yugenphoenix

Yes I have found mudras to be powerful and very helpful at times. Who is Rudi? 🙂

Yes, it would lack the purity of what is thought of as perhaps a more "pure emptiness" intent I agree, but I have never minded "crossing streams" and finding my own way in the sticks Absolutely it is easier for a higher current to run in a better wired system!

Just added this book to my que! This sounds amazing from both your comments and the reviews on the Shambhala website! Especially intrigued by the "surprising amount of Vajrayana cross-over" Seems like an amazing book and a real missing link many of us could have used much earlier...but things do come when they do. "Wherever you go there you are." Buckaroo Banzai Thank you for the pointing my friends

This my friend! Exactly it! Nothing to build, pack, etc. you are refining the engine to burn at a monumentally enlarged and changed level that transcends the finite. It's Creation within. Exhaustless, indefatigable, processor/process.

"like tissues being pushed aside by an object" yes! but its struggle to express it with clarity and eloquence. What "methods that supposedly build a physical dantian" did you use?

“QUESTION: When it is said that the white and red elements in the form of the vital drops, in the head and the navel, meet at the heart and dissolve together when one dies, are these something other than egg and sperm? RINPOCHE: Actually the original sperm and ovum have grown to form your whole body. The drops are not so much the original sperm and ovum as they are the essence or kernel of them, or you could say the kernel or essence of what has grown out of them. During your life, according to tantric physiology, the kernel of the white aspect, which you received from your father, is housed inside your head, close to the top. The kernel or essence of the red aspect, which you received from your mother, is seated below your navel, in the abdomen. In between these two is the basic prana that keeps you alive. These two actually keep the prana from escaping. When you die this prana collapses in on itself, into the heart. While these two keep the prana from escaping, the prana itself keeps the one up and the other down. When the prana withdraws into the heart, they then go in with it. The white drop comes down from the head, the red drop comes up from the abdomen, and they meet at the heart. QUESTION: So the prana is going between the two? TRANSLATOR: The specific prana—it is called the life-force wind” Source: Creation and Completion: Essential of Tantric Meditation Jamgon Kongtrul The Life-Force Wind In the heart center resides another of the root wind energies, the wind that “holds” the life force. The most important of all the wind energies and known as the root of all the winds, the life- force wind is what keeps us alive. The current of life between the two poles of positive and negative energy, male and female, light and dark, Yin and Yang, life and death…everything is a tension mosaic between two extremes. Every being, each moment in time, the force of a particle’s electron wave manifests BECAUSE of this dynamic, without it there would be no spark, no ability to exist, there would be “no thing.” Which is why we can’t choose “this or that” because we need it ALL to be as it is, even though some is painful or undesirable or something we don’t want from our perspective because of our finite clinging ego mind. Nothing can be as it is without the whole universe being as it is. So when we meditate and bring the Yin (Earth) energy up from Muladhara, root gate and Yang (Heaven) energy down from Bai Hui to meet in your center (MDT), you are recreating the very creation of your Being, reuniting the two halves of the original Essence to form the Shengtai “holy embryo” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shengtai).

Dude this amazing! And I love your use of imagery and diagrams and your style is very engaging. I see you have quite a few other articles on that site...think I found few hours of incredible reading and teaching material here! Thank you for sharing this! I am sure you guys already have a pinned Zhan Zhuang post that is perfect for a beginner somewhere around here, but this would be perfect for anyone starting out. Lots of great succinct information here too those a bit further along the path too

DB at its finest lol 😂 Yes it will. It will however improve the function of a lot more. Hope you can set your sights a bit higher 🙂

Depends, with my personal tree I practice and meditate with it does certainly. I am happy you know what the torus is! Learning about it was like a light bulb coming on for me and it made things that were happening to me make alot more sense. What is your “central experience” now that the torus is gone? I have felt my LDT for years but I have recently felt it fuse with my MDT. I have struggled with emotions and “opening my heart” but the recent loss of a close family member a month and half ago has led me to a very deep and free place. His passing was devastating to our family but at the same time very spiritual for me. Some things different, my tongue feels “right” like it belongs on the roof of my mouth (Magpie Bridge), when I practice vase breathing I can feel the energy gathering in my MDT so strongly, the “locks” and holds are easier, feel just right, I am less concerned about the world, news, etc. I used to be a sexual dynamo and craved it, but now less is ok and I don’t have the feelings of want for it and other things. I am calmer, let things go more easily, I feel filled with peace and wellbeing at times and suddenly will be struck out of nowhere with the idea “everything is ok, nothing is wrong”

