haveaniceday

So, uh. I have only the vaguest idea of dan tiens and meridians and all that, my theoretical knowledge is basically nil. But I like to experiment, and I'd seen this dan tien thing mentioned, so I thought I'd try to focus on my lower dan tien for a month and see what happened. This is some time ago. While of course this attention wasn't constant, I did spent the majority of the day with my attention resting in the general area while I did other stuff. I probably spent a lot of it focusing on the false lower dan tien, as I was gassy at times, but I think I found it after a while - at least I was regularly generating a lot of heat. Now about a month in, I decided I'd just keep meditating with as unbroken concentration as I could until something happened (not the best motivation), and eventually there is some kind of activity in the area, and much of it. This turn into an excruciatingly intense and pleasureless sensation, very uncomfortable, very intense. After this has gone on for some time, there is an extinction event, or whatever word you use. Cessation of the self. Then a similarly unbearable sensation manifests in my chest, my hands, my jaw. Now and then there is some shaking. For a while after that it felt like some kind of energy was circulating through my entire body, I was feeling the top of my head and the soles of my feet, my fingers, my wrists, my back etc simultaneously. This new baseline lasted for a few days to a week, if I recall correctly. It's been a while. What was this experience? And was it a bad idea to conclude the experiment after a month? I've started trying to focus on my lower dan tien all day erry day again, and although I think I (maybe) find the lower dan tien now and then I can't do it consistently, most of the time my attention is just in the neighbourhood. I'm only a couple days in, though. No rush.

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean to gradually extend your attention to your hips, your thighs, hamstrings, feet etc? Do you mean to "glue" yourself to the ground? Or are you talking about something more esoteric?

Well, sage has been used for the purpose of discouraging unwanted spirits for a long time. I suppose it could just be a meme. Sage has been used in the same way independently by a lot of different cultures, but there could be some sort of quantum entanglement thing going on - if that is even how quantum entanglement works. I'm no physicist. I suspect there is something inherent to sage - or it's position in the natural hierarchy of the universe/plant kingdom - that gives it it's useful properties, but as to what that is, who knows? It would be very easy to do some side by side tests with other substances without a history of similar usage, but I have little interest in deliberately attracting spirits and little need for warding off the ones once in a blue moon who are, after all, just passing by.

Or sage, for that matter. It works, but why does it work?

Is that a koan? The meaning is similarly impenetrable to me. And thank you.

Every time I see one of these there is a bit of a negative vibe, though I don't get the impression they're malicious. More like they're just following their nature, perhaps a little bit like farmers - seeding out an emotion, and reaping the rewards if you get locked into that emotion and intensify it. Usually the vibe is just creepy, but one time I saw a couple of them raising up energy through my dick. It felt good but I stopped them - it didn't seem like a good idea. Whenever I come across one, I just radiate love and good cheer. The creepy vibe instantly disappears. One time I discovered one sitting in the corner. Immediately I knew that it knew that I knew it was there, and there were a few seconds approaching awkwardness before it vanished.

@YFS In your opinion, does Feng Shui work the same way at every level? I don't know much about Feng Shui, but could you use it to order a city, i.e. maximum building height for regulation of morning and evening sunlight, orientation according to nearby rivers, this side of the mountain or that side of the mountain, placement of sewage pipes etc. How about roads, bridges and dams?

Hello. Is this the right subforum? Friends, I'm looking for a place where I can go balls deep into qigong and or bagua. I'm thinking anywhere from a month to half a year. I'm not rich, but I have a little money saved up. I'm ready to travel anywhere in the world for good instruction in a conducive location. I'm currently trying to learn Mandarin, but I'm green as a spring onion so I'm looking for a place where I can not only get by with English, but be well teachable. Note this is only really important when it comes to communicating with the instructors and figuring out how to get to and from the location. I don't need luxurious accomodation, I'm not a picky eater although I hope for nutrition. I'm primarily interested in vitality AND enlightenment. Those of you who know what's what, where is the place to go? Are there places that hold a "charge" that are particularly conducive to accelerated practice? Thank you, and good day.

Eh I do some exercises here and there, don't know what they're called but mostly just gathering and a little bit of raising and lowering. But I do have some qigong dvds, I've got something called yuan gong and Alan Jackson's chikung workout, couple of yantra yoga dvds. Guess I've got my work cut out for me. I'd really appreciate some retreat suggestions, though.

Hey, man. You might find it very rewarding to try not stimming when meditating, and fully feeling that stress that shows up when you're not redirecting you're attention away from it. If you do it long enough, and hang in there, it will dissolve. Stimming is what you do to block out unease, blocking out part of what you're experiencing. The less you block out, the greater your awareness. Just a tip.

I'm from Norway : ) I've been meditating for a few years now, mostly vipassana, but some shamatha too - from time to time I'll also experiment a bit. That's really what draws me to qigong as well; Firstly, although I do have extended periods with high volume of practice, I also have periods of low energy where I end up slacking off a bit. Some vitality would do me good. Also, at some point I started noticing I had these blobs of whatever, blocked energy or chronic muscular contractions - a little of both, probably - pretty much all over. So far my best strategy has just been keeping my awareness on a particular area until it loosens up, and although it works, it is really fucking slow. I do some standing exercise not quite every day, but near enough - from what I read here on the forum it might not be all too effective without quality instruction? From my limited experience it seems to me that theory is generally good to learn after a bit of practice, both in terms of motivation and understanding. I remember reading buddhist texts that seemed like gobbledegook only to return to it a year later and it suddenly makes sense. My assumption is that the right environment and/or teacher, in addition to going to some form of healer be it acupuncturist or massage or what have you, might result in a better launching point for immersing oneself in qigong, but I defer. Please advise.

Hi, I want to get way into this qigong stuff. Figured this might be the best place to ask about where to find extended retreats and the like. Have a nice day.