SkyReach

Will do from now on Joe, Thanks!

I am reading a book called "Food Energetics" by Steve Gagne. It says that we need to disperse the heat of certain foods like eggs throughout the body with black pepper. Eggs are energetically very down and out, and hot, so eating too much of these without dispersing the energy would actually promote nocturnal pollution unless it is dispersed throughout the body with something like pepper!

Ive been practicing Semen Retention for over a year now without much success. My record has been 38 days. It was in the summer when I was more active. I have been learning a lot lately and I think that I am on to a few things that could help me retain, but I wanted to discuss them here a little bit first. Im learning about how Yang is needed to protect and control Yin. This is something that I did not understand previously. I currently do not have a job and I just study, read, and meditate a lot. This life style of mine, Ive recently realized is very Yin. Way too much Yin! I just read a few pages on the proper Taoist diet and realized that I am also eating too many Yin foods. It is winter here as well and very cold which is also very Yin. I also seem so have the most trouble when there is a full moon, and this in very Yin also! This article explains a lot about how our modern habitat has much excess of Yin from toxic foods, drugs & alcohol, radiation, electromagnetic fields, too much information, stress, and even polluted air and water. Here is some of it - WHY ARE SO MANY BODIES YIN? Traditional Chinese medical practitioners would say the reason for so many yin bodies is deficient chi or vital energy. Many factors can deplete the chi including one's diet, lifestyle, stress and other factors. In particular, since 1940 or so, several factors have combined to render most bodies extremely yin. Ionizing radiation. The atomic bomb, through testing and accidents, has spread radioactive fallout all over the planet. Low-level emissions occur from nuclear power plants, smoke detectors, computer monitors, television sets and fluorescent lamps. Widespread medical and dental use of x-rays, radioactive dyes and radiation therapy add to radiation exposure. Uranium mining is another source of low-level contamination. Fortunately, humanity has learned a lot about radioactive fallout and the safety is improving. However, the problem of rogue nations developing weapons and using them remains a serious problem. Electromagnetic pollution. This is also very yin and growing at an astronomical rate with the advent of cell phone towers everywhere, computers in every home, especially laptop computers and hand-held devices like portable telephones. These all give off fields that are very yin and chaotic. Riding in airplanes with large spinning turbines in them near your head, and even riding in automobiles with large alternators spinning nearby also give off electromagnetic waves of varying degrees of chaos. Even house wiring and common radio and TV signals are quite yin, though not nearly as bad as cell phone radiation. Toxic metals and chemicals everywhere. Industrial development and growth of the chemical industry has spread thousands of yin toxic chemicals throughout the environment. These include toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and beryllium. It also includes thousands of toxic chemicals such as solvents, pesticides, plastics and many other classes of compounds. Changes in the food supply. These have been massive in the 20th and 21st century, and almost all are more yin. They include: soils depleted of minerals due to soil mining, essentially, use of hybrid crops, use of pesticides, use of superphosphate fertilizers. For example, wild fruit, like crab apples, are small, hard and not too sweet. Cultivated fruit is often larger and sweeter (more yin). Also, food is grown far away and transported thousands of miles in many cases to get to you. Also, some is irradiated, another very yin procedure. Food refining. Most food processing and refining have made food far more yin. This includes refining of wheat, sugar, rice and other grains. It also includes adding thousands of toxic chemicals to prepared food, most of which are yin or have a yin effect. Dietary changes. The diets have also become more yin, with the consumption of much more white sugar, white flour instead of whole grains, and less red meat and fat consumption. Items like soda pop, beer and wine are also far more yin than water, tea or coffee. Sugar-eating is probably the most important of all of these dietary shifts. Medical drug use. This is a more yang approach to health care than some types, but now has turned yin because it is so overused. Especially the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in America in 1967 and similar socialized programs in other nations, have resulted in tremendous use of yin chemicals as medicines. Almost all prescription drugs are