devoid

[...]

Thus, when I'm only taught the physical part of a qigong movement, I can do it, but I just don't get any energetic response from it, usually. But if I'm taught the specifics of what's going on at the subtle level, I can attend to that particular aspect and get biofeedback rather than just getting overwhelmed and guessing. My mind is way too fertile.

[...]

Hi WallaMike,

This is a common issue that everybody has - one thing is learning it theorietically - another thing is being able to (paraphrasing the Chinese) do it without doing it; essentially this means trainng the movements so incredibly many times over (and preferably with some weekly guidance of an IMA or Qigong master to root out the wrong adjustments that one may rationalize into ones practise) that (paraphrasing Park Bok Nam - a Bagua Master) the movements eventually can become known to the body - i.e. in western terms: that you would be able to carry them out to perfection, while sleepwalking.

Now, back to your standing meditation: Although you can find many anecdotes suggesting that the feeling of energy may be overwhelming or gushing, I would simply look for signs of slight tingling - you can create this by focusing awareness - if you want to feel tingling, say on your coccyx (tailbone) - simply relax and think of it, its shape, its location relative to your mind (do this for a couple of minutes until you have a fuzzy feeling there)* - exhale completely (with the ambdomen drawn completely in), and as you begin to inhale you will do this by completely extending your abdomen (i.e. breathing not by dragging in air as we commonly do, but simply as a consequence of extending the abdomen (you will notice that your lungs will fill more slowly and silently (feels like the lungs extending first towards your back), without you "breathing in" air as you would normally do by pulling in air - simply let it flow in). Now during that abdominal inhale, imagine the slight (almost not there) tingling in your coccyx moving up your spine (preferably the inside of the spine - but that is not so important for now). You may need to practice the abdominal breathing first, separately, until you can do it "without doing"

Finally, make sure you are properly grounded when doing this: A neat little trick to help facilitate this is to slightly claw your toes into the ground (or floor, or inside of your shoe - whichever material your feet are standing on). Again, you will probably need to do this hundreds of times before it becomes an automation. Having said this, I assume you have your alignments right (spine straight, pelvis pushed slightly forward to straighten your tailbown - head up, chin slightly down to further straighten your spine, knees slight bent, no joint fully extended, relaxed, shoulders, down, chest relaxed (i.e. not lifted and neither held nor pushed forward), etc.

Hi WallaMike,

Welcome.

It sounds like you have all the books you need and simply need to start practising.

You mentioned the microcosmic orbit. That's a good place to start, indeed. You will find that in some of the books you're already reading, e.g. in Qigong Empowerment.

Apart from that I can advise you only to decide for one thing and then keep repeating your exercise (yes, you need some movement exercises to get you started - try standing meditation after doing some movements): If you're doing a special type of qigong movements: do them every day (the same ones, week on week) - if it's some internal martial arts - same principle: keep repeating the same basic elementary elements of that form day in and out for week on week. 100 days are often referred to for many things related to esoteric and energy training; the gong fu (=time and energy required) for your movement training is no different - by trying to master this (even if at first it may seem boring and unnecessary) it will help you begin opening your pathways and sensitivity and thereby help you gain an understanding of what energy feels like.

Breathing patterns are important too - silent, abdominal breathing in particular (also requires daily training) - you should be able to find some reference to that too in some of the books you mention.

Happy training

Hi Friends,

When I do a lot of energy exercises (like 4+ hours per week of IMA plus various minor qi gong / qi circulation exercises on a daily basis) I get hypersensitive to radio signals, i.e.:

* the cell phone in my pocket bothers me until I turn it off or remove it approx. 30 cm / a foot or so

* the laptop in my lap irritates me unless if I turn off the wireless network connection and work either off-line or using a cable network connection instead

-with the words 'bothers' and 'irritates' I mean an itching and tension in body parts / spots close to the transmitting device - examples may include: energy pathways in the upper legs / lower torso, palms of my hands, in the joints (e.g. wrist, hip, etc.) or the sides of my head...

