How do you gauge your energy mastery?

[EFS White]

I have been practicing Qi Gong and Nei Gong mostly from books and online videos for about two years now. I do feel great benefits of this practice, however, all these benefits are strictly qualitative, internal and subjective. What I would like to find is some way of quantifying my process to see whether I am improving.

I remember that in one of Prof. Jerry Alan Johnson's books, he describes a test where students of medical Qi Gong have to change the acidity in a glass of water, and the change of acidity is measured with special paper strips (Litmus paper, is that it?).

At any rate, do any of you have any experience with this particular test and how to go about practicing this?

What else do you do to measure, gauge and quantify your energetic practice?

[Bearded Dragon]

That's the benefit of internal martial arts. You can test it on people. Having someone apply a force onto you tests to see where the force gets stuck. Where it gets stuck is where there is tension. Where there is tension is an obstruction of chi. Once you can take someone's force to the ground without it getting stuck then you can start to open up and flow the chi out.

 

Many times I have been deluded into thinking I have achieved something, only to test it out and find that it's the same effect but a different feeling.

[thelerner]

For me, nothing too special. In general a quiet relaxed mind and body generally sharped awareness. One that doesn't jump or react to a sudden noise. Also my tummo skills are better when I'm running at 'fuller' energy. I can take cold and generate heat better.

[z00se]

For me its the speed at which i can change from super mellow to super excited, and back again. Its been 10 years and i still suck at the super wired back to relaxed direction. I like to be able to control my state

[Ish]

- 

Edited July 26, 2016 by Ish

[phore]

I have been practicing Qi Gong and Nei Gong mostly from books and online videos for about two years now. I do feel great benefits of this practice, however, all these benefits are strictly qualitative, internal and subjective. What I would like to find is some way of quantifying my process to see whether I am improving.

 

I remember that in one of Prof. Jerry Alan Johnson's books, he describes a test where students of medical Qi Gong have to change the acidity in a glass of water, and the change of acidity is measured with special paper strips (Litmus paper, is that it?).

 

At any rate, do any of you have any experience with this particular test and how to go about practicing this?

 

What else do you do to measure, gauge and quantify your energetic practice?

 

I haven't heard of anyone testing this before now.

 

Ph (Potential of Hydrogen) is essentially a measure of ions a solution forms in water. Acids form positive hydrogen ions. Stronger acids form more positive hydrogen ions than weak acids. Bases form negative hydroxide ions. Stronger bases form more negative hydroxide ions than weaker bases.

 

From an energetic perspective the level of acidity of water is a measure of the amount of positively charged molecules in the water. The level of alkalinity (basic) of water is a measure of the amount of negatively charged molecules in the water.

 

Charging water with energy is a common practice by energy workers. Even sitting water near you when you meditate is known to charge the water with energy in some individuals.

 

If you possess litmus paper you may try projecting energy into water then testing it for a change. This will let you know if your energy is having an ionic effect, and whether you are producing negative or positive ions with your energy. If you were projecting a balance of energy you might cancel out the ionic effect.

 

Negative ions (alkalinity) are widely known for their healing benefits. Deep breathing is known to alkalize the blood.

 

According to a certain qigong theory concerning Kan and Li (fire and water, or hot and cold energy), in Yang Jwing-Mings, Qigong the Secret of Youth, Hot energy is good for healing short term but causes the body to break down and age faster in the long term, while cool energy preserves the body long term. This may explain why many Tao practitioners live on snowy mountain peaks.

 

Love and Light

Tony

 

Edited to fix error pointed out by Brian.

Edited February 11, 2015 by phore

[steve]

Not at all quantitative or objective, but my measure of the "success" of such practices is whether or not it is helping me to live a more balanced, stable, and fulfilling life. A few things that I think one should see from these practices include -

- being less quick to anger, feeling more happiness and contentment

- better ability to accept the difficult and painful things we are unable to change or avoid, and tolerate challenging people

- less dependent on material distractions and desires

- less prone to drug and alcohol use and abuse

- less tendency toward illness and an ability to recover more quickly from illness and injury

[dawei]

What else do you do to measure, gauge and quantify your energetic practice?

 

Really interesting thread... basically: What do you calibrate with?

 

My own Way has been: Self, Others, Heaven and Earth. Whatever has Qi

 

I started all my energy work in pairs/group settings... so calibrating was done every time; so comparisons are easy over time.

 

Find something (or a few things), and get a baseline start... compare. Get feedback.

 

Looking back, I would only say that it is easy to feel like this is about you/your experience/your feeling... but it is not.

[Nungali]

Sure, i heard turning water into wine was a sign of energy mastery too .

 

 

Pfff ! I can turn wine into urine .

[Nungali]

LOL

 

My bad! I inadvertently reversed that and carried it through the whole post!!! I fixed my post above to avoid future confusion but please leave your follow-up post as-is for posterity!

 

My point was supposed to be that acids decompose to create a concentration of hydrogen ions while bases decompose to create a concentration of hydroxide ions (not positive hydrogen ions and negative hydrogen ions).

 

(I see you've adjusted your post as well so the exchange which followed is now moot.)