yin. This includes most popular drugs such as antibiotics, anti depressants and many others. Surgery and radiation therapy are also extremely yin. Recreational drug and alcohol use. This includes marijuana, heroine, alcohol, tobacco, ecstasy, cocaine, psilosybin or magic mushrooms and other drugs are very yin. They cause a “yin high”. Planetary pollution. This has caused a mixture of more yin and more yang conditions. As explained earlier, toxic metals are yang, of themselves, but they cause chaos in the bodies, making them much more yin. Oxygen in the air is reduced in the cities, which is more yang. However, this also causes disease that is yin. Polluted air, water and food, overall, has a very yin effect on mankind today. Planetary cycles play a role. "The age of Aquarius" is not just the name of a song. It is a planetary position in the 25,000-year cycle of our solar system through the Milky Way as the galaxy revolves around our central sun located in the Pleiades. It will last about 2000 years. Its qualities are a time of change, reflection, questioning and the chaos that goes with it. It began around 1940 and will last until about 3100. It is a time when a more yang approach to life and yangizing influences are needed to offset new ideas and concepts which tend to be yin. It is also an age of information which is yin and it is a radioactive age – with nuclear weapons and so on, which is also very yin and these must be balanced with a more yang diet and lifestyle and attitudes that are more yang such as taking responsibility for oneself. The former age, the Piscean age, by contrast was a more yang time with lead in the environment, for instance, and required more fruit and juices and salads in the diet than is required today. http://drlwilson.com/articles/yin%20yang%20healing.htm more in link. In America today, many of the people who are rebelling against the problems that they see in our society do so in a way that actually goes against their goals of building a strong and healthy Yang body & mind. Ive traveled all over and mingled with so many people who have switched over to raw food diets and this is extremely Yin in nature. Fruit is also extremely Yin as well. The most Yang of all foods are actually Salt Eggs Red Meat Poultry Fish, and with so many of these healthy striving individuals going raw foods, vegan, or vegetarian, they are lacking Yang in their bodies, when in actuality what they need to counter the environmental problems we face today is more Yang and less Yin! If the meat was raised with care, and did not have toxic steroids and other problems then I would consume some occasionally. Maybe I will go get some deer meat from a family member and eat some of that once and a while. Meditation is a very Yin activity I just learned, and these are the types of people that are beginning to meditate more and more. I have been meditating for hours every day and my problem with nocturnal pollutions has only been getting worse! while I originally thought that meditation would be the problem solver. Everyone is talking about the new age of Aquarius and the divine feminine. There is much talk about how we need to cultivate our feminine side and remove our masculine, but this seems to be the wrong approach because we need the proper balance of Yin & Yang in order to be well. I see so many people becoming way too Yin, myself included now. This has been a breakthrough for me I believe, and I would like to discuss it with some of you here. I have realized that I was much happier when I have a Yang nurturing lifestyle, and this seems to be why I am happiest when I travel to new countries that are hot and sunny. I am so much more active, hiking around and being very physical. This is when I tent to feel very much alive and really adore my life. When I come back to boring upstate new York, I tent to go into hibernation mode, especially in the winder months and become quite miserable in comparison. I really need to force myself to get out, start doing some form of martial arts or training of some kind, and start eating more Yang foods. Im not saying that there is anything wrong with a vegetarian diet or even vegan, but Raw foods, yes - not good. I am a vegetarian myself, I will not start eating mass produced meats and such things but I will certainly be eating more eggs and whole grains, and less raw foods. I will also not be eating my daily banana &papaya smoothie breakfast, and I will be going instead for more cooked stir-fry meals and traditional yang style dishes. One question that I have is - Is semen more Yin tor Yang? In Taoist Yoga discussions that I have read, It says that the testicular energy is cold energy - or Yin energy. If I knew how to convert it into Yang energy that would be great I think, even better doing so in a Yang manner and not a Yin meditation? Any tips would be greatly appreciated, I would love to discuss this further with you folks!

