freeform

To be honest the candle analogy is a pretty simplistic mental model. Not so useful in this context. Classically there are quite precise mechanisms that explain how emotions drain you - and which emotions drain which part of you in what way… But from a spiritual cultivation perspective this level of detail is not so important (though it is from a medical perspective). Strong compulsive emotions affect one on every level - Jing, Qi and Shen. They’re all draining. But to different extents. The subtle joy you feel when you open the door on a sunny spring morning is less draining than the exhilaration you feel when you win a big prize at a roulette table. Draining isn’t necessarily bad. Life is draining But yes there is a stage when you reach a deep state of harmony where reactive emotion doesn’t work that way any longer... Where your car breaking down feels no different to winning a car in some prize draw. Then emotions cease to be draining… but this is an incredibly rare attainment. cultivation And not taking your ‘self’ too seriously

Did I answer your question by the way? I understood it as ‘why women in particular?’ But I just realised your question may have been more about why emotions are draining generally.

Strong, compulsive emotions drain both men and women. Classically it is said that men have a hard time with letting go of their clinging to the base desires (survival mechanisms) - whereas women have an easier time of it. However women are said to have a hard time letting go of their clinging to emotion - whereas men have an easier time of that. The base desires are the initial hurdle - that’s why women tend to progress faster earlier on in the cultivation process - but many get stuck at the level of transforming the emotions. I should probably add that this isn’t my opinion - just what has been passed on to me by several teachers. Yes it’s the unconscious reactive emotions that cause the most issues. Once they’re allowed to transform we generally experience much more subtle, nuanced emotions that aren’t so reactive and compulsive in nature… Later these also give way - to stable (unwavering) virtuous states (though this is pretty far down the line).

Look for skill, character (virtue) and willingness to teach. Pay particular attention to the senior students.

So have I. I just became better and better at recognising the red flags quickly.

(Double post)

You keep looking at traditions - I suggest looking at people. Each of these traditions will have some people with genuine methods and experience - and a vast number who are lost. Look for exceptional people and train with them or those connected to them. Tradition doesn’t matter that much.

When Qi really moves it's anything but subtle Eventually when this sort of reaction stops happening - the Qi that creates these movements is still coursing through you on the 'inside' - and doing even simple movements feels extremely powerful on the inside. The sweating that's experienced at the start of ones Qigong journey is usually due to the stabiliser muscles being worked very hard through standing. It's usually not Qi. (though sometimes it is) The sweating that comes about after the zifagong stage - is the result of Qi flow meeting internal resistance in the body (and mind)... as the resistance is cleared, the channels are opened more, then the sweating generally stops - and it feels like the movements 'do themselves'... it's like there's no effort and your limbs just float through their movements... You drop your weight to your foot - and your arms rise up and do the correct movements by themselves. It's a very pleasant stage (but it must be moved past quickly) Past this stage, you're meant to Song more into that floaty feeling - releasing a further layer of tension - the qi goes deeper - and more sweating and sometimes pretty painful internal stretches start happening. With this stuff you always feel a little sore and wrung out... you actually start to miss that feeling if you havent had the opportunity to train for a while If none of this is happening - usually it's just choreography or something very light designed for the frail. When they say something is 'internal' - in one way it means that a lot more stuff is moving on the inside than is moving on the outside.

Completely agree.

Control is a funny word... For instance controlling water - you certainly can’t control it in the same way as you could control a brick for instance. You want a brick on your table? You pick it up and move it. You want it under the table? You pick it up and put it there. Try doing that with water... With water everything you do is indirect... you work on plumbing, you work on containers - and you always let water do it’s own thing. So it’s similar with Qi. For stilling the mind for instance - you don’t need to do anything... simply clearing the river beds will calm the mind (remember Qi is the higher mind). Once you’ve created the ‘container’ for the Qi in your belly... once you’ve cleared the path for it to sink, your mind will naturally quiet down of its own accord. When you’re full of Qi it feels like you’re just back from a long holiday - completely relaxed, vital, full of good mood and nothing bothers you. Most people are meditating while stressed, depleted, anxious and addicted to stimulation... and when they look inside they find even more garbage - and the stress increases. Secondly Qi can act as a sort of fuel... instead of reaching a kind of nihilistic emptiness in advanced meditation, with Qi, one reaches a stillness out of which radiates a bright light... Healing in yourself usually happens automatically with long term practice. Sometimes you need extra help. When you’re advanced, you can emit Qi from your hands and heal others. To achieve any of the above, you need to be following a genuine system. A genuine system will contain everything from beginning to enlightenment and beyond. Trying to reverse engineer things generally gets you nowhere. And often it’s dangerous. These things are developed by thousands of great minds over many hundreds of generations, carefully refining the process generation after generation... Are you smarter and more insightful than that? Can you reverse engineer the whole of physics? Or the whole field of mathematics? I certainly am not So although you’re not ‘locked in’ to anything - trying to make your own path to enlightenment is like taking your own made up route to the top of the Everest...

The lower is connected to your Jing and therefore Ming... kinda like how your body manifests into physical existence, and takes on certain attributes - sort of like a physical karma. It also functions as a sort of battery. On the level of the mind, the LDT represents calm present moment awareness. Its a big subject - so this is a hugely oversimplified description.

The upper Dantien is seen as a sort of step-down transformer of ‘heaven’ into the ‘human’ realm. It’s not seen as the seat of the mind as it is in western thinking (the middle Dantien is) So if you spend time with the upper Dantien it will most likely affect your perception of reality and consciousness

The middle Dantien is all about the psycho-emotional

Sorry to answer with a question - but why do you think ‘psycho-emotional functions’ not an aspect of - or separate to jing/Qi/Shen? Or is the real question ‘are the Dantiens the same as the chakra?’