If I scale down on my training and energy work, the above mentioned symptoms disappear again after a couple of days to a week.

Anybody else experience anything similar?

Hi Thomas,

Welcome and enjoy your time here.

You will find a mixed bunch of people here - some doing martial arts and some not at all. 20 years of martial arts is an impressively long time, so I am sure that you will have lots of good advice in stock for your fellow tao bums. At the same time I am sure we will be able to help you with some questions that you may want to ask.

Hi suninmyeyes,

You ask who stores the memories and where. I don't think that any entity is responsible for storing your memories (nor for processing them either - only you can do that). As for where they are stored (apart from your brain) I don't know. Many new-agers refer to your presence on other planes as structures made of 'energy' - I would guess that this would be where they are stored - i.e. in you (or rather: within various parts of you).

Hi suninmyeyes,

Re. where your memories come from: generally speaking I would think they come from you as well as the input you receive - both via your mind/body (as it exists in this very physical, tangible, 3D world that we all live in as human being of flesh and blood) as well as the parts of you that co-exist simultaneously in other places (dimensions, planes - whatever we choose to label it) which are not directly sensible to our common physical senses such as e.g. eye vision, scents, sounds, taste, touch, etc.

Thus, I guess I am suggesting to try to accept that with you (as with anything) there is more than meets the eye - the same goes for your personality and thoughts: you cannot isolate them or put them on a pedestal for careful analysis.

Re. the input you receive (i.e. what I think you refer to as vibrations) - they can come from you, your higher self or from others - it is important to not accept all input uncritically - i.e. you need to analyse the input and decide which belong to you and which do not belong to you (of the latter, i.e. thoughts that you decide are not yours: Simply let them go and allow them to recycle into the tao).

> ...I just so want to be dead when im dead.

hehe - well, IMHO you're in for a surprise: I base that on my own experience from meditation where I have been in contact with deceased friends and relatives: The most recent encounter was one of my grandfathers who was really down about the fact that death as we know it was not the end. Another, much more surprising experience turned out to be of a great grandmother of mine who died in the early fifties (i.e. about 20 years before I was even born) - I knew pretty much nothing about her before the encounter, but when I started probing relatives still alive after the initial encounter, they were startled at what I was able to tell them about her personality and how well it fit.

Here's what I did during the initial encounters: I showed them a bit around in the planes I have so far had privilege to and then explained to them that they were no longer necessarily bound to the physical plane - that they could go and explore, research a passion or even become reborn if they so chose. One of them is currently pursuing a passion in knowledge and may yet choose what to do next, some day. The other decided to head for the tao and has now become an immortal soul in the taoist sense with no intent on rebirth. As an observed side-effect: Since then, people with chronic borderline psychological issues in the family also seem to have improved greatly.

What all this has taught me is that: yes, memories after death are kept quite intact and without great effort - but over time, frustration with being "stuck somewhere in between" can lead to dispersion of the thoughts and thereby the soul.

Based on the fact that I have a nearly impossible time recalling memories from beyond my current physical form, my guess is that the hardest thing is letting ones current thoughts survive rebirth - we've heard some experiences in previous posts to this thread, so it seems that even in the cases where some thoughts do survive rebirth, our new environment is likely to wash it out of us. This said, some basic thoughts and ideas do survive: in my case that of the tao, which I always knew inertly existed, but which I didn't hear of till a few years ago. Before that I can guarantee you I wouldn't have believed a word of what I just told you above

About any soul being immortal (as also suggested on other posts in this thread) I can tell you (also from encounters similar to the above) that some souls will choose to attach to a physical, yet non-human life form, such as e.g. a flower, a bud or a branch on a tree - my gut feeling is that this a sure way of eventually dispersing back into the tao without immortality to the individual soul (but of this I am not sure). I also have no experiences telling which other possibilities may exit (i.e. rebirth in animal form, etc. but I wouldn't rule it out) nor what else might be possible.

