Trunk

Concise (artsy, free) internal arts primer blog I wrote. Couple of pages especially pertinent: Hands stuff https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/2017/08/11/qi-sphere-beginning/ Pearl stuff https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/enso-emptiness-and-the-deep-centers/ You might look at "common fundamentals", also, to get super concise generic overview, could be applied to any system. https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/

The dual-concept of Forward & Reverse I find pertinent to this conversation... This thread started in January, and I posted a little essay about Forward & Reverse in March. ... and I blab on about it some more w/in that short essay. And there's a phrase from one of the Thomas Cleary books, Practical Taoism maybe? That phrase stuck with me. What do we do with our natural self expressions? I'd suggest that considered balance is ... the healthy middle way.

8 oz is hefty. Hopefully opens the door for KY residents who grow/buy locally to be less of a target. Here in the LA area I occasionally see someone burning down a joint right on the sidewalk. Vaping is, of course, more common. *REALLY* glad about the probable federal re-classification, and about the federal pardoning of previous offenders.

It varies a lot. I've done it for short meditations but, honestly, usually my kuji sessions are pretty short. Shortest: 2-3 breaths per hand position. It's surprisingly effective as a start-up, opening & getting things running. Like if the time I have for practice is running from my bed to bathroom to brush my teeth? That kind of tempo? Kuji-in is great. Tea-cups are great. And I've tried Kuji for a variety of more meditative lengths, but haven't explored that as much as I think I 'should'. I really get a lot out of short - moderate sessions with these

I do *just* the hand positions. Call me a dilettante, but I'm not interested in all of the tomfoolery around these mudras. The mudras themselves do so much. (And I have no experience with the other parts of kuji-in, so I am *not* speaking authoratively here - it all could be great and I just don't know it yet). from a little essay I wrote about kuji-in (online and has a pdf visual reference of the hand positions to assist in learning, at the bottom of the essay): cheers, Trunk

Welcome Bleys! Very nice of you to join. Take a look around. (There might be a rules section in here somewhere.) - Trunk

Pardon me for not reading all previous posts in thread, (I used to read & post on this topic incessantly years ago) just throwing in 2 cents, hopefully relevant. & cautions re: HT 'healing love' presentations/interpretations.

Stephen Chow at IMDb Actor - 72 movies Writer - 13 Producer - 13 Director - 11 ... he's been busy.

I recently bought some dvds I’ve been wanting for a while - Baskets - all 4 seasons. None of the clips on youtube do it justice. Zach G. called it “slapstick tragedy”, and that’s apt. There’s really great writing, real tragedy, relationships, and every one of those actors is so charmingly unusual. - Christopher Guest movies - best in show, a mighty wind, waiting for guffman. I was just watching Stephen Chow’s “Journey to the West” .. and I’m appreciating his movies again, in retrospect: kung fu hustle god of cookery … I think there must be a dozen or more that I don’t know about. There’s always a lot of real depth in Chow’s movies, mixed with the comedy.

@Nungali, Picture an over-weight Captain Obvious, and you’d be getting closer. I’d prefer just a badge, but tradition is tradition. - Trunk

Howdy, @BalefulSun, Admin, here. OFFICIAL STATEMENT (trumpets, streamers) Yeah, I also don’t think that your original idea is going over well, and I agree let’s put the kahbosh on it. Fine to keep it for yourself. Fine to have something similar in your own personal practice section here on-site. cheers, Trunk (changes out of official admin’s cape, hat, tights)

Hello! I am the admin here at TheDaoBums. I sent you a private message re: this, but you didn’t respond… We have another member with the name “Flowing Hands” (including the space) and you are “FlowingHands”. Do you mind picking another online name, so it’s not confusing between the two of you? You can respond to me here or via private message. I’d like to take care of that and approve your account. Then, of course, you can post your cultivation manual or any other internal arts conversation that you’d like to share. - Trunk

hey-oh, A while back I bought what I call a "belt buzzer". https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R9X7Q6C I'm not clear on the terminology, TENS unit, I think? Anyway this sends buzzing patterns of electrical shock through the abdomenal area and can be worn during chores, resting, or exercise (think, "pilates", etc). My interest in this, and why I think it's relevant to this forum: From a therapeutic standpoint (whether medical, emotional, opening the tissues & channels, etc) one of the more difficult areas to really excavate well (and too often neglected) are the layers of the abdomen. All the layers of tissue, organ etc. The buzzing, I find, is remarkable in micro-activating musculature through the layers as well as circulation. And it's super convenient. - Trunk