Do tell the pre-Heaven secrets of Neidan then please 🙂 Finally DB gets what it wants! 😝

@MIchael80 Meant “Pre-Heaven” =“Pre-birth” I use those words interchangeably. Why do you consider the Bindus “post heaven”? But for sure I agree the Dan and Shengtai are both eternal and flawless like our “Buddha Nature” Only something Infinite can be the key to u lock Infinity. And yes everything everywhere exists simultaneously 🙂 But from your perspective what makes “how they are accessed and worked on differently”? Enjoying the discussion 🙏

Appreciate the comments, it is not an intellectual understanding of the process but what I feel that I am attempting to articulate. I am foolish to talk about it anyway, but I was so excited by it and wanted to share my experience and ideas with others.

@MIchael80 Not pre-birth? I was hesitant to title this post anything lol 😝 but the results and the progress I feel I am making can’t be called anything but Neidan but I don’t want to split hairs over words that are meaningless I will just call it something else 🙂

@markern It depends on the day and how my body is feeling. Varies. But depth is not a pissing contest. It’s more about finding connections within yourself between body, breath, and energy and opening pathways to expressing that.

All that sounds like the great beginning of a flame that you could slowly and carefully be blown into existence. I think combining a seated practice with a standing one is best, however that looks in your system or what is best for your personal energetic situation and state. EVERYTHING is individualized. I have used Hof’s method and “vase breathing” is an arrow in my quiver for sure. I also love that silence and openness of the holds of breaths and in between…love to just let the engine maintain, just feel and observe, be aware, let breath, energy, colors, images, all go where they want, help where they can, dissolve into emptiness eventually…balance any work with energy with grounding and “just sitting” Shikantza…In my own personal system I call it, “Being alone with the weight of Being” or “Wrestling with the Void of Self” Can’t recommend standing meditation to you enough. It is key and my practice really took off when I learned to combine both. Highly highly recommend Ma bu or Horse stance but only when you can sit in it comfortably, correctly, and aligned…that’s when the magic happens 😁 but start higher in the stance so called “easy horse,” then gradually lower your thighs as your channels open and can handle more and more current and your thighs and hips open (squatting is great for this) Great amazing reference on aligning in horse stance and Nei Kung in general. This is an incredibly powerful system and forms the foundation of my “standing” practice. All the best 🙇🏻🙏 https://ckchutaichi.com/shop/books-and-dvds/books/the-book-of-nei-kung/

Nice article, love this diagram! Very succinct and pretty much hits all the points you need to be aware of to begin your standing practice.

Did you achieve any kind of results with the Wim Hoff Method? No feeling of CHI from it? Did you utilize his online instructions or did you receive training in person? Only reason I ask is I have heard he emphasizes doing Horse stance in his in person seminars but never mentions it in books or internet articles and information he puts out. And Horse stance is a key to CHI development IMO. As for CHI awareness exercises, it is not so much the system or technique you use, it’s how deeply you apply yourself to it. You need to get very comfortable with the movements until you can do them “mindlessly” and instead of focusing on how you are doing the movements or whether they are right, you begin to focus on your breathing, how it feels, where it goes, etc and once you are doing the movements with a focus on your breath, which IS Qi you are now doing “qi awareness exercises” same ones you were doing before but now it’s Nei Kung and you are beginning to learn what you need to do to manipulate you own energies and then others for purposes of healing or destruction. Do you do any standing meditation now? I still do this “Chi Circulation Exercise” from this system. It’s a great example of what I am talking about, even though it’s “basic” it can be very powerful and helpful throughout your training no matter what level. Good luck with your personal practice 🙏🙇

Lol that could be some pick up line 😆 And no worries! Happy to help anyone on their personal path 🙏

Hey @Lala Nila https://dakinitranslations.com/the-female-principle-women-in-buddhism/ https://dakinitranslations.com/buddhist-female-teachers-lineages/ Much progress in your practice 🙏🙇🏻