 

I suspect I've muddled things up more than I've helped...

 

 

Hmmm .... energy mastery = lack of muddling ?

[z00se]

Then anyone know the theory on HOW the water becomes negatively or positively charged from meditaion? Hydrolysis used an anode and cathode like a battery, but sitting by water there are neither of these. Does the water container need to be metal, or a certain material? I know salt water can carry a charge, but normal water is not very conductive. And how does the water STORE the charge? Through a change in ph, but where do the molecules come from? The water would have to become something other than pure water because pure water is neutral pH. Could anyone suggest chemistry equations? I know how hydrolysis can change water into h+ and o2. Can the OP elaborate on how these experiments were done?

[z00se]

Mmm water into wine i haven't managed that yet, bit i routinely change water into home brew

[z00se]

Also to the OP you can measure blockages and things in your body using a multimeter, on the resistance setting, between different accupuncture points. I can use my mind to alter the resistance between two points and watch the display change as i predict it. This is more of a physical tension exercise though, not energy. I don't know any way of testing energy so im interested in more details of this experiment you read about.

[Sahaj Nath]

I have been practicing Qi Gong and Nei Gong mostly from books and online videos for about two years now. I do feel great benefits of this practice, however, all these benefits are strictly qualitative, internal and subjective. What I would like to find is some way of quantifying my process to see whether I am improving.

 

I remember that in one of Prof. Jerry Alan Johnson's books, he describes a test where students of medical Qi Gong have to change the acidity in a glass of water, and the change of acidity is measured with special paper strips (Litmus paper, is that it?).

 

At any rate, do any of you have any experience with this particular test and how to go about practicing this?

 

What else do you do to measure, gauge and quantify your energetic practice?

 

i should have met you 7 or 8 years ago. i was big on "testing" my students in ways like you described. such tests can have their place in a school or system, especially those where the goal is healing. the quality of the energy being emitted is extremely important and too often overlooked.

 

i just looked at your profile page and saw that your father recently underwent surgery and chemo. it's because of this that i'm responding to you.

 

where do you live, generally speaking? i may be able to put you in touch with someone in your area. also, what are you experiencing currently in your practice that makes you believe you're ready to test it? do you have a regular practice regimen?

 

 

something you can try:

 

if you've acquired sufficient skill to emit qi from your palms, you can line up a few empty shoe boxes, turned downward. place a cup of water underneath one of the boxes, then use your hand to scan over the boxes and see if you can feel the difference between the box with the water underneath and the others.

 

once you feel ready, have someone hide the cup underneath without you looking, and see if you can find it. a glass cup and purified water are best, i think. IMO, this is quite a bit easier than controlling the quality of the energy you're emitting.

 

as for how to perform the test you described, the most important component is PURIFICATION. cleansing qigong practices and cultivation of virtue. you'd have to try a few different experiments for yourself. but if your qi emission is strong enough, you can alter the pH of water. you can even alter the flavor of water and other liquids. the real skill is in controlling HOW you alter the water or liquid.

 

there are some folks who emit strong energy, but they don't seem to get results in healing. others have comparably weaker energy streams, but they are actually more successful. it's about the purity of the energy, the purity of the vessel. a person with poor or incorrect practice habits/attitudes can make some illnesses worse or more stubborn, rather than better. the ability to fine tune and calibrate the frequency/quality of the energy is something you're not going to learn from a book. not well, anyway.

 

your efforts are better spent cultivating love, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance until you can find a teacher. when you develop those qualities into strong personality traits, the ability to calibrate the energy is less important.

 

feel free to send me a PM if you'd like to talk more about it.

 

 

 

for the record, i don't test students in such ways anymore. i feel like such methods did more harm than good in terms of ego development.

[z00se]

Also you can strip back about 30cm of insulation off a copper wire and bury it in the ground and have another wire with all the insulation left on one side. The earthed wire will transmit electrons from the ground, see if you can feel the difference from a portion of copper exposed from the other ends. Interestingly feeling the earthed wire becomes so much less obvious when you close your eyes, drop the wires and pick them up randomly

 

This is a scientific know thing that the earth emits electrons and yin energy is somewhat aligned with negative electrons. I find if i have quiet a few beers and put the earthed wire on the right foot, liver side, i sleep better and reduced 3am wakeups than if its on the left foot. You could practice without beer but i don't find it as fun

[ChiForce]

You are asking for signs... Is complicated. For me, it is the quality of my dreams if I can experience the Clear Light mind in my dreams. And how strong this clear light is (a mild smoky type of light or burning hot like the sun). When I go to bed, usually, at times, my internal chi vibration is so strong that the sound of silence (chakra vibrations) becomes very, very overwhelming.

 

I would look for quality signs than quantitative signs though.

Edited February 12, 2015 by ChiForce

[Taomeow]

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Edited February 12, 2015 by Taomeow

[z00se]

The MORA machine detects energies and vibrations and uses them to heal. I've been worked on by one and it was quiet impressive. Ultra long wave magnetic machines I've used and it felt like i was doing qigong with earth energy. Other machines hooked up to computers can measure organ balance and strength, I've been on that once too but it was very early on in my practice so i couldn't know if it was accurate or not. All these machines that operate from our energy there must be some way to use them in our practice. On a worldwide forum attracting enthusists from around the world, somebody must know a little how these things work.