I met Leo Lok through the online community more than 20 years ago. He was aware of TheDaoBums, but was pursuing various serious professional-level studies in the area of Chinese Medicine - and primarily related in that community and in service to his patients. I find Leo to be remarkably humble and kind, as well as very serious scholar and medical professional. I offer his video presentations of historical texts to TheDaoBums community on his behalf. - Trunk Leo Lok (M.Ac.O.M), a native speaker of Chinese languages, is one of the rare clinician-scholars in the world who excels in researching and translating ancient Chinese medical literature into the English language. For the past seven years, as an avid contributor of the 6180-member-group: Scholars of Chinese Medicine on Facebook, Leo has helped research and answered more than two thousand questions on the historical development, interpretations and translations of Chinese medical topics for colleagues worldwide. His track record all these years has been well preserved in Scholars of Chinese Medicine for the world to benefit from. Anyone who is interested in following his digital footprints on these various topics is welcome to join the group. First is the Qi Emission Therapy class: This is a 23-minute, 8-part video course on Qi Emission Therapy, also called External qigong or Medical qigong or Wàiqì Liáofǎ 外气疗法 in modern Chinese. If you’re ever curious about how qigong therapy was delivered in the last 1400 years in premodern China, you will love this class. This class presents the historical textual accounts of five daoist healers and their Qi Emission Therapy stories between the 11th and the 18th century. They treated children, adults, ordinary people and royalty. The illnesses they helped healed include cataracts, lower limb disability, tuberculosis and terminal illnesses. And finally, for the prerequisites and technical training of ‘Qi Emission Therapy’, we examine protocols from two qi cultivation manuals from the Tang dynasty (7th - 9th century). I will read to you many of these passages aloud in Mandarin Chinese followed by their English translations for the first time in history. Please join me to find out more! I’d love to have you in my class! https://vooma.thinkific.com/courses/qi-emission?ref=b202a2 $9.99

Often referred to here at TheDaoBums as DGS. Introduction here: https://alchemicaltaoism.com/DGSReviews.htm and here and here, the method often referred to as KYMQ and here DGS youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/longmenpai and a couple of essays that include introductions to a couple of his methods in this external blog (that has a broader, more generic purpose) https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/ How's that for "too much information"? - Trunk

Jumping in here a bit. I'm the admin here, and just had a few thoughts - nothing radical. As far as rules on this sort of thing, I honestly don't recall at the moment exactly what I've nailed down on this previously. This topic prompts me to review, clarify. ... but meat-life is very demanding right now, lol. The intent here seems clean enough. So, for now, just a few non-enforceable casual thoughts ... - The internet is full of so much pirating, right out in the open or "trading/sharing" behind the scenes. I'm sure we'd all rather the $ goes to those who put in the labor producing the product. (And I know that that was @BambooUnion's first attempt. I'm not shaking a finger at anyone.) So, there's that. - Plus the value of the rapport, relationship, with a teacher that might develop over time. So, until I get rules clarified on this, I'm just casually discouraging it on a friendly basis. And I kinda think that everyone in this thread is pretty much in that place already, so no biggie. pardon the interruption, Trunk

@cloud444 I don't know what would be best for you... just offering thoughts that might/might not be right for you. Probably you need a variety of effective help. Some people find bone broth to be heat-clearing and deeply restorative. You can buy it frozen in many markets these days, then you just add a spoonful of the frozen broth to hot water (or to tea, or to a soup). It's very affordable and has a strong effect. At the least, it's a tool that you should be aware of. - Keith

Done. Curious what the translation of your moniker is? I know only scraps, all in doubt (so many nuances), my guesses: wu - emptiness ming - brightness jen - ? - Keith

At this point, it just comes down to experience. I suggest that you experiment with any method along these lines (any very moderate approach to holding breath in the lower regions with focused relaxation). cheers, Keith

In this kind of (mild) breath retention, I feel lower energies that are maybe a bit dense (adamant, maybe a little stuck) become more pliable, more 'kind', cooler. Those feelings happen spontaneously, as a result of the method. Feelings are not imagined nor asserted. Only being present and doing the breathing.