thanks for all of the help

Awesome information thanks a lot!

I already use many of these things, but Im now realizing that I may be using an excess of Yang spices and herbs and not enough Yin. Yea I do lots of introspection meditation, Its so beneficial! Alchemical balance, that's what I need! How do make the cauldron? I don't wanna burn my soul lol

Thanks! I agree, and the last thing that I want to do is create more damage. I do think that excessive loss of "generative force" does indeed damage us though, lessens our lifespan some, and creates some ignorance and lack of intelligence if abused (no pun intended to anyone). I think that it is also stated in the book "Taoist yoga" how excessive loss of generative force is damaging. On a positive note, I know that I should not worry and that any loss can eventually be made up with this system!, and this is one of the reasons that I am here in the first place. Check this article out, http://gnostictransformation.blogspot.com/2009/04/science-of-orgasm.html I look at it this way- I used to be a flower farmer, and now I am a vegetable farmer, so I know a good amount about how plants work. There are 2 basic stages, vegetative (growing) and flowering (fruiting). These different stages require different nutrients. In the vegetative stage they require lots of nitrogen. In the flowering stage they require lots of phosphorus. This phosphorus is what allows the flowers to grow and bloom! The semen is mainly made up of lecithin which is basically a phosphorus compound (read link I posted above for info on this). Studies have shown that the lecithin is stored in the brain and the central nervous system mainly. This phosphorus compound is what fuels the brain and central nervous system, so If our bodies are lacking these compounds then these bodily systems cannot function at normal or high levels, or at least our potential is limited to some degree. The chakras are like flowers, and the highest chakra is considered a 1000 petal lotus flower in some traditions! These flowers need to bloom just like a real flower needs to bloom, and for that it needs phosphorus compounds. When our "stalk" is flowing with high levels of phosphorus compounds, these systems flourish and this is how geniuses are created, look at the continent lives of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Spinoza, Newton, Kant, Beethoven, Herbert Spencer, Tesla, etc. When weak from a lack of these compounds I believe the chakras are temporarily damaged or slowed down, or cannot bloom. This feeds the negative ego's, creates mental and emotional disturbances, brain fog, and a weak nervous system. Im trying to figure out how the lecithin fits in with Taoist teachings. So far I think that the Phosphorus compounds create lots of spark or combustion in the nervous system, which creates internal energy. When we loose semen we leek out energy produced, and energy producing fluids I think. Its like loosing lots of windmill power! My goals are not to have any fireworks, I just want steady conscious evolution. I want to advance my psychological perceptions and regain my health to its full potential so that I may live as long as possible, leading to a longer life full of spiritual progression! I want all of my flowers to bloom into beautiful consciousness absorbing receptors that help me be a better person and a bearer of some light in this darkened world. Im not worried about RAB, Im more worried about loosing generative force, and I believe RAB is something that can help keep me from loosing it. I am not sick or in ill health in any way, my psychological state is solid, and I have a clear vision of what I want to accomplish in life. I refuse to allow fear to control my life, but at the same time I know my limits. This was taught to me from the head of the Himalayan Institute of Yoga. Its called prana dharana, and they teach it because supposedly the pituitary region is the most sensitive region in the body so this is the best zone to learn how to "feel" the prana within the body, and is also the area used to "concentrate" and stabilize the mind so that you can compact it and get good enough of a feel for it to eventually start to move it into other areas of the body. This would help me to have deeper concentration on the LDT area I would think. Maybe I am mixing traditions too much but I just don't see the harm. Great info thank you so much Spotless!

Awesome Post thank you thelerner! Great advice! I also found heavy blankets or tight undies can cause problems Great advice. I admit that I do get depressed when I have an emission, but this is mainly because I do feel the consequences. I don't feel the energy as well in my body, my meditations don't go as smooth or deep afterwards, my allergies flare up sometimes, Im not as content, less energy, need more sleep, etc.. Ill try to not be so hard on myself. I tend to be much more dedicated once I have some time under my belt in conserving. I more motivation but when I have a loss I loose motivation. I need to work on this. I did not know cilantro could cause problems! Good to know Thanks again. I will definetly be applying much of this and burning the slow fire. Just to be sure, this is accomplished by "gazing" over the LDT area correct?

Great info! And I think the gut is a much larger creator of this "noise" than we realize. I think that tamping down on the gut noise (careful diet) helps limit the head noise or random thought. And this is probably why we need to have a well checked ego before we begin plugging these holes, or the negative egos will become inflamed and become outlets. I believe that the negative egos trap our positive, so If we check the negatives and plug the holes, positive virtues attached to the chakras start to bloom because the newly harnessed energies start to escape through outlets like love, compassion, joy, knowledge, possible psychic abilities etc.. Agree? Ok I need to work on the breath. Here is what I understand about the breath- Breath in and out slow and steady, as rhythmic as possible. Breath from the abdomen, while limiting restriction and audible movement from nostrils, and throat as much as possible. Try not to lift the chest or shoulders, but the bottom 2 ribs can be lifted for deeper inhalations correct? How much should I be moving my abdomen in and out? Should It be squeezed in on the in breath on RAB, and forced out as far as possible on the exhalation? I have a really weird abdomen that I can blow out like I have a bowling ball inside. How often should I be working my perineum into these breathing exercises? Thanks a lot for all of your help Joe, I really like your writing style.

