"A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work."
Colin Powell, former U.S. Defense Secretary
First of all, I'm not an expert at bending the elements. In fact, I can't even do it yet. I'm learning just like all of you. We are all in a way, entrepreneurs that have to find a way ourselves.
Despite that, there are a few resources that I have found that will help you get started on your journey to becoming a Bender. The links are below.
Tips on starting
First of all, you must believe 100% that bending exists. Even if you believe 95%, the other 5% will hinder you from being able to achieve your full potential.
Second of all, practice makes perfect. If you are not willing to spend at least 15 minutes each day meditating and practicing developing your chi, then you won't be able to bend the elements.
Finally, make sure to start with chi. Once you master your chi, you'll be able to work on bending the elements.
Previously, I just listed all of the resources I am using in one big section.
However, I've decided to change that because I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed by all of the resources. So in order to make learning bending easier, I've put together a day by day schedule on what you should do.
Day 1
3 minutes
thefourelementalarts.weebly.com
Briefly skim over the website. It's not necessary to read everything (for now). Just get familiar with the layout, take a brief look at all of the pages, in particular the element you would like to bend.
15 Minutes
In the website above, take roughly 15 minutes to read the first part of the chi section. Start at the What is Chi part and stop reading when at the end of the dragon pearl section. We'll continue in the next couple of days. A lot of what you will read today is about the history of chi, but it's still worthwhile to read all of it. The website is pretty long, but if you're not even willing to spend 15 minutes reading, you might as well just give up on bending.
10 - 15 minutes
Reread the proof that chi is real section, which includes the dragon pearl part. Now close your eyes and do what the website tells you to do. Try to feel your chi in your hands.
7 minutes
Put your hands close together and move them in circles. Again, try to sense a force between your hands. The website only mentions moving your hands in circles, but you can also move your hands apart and back together. This should help you feel the chi.
5 minutes
Make a dragon pearl by placing your hands/fingers together and rotating them in circles. Read the section about dragon pearl again if you forgot how to do it or want more details.
Remember: It is recommended that you reread all of the exercises again at least for the first couple of times you do it that way you make sure you don't miss anything.
Day 3
Don't feel like you are required to move onto the next day. You are more than welcome to repeat days! So, if you can't feel any force between your hands, it might be wise to continue doing day 2's exercises.
Of course, even if you can't feel you're chi right now, you can still move onto day 3 :) After all, all of the exercises are meant to help you feel and master chi. You're not supposed to keep on doing one exercise until you master that one exercise; you do many different exercises and gradually get better.
10 minutes
Start reading from the Basic Principles of Tai Chi Kung and end at the Tai Chi Exercise One.
10 min
Reread Tai Chi Kung Exercise 1 and practice it.
5 min
Practice putting your hands together, feeling the chi, and making the dragon ball (day 2 stuff).
Day 4
10 minutes - Put your hands close together and sense the chi in your hands. Breathe and watch the oxygen enter your body in Tai chi exercise 1.
10 minutes - Read Dan Tien Defining Exercise 1 and practice doing that for the remaining minutes.
Day 5
10 minutes - Read Sensing the chi and practice it.
10 minutes - Then Read and Practice Lifting the Sky. Lifting the Sky is one of the best qi gong exercises. Your probably going to do this exercise every time you practice chi gong so make sure to learn it well!
Day 6!
10 min - Click on the 5 phase Routine link above. Read the whole article and pay special attention when you get to the part about the 5 phase routine. Make sure to read and memorize all 5 phases. You will use this routine every time you practice.
A quick breakdown of the 5 phase routine.
Phase 1: Walk a little, do the head to foot relaxation, relax twice as much, smile from the heart, and get into the zen state of mind.
Phase 2: Do any Dynamic Chi gong exercise. For you right now, do the lifting the sky since that is one of the only ones you've learned so far.
Phase 3: Flowing Breeze Swaying Willow
Phase 4: Flowing Stillness (just standing still), centering yourself, and bringing your awareness to dan tien.
Phase 5: Closing Sequence (warming your hands, putting it on your phase, hitting the pressure points near your eyes, and doing the 24 beating drums.
If you have any questions about the 5 phase Routine, feel free to ask me.
Day 7
You'll pretty much be doing the 5 phase routine everyday from now on. You can continue down the bending qi gong exercises and incorporate them into phase 2 of the 5 phase routine. What I like a lot about the 5 phase routine is that it helps you get into a zen state of mind, so you'll be able to feel chi easier. I would recommend doing lifting the sky everyday in phase 2, and once you learn more exercises, you can add them into your phase two exercises list.
Tomorrow I will write Day 8 :)
All of the Links
This is probably the main resource you will use. Make sure to start on the Chi section. Once you can control your chi and make it interact with the physical world, you'll be able to start bending the elements. Note: The person who created this website left in 2011. However, the techniques written should still be good. It's pretty long. I would recommend that you read all of the chi section, obviously not all in one sitting.
This is very similar to the above link. It was created by the same person, Air Strike. The reason why I listed this is that it also has a forum (that is inactive) and FAQ section, so you might find those useful.
This website details the 5 phase routine, a routine you can incorporate into your daily chi training sessions. In the morning, I typically do the 5 exercises listed here as well as combining them with some of the exercises in the links above.
A lot of the exercises in this website are just repeated exercise from the first two websites I've listed above. This website does include some other exercises like weapon bending and discovering your totemic animals, so you might find those interesting.
This website has really good descriptions of each exercise and the order in which to do them.
Other techniques
This is another useful technique that is not in any of the links above.
In the beginning, I couldn't feel the chi in my left hand. So when I would move my hands back in forth, I would mostly focus on the feeling in my right hand. This technique will help you tell whether both of your hands can feel chi or not.
1) Put your right hand above one of your eyes and slowly move it away from your eyes and towards your eyes. Imagine that there is a balloon your hand and you're pushing it into your eyes and pulling it out. If you can feel a force pushing against your eyes, then that's good. It means that you can push your chi with that one hand.
2) Repeat step 1 with your left hand. If you can still feel one of your eyes being pushed by the invisible balloon, then your other hand can also feel chi, which is good.
This exercise is supposed to be good for your eyes because your putting force on your eves and compressing it. It also tells you whether your hands can feel chi or not.
If one of your hands can't, don't worry too much. You might not be able to make the dragon pearl, but you should be able to do the other exercises fine. After I practiced for around 3 weeks or so, I had a major breakthrough and was finally able to feel the chi in my left hand.