Sebastian

Hey All, When in presence of energetically draining people and situations, Chunyi Lin recommends forming a circle by touching the index finger with the thumb, which completes a qi circuit. This makes it so your energy can no longer leak, but you can still receive energy. You are creating a feedback loop by feeding the output of your energy system back into the input. Mudra 1 (Chunyi Lin) Mudra 2 A member's master here was advocating a variation of this, where the tip of the thumb touches the ring finger instead. He recommended this specifically for places like shopping centers, or draining places in general. Nan Huai Chin also recommends this particular Mudra (Mudra #2) for being "invisible" to ghosts but I have no idea how this works. Your experiences / thoughts ? I mostly drain in malls and underground places.... I used Mudra #1 and felt less of a drain in these situations successfully. But I'm wondering if mudra 2 would be more adapted to highly noisy, social places, like train stations and shopping malls ? I wonder what's the theory is on this one. Thanks, Sebby

How is that going for you buddy ? The curriculum sounds very thorough at first glance, any tie-ins with qigong ? I'd probably never do something like this because occult stuff freaks me out. Yeah, I know I scare easy... lol.

OK my turn. This is what I wish I drived But this is what I really drive:

Wow, I'm flattered Soaring Crane.... I don't know. It sounds a little kinky, but me and member Zoom are going steady already. jk

This is what Thetaoiseasy really rides, it has the latest in airbag technology and cross dimensional travel.

Gotcha, so Zhang Zuang at my level is still working with Jing, Chi and Shen but not their original essences, which are only at play in higher level Neidan training. Thanks

Great explanations, although I'm still not clear on a few things. In the thread you started about zhan zuang practice times you wrote: If you practice correctly then you will absorb Qi of Heaven (yang qi) and Qi of Earth (yin qi). I can feel the different quality of these two energies. However, here, you the speak of the "Original Qi" and "Original Spirit" used in Neidan, which ones are they exactly (shen and jing ?). I probably don't have experience with these, but I'd like to understand better. Perhaps you're saying I'm only using qi in my Zhang Zuang practice ?

Thanks. The way I view it is that the practitioner holds a posture, relaxes, and lets the qi do all the work. The practitioner isn't doing anything. Movement comes from the stillness. The qi is intelligent and will work its magic. If you tinkered with it in anyway I'd be afraid it lost its effect, or would be reduced. So it's very much like Michael Lomax's standing practice, expect the arms are down in that one. I basically remove myself from the equation and let the qi do whatever it needs to do. But staying highly aware is definitely better than zoning out, as you point out. There's a fine line and I'm no expert at all, so I may be doing it with the wrong mindset. Heck, I visualize myself as a raccoon sometimes, I don't think that's authentic Taoism.

What exactly do mean that Zhang Zuang is not alchemical ? You mean that there's no directing of the qi with the mind, is that how you define alchemy ?

To be honest, at first I was doing this as some dude trying to hold a position and clocking time... lol. Nowadays I try to go into the emptiness more. I try to forget that there's a body doing qigong or that I'm doing anything at all. Everything falls into the background or the emptiness. I also used to jump right in and start clocking time, but these days I take between 20 and 40 minutes to fully relax before engaging in this position. I start imagining that my body disappears from top to bottom, every part, and I do this 3 times. Then I might breathe in the colors of the rainbow and breathe out black smoke... Usually I reach a point where the body feels really light, and the arms spread away from the body on the in-breath. That's when I jump in and hold the ball.

I think that Thetaoiseasy hinted at the fact that acupuncture is playing with the water element, or the flow of our meridians which are like rivers. Because this flow is malleable, it is not something that can be permanent and lead to a constant state, for example enlightenment. In qigong we play with the most supple element, air, to try to get a smooth flow in our meridians which are represented by the water element. In that sense, acupuncture can supplement our qi-gong efforts. However to reach a more permanent state in our meridians, we need to work with the fire element, and "burn" the meridians open with the Yang Chi or kundalini energy. This can't be done by acupuncture but could be transferred by a Master with a shakti transmission. So you can theoretically go very far with someone working on you, but imo it's pretty dangerous unless you are cultivating yourself. I don't think someone can give you enlightenment via acupuncture or transmissions but I think that you energy body can be sculpted externally to emulate what an enlightened person might feel.

Hey Daeliun, let's not compare apples and oranges here.... If you re-read this thread closely, you will notice that nothing was said about monkeys. In fact, monkeys and raccoons share different energy systems. Opening chakras for example requires opening the petals of a lotus for humans, eating the actual petals for raccoons, but for monkeys it is really more like peeling bananas. Anyways, I could elaborate more on this, but I don't have enough qi left in my Dan-Tian to start a new thread... Thanks, Sebby

Hey Guys, So I put everything in visual form. Feedback welcome. 1) Raccoon comes down from Mountain. 2) Alchemy starts taking place 3) The hidden energies start interacting 4) Jing and Qi are produced in lower Dan-Tian, and this process is strengthened by middle Dantian. 4) Yang Qi is produced when the DanTian is full and opens 8 meridians. PS: Discussion assumes that raccoons share same energy body as humans, and have energy centers in similar places. No raccoons were hurt in this post.