Thanks for this load of info! 6 months is a really long time and I have massive amounts of respect to you for that accomplishment! It is very rare I believe. Yea I am having a tough time following a lot of the Taoist Yoga book, But it is slowly making more sense. 14 years study wow, that is a really long time! much respect to you. you said- "So here's a basic principle found throughout the book - the "quick fire" practice means that it's necessary to have strong reverse breathing pranayama to drive the - yin chi - energy up the spine because mind concentration to lower the yin shen (spirit-fire) on its own is not strong enough to move the generative force." I just recently started the reverse breathing. My question is on the "quick fire" tech. I read that we must breathe from the abdomen and make as little resistance as possible so very slow and quiet I suppose. In the correct practice of RAB, do the lower ribs lift on the "in" breath? This is the only way that I can seem to get a "deep" breath. I don't really understand this "quick fire". The name must be misleading right? Its not about breathing quickly but breathing deeply correct? "So as chapter 3 details - you need to open up the body channels as a quick fire practice - as the original qigong master says - at first to build up the yin chi energy you actually need a 3 to 1 ratio - 3 times more standing active exercise or quick fire." In my searches to understand "quick fire" I read that we stare at an object so tears stream. Are you saying we should do this while standing? Im sorry but I am confused, I need to read more. You are so advanced with these subjects its really great, but I need some time to research and process all of what you are saying, it will take me some time. Im sorry I am so slow to respond to your posts, its just that I really don't even know where to begin. Reverse breathing pranayama - You are talking alternate nostril pranayama or just retention of breath pranayama? Do the Taoist teachings have alternate nostril breathing practices as well? How long do you recommend pausing at the top for, and do you also recommend a pause at the bottom? "So yeah I did practice full lotus as my main practice for a long time - but actually the standing active exercises are the best way to build up the yin chi energy." What kind of standing practices are you talking about? "Sitting in full lotus works well for sublimation but it should be combined with the deep reverse breathing - and then sit nonstop for two hours - and as Yogananda stated, padmasana "burns bad karma."" love this! Ive been sitting in full lotus as much as I can lately and I feel as if it is definitely giving its share of benefits! "So as I mentioned I went 6 months with no emission but that is not the same as building up the yin chi energy! Keep in mind - you can lose the generative force - people can suck it up or soak it up from you - it is transmitted out of your eyes or even from your body - if people look at you with "evil eyes" - their lower consciousness lust, etc. So also as you mention - getting angry, etc. - but the overexcitement of the heart is the final lower emotion to be overcome. Why? Because as you build up yin chi energy - then it is basically stored up semen that has been ionized into chi energy - and the TAoist Yoga book even says this. And so people will chase after your energy and also then your chi energy will that much easier be activated back into yin jing (internal heat, bliss, with swelling of the genitals, etc.). So this is the false fire of the heart - or the evil fire." Great information thanks, what do you mean by over excitement of heart? "So the book Taoist Yoga states that basically you spend the day constantly purifiying your energy but then finally at midnight it is the extreme yin of Emptiness - the eternal nature of the upper tan tien energy manifests the strongest and from extreme yin you get activation of the yang energy as prenatal vitality (true vitality or yuan qi) - and so then you can practice the small universe without it being based on the illusory agent." Does this mean that at midnight I should meditate and that this will help me harness the manifested yang caused by an extreme yin state?

I am just about to turn 32!