I am about to embark on a dietary change to eliminate sugar in all it's forms. Does anyone here a.) have any view or opinion on this b.) not eat sugar at all, why, and what health differences have you noticed? I am talking about avoiding it entirely, not just cutting back or allowing incidental amounts. I really would like to know what different health practitioners and cultivators here do. I can imagine that it takes a great deal of commitment, as sugar is a stealth ingredient in so many things.

 

I'm very curious as to how much sugar people here eat. (I wanted to do a poll on this topic, but couldn't figure out how).

I have pretty much stayed off sugar for a year by now (not counting natural sugars, including natural honey). As a consequence, this is the first year in about 20 where I have managed to get through spring without sneezing myself to pieces - and this in spite of also having stopped taking antihistamines completely which used to provide quite some relief!

I generally cook my own food and so it is fairly easy to stay off it - this said, I am not fanatic about it; I may eat something containing sugar (like have and ice cream or a glass of soda) once in a while (say, once or twice a month) - however, if I do, I can be sure to feel my nose itching and my eyes getting runny as soon as there is pollen in the air for the next few days following that.

Since then, on the rare occasion where I overdo the sugar, I can feel it in my spleen and the controlling nerves under the lower part of my left shoulder blade.

By now, I can't think of ever starting consuming much sugar again...

A final note from my experience: Sugar from sugar cane is the most benevolent of sugars, refined sugar beet somewhat worse and sugar from corn starch and similar the worst of industrials sugars.

Good luck with the diet! Remember to start out at a pace you can follow rather than going cold turkey for a fortnight and then back into the old habits

Thanks for the clarifications, ~jK~ - I really appreciate it.

Best regards,

-matt

 

[...]

 

Taoists call this above method bathing as it is done at 6AM and 6PM - the same as a shower.

 

[...]

 

Once you can achieve 15 minutes of clarity - 8 hours is easy.

 

[...]

Hi ~jk~,

Thanks again for directing me to this very interesting article.

I have a couple of questions for you related to the above quoted snippets:

* 6 AM + PM: Do you do this twice a day - or are these simple the recommended best times to start practise, in your opinion?

* 15 minutes to 8 hours: Based on your practise do you always manage to substitute regular sleep for this kind of meditation, or is this something you do in addition to sleeping? (having understood that once in a while there may be lucid dreaming involved while sleep)

Best regards,

-matt

Ni hao ~jk~,

Thank you very much for the links! Looks very interesting, indeed - I look very much forward to reading them!

Best regards,

-matt

Hi Bums,

I know this is a years-old thread, but what I wanted to share relates to it anyway...

I haven't done these rites for ages (must have been 6 months since last time, at least.)

This morning I woke up and felt I needed to stretch my back and straighten up (literally speaking) so I did the 5 Rites: Now, I feel great - what a perfect way to start the day!

Best regards,

-matt

 

[...]

 

I am more interested in sitting meditations that involve moving chi from organ to organ, or mixing organ chi... Or Using the specific meridian lines in a way that palpably connects with the respective organ... Things I have only heard about.

 

[...]

 

Chapters 4 and 5 in sub-book 2 of the book I recommended (Qigong Empowerment) contain 8-meridian (extraordinary) and 14-meridian circulation (organ), respectively.

It's written very densely, and there are a few typos too (i.e. the words governing and conception vessel are mixed up in the latter, but this becomes clear when you look at the meridian points referred to) - essentially you will need to study (i.e. learn) the path of the meridians more or less by heart to do the 14-meridian (organ) - or at least - the 108 meridian points which you need to go through to complete a circuit. Please also note that the romanization of the Chinese labelled acupoints may vary slightly between the text and the accompanying meridian charts in the appendix to the book.

I wish you happy learning (the 108 points are a lot of work to learn which will likely take you many weeks of diligent study, so I suggest starting with the Daoist 8-extraordinary meridians first until your comfortable with that and while you learn to memorize all the 108 points of the organ variant before trying out the 14-meridian (organ) circulation. Caution: Do not try this one until you know all 108 points by heart and without looking back at the charts for help!