The four base Trigrams are pictorially in my mind Absolute Yang (Heaven) above man, Absolute Yin (Earth) below him. The two mixed Trigrams are his “arms,” representing Man, as caught between Heaven and Earth, a permutation of those creative energies, but which if he has the intuition and insight and training may learn to flow and manipulate these energies within himself and FOR himself. I have heard of a great Tai Chi player who was said to “hold the Eight Trigrams within his palms,” and this first diagram in this book I’m reading made me think of that quote and it’s possibilities 🙏🙇🏻 https://www.amazon.com/Ba-Zi-Four-Pillars-Destiny/dp/1848192908/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2WA3YOPLPWJY2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NYsTuOODMC3bBFWtCuUEKg.E_PfA_K1OltlnWsiXxPeMhEbmh4HcqAxtTkqK3zWcos&dib_tag=se&keywords=Ba+zi+serge&qid=1756995260&sprefix=ba+zi+serge%2Caps%2C388&sr=8-1 “These four are the nucleus for the remaining 60 and give us the base for all situations. As previously mentioned in the above extract from the Dao De Jing, they describe everything, or the ten thousand things. If we look back at the image of Man between heaven and earth, this is the complete theory, with Ba Zi and Feng Shui arising from this. But know that the knowledge contained in the book is deep and can take a lifetime to master. The difficulty lies in the understanding of each hexagram, because very often the information and explanation is just one example of its interpretation. Each of the hexagrams should be adaptable to any situation that we might want to look at—from work and money to relationships, amongst many other things. So, from these 64 things, we should be able to explain everything.”

Thank you for your kindly response and great advice! Grounding, grounding, grounding, totally agree 💯 We Westerners have so much energy (too much thinking) above and not enough deep rooting and consecutiveness below 🌍 My birthday is Feb 14th, 1971 so I am Metal but a Pig, would love to hear more about my Ba Zi from you 🙂 Good guess on the Water though, I am the “water bearer” after all but I feel I am drawn to water imagery and rituals because I am filled with Fire 🔥 and have always been..I struggle with anger, aggression (when provoked 😁), etc and perhaps it’s a way for me to heal myself and balance my energies deeply.

Love all of this! Great way points to look for in one’s personal practice 😃 I would add that feelings of well being and peace that seem to come out of nowhere (especially outside of direct practice times) are sure sign posts that what you are doing is good and right for you. When you have these feelings or insights that “All is well” or “Everything is ok” run with them! Embrace them and accept them wholeheartedly. This feeling can come to be your default setting as opposed to the sense of “something is always wrong” that is the Acquired mind’s baseline functioning. All the best to you in personal practice and path @KJ90 🙏🙇

Yes, I practice Bagua, Xingyiquan and Iron Palm (internal). My primary practice is standing meditation, mostly Mabu with various hand positions, and other postures with dynamic and stationary components as part of a larger “Nei kung” process. I do also circle walk around a tree in my yard that is my friend 🙂 (who I practice Zhan Zhuang with and thru). I have an natural altar at its base made from stones (and other special objects) I have brought from the mountains 🏔️ near me that is a Place Power, I call “The Council of Stone” where I camp, meditate, and trail run, and practice in nature. There is a natural well near my campsite that I do rituals at which I believe contains a deep Ley line and a Water Naga who is kinda of like a Kami or a Tengu to me. I also have a sitting practice I refer to as “Dao Yin.” It is a system of Yoga (in the sense of the word that Terry Dunn defines it in the great Flying Phoenix thread on here via the book “Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines” which is a comprehensive compendium and guide if you read the foot notes and follow to original sources 🙂), energy, breathing, stretching exercises, and meditations that I cycle seasonally and knowing what my body needs at the time after doing it for so long. In addition my practices involve weighted strength training in the gym, body weight exercises (pull ups, dips, push ups, very Navy SEAL muscular endurance building style training and other HIIT workouts) and running. I mostly do trail running in the forests and mountains as it’s a meditative experience for me and a Shen Gong practice in itself 🙇 I believe all systems originated from one founder who figured out what works for them individually and then this knowledge was passed onto disciples who attempted to make this system work for their specific energy and karmic circumstances and then passed that onto the next person, rinse and repeat down to today. There are many paths up to the Mountain and it is all individualized for us ❤️ Thank you for asking and look forward to more discussions and conversations 🙇🙏

Your deep personal experience is priceless my friend 🙏 You have championed the unending benefits of Bagua over and over, year in and year out, all just solid down to Earth advice and explanation. I am always happy to hear more of your thoughts and suggestions and experiences 🙇🏻

Agree with you! I hated gardening! And my mother (before she died) and my wife love it! Then my wife made this thing in our yard called a “forest garden” (if you don’t know it just Google it 🙂) and I watched it shape, then began helping shape it into a hidden grove, with fruit trees, herbs, flowers, a stone fire pit. It’s an amazing peaceful, quiet, place filled with such beauty and CHI. And I love digging in the dirt now and helping things grow. Seeing the insects and connections, feeling the sun, the delicate wind, and tranquil rains. It’s a full practice in itself 🙏 George Harrison was a devout Hindu practitioner all his life and he retired from fame and lived as a recluse in a mansion surrounded by 7 vast gardens which he spent his days slowly “cultivating” 🙂