Tracking Progress

If you enjoy doing your 15-minute Shaolin Chi Kung session regularly, then you are sure to make progress. It's a natural process, just like lifting weights. If you lift weights regularly (and correctly), then you are sure to get stronger. Similarly, if you practice Shaolin Chi Kung regularly (and correctly), you are sure to have more energy, your health will improve, you'll be happier, and you'll have more zest for work and play.

However, because progress with Shaolin Chi Kung happens so gradually, it's not always easy to track. That's why I created the Shaolin Progress Chart. If you fill out this chart once or twice a month, you'll be able to see just how much you're improving. The chart helps you to be more objective about your progress. The more progress you see, the more motivated you'll be to practice. And the more motivated you are, the more you'll progress. This is called a positive feedback loop.

What often happens is that students have one primary complaint. For example, let's say a student has chronic neck pain. After practicing Shaolin Chi Kung for 3 months, the pain is still there. Thus, the student gets discouraged and feels that she isn't making progress.

But if she used the progress chart, she would see that she is making tremendous progress. She would see that, although the pain is still there, it has gone from a 9 down to a 7 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the worse pain imaginable). Furthermore, she'll see clear progress in many other areas of her life, like her sleep quality, energy levels, and mental clarity.

Postive and Negative

We tend to focus on the negative and ignore the positive. In the above example, the student was focusing on her neck pain, which is understandable. The chart will help her to gain perspective. After all, if you've had chronic neck pain for 3 years, and that pain goes from a 9 to a 7 in just 3 months, that's not bad! It's even better if you consider that, at the same time, you're improving in many other areas of your life!

By using the chart, we can not only see where we've been, but where we're going. In the above example, the student was discouraged because her neck pain was still there after 3 months. But with perspective, we can see that she did make progress (from a 9 down to a 7). If we project ahead another 3 months, we can assume that the pain will go down to at least 5. In another 3 months, it'll be at a 3. After 1 year of practice, the pain will have gone from a 9 to a 1.

Now that's progress!

Click here to Download the
Flowing Zen Progress Chart.

TOP OF PAGE