My question is about my mind wandering while doing the various tapes. Do you lose your chi when your mind is not focused while doing the gong? I am able to bring my mind intent back into focus; however, I wondered if the effectiveness of the gong was diminished, and how much it was diminished by?

Since you've been doing your gongs for almost two years, I think your "wandering mind" is one kind of consciousness-purifying" reaction. It is a good sign that you are making progress. The following is what Dr. Pang explained in his book:

"At an ordinary level, distracting thoughts may emerge even if one already settles oneself down in a quiet and tranquil state during one's practice. These are reactions in consciousness field. As soon as the distracting thoughts on the surface layer are dispelled, new ones in a deeper layer may appear, which may cause irritations. One should make up one's mind to persist in practicing until it reaches the fixed time."

You are not losing chi because this reaction will appear only when your mind goes deeper (due to your experience of ten-year meditation). Don't worry about losing chi, never think about it this way. For a skilled practitioner, the bad thing may happen as he or she thinks like that (good thoughts bring about good results, while bad ones result in bad symptoms, because you mind is more closely connected with your life activities). It is quite a common phenomenon. So long as you keep on your practice, good effects can only be increased instead of being diminished.

As you are improving your functions, more miraculous reactions might appear? From Life More Abundant, more practitioners may learn what Prof. Pang suggests them to do when they encounter such phenomena as "intro-through-vision" or others. As the chi field gets more powerful, more and more practitioners may obtain the elementary super-intelligence (extraordinary abilities), theoretical guidance is of great importance at this critical moment.

3. Running nose during qigong practice

It is quite common to be tearing and nosing for some people during their qigong practice. This is a kind of reaction to dispel the impurities through those channels. If you have to stop to wipe your nose or eyes, think inside first-take in, gather in or absorb the chi around you first. When a practice is interrupted, the first thing to do is to gather in the external chi and close the chi field into the body.

A movement to put your middle finger or your whole palms to your navel (the nourishing chi posture) will help to absorb chi, but the idea "to absorb chi first" itself is the essence. Besides, sometime you may not have time to do the movement because the nose is running. The key point lies in the idea, not the movement. The mind acts much faster than light, try to use the mind first instead of the body. This is why high-level practitioner uses his mind a lot instead of his body, because his willpower and consciousness is great enough to change matters. Physical movements are no more than forms. However, we need physical movements, especially in the beginning of our practice, to help to form a habit to cultivate the mind.