Nik_V

Thank you. I have done Buddhist meditation with concentration on breath before, though it caused me much frustration (I was supposed to just observe the breath, but I couldn't help controlling it instead). For a long time now I've been feeling very detached both from my body and from the world around me, living too much "ih my head", so I went looking for a practice that would "ground" me and bring me more into harmony with my body and surroundings. So I chose the practice involving the lower dantian. I was really thrown off by this strong and very objectively real side effect though, in response to nothing more than directing attention to the inside of my stomach and holding it for a few minutes. I suppose I need to be even more careful. I will check the Golden Flower practice too.

Thank you, I can understand most of what you are saying, except this part: " you are open at the middle dantien... and the energy follows your attention ". Wouldn't the heart chakra be closed if my problems were related to infufficiently developed bodhicitta? I am not very familiar with this.

No, I don't eat sushi, but I suppose anything is possible.

Hello everyone, I am new to Daoist meditation, and only decided to try it a few days ago (before that, 99% of my meditation experience was with Buddhist methods). I have decided to try a very simple method I found in the book "The Jade Emperor Mind Seal Classic" (translation and commentary by Stuart Alve Olson). Basically it involves sitting down and concentrating attention 3 fingers below the navel, on the lower Dantian area, and nothing else. I started doing it for 10-15 minutes every day to see how it goes. For about 3 days the experience was overall positive. I immediately got the feeling of heat in my lower abdomen, but it wasn't unpleasant, and I felt good overall during the rest of the day. After that, however, I started getting the feeling of discomfort in my stomach. It's nothing major, but I got all kinds of weird feelings like slight cramps and internal noises, the feeling of tension, the feeling of movement, some vague soreness, etc. Really hard to describe, and doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's definitely unpleasant, especially at night as it interferes with my sleep. I am a bit worried that something as minor as concentrating on that area for 10 minutes per day produces such side effects. Is this common? Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I've discontinued the practice for now, the feelings have lessened but are still there after 2 days.

This is my first post on this forum. My main interest for several years has been Buddhism, but I also practiced Hatha Yoga a bit and was interested in Daoism as well. Recently I've been feeling very disconnected both from my body and from the world around me, and decided to try Daoist meditation techniques in order to fix this. I have a few questions now, and hope to find some advice on this fine forum!