relaxer

 

I hear a lot of self-justification to support an addiction here. Pay attention to what happens to your energy after a period of prolonged gaming. Let that be your guide.

 

Well said... I live with two roommates that games daily. I can't help but get the sense of large amounts of energy being dissipated. Where are the real questions, the real pursuit of the heart's curiosity? These games are by nature so repetitive, so simple and mundane compared to the intricacies and subtlety of walking in the park or the woods. BOOOOOOMMM, NEW WEAPONNNNN, HEAD SHOTTTT....again...again...again...soma....soma....soma... It all seems like such a tranquilizer. Here and there, fine... But too many are addicted to binary code. Pick up a piece of clay, a crayon, or stack some rocks. Relate to your body, to the dan tien, and not some imaginary world through the tips of your thumbs... BUT it's better than crack, i guess...

I've just gotten into working out with kettlebells and it's pretty amazing. It focuses on movement around the center. It works the body as one unit, it doesn't isolate. Careful: In my experience, it's like Viagra the morning after... The force is strong with the morning pine tree.

Hi Ben,

 

In my understanding,it has to do with cultivation: jing->Qi->Shen

Of course, standing, moving, sitting, all work on the three levels, but is is a matter of proportion. By comparison, it seems that standing cultivate more jing, because it involves the legs. When you sit,your body structure is quite at rest: by crossing the legs, you redirect energy towards the torso,and can naturally stimulate circulation in Ren and Du channels (Xiao Zhou Tian) and concentrate on nourishing Shen by refinement after having stimulated the Jing, cultivated the Qi. You collect the fruits of your work in sitting.

My 2 cents

Leopoldson

Thanks for the good info, Leopoldson.

I've been practicing embryonic and reverse breathing as far as my sitting is concerned. I've also done a lot of sitting with just placing my awareness on the lower dan tien. In your experience, does one nourish Shen better than the other after cultivating Jing with standing?

Thanks!

lol!

 

Even the advice of dorks can be a valuable commodity on Taobums.

Dorks can be very good.

Thanks, guys, for the vids and good info. I can already tell that rededicating myself to the simplicity of standing has reinvigorated my practice. I'm keeping it simple, not moving through and of the arm postures (holding the ball,etc) and just staying in pure wuji standing for about 30 minutes after doing my Taichi stretches in the AM and PM. I'm finding this a good amount of time for now, but as I move forward I will look to increase to an hour.

Somebody mentioned doing some sitting after standing. My teacher, conversely, once recommended sitting before standing.

What seems to be the benefit of sitting after standing? I think it may have had something to do with sublimation, but I can't quite remember. Any experience here is appreciated!

Thank you for the encouragement and advice. Thanks Red Phoenix. I'll stick to Taichi for now, but there is a real resonance with BaGua that I'm looking forward to exploring once my practice is ready.

ben

 

Using the concept of the energy standing it is also that one posture may not help a second one as the energyflow is different. So if you have 108 Forms which you can divide in 200+ Posture and (left and right counts also as different) you may see that it is a task of years and hours per day which can be cut down with Qigong by developing in Qualitiy and Quantitiy.

 

Sense would be doing one posture mastering and getting to the next and in the end connect the static in a flow.The movement between two posture can be count as 1 extra posture and this has to be done in slow motion I mean slooooow as slooooow as one not break the flow and the posture. It is like shifting a bowl of water without spilling it and breaking the bowl that is made of thin ice. With mastery the speed one can move (without the break of the posture) increase.

 

I prefer this way as one learn the conncept of standing first and minimizing strain and tension and learn the biomechanics and how to make the internal force for using the posture and then use this rules on the rest, it will not look beautiful and is not for performing in the park - which make everyone at least give a good laughter- until one can perform the rules naturally.

 

Q

Thanks for the input! I really like the suggestion above about breaking the form down into different static "standing" postures and then very slowly with much awareness bringing them together.