This exercise is so powerful, local raccoons get up at 3:00 am in Taiwan to do it. Snapped this pic earlier today. Raccoon doing holding the ball exercise and coverting Jing to Qi.

Interesting, there is a visualization I do during Zhang Zuang where water from the heart is dripping into the fire of the Dan-Tian. I guess it becomes alchemical when the Yin in the Dan-Tian turns to Yang, and the Yang in the Heart in turns to Yin. Or you could say, when water turns to fire in the dantian, and fire turns to water in the heart. So if water is Jing then perhaps this is what's going on "under the hood". * Dantian converts Jing to Qi and the Qi rises up to the Middle DanTian where it condenses into water and drops again

Just to clarify, the question still stands though. What quality of qi are we working on in Zhan Zuang (yin qi, yang qi, other..) , and what's the alchemical process taking place. I have a few pieces so far but I'm still not clear. Thanks

Adding my thoughts regarding Yang Qi from a private discussion. ["I view Yang Qi as the stronger qi that opens the 8 meridians when the DanTian is full, as opposed to the yin qi we circulate in the arms and the legs during weigong. I think this Yang Qi could be referred as a lesser Kundalini energy. Kundalini to me is the primordial Yuan Qi coming up."]

Cool, bring him in..... Let me Summon Protector !!

Hey All, Chunyi Lin states that the Governing and the Conception Channel connect automatically four hours a day, during noon (11am to 1pm) and midnight (11pm to 1am). He recommends practicing MCO during these time windows. Theoretically, can anyone explain to me why they "automatically connect" (as stated in his Level 1 Book) during these time-frames ? I guess practicing when they are naturally connected is more beneficial, because it's easier for the energy to go through ? Thanks, Seb

Hi Neophyte, I'm no expert, but I'd say just use common sense. When perfectly healthy, a human being's energy will follow the meridian clock, more of less of course because of blockages. For example, if you travel internationally across time zones, and you land, then when is tsu ? Just wait for your three meals to kick in, a regular sleep pattern to develop, and then the energy cycle will normalize again. Daylight savings time is not something natural, so personally I wouldn't work off a standard time, but rather when your energy body "feels" ready. Try it out and see what works best as Soaring Crane said. These are just guidelines. TY has a lot of cryptic information. I'm sure it's all good, but I've never had a non-sexual erection, nor really know how to get one, haha. So apparently, he advocates focusing on upper dan-tian first... Interesting. In my system, I always focus on rooting first, dan-tian development, so I wouldn't be able to answer you on that. HTH

Good point Michael, haha, always keeps us in check. Well I tried it out nonetheless, so here is a trip report. 1) 11:30 pm to 12:00 am : 30 minutes of GOT 1 to get the Dan-Tian filled with warmth and qi 2) 12:00 am to 12:20 am : Golden Fluid Returns to Dan-Tian mediation, basically removes ren/du obstructions and completes MCO with saliva. Includes tapping heavenly drum, massaging kidneys, etc.. 3) 30 Minutes of MCO with reverse Taoist breathing and visualization. Result: Magneto. I've been able to suck in large metallic objects to my energy field, even though I wasn't accounting for the daily savings time in Taiwan. OK, real result: I feel that I've been through more clearings and blockages than usual, as I was moving, shaking a lot. I didn't feel drowsy too, and felt pretty solid waking up.

Also thanks Grandmaster P, I agree that nothing beats experience, and this theoretical discussion is pointless without trying it out....

Awesome post thetaoiseasy, thanks. In my excitement to see your name appear and my scrambling to read your post, I also feverishly pressed the print screen button. Just in case this post was to de-materialize with the morning dew tomorrow.... I guess it was over-kill, but shows you there is market in case you decide to write a book one day You'd probably get the "shut up and take my money" quote from me, haha.

Thanks, and interesting point regarding the regularity of practice vs quantity. However, this doesn't answer my question at all.

Hey All, I'm just wondering if any of you are studying with some Masters of this particular type of standing excercice, around Taipei by any chance ? I have my own practice of Zhan Zuang, and I limit myself until I can find an expert to take me to the next level. The reason is that I'm using it to reverse kyphosis naturally, so I'm mostly looking for feedback from an expert that my stance is exact (holding the ball) before getting into longer meditation times. If there's really none in Taiwan that you know of, then perhaps France, or even other locations in UK and South East Asia might be helpful. Thanks, Seb