NB: You mentioned sitting meditation: I prefer to do this standing as I find it easier to work on this when the legs are not bent or crossed - but if your meridians are open I don't see a reason why you should not be able to do this sitting.

Hi Seth,

1. Possible Benefits: Better health, Longevity, etc.

2. Books: I recommend Qigong Empowerment by Shou-Yu Liang and Wen-Ching Wu - it's a book of 5 sub-books (all printed in this one edition) - you'll probably want to read the sub-book on medical Qigong first.

3. A Master: Everybody recommends a Master - but if you don't have one you could still try to read about it and make up your own mind on how best to proceed

4. Difference between health and internal alchemy: The organ targeted health Qigong you're asking for focuses very much on the 12 organ meridians. The internal alchemy is more about breathing patterns combined with some of the 8 extraordinary meridians - the book I recommended above also contains some info about that as well in the sub-book on Daoist Qigong.

5. Some experiences with the above: I use the stuff I learned from this book every day to complement ailments, general development as well as my martial arts training.

6. Connection between the liver and heart: Not really a whole lot; the meridians of the two don't connect to one another and according to element theory they belong to wood and fire, respectively. From a martial arts standpoint following the five element theory (e.g. in Xingyiquan) Fire is used (through the theory of mutual conquest) to counter and defeat a Wood-based attack - but that's probably not what you had in mind?

Happy reading and best regards,

-matt

Hi Friends,

I just came across this piece on BBC News' web site:

A Hermit is admitted to hospital and being surveyed by medical doctors in India based on his claim that he has not had food nor water for no less than 70 years. I am sure many of you will also find this report intriguing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8652837.stm

For starters the doctors are impressed that he is so far 108 hours into his admission without ingestion, urination or defecation. Will be interesting to follow as more time goes by.

The Hermit is said to be a Holy Man of the Jain Religion - anybody know much about this?

Best regards,

-matt

"Qigong Empowerment: A Guide to Medical, Taoist, Buddhist, Wushu Energy Cultivation" by Grandmaster Shou-Yu Liang and Wen-Ching Wu is the book I keep returning most to - I consider it nothing less than a handbook, really:

http://www.shouyuliang.com/syl/dvds-a-books-mainmenu-235/books/qigong-empowerment

[...] this energy is more like hot molten lead just sitting in both the top and bottom of my abdomen. [...]

Just curious: Are you sure what you feel is actually in the Dantian - i.e. ~3 fingers / few inches below the navel and few inches inside? If not, perhaps you could try again to describe where more precisely? (Sounds like two locations rather than one from your description)

Indeed, we have to be careful with turning to wonder cures and easy flushes.

Here's another article debunking the cleansing myth based on lab reports that show that the green stones are in fact only soap-like formations from the coagulated olive oil occasionally tainted green by bile:

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/flushes.html

I studied this topic intensely trying to cure myself from choledochololithiasis (aka clogging of the common bile duct). I should note that I did manage to treat myself using non-invasive techniques outlined in the article I posted under the link below.

In researching the topic deeper I also found that nothing which you ingest will ever reach the liver (except through the bloodstream, of course). There is a good explanation for this based on anatomy: Following the stomach, you have the duodenum - a pipe which transports what we ate from the stomach onto the intestines. Somewhere in the middle of the duodenum is a tract (kind of an injection pipe, if you like). This pipe is the common bile duct, which transports bile from the liver and gall bladder as well as 'juices' (enzymes, etc.) from the pancreas. Between the common bile duct and duodenum sits a small sphincter called the Sphincter of Oddi (aka SO). The common cure for a clogged up bile duct is to cut SO and then manually (using a pointy object jerk around the opening and let the bile and juices from the pancreas flow. There is just one problem here: A cut sphincter does not heal and as a result, there is a lifelong risk of reflux (i.e. the flow of matter from the duodenum back up into the common bile duct, and from there potentially causing inflammations of the liver or pancreas (pancreatitis).