That's something I'll definitely give a try.

ben

 

Just curious about the point above. What criteria, objective or subjective, do you evaluate that claim with? My experience was not so immediate, but it was amazing nevertheless.

 

Thanks guys, for the input. Good question. A brief history might give a little more sense to my statements. I was a wrestler as a little guy through high school. I feel that established/forced a very in-the-body perspective for those very formative years of my life. After that, I tended toward very physically demanding exercise routines. I lifted weights hard and biked long distances. I grew tired and bored of such routines. I started getting more interested in combining my interest in truth with my physical discipline. I first looked to yoga and went directly into Bikram yoga, one of the more intense varieties, taught in a 105 degree room 26 postures each done twice for 90 minutes total. I loved it at first, but doing it everyday soon took a toll. Something didn't add up. I wanted something that I could fold comfortably into an everyday practice that would jive with my evolving intellectual understanding of "truth".

I started getting interesting in non-duality, advaita, etc... Soon after I met my teacher, Jon. He taught me basic standing and gave me Lam Kam Chuen's book Way to Power. I trusted him and did what he said, standing everyday, even if it was for a short period of time. Even from the beginning, I felt an incredible potential in the deep relaxation of standing that I had never experienced in yoga. Yoga seemed very full of fire to me, while standing felt more like water. Slow to heat, but sustaining. Yoga would pick me way up and then drop me off - BAM and I'd have to take a long nap to recover. Standing left me energized and more sensitive to my body in a way I had never experienced. It felt as though the monkey mind was somehow quelled. as if I was relating to existence from more of a single point rather than a galaxy of revolving and warring planets. Keep in mind, all of this was very subtle. I can't remember having any glorious come to Jesus moments or wild chi balls coming out my third eye. It just felt right. It was a coming home, as if something in my heart said, this is what you need. I guess my pump was primed. I was bored with western exercise, and something about my relationship to yoga was becoming inauthentic... I do sometimes wonder though, if doing Bikram yoga everyday for 8 months prior to standing helped to break up some blocks that aided in my appreciation of Standing's subtlety. I'm sure it must have.

I'm coming back to standing now after many months of focusing almost obsessively on Taichi. It's just been a short time, but I feel the same single-pointedness, and gratitude for the practice as I did when my teacher, Jon, passed it onto me. I'll let you know how my experience changes when it does if this thread is still alive.

You said that your experience was not so immediate but amazing, nonetheless. I'm really interested in your experience if you're willing to relate it! Thanks for your reply.

ben

I have been standing for about two and a half years now and practicing taichi Yang style long form in the ChenManChing/TT Liang/Ray Hayward Lineage for the past year.

I just met and practiced with my Taichi teacher this past month and he strongly emphasized the incredible importance of standing, not just as a foundation, but as a stand alone, COMPLETELY whole practice as it is. I've re-established my standing practice since then and I'm amazed at its power. It's easy to leave something as simple and subtle as standing behind for something more active and "challenging". I understand that the apparent lack of subtlety and strength in my taichi practice is inherent in my lack of experience and not the PRACTICE ITSELF. I, however, am consistently amazed by the capacity of standing to immediately affect the internal and external aspects of my being, to provide a solid sense of well-being, calm confidence, and a rootedness in-the-body.

I previously held the sense that STANDING could be likened to working on the engine. After hours, days, months, and years of practice, one would be able to take this engine and install it into a taichi "vehicle", at which time the subtleties of alignment, movement, and breath become more apparent and subject to the focus of awareness. Now, I'm not so sure. I wonder if standing is BOTH the engine and the vehicle (long term).

I understand that this metaphor is messy because at assumes a moving toward some endpoint, goal. I would replace "a moving toward some endpoint, goal" with moving toward a better understanding of this organism's relationship to BEING.

I expect to get some flak for a question like this for a couple reasons:

1. Everyone is different. Some will choose to stand and do nothing else. So, in that sense, STANDING is the whole, the engine and the vehicle, from beginning to end.

