HoldorFold

I'm trying to meditate for a long period in a semi-lotus position without moving at all except to swallow and blink. After about half an hour my limbs start to feel painfull and then go completely numb. I've carried on past this mark for a fair amount of time, but then when I come out of the meditation my limbs are completely numb for awhile and I'm somewhat concerned about doing nerve damage... which I read is not likely but can happen. I'd much rather introduce a controlled element of pain where I don't have to worry about doing actual damage to my body. Thanks for the suggestions... I'll have to look into Tumo and Wim Holf Methods. As for the S&M, that would get way too expensive since I want to do this every day, lol. Self-flagellation is an option, but I want to try to not move if possible. I might give it a go though.

At 22:00 mins of Master Lin's talk, he mentions seeing a plane crashing this year. I guess that's come to pass today with Germanwings airliner 4U 9525 crashing into the french alps. I wonder when and where the bridge collapse will come to pass...

Am looking to get some Ho Shou Wu (Fo-Ti) and the good stuff seems pretty expensive so was thining of buying it raw and then preparing it myself. There's very little online that I can find on how to prepare it. The best info I've got is that you have to boil black beans for 4 hours and then re-usethe blackbeans in less water for 3 hours, and then combine the brew and stew the Fo-Ti in it for several hours. The ratio seems to be 1-10 for blackbeans to Fo-Ti but it doesn't say how much water to use or how to dry the Fo-Ti afterwards and for how long. That's all the info I've got, has anyone got a more detailed method for preparing Fo-Ti root?

Not 100% sure yet, but I've noticed some cheaper options out there like here: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/fo-ti-root/profile Where you can get a pound for $12.50... have to look around more there's probably even better deals elsewhere. As far as I'm aware, processing it isn't that difficult. You just boil it in black bean brew... * The best info I've found online about preperation is on this page: http://www.itmonline.org/arts/hoshouwu.htm I'm just missing the water ratio and drying methods.

In Hermetics, it is said that the head of a man is magnetic and body is electric whereas the reverse is true for a woman. I've heard it mentioned on this forum that women have a "Yang mind" as well... which seems to fit in with that. I've read essays on how this manifests from a Hermetic perspective. I just watched a video of a woman who practices Tantra, I believe, and she mentions that men have a negative polarity heart (Yin) which is supposed to receive whereas woman have a positive polarity heart (Yang) which gives... and then the genitals are Yang and Yin respectively. Is there any writings about this in Taoism etc.? I can't seem to find anything about it relating to the polarity of the heart.

You could try condensing breathing which is a very powerful way of accumulating condensing qi into jing: You can also inhale qi into your dantian and then compress it into a small point, breathe into it, compress it etc. This builds jing. Also, breathing energy down into your testicles regularly. A very effective way of building libido is doing Robert Bruce's New Energy Ways on your feet, legs and hips every day. The big toe, foot arch and inner ankle area are good places to pay special attention to. He advises not doing it on the "pits" between your leg and your gooch (i.e. the leg equivalent of your armpits) because of the uncontrolable sexual energy it can create... I can attest that energetic stimulation of that area can has that effect quite immediately especially if having done work on your inner leg, ankle, foot arch prior. If you did N.E.W. on your genitals after doing your feet and legs I'm pretty sure your problem will be gone in a short time... maybe a couple of weeks if doing this for 15-20 minutes a day. But be warned this is powerful stuff so you might swing and have the polar opposite problem.

The statement below is true. The statement above is false.

Why would you say your overal sexual drive has decreased, are you practicing any specific things to bring that about?

If an emotion is completely foreign to someone I might suggest becoming aquainted with the elemental nature of it. Fire is hot and expanding. Imagine a forest fire, feel the heat and the energy and desire in the fire. Condense the hot explosive fire into human form. What is this person like? What emotions are they feeling? Good article from a hermetic perspective: http://www.tinyurl.com/introtofire

No teacher, bit of a lone wolf with this stuff. Generally bringing chi down helps massively, I use different simple techniques like having my feet suck the energy down, or feeling myself become very heavy or just trickling my awareness down from the head down the body into my feet (picked that one up from a Qigong book). I'll check out root walking, thanks for the suggestion! Cool thanks, I'll check that out

Yeah that's probably the case with blockages or forcing the qi. Personally though, my spine is very sensitive to even very gentle development. If I were to do 1 minute of anything to do with my spine I'll most likely get fire up my spine, 3 hours of insomnia tonight, throbbing forhead and all sorts of issues and it would take a lot of work bringing it back down. This is actually a pattern I've seen a lot in others (I've had to do a lot of research when trying to ease my symptoms before).

