5 Principles For Successful Routines – In Your Qigong Practice, And In Life

Following on from our last blog post about the meridian clock, which describes how the energy flows through our meridians in a regular pattern each day. I thought it would be worthwhile to have a look at the value of routine in our lives, and in specifically in our qigong practice.

You see, whether we realise it or not, we are creatures of habit, in both our minds and bodies. The meridian clock is one example of this. The body has a built in habit of moving the energy from one organ to another in accordance with the time of day, whether we know it or not. And when we harmonize the rest of our activities with the bodies routine we thrive. When we don’t, things don’t go quite so smoothly. Our bodies and minds thrive on routine, and when we utilize this aspect of our nature, it can open the door to profound progress in our lives.

So in this article we will explore five principles that can help you to establish healthy routines that while benefit your qigong practice and your life.

1. Understand that change takes time

Principle number one is to understand that change takes time.

We live in an age of instant gratification, when we expect everything to be done right now. As well as teaching qigong, I have also taught kung fu for many years, a lot of that teaching to children. So many of them are used to playing computer games where with the push of a few buttons they can make their character on screen do AMAZING things! Some of them are quite disappointed to discover that in real life things don’t work quite that way. We can learn to do AMAZING things, but the process involves more than pushing a few buttons. We must not only learn, but our bodies need to change, adapt, and develop to be able to accomplish new skills. The way of nature is a bit slower, but the process is hugely rewarding and worthwhile.

It is true that we may sometimes have AMAZING experiences in the short term. Sometimes after only a single time practicing something. But most of the time the deeper insights and true lasting change and skill comes from dedicated consistent practice over a period of time. That is why the word ‘Qigong’ is made up of two parts. Qi (氣), which means energy, and Gong (功) which means work or skill, with the specific implication that this skill comes from work over a long period of time.   A lot of that time it may seem like nothing is really happening or changing, but consistency is key to create the opportunity for the amazing to happen. When you plant a seed in the soil, looking at it from the top, for a long time it may not look like anything is happening. But underneath the seed is developing sending down roots. If you give it the care it needs, when it is ready the shoot will appear. The time waiting has been worthwhile and you can see the results.  Be patient and give your qigong or project the time and nurturing it needs to germinate.

2. The preparation is part of the success

Your first attempts at creating a new routine may not be immediately successful. Sometimes we don’t realise how many things need to come together to successfully achieve something. When you first set out to make your new routine, you may find that there are a few details that still need to be arranged for you to be successful. For example, if you want to create a new routine of practicing qigong at sunrise, you might forget to set your alarm. You might find that the place you intended to practice is too windy, or not private enough. You might find that the ground is too wet and you need different shoes for your practice session. Because of many factors, you may not actually accomplish much of what you set out to do in your first few sessions of your new routine, because you discover things that make your sessions impossible or uncomfortable. That’s ok though, you are doing something else that is just as valuable. One by one you can remove obstacles, or make adjustments to your plans until your new routine can be carried out successfully. When you realize that this is an important and necessary part of creating a successful routine, you will continue to feel motivated about continuing on towards your objective, rather than disheartened by the initial obstacles.

Don’t underestimate the value of the groundwork you are doing in preparing for an ongoing routine.

3. For success, focus on what you can control

In life, there are things we can control, and things we can’t. Sometimes when we set objectives, or make plans, we get frustrated by some of those things that are out of our control. All too often this can lead people to give up on their plans, because the things outside of their control just seem too hard to overcome.

A big key to success is to focus on what you can control, and not what you can’t. If you keep doing what you can do, it is amazing how opportunities open up for you to do even more. On the other hand, if you stop doing the part that you can do because of something outside of your control – well you don’t get anywhere that way.  There is an old saying “the harder I work, the luckier I get”, when we do what we can, little by little we develop the skills and abilities – sometimes unconsciously, that prepare us to take opportunities when they arise. If we haven’t done the preparation, the opportunity may never come, or we won’t recognize it when it does.

Many of us have demanding schedules, with many parts of it that are outside of our control. Don’t worry about that though. To make a successful routine find the part of your day that you can control. For many people this is the morning – before all there other commitments need taking care of. But for you it could be another time. It could be your lunch time, or at night before you go to sleep.  Find that time that you can control and use that to create your routines for success.