2. Some will never stand and come to similar realizations and enjoyment of life AS IT IS.

As I come to the end of this post, a question reveals itself. For those of you who have stood, who have established that relationship, how longterm has it been for you? Is there a law of diminishing returns at work here, ie does standing pay off big time at the beginning, and not so much later on? At which time, would one be advised to move into a practice like taichi or the like?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm enjoying my standing and taichi practice a lot lately and I'm thankful for the availability of a place like this to throw out these questions that bubble up from time to time.

ben

I recently finished 100 days of celebacy.

 

With that being said I suppose the first question would be, why do you want to do it?

 

The next thing I would say is the retention with masturbation method is not the way to go for this, (this coming from someone who has tried many of the various techniques).

 

If you really want to do the 100 days of celebacy its important that you don't just retain, but you sublimate as well. There are various ways to do this such as sitting in full lotus quite a while daily. Or doing testicle breathing / cool draw. But stimulating yourself will just cause the amount of sexual fluids and testosterone to increase to atomic levels. I do use this method, but not for long term celebacy, but rather to control the frequency of ejaculation, so that I don't over do it and thus deplete my pre-natal jing.

 

But back to the origianl question? what is the reason you want to do such a thing?? What I learned after doing my 100 days is that for what I was doing it for it was probably not really necessary My main issue was guilt and shame about sexuality; and working on that has brought me far more progress than 100 days of celibacy which I did mainly because my guilt level about sex was unbalanced.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Great point about getting to the heart of why I want to do this. For me, it has to do with integration and balance. I look back on myself in my teens and most of my 20s as sex obsessed and out of balance. Maybe it's in reaction to a current relationship in which sex is a central thread that holds it together. I love it, almost too much, but I can see the damage done by too much focus on it. I want depth and not just sexual entertainment anymore. I want to learn more about myself and sexuality through a deeper looking and not just continuing the trance-like normalcy of jacking off every couple of days.

It's parodical and contradictory that in order to remedy obsession, I would choose to do the 100 days of RETENTION, it just seems like another form of obsession in a sense, another form of idiocy... My life experience might say otherwise. I'm an artist and did a 2 year apprenticeship. I was forced to work in a certain obsessive way 14-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was hard and ridiculous in many ways, but it brought clarity and wisdom to my experience in a way that few other things could.

I guess I see retention as a reset button of sorts. A way to get to a clearer image of why I'm here and what I'm doing. I hope all that blabber makes sense.

Thank you guys for your insight. I really appreciate it.

Man... I knew something must be up with Mantak Chia methods... I'm glad to hear that a good taichi, standing, and/or sitting practice can sublimate sexual energy successfully. I had no idea that stimulating the fluids made them useless. That makes a lot of sense too. Great INFO! Thank you.

If you have any links or suggestions for reading, I would be much obliged.

Take care.

relaxer

I recently finished 100 days of celebacy.

 

With that being said I suppose the first question would be, why do you want to do it?

 

The next thing I would say is the retention with masturbation method is not the way to go for this, (this coming from someone who has tried many of the various techniques).

 

If you really want to do the 100 days of celebacy its important that you don't just retain, but you sublimate as well. There are various ways to do this such as sitting in full lotus quite a while daily. Or doing testicle breathing / cool draw. But stimulating yourself will just cause the amount of sexual fluids and testosterone to increase to atomic levels. I do use this method, but not for long term celebacy, but rather to control the frequency of ejaculation, so that I don't over do it and thus deplete my pre-natal jing.

