put any more pressure on my knees and back doing shake and bake than when I walk.
3. not use more than 10-15% energy expenditure compared to walking.
If you're doing it right, it shouldn't be tiring you out, and after a few weeks you should be able to do it for hours effortlessly. If you get tired and want some rest, do some other stretches,pushups, pullups, etc, and then switch back to shake and bake. My typical routine is
1. 15-20min shake and bake to warm up,
2. and then mixing 1-2 min of pull ups, pushups, stretching, alternated with 1-2min of shake and bake to retain body heat for another 20-40 min total alternating back and forth.
Question: Do my heels come off the ground?
2020-04
Q: Do your heels come off the ground? If I do that then it's harder to sustain it.
A: Mine do, but if that's how you normally walk and jog (with heel touching ground) and it doesn't give you any problems, no reason to worry about it. Remember the qigong gorilla ethos: you adapt any useful health modality for your needs.
A: The 'light mist of sweat' is meant as a general rule of thumb for upper bound in body heat and intensity of exercise for the 30 minute session so people don't expend more energy than necessary. The main point of shake and bake, is that people in general, especially sedentary meditators who do too much sitting meditation (6-10 hours a day), don't get enough aerobic cardiovascular exercise (30min RDA) because it can be tiring and painful to do. Shake and bake should only require 10-20% more energy exertion than walking, and as long as your body is heated up to the point that you feel good, hands and feet warm and soft, cold parts that felt stiff before the exercise have thawed, you feel like a bag of water, elastic, pliable, lightweight compared to before the exercise, using your full lung capacity for 20-30min. (rather than normal sedentary shallow breathing only using 20% of your lungs), then mission accomplished, no need to get a full body light mist of sweat, unless you were specifically shooting for that goal. Remember gorilla (guerrilla) improvisation is about adapting any health modality to meet your current exercise needs or goals.
If you have other health objectives, for example looking to have some net weight loss, and need more intense exercise, the gorilla approach would be find something that you enjoy doing, and is energy efficient so it doesn't compromise your sitting meditation (drain your energy making you too tired to do a good long sit). Jumping rope is one idea, doing hikes on steep hills (go up and down several times if you only have one small hill), climbing stairs (up and down many times), swimming is a great whole body exercise, etc. If you can incorporate the same principles as with shake and bake, do it with taiji quan, jhana samadhi quality relaxed state of mind, then you can incorporate much of the shake and bake benefits even with a more intense exercise. Though in general, full jhana relaxation/pacification is at odds with intentional bodily energy exertion for quick intense exercise.
Q: Do your heels come off the ground? If I do that then it's harder to sustain it.
A: Mine do, but if that's how you normally walk and jog (with heel touching ground) and it doesn't give you any problems, no reason to worry about it. Remember the qigong gorilla ethos: you adapt any useful health modality for your needs.
Question: I can't work up a light mist of sweat with shake and bake. Is that part important?
Q: I cannot work up a light mist of sweat with this workout even if I jump high. Is that part important? Or is there a tougher variation?A: The 'light mist of sweat' is meant as a general rule of thumb for upper bound in body heat and intensity of exercise for the 30 minute session so people don't expend more energy than necessary. The main point of shake and bake, is that people in general, especially sedentary meditators who do too much sitting meditation (6-10 hours a day), don't get enough aerobic cardiovascular exercise (30min RDA) because it can be tiring and painful to do. Shake and bake should only require 10-20% more energy exertion than walking, and as long as your body is heated up to the point that you feel good, hands and feet warm and soft, cold parts that felt stiff before the exercise have thawed, you feel like a bag of water, elastic, pliable, lightweight compared to before the exercise, using your full lung capacity for 20-30min. (rather than normal sedentary shallow breathing only using 20% of your lungs), then mission accomplished, no need to get a full body light mist of sweat, unless you were specifically shooting for that goal. Remember gorilla (guerrilla) improvisation is about adapting any health modality to meet your current exercise needs or goals.
If you have other health objectives, for example looking to have some net weight loss, and need more intense exercise, the gorilla approach would be find something that you enjoy doing, and is energy efficient so it doesn't compromise your sitting meditation (drain your energy making you too tired to do a good long sit). Jumping rope is one idea, doing hikes on steep hills (go up and down several times if you only have one small hill), climbing stairs (up and down many times), swimming is a great whole body exercise, etc. If you can incorporate the same principles as with shake and bake, do it with taiji quan, jhana samadhi quality relaxed state of mind, then you can incorporate much of the shake and bake benefits even with a more intense exercise. Though in general, full jhana relaxation/pacification is at odds with intentional bodily energy exertion for quick intense exercise.
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