4. Make your routines achievable

A common issue I see new qigong students have, and this applies to lots of other areas of life as well, is making grand plans to do several hours of qigong practice a day. They try for awhile, but before to long find that it simply is not achievable in the life. Unfortunately for some, this leads them to give up on the practice, and put it on the list of things that they ‘want’ to do, rather than the list of things they actually do. The wiser, pause, reassess, and change their plan to a level of practice that they can actually fit into their regular schedule.

When we cram too many things into our schedule, we are setting ourselves up to fail. And the disappointment of not being able to follow through on our plans is often enough to throw us completely off course and stop out progress.  In my experience both with myself and observing others, we are much better off underscheduling than overscheduling.

Instead of trying to work on, or learn three things at once, start with just one. Instead of committing to do it for three hours a day. Commit to half an hour, or even just 10 minutes.  When you make your commitment to yourself achievable, you set yourself up to succeed. This makes you feel good, and the positive reinforcement helps you to do and achieve even more.

It is better to have time and attention to spare, than to not quite have enough… When you feel good you will naturally put that extra time and energy into productive things that help you achieve what you desire.

Once you have successfully established your routine, then of course you may want to add other things into it, or extend the amount of time you spend on something. But make it achievable, try to always give yourself a little extra room, a little extra time if you truly want to succeed.

5. Accept disruption as a part of life – but don’t let it stop you

Even after we have settled into some really good healthy routines – things will come up that disrupt our pattern. You might have to take a phone call, or deal with an emergency, or maybe you when making an appointment the only possible time is a time you usually reserve for something you have a routine of working on or practicing. These things often can’t be avoided, they are just part of life and we need to attend to them. What is important is not whether they disrupt your routine, but whether you return to your routine after the disruption has passed.

Success usually comes little by little. It’s pre-requisites develop and accumulate gradually over time. Having a break from your routine for a day or two is unlikely to have much impact on your long term success. It is what you develop day after day, week after week, month after month, that leads you to success. So don’t worry too much about the disruptions. Take them in your stride, and realise that in the bigger picture it is your ongoing daily habits that will take you to where you want to go, not the one of disruptions and distractions.

If you can get this far with your routines, you are doing very well. Once routines become habits they become self re-enforcing. Our body and mind start to look forward to them and make subtle preparations for them each day. It becomes more natural to do them than not too. This surely is the path to success, because it starts to become part of who you are rather than just something that you do.

Broad application

Whenever I am able to keep to a consistent routine of qigong practice, I find that new insights and understanding about myself and different practices open up to me. Of course this process is a bit faster when I am able to devote longer periods to practice each day, but even if it is only 10 minutes a day, little by little new understanding comes to light.

This principle of consistent routines leading to success applies to much more than just qigong practice though. If you have been following Long White Cloud Qigong for awhile, you may have noticed that there has been quite a lot of change and things accomplished over the last month. These include: A fresh new look on the website and simplified navigation. A new vlog channel with weekly vlogs. A new Long White Cloud Qigong Instagram account. Publication of regular informative blogs and articles such as this one (it has been quite awhile since this has happened regularly on LWCQ…). And also a bunch of other less visible things behind the scenes, like a whole stack of instructor testing completed, and research and planning for the year ahead.

During this time I have been away from New Zealand in Mauritius, and I have actually had a very unpredictable schedule (I will talk more about what I have been doing here in the next vlog if you are interested). It would have been easy for me to just think to myself that it was pointless trying to get things done when I didn’t know what my schedule would be each day, and just fritter away the time in between appointments. But I had things I wanted to get done for the year ahead! A big part of what helped me to achieve what I have in this past month was using these principles of successful routines.  Not only was I able to have my own very satisfying routine of regular qigong practice (hint, my regular practice time was at sunrise each day). I was able to achieve everything on my list of things I wanted to complete while I was here.

It has been a great month!

I’m on my way back to New Zealand in a few days now though, and I know that there are going to be some different demands on my time and energy when I get there. But I have confidence that if I keep applying these principles of:

1. Understanding that change takes time
2. Recognising that the preparation is part of the success
3. Focusing on what you I can control, and not worrying too much about what I can’t
4. Making sure my routines are achievable, and not overscheduling
5. Accepting the disruptions that come along, but not letting them stop me

That I will be able to adapt my routines to my changed situation, and be able to continue with the forward progress with Long White Cloud Qigong.

I know that these principles can really help you in being successful in your qigong practice, and I know that they can help you in other areas of your life as well.

If you have some thoughts or experiences with establishing successful routines, maybe you would like to comment about them below.

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