I created a way to massage this away (without sphincterotomy!) which I described on: http://www.justalittleqi.com/choledocholithiasis-manual-fix.html

Since clearing my bile duct, my liver has been able to regenerate quite a bit from very fatty liver to a more lean / regular liver (i.e. where the liver cells are no longer enlarged, causing strain on the cell walls potentially leading to scarring of the liver and cirrhosis.

Thus, to conclude my point I want to say two things:

1. The liver itself is an amazing organ which can take a lot of hardship as well as quite remarkably: It can also regenerate itself. Indeed, certain herbs can help stimulate the production of bile (I know of research indicating that Chinese rhubarb, artichoke leaves as well as milk thistle). Yet, for the liver to recover, it really needs some rest from what makes it work so hard, i.e. fatty foods and alcohol which should be brought down to an absolute minimum or better even; avoided altogether.

2. If the exhaust system is blocked, the engine chokes, and won't be able to regenerate. With this I mean that should the common bile duct become clogged (symtoms may include yellow feces, jaundice, etc.) the liver probably won't be able to recover much on its own, no matter what good you try to do it. In fact (and although rare) a fully clogged up bile duct will lead to death. Finally, please note that liver specialists consider cholodoholithiasis (clogging of the common bile duct) to be a fairly rare condition.

Best regards,

-matt

Hi Friends,

I picked up a copy of Layayoga (subtitle: the definitive guide to the chakras and kundalini) by Shyam Sundar Goswami. I'll readily admit that I know nothing about layayoga and bought the book based on the sub-title and the good reviews it got on Amazon.

Now, this said, I have a bit of a hard time getting into the book - I was wondering if any of you read it and would be able to help me understand your take on the book?

Hello Tao Bums,

 

Are there practices that you do through the day - while shopping, travelling, sitting at your desk etc.? I sometimes recite a mantra, watch breath at times and try to be mindful.

 

What are some simple Taoist practices one can keep practicing all the time? Sifu Max says talking less is a big practice and conserves energy. What else? Belly breathing? Inner Smile?

Hi Kunlun Enthusiast,

That's a good topic indeed!

Here's what I plan to do every day for about half an hour (although, in reality, I don't always get around to it or only do some of them if I'm short of time or not in the mood):

1. A short set of Ba Duan Jin Qigong to get me started

2. Warm-up and stretching to get my joints and ligaments ready

3. Wu Bu Quan to practise low stance, movements and coordination (just two double-rounds)

4. Xing Yi Quan - five elements (1 set) + whichever Xing Yi Quan form I am currently trying to learn*

5. A couple of swings to cool-down

*this one I try to never to skip as I otherwise forget between class what I learned last time :-)

Apart from that - for the more internal parts and things to do throughout the day in parallel to whatever I am doing, I often do abdominal breathing, fairly often the microcosmic circulation and occasionally the Daoist 8 extraordinary vessels whenever I feel unwanted physical tension building up :-)

Not part of my daily practice: i.e. only when I get around to it, but what I hope to incorporate more is Master Shou-Yu Liang's sunrise and sun-set circulation, as well as the 14 meridian circulation (which I find difficult to practice because of the many acu points to memorize).

Finally, and only rarely (e.g. if I am dead cold and can't seem to heat up) I practice the Spiritual Flame. I find that this also works great for either falling asleep or prior to a session of deep meditation.

Sure, I try to use the inner smile often for relieving stress and irritation - it's funny how this simply tool works so very well

I wish you happy (daily!) practicing

I will let you know how it goes (i.e. if I dream up a new experiment or once I have been to the dentist next time and convey her verdict).

Hi again,

I promised you a follow-up to this thread: I didn't succeed in my experiments with remineralizing the teeth and thus decided to follow the dentist's advice by having the caries drilled out and the cavities filled. I never tried that before (having cavities fixed), and to be honest, it wasn't a bad or painful experience.

This said, I am glad I gave it a try first with some experiments - otherwise, I would have probably kept wondering if this would have been possible for me, after all...

Thanks again for your encouragements and advice to this thread.

Best regards,

-matt

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm all ears for other people's experiences with 5 Elements Fusion. Didn't realize that's what it was. I'm still unclear about the relationship between it, Elixir and Kan & Li.