 

But back to the origianl question? what is the reason you want to do such a thing?? What I learned after doing my 100 days is that for what I was doing it for it was probably not really necessary My main issue was guilt and shame about sexuality; and working on that has brought me far more progress than 100 days of celibacy which I did mainly because my guilt level about sex was unbalanced.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Great point about getting to the heart of why I want to do this. For me, it has to do with integration and balance. I look back on myself in my teens and most of my 20s as sex obsessed and out of balance. Maybe it's in reaction to a current relationship in which sex is a central thread that holds it together. I love it, almost too much, but I can see the damage done by too much focus on it. I want depth and not just sexual entertainment anymore. I want to learn more about myself and sexuality through a deeper looking and not just continuing the trance-like normalcy of jacking off every couple of days.

It's parodical and contradictory that in order to remedy obsession, I would choose to do the 100 days of RETENTION, it just seems like another form of obsession in a sense, another form of idiocy... My life experience might say otherwise. I'm an artist and did a 2 year apprenticeship. I was forced to work in a certain obsessive way 14-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was hard and ridiculous in many ways, but it brought clarity and wisdom to my experience in a way that few other things could.

I guess I see retention as a reset button of sorts. A way to get to a clearer image of why I'm here and what I'm doing. I hope all that blabber makes sense.

Thank you guys for your insight. I really appreciate it.

Man... I knew something must be up with Mantak Chia methods... I'm glad to hear that a good taichi, standing, and/or sitting practice can sublimate sexual energy successfully. I had no idea that stimulating the fluids made them useless. That makes a lot of sense too. Great INFO! Thank you.

If you have any links or suggestions for reading, I would be much obliged.

Take care.

relaxer

Hi Everyone. This is my first post.

I'm sure this topic has been brought before, so I apologize if we get into some repeating, but I've checked the archives and I'm just not finding the info I'm after.

I'm seriously considering 100 days of celibacy. I have a healthy respect for the power of the practice. I'm been doing standing meditation for 3 years, and I've been doing the Yang style long form (taichi) for about a year. Currently, I do at least one round a day of the form, which takes about 20 minutes, and I do 15 minutes of reverse breathing in the morning followed by 15 minutes or so of deep "natural" or abdominal breathing, both while sitting in half lotus.

In the past, I've attempted Mantak Chia methods of sublimating sexual energy while masturbating, however, I've found them difficult to figure out, as I've always walked too closely to the edge of orgasm and 5 times out of 10 end up spilling my seed.

I guess my question is this:

Is my current practice alone enough to successfully sublimate the excess energy (assuming that my practice is of good quality)? Or is it necessary to sublimate through masturbation practices?

I am active and have a high sex drive. I find it difficult to go 10 days without release.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm turning 30 soon and I started practicing some of this back in my early 20s at which time I probably did more harm than good. I'm finally ready to do it right, to keep it subtle. For some reason, my path has led back to this, it seems to keep popping up.

It makes a lot of sense that 100 days of retention would be a great step towards refinement, one that I am willing to make. Would you recommend it? What would you say the main goal of the practice is? I'm striving for balance and integration. I love my taichi, standing, and sitting my practice, they bring me great joy. I am not after any powers or ability to do this or that. I am just simply and sincerely interested in practices that can enhance and beautify my time on earth. The taoists continue to astound me with their incredible wisdom. Since is has their approval, it's something I'm really considering and would like to know more about. Thanks a lot for taking the time.

relaxer

Hello Everyone. My name is Ben and I'm just getting started here. I'm excited to join the community. I practice Yang style taichi daily and also have put a lot of time into standing meditation. I dabble in sitting from time to time, but I'm partial to my taichi practice for now. I've been sitting a bit each morning, sticking to abdominal breathing.

I found that when I was younger I was maybe a bit too eager, throwing myself into moving energy throughout the body without ever building up a sensitivity to subtlety. My standing and taichi practice has helped with this, but as I progress, it's as if I realize more and more the depth and potential of the practice. The more I "know", the more I open into a realization of the depth of the unknown. I'm here to learn and to give anything that I might be able to offer to help you all on your paths. Thank you very much for reading this. I look forward to sharing with you all!

ben