I've had a lot of problems with the microcosmic orbit for instance, and I've read about many issues other people of had with it. With Robert Bruce there's no visualisation instead using "tactile imaging" and the stimulation of the energy body is extremely powerful. Because of it's very real visceral effect (far from subtle) he strongly insists on building a strong foundation in the lower dantian and supportive structures (feet/legs etc.). The effects are so strong for me that within about 10 minutes of working on my feet/legs I feel massive buzzing/heat in them with strong physical sensations of energy flow into the LDT. I've done this previously several times (against the recommendation) on my solar plexus and experienced many negative effects in line being ungrounded in the LDT. Same with the higher centers including the heart which can produce psychotic symptoms if not done properly. And I know with some eastern practices, e.g. microcosmic orbit, there can be similar issues. That's why there's the mini orbit (from huyin to door-of-life and back down) to bypass those effects. Interesting, thanks for explaining. When you put it this way it makes perfect sense where you're coming from now.

I didn't intend for this to become a competition between our experience by the way, just merely pointing out that it can be a problem from my own personal experience and from those of others. I respect you have plenty of experience, I'm sure you are very knowledgable in many areas. Saying I don't have any background to make any meaningful comment is a bit of a stretch though. I'm speaking through my experience and many others as well as Robert Bruce who is very experienced with the energy body and it's psycho-spiritual effects. I assume the confusion here is what the OP means by "working on the lower regions / the heart". I'm sure your method is completely valid from your definition of working on a region of the body. Mine, I assure you, is equally valid from my definition.

I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy which is why I resonate with Robert Bruce a lot who is of a similar character. If we're talking about opening up the heart center without developing the lower centers in proper proportion then inevitable issues ensue... this is already pretty widely known and I have plenty of experience with this. You and the OP may be discussing something more abstract and theoretical, but when the OP says: That sounds like energy center development or however you prefer to call it.

From my experience, if you focus above the waist you get all sorts of problems if you dont have the adequate foundation. Try doing Robert Bruces energy stimulation on your heart for a week and notice how messed up you'll get (I dont actually advise this) My rule is no energy work above the belly button (unless its the arms/hands and going down)

Found this video, focus on root chakra and listen with headphones. Let your consciousness drop as low as the drums go (especially in middle). Had me feeling like I could take over the world by the end.

I've been thinking lately... When you are being hypnotised you must enter a calm and relaxed state where you let go of thoughts. In this state you become more suggestible to the suggestions that the hypnotist gives you. It would stand to reason that in this state you are more susceptible to external influences on your subconscious. On the other hand, meditation allows one to focus on emptiness and block out / dissolve external influences. What's the actual difference between these two states?

Niice! I live in an large appartment complex also near some bars so the bins here are multiple industrial sized ones. I've also had the honor of smelling these bin trucks as I was walking by a couple of times and that is involutarilly associated with the sound now whenever I hear it, especially in the meditative state. I have previously tried some mind tricks like imagining the sound is actually a big truck emptying diamonds onto the street but I ideally I don't like having to use these mental reframing techniques when doing void meditation. I suppose going deeper into the void there's no worry about being subtely infected by anything since there's no self to be affected. That's where I want to be, but this question of hypnotic suggestibility had me a tad concerned that I would have rubishy thoughts implanted in my subconscioius first thing in the morning!

I do mind emptiness meditation in the morning and often that's when the bin trucks come emptying huge loads of trash outside. Sounds weird, but in the meditative state I feel the dirtyness of the sound of the trash and can't help feel a little infected by it. When I'm in a normal mind state this doesn't affect me, like having a natural barrier up.

I'm just talking about your basic, no frills, empty your mind and enter the alpha brain wave state (or deeper) type meditation.

I'm prone to my brow centre feeling heavy with energy at night with images running through my mind. (so it happens I'm in bed now typing on my phone.) Tonight I tried concentrating on my nose... After a few moments meditating on my shnozzle a huge amount of stuck energy unloaded down my brow through my nose and diffused in my body including some pricks of pain in various areas. My mind immediately felt calmer with no random images flooding it. Is this a known thing? I never hear of the nose being mentioned much as an important point but it's just made a big difference for me.

I love that, thanks thelerner

Symptoms would appear to suggest that although there's much research into it. Did come accross this though... a quote on this artcile about athletes abstaining from sex for performance, where a professor is quoted as saying "After three months without sex, which is not so uncommon for some athletes, testosterone dramatically drops to levels close to children's levels" Makes me wonder if the occasional bit of sex while retaining the semen would do the body good.

Hmm, yeah good point. People who get over the flatline feel a lot better for the most part. Although I read about one guy who flatlined for 2 years, so that's what made me wonder mainly. I'll have to see for myself I suppose, I've flatlind in the past at about 2 months and never made it past that.

I was really wondering if there's a known energetic reason for this. But I think user Taoist Texts might be onto something here.. the body seems to give up on producing energy and motivation to find a mate if it thinks there's no chance of copulating. The symptoms of a flatline would seem to have a lot in common with jing depletion... paradoxically though since no jing has been expended through blowing wads. So perhaps semi-regular sexual activity actually stimulates the production of jing. btw, bax44, I've read through articles on yourbrainonporn, it's a good site since it colates hundreds (or thousands) of people's experience with abstienence. I think you're right, I must have picked up the term "flatline" from there although it's now widely used elsewhere as well.