A small part of me does not want to believe this (the part of me that loves to eat), but the deeper part in me totally agrees with it. In-fact, this is the most exciting thing that I have read thus far. This lines up perfectly with my personal experience. I have been studying and working on my "ego's" for a long time now, and for the most part I believe that I have succeeded enough to enable other forms of progress that the "ego" would have inhibited. My problem seems to lie within my dietary habits. Within the last 2 years I have dramatically changed my diet. I quit eating meat about 18 months ago, and about 12 months ago I cut out sugars and refined flours, and since this last summer I only eat my own home grown organic vegetables, basmati rice, mung beans, fruits, and a very basic diet. I still have moments where I fall off routine and eat foods that are offered to me at gatherings or on my own at times when the energies are high like full moons, but like I said this is not often and when I do I suffer greatly from nocturnal pollutions. I am learning though, and I feel like this information is helping to elevate me to another level of understanding that will help to carry me to new personal records of semen retention. My current record is just 38 days. Another thing that helps this link well with me is the fact that at the time of my best record I was sprouting mung bean sprouts and eating them every day, and I read yesterday that these are very Yin in nature. I also noticed that since my semen retention days began I have needed much less food. In fact, beginning of summer 2014 I had to begin restricting my food intake so much because I started to feel like a had a lump in my lower throat from indigestion. It took me a couple of weeks to figure it out but eventually I learned that If I ate much less it would go away. This also led me towards my Ayurvedic studies on food combinations, and I soon learned that certain combinations would now also impact me a great deal. Now I try to eat a "sattvic" diet, or a "yogic diet". My main diet currently consists of a fruit smoothie in the morning made with papaya and banana. Other ingredients I use are honey, dates, cinnamon, ginger, ashwaganda, maca root, noni fruit, camu camu, amalaki, and acerola cherry powder. This is made with water and lately I ordered a bunch of cacao beans from Guatemala and have started to add this as well. I recently learned that Cacao is very Yin so I guess this is a good thing. I also add cayenne occasionally to balance it and bring in a little Yang. For lunch I have a slice of unleavened sprouted wheat bread that I make with some chyawanprash on it. For dinner, around 4 pm, I eat either basmati rice with ghee, veggies, and spices, or Mung dal soup with ghee and broccoli sprouts. I need to reduce the portion size of my dinner I believe, especially now that I am reading about how the ones who have made serious progress in this path eventually ate nothing. This makes perfect sense to me based on my personal experience so far. I switch it up some times and add an egg to my lunch or diff fruits in breakfast, and diff veggies at dinner. The days where I have nocturnal pollutions were days that I caved and for example made myself a pancake around 5-6pm with chocolate chips and pure maple syrup or on days where I just simply overeat, or eat much too late in the day. I have had problems with eating eggs before as well, and some food combinations can cause problems for me. Other times were when I let myself get emotional or angry and this really causes problems and a night full of hard battle. I have done this many times and every time that I slip up I either have an emission or I fend it off all night. Lucky for me my body now alerts me before an emission and I am able to fight it off before it happens by squeezing my perineum muscle before it gets to the point of no return. Now that I understand more about what is happening, I now have the motivation and confidence to be more strict with my diet!. I also have more weapons now too like the middle fingers to the palm, tongue tip to pallet, deep reverse breathing, and others! so appreciative! “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” -Hippocrates A few things I don't like about your post = "Nothing will work, the more you meditate the worse will be." I disagree, something will work! Ill figure it out, and I don't thing that I should stop meditating. I think the answer lies in a stricter dietary habit with the addition of more Yin foods and less Yang foods! ""semen retention" and all that stupid things you read in books and on internet." - They aren't stupid, just incomplete and misunderstood. Lets help fix that! Im taking your advice nevertheless and will begin to eat and drink more like the Chinese do. Thanks for your post Is helped me realize a lot of things.

Thank you! that picture is very helpful. I can feel all of those points shown. Im starting to have a little bit of understanding now. I have "secrets of Taoist love" and read some of it already, but the button method he teaches really turned me away from his teachings, too un-natural for me but Im sure there is still tons of good info in his books. "The generative force is volitalized before erection, when the energy in your scrotum is considered 'yin'. Focus on the cool energy, or any 'tingling' sensation inside your testes and draw it up the spine nice and slowly. Then down the front of your body and into the 'cauldron' of your lower dantien (just in front of, and slightly above the sacrum bone) through the navel." Is all of this done within ONE breath? Thanks for your help!

Hey Joe, What is the Niwan? Also, Where am I driving the vitality from into the LDT? Do we just focus attention on the LDT or imagine it going from perineum into LDT? When I do reverse breathing should I be contracting my perineum on the exhale (abdomen in)? Should I also be meditating on my Ajna chakra area and concentrating spirit there? if so, should I split my meditations into 50% ajna concentration and 50% LDT concentration with reverse abdominal breathing? If I am concentrating on Ajna chakra area should I still be reverse abdominal breathing or regular abdominal breathing? Could you explain " ldt yin receptive and niwan like you are lighting it with a laser." in just a hair more simpler terms? lol, im sorry! Like you said, I want to work on developing the lower cauldron for now, I just need to get it straight in my head so that I can begin with some confidence! I really appreciate all of your knowledge, It is amazing what you folks around here know. This place is a real gem!

Hey! so how do we volatize the fixed generative force? Is this basically storing it up? conservation?