... in any order i like ... Just as a reminder (at least for myself), I'm talkin' about any approach that: extremely generally - brings the breath low into the abdomen - with the addition of focused steadied awareness The basic meditation (taught in virtually every meditation hall everywhere) of "following the breath" with one's attention is the fundamental example of the above. (and does a lot, just with that simple method) variation of holding the breath - relaxing around the hold (without losing focus) - only holding for as long as relaxing is sustainable (not tensing, not straining) "And what kind of dangers are there with this?" Well, this sort of approach is designed to avoid the typical dangers: 1. The higher centers are *much* easier to open; the lower (solar plexus down) are notoriously difficult (unless you made it through puberty~adolescence with no major tangles and developed efficiently vis-a-vis natural structure). Some of the major religions, as a result, just shun the lower centers and shoot for the heart ~ crown, but if that higher opening happens it can create a semi-disconnect a disharmony non-optimal integration with the lower vs upper. (Please excuse the stream of thoughts poor grammar). For people for whom the lower centers have integrated well through their phases of life, this might be a total non-issue. And once you've "tasted the sunshine of the sky" (initiation to the non-dual states), your whole body wants to integrate with that. It's more challenging with the lower centers, but the fundamental is that God is in both heaven and earth. The systems that are hip to this (Taoism is notable) train the lower center/s in a diligent detailed long term way, often as preliminary to opening the upper centers. (Jeez I'm blabbling here, not sure what you even asked, lol any more lol) Ok, so there is the broad concept of Kan & Li (water & fire, respectively)... basically mixing opposities, plunging fire below water and it is interpreted many different ways in different methods. In this case "fire" (the upper energy) is the breath (and anything that might be carried down with it, such as the magic ingredient: *focused* *awareness*, plus any other higher-up-stuff). so breath is plunged down as low as it can go. Fire is plunged down into water (any of the lower energies, interpreted broadly). This makes water more supple and kind (less stubborn, less adamant), more nourishing harmonious for health or whatever. It's a basic principle & step (underlying many methods) that integrate upper & lower (both above/below the diaphragm as well as the larger heaven ~ man ~ earth integration). Ok, so that's one danger, that this basic approach avoids. However, 2. I'd say that *any* approach brought to extreme is dangerous. So, again (man, this sounds like a con or an ad for something, lol) ... the advice (in this approach, and in general in qigong): - don't max out. This is not pushups, not weight lifting, the kinesthetic rules are different. 70% is the typical safetey rule people say around here. Damo Mitchell has a pretty interesting variation on this idea in his recently posted "stilling the jing" method: I'm typed out. Kinda got on a groove, not sure if that's all relevant to what you asked. I'll go back and review your questions again later, remind myself what I've missed. - Keith

Some years ago I slogged through "Meeting the Shadow". It's a bunch of essays on "the shadow" by a wide variety of heavies (Jung, Bly, etc) with each section covering varying arenas: personal, family, societal, religion, etc etc. It was quite extensive, broad. Somewhat laborious to get through but worth while; the established concepts continue to be useful. https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Shadow-Hidden-Power-Nature/dp/087477618X/ p.s. Pardon me, just jumping in late, here in this thread - I might be saying stuff that was covered previously.

I hold the breath as low as possible. Anywhere below the belly button; hui yin is a popular destination. I don't do much pushing, pulling, clamping down etc. Not much overt muscular work, mild that way. It's not muscling things around. Considerably more 'work' on opening and relaxing, over all, not clenching etc. > If I keep it retained around my chest, my heart will become very active (sometimes uncomfortably) > That's the danger for that space.