 

One other question.

 

This person in my dreams and 'inner image view' who teaches me things....

 

I can not bring myself to look at his face! I've tried and tried to talk myself into doing it but just can't. I read something in Irina Tweedie's Daughter of Fire: A Diary of Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master book and her disciple relationship with her teacher. In that tradition not being able to look at the teacher's face signifies something important for one's quest for Truth, etc. Unfortunately it doesn't say exactly (at least not yet) what this means. One thing I did gather is that it does mean this person is a Teacher meant for you. One who will be able to specifically help you along the way.

 

Has anyone heard of this or experienced something similar?

 

****

 

Anyhoo...to get back to the original topic... I would like to hear of others experiences with mixing chi elements. Especially with earth which I need more of for grounding purposes.

Hi SereneBlue,

Re. the elements, it can sometimes help to realize that no matter which descriptive system is used (kan/li, yin/yang, 5 elements (taoism vs. 4 elements in yogic tradition), 8/64 elements of change (according to the trigrams)) the overall purpose of all systems is to establish harmony. Now, what does harmony mean, you might well ask: Well, it means creating balance on as many levels as possible. Try not to get too caught up in the terms as they are after all only general and common attempts to describe phenomena which are broader than can be described in few words. The illusive elixir is nothing more than pinnacle of such harmony. Thus, try simply to think of how to best balancing things out.

Re. not being able to face your helper (I try think of such encounters as you're describing as meeting 'helpers') I can think of similar experiences in my practices. In my case, I meet with an extremely strong minded maternal relative (who left this plane a generation before I was born) - because of her strong will and energy I was afraid to face her and felt that it was best communicating with her while not looking too straight at her.

Re. the earth element and connection - once you meditate and circulate energy it is very important to be 'grounded'. If you're new to this it helps placing the soles of your feet firmly on the ground, lightly clawing / 'grabbing the floor' with you toes. Do this for a while with a calm mind and breath while you picture the connection between your feet and the ground (regardless of the surface) - qigong literature often talks about feeling roots extending into the ground. Be sure that the tongue touches the palate of your mouth, just behind your front teeth throughout any such session.

Best regards,

-matt

Then what is the result of this? original chi?

The result should be elixir - i.e. pictorially speaking it becomes the matter which springs from the fountain of youth / life - i.e. pure energy to help rejuvenate and energize you. Recharging the power for your dantian battery, if you like. I hope that helps - if not, please let me know.

Best regards,

-matt

Perhaps Shiva and Shakti ?

 

...

 

Ardhanarishwara (an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies)

Thanks Mal,

I hadn't thought of this, but why not? - I will certainly look into it :-)

Best regards,

-matt

Hi Friends,

In doing meditation targeted for the heart chakra I have visualized entering my heart's garden in what I assume to be a fairly common method / exercise. I have done it quite a few times for the past 4-5 weeks and even though I experience and learn very different things every time, there seems to be a recurring theme which I cannot quite place:

(When in my heart's garden...) Apart from perhaps meeting a few of my helpers who may come and go at times there seem to be two characters who are pretty much always there:

* a very calm lioness (friendly, mature, well tempered and even tame) - looks and feels like a 'real life' lioness as you would imagine it in the physical world if you had a tame lioness as your house pet

* a blue guy with black hair - apart from the fact that he has an intense blue color of skin (azure or cobalt blue to give you an idea) he seems to have a bit of a skewed face (like the kind you might see on old oriental paintings depicting either demons or deities). He has black hair - does not wear much else than white garments which could not be considered much more than underpants and apart from that hasn't said a word and leaves me alone to do my business - kind of like we're not interested in each other.

I find it quite a peculiar pair of seemingly constant "inhabitants" who I should perhaps add that I don't feel the least bit uncomfortable about - but at the same time, I do find it very odd (a lioness and a blue guy ;-).

Since they seem to be there permanently I wanted to ask if some of you could tell me something about these two funny, yet somewhat odd characters?

Best regards,

-matt