[Spotless]

Many testing methods can be self defeating - they create tensions that have no value and goals that become enfeebled like toys you wanted when you were a small child.

 

You will clearly know when you feel lighter in everything you do. When waking in the morning is as easy as lying down for sleep.

When your diet naturally shifts to less heavy foods and your attention can no longer enjoy future and past.

 

Read up on the sign posts of change but don't aim for them - and don't expect them to be anything like the descriptions - if you are certain you know the signposts then go and purchase a small fish bat and hit yourself with it - Fish Bat Therapy is vital if you believe what your mind has come to think it will be like.

 

At best - look for the smell and patina of what appears to be truest for you and just be that - all your answers will come from you and this becomes more true and clear.

 

At some point you may master not wandering. You can be still or be focused - few can do either.

 

When they say time and space do not exist - it is well beyond words trying to intimate that one.

If you are a healer the speeds increase to instantaneous.

The other side of the world is in front of you at a glance.

 

In the all of it you are just very real and in your body - the body just includes everything.

 

Their is no bath water - it is all baby.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Spotless

[EFS White]

Thank you all for these awesome and inspiring replies.

I perfectly agree that any form of trying to quantify or measure the efficiency of Qi projection reeks of asking for miracles and could enhance ego identification. I work on this but I am not free of that. The nature and intent of my original question, however, was to discern the quality of energy I am projecting.

In Prof. Johnson's book this exactly was the point that had struck me: That some practitioners, and especially beginners, may well project energy -- but sometimes the wrong kind. In other words, they may inadvertantly make people sick instead of healing them because they have no mastery, no distinct and conscious control over the quality of energy they are emitting.

That's why I was fascinated with the pH balance example, as it seems to allow you to see whether you are "charging" or "discharging" the water. And this qualitative mastery seemed such an elementary skill to me.

--

@ z00se
I cannot really further describe the experiment as I have only read it from Prof. Johnson's book and haven't seen or experienced it myself. The setup really seemed to be as simple as setting up a glass of water, measuring its pH value, then having the student emit Qi onto the water (from I believe a foot or so distance, I could look this up if you are interested), with the intention to either increase or decrease the acidity in the water, then measure the results.

I love your many suggestions by the way.


@ Hundun
I appreciate your response very much, especially that you are offering a teacher's perspective. My intention for asking was, like I have mentioned above, much related to learning to master the quality of energy, not the mere quantity, that I am projecting.

You are asking some valid questions, one of them being how I come to believe that I am ready for testing — I don't. I haven't actually thought about this in terms of, oh, I have been doing this for so and so long I should be able to ... . This skill seems to me not a milestone "final exam" type of thing but rather a very important and integral learning modality; a basic if not the most fundamental skill: After all, what good is our energy practice if we cannot distinctly control the quality of this energy?

 

@ Spotless
Thank you for bringing up the sign posts. I am sure on a subconscious level it works exactly like that on me as well: You read about someone attaining distinct bodily sensations or effects of meditation and you start wondering, when does this happen for me? Like I have just said I am not aware that this would be my intention for testing, my gut tells me this is more about gauging the quality of the energy.

But I appreciate any warning of attachments because I do know this is an ongoing challenge for me.

--

Thank you all.

Edited February 12, 2015 by EFS White

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

-----

"I perfectly agree that any form of trying to quantify or measure the efficiency of Qi projection reeks of asking for miracles and could enhance ego identification. I work on this but I am not free of that. The nature and intent of my original question, however, was to discern the quality of energy I am projecting."

-----

 

There is nothing wrong or selfish about miracles - that we are here at all is certainly a miracle worthy of consideration.

 

If we didn't ask for miracles, then we would experience nothing at all. Everything we ask for is a miracle. Nature is a miracle that we will never see out of, as we arise and demise entirely within it.

 

In terms of how to guage energy mastery, we first need to know what energy is, and also what mastery is.

 

I am assuming that "energy mastery" in this thread refers to Fa Jin.

 

But can people concerned with this even digest their food or think clearly?

 

Fa Jin is also your talking and all other expressions. These we can sense mastery in easily.

 

Ultimately, we master our Destiny, and we do this with Virtue.

 

But first step, we are mastering our intake. Such mastery becomes our expressions. Without mastery of intake, no mastery of going forth could issue.

 

When we talk, how do we guage our mastery of talk?

 

Our Qi - where did it come from? If we don't know, then Qi going out is an issue that stays beyond us.

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[z00se]

Yeah there is one, but there is also duality, 5 elements etc. Without division and science we wouldn't have tai chi, qigong or TCM, we would only have being. I am facinated by testing means because they give you some kind of proof within a narrow scope. Demonstrations can then be used to give merit to your skills and encourage others to listen to you and make changes in their own life for the better. That is the basis or religion, to spread the good. Is just Being enough? It can be but the universe yearned for more and henceforth we have 10 thousand things (plus more). By understanding within, we can understand without. Any testing means are valid in self discovery i think. Perhaps we should start a research group.