freeform

Completely agree with you. It’s also the case in Buddhist teachings - Sam Harris managed to ‘wisely’ separate the ‘stupid dogmatic beliefs’ from ‘the rational approach to spirituality’ of Buddhism - or so he thinks. Unfortunately due to his hubris he thinks that beginner preparatory practices like mindfulness and watching the breath are the peak of eastern spirituality. But this isn’t limited to the eastern arts... I think there’s this inherent belief that us modern people are obviously far wiser than the ancients... after all look at my shiny iPhone! Complete lack of humility.

Your wisdom is always seasoned with the sweet taste of sarcasm! Could you expand on this??

Spirituality as it is defined by people who have attained some spiritually evolved state tend to have very different definitions than ones who like to talk about spirituality or appear spiritual...

I don’t think you’re causing yourself any harm doing that. Whether it’s of any benefit, I’m not sure. I can highly recommend sinking the Qi though. It’s a very useful skill for anyone - but especially meditators. If you manage to sink the Qi and let it anchor to you Dan tien it makes meditation far easier and more productive. Your mind gets naturally quiet, the emotions are stilled. At a certain stage extra Qi is generated. Once you can sink on command you basically become a badass This is when you can be completely unperturbed by external circumstances and remain calm and centred under pressure.

Turning the light around is a very specific practice, so wouldn’t like to comment on that. Often - this moving of awareness from the head down to the lower Dan tien is an adapted and over simplified instruction on how to sink the Qi (possibly the intention behind thelearner’s practice). The thing is, to sink the Qi is actually quite a subtle, difficult process, because any mental action lifts the Qi. So as soon as you guide, focus, observe, move etc. the Qi goes up. The correct way of doing it is by using Song (release) and Ting (listening). Sinking the Qi is a bit like getting a frightened deer to eat from your hand. It’s hard and you can’t force it in any way at all. You just have to set up the conditions for it to happen and then allow it to happen of its own accord (wei wu wei) But just like with the deer, once you sink (or feed) it a few times, the deer knows what to do, and will do it easier with each repetition.

It sounds like it’s part of a specific practice. How long do you do it for? It could be a useful, legitimate practice, but If it’s a modern qigong or meditation set (particularly from healing tao) I would advise caution.

The Yi Jin Jing is the classic that explains this aspect of training. The classic describes the principles behind building the body in this way. Modern teachers have taken the Yi Jin Jing and made them into a specific qigong form, but this classic doesn’t actually describe exercises. It describes principles, and the principles should be built into all Qi gong and internal martial arts forms (although it very rarely is!). So it’s a bit tricky to recommend anything specific because my very best advice (and everyone hates it) is to find a good internal arts teacher! Because this should be at the very foundation of all internal forms (and standing and sitting practice) - for at least the first 10 to 20 years of dedicated training!

I was talking about the niwan. It’s dangerous only if you’re not ready for it and don’t know what you’re doing. In some legitimate systems you do work at that level early on in the training - but again this is under supervision of a very good teacher, with all the corrections, transmissions and empowerments to help with creating the right conditions. Even then I’ve known many errors caused by this sort of practice.

Hmm good question. It’s closer to the second option, less relative resistance. Qi doesn’t conduct well through muscle, but does through the soft tissues. In fact extra Qi is ‘made’ in the soft tissues, but that’s an advanced subject I think if you cut open a (real) internal arts master, you would find much more and much denser connective tissue all over the body - much more than you would in a normal person. You should be able to also feel it with your fingers on palpating them. As Nintendao says, it’s not really the material (collagen and water) that’s important. These tissues build in the proper pathways and patterns through your body as a result of long term daily practice. Over time they make you more and more conductive. The channels, when built in this way, can conduct a far stronger charge than a normal human. One of the reasons that it’s a little different to the meridian system of TCM.

Not ordinarily, no. Though at a certain stage one does start to develop Yin Qi which is often described as magnetic (it feels ‘magnetic’ in your body - pulling, pushing, compressing, expanding pressure sensations) - it is not actual magnetism though, it’s yin qi. It can also affect physical objects. For example you may have seen demonstrations of sand particles moving on a surface as a master projects his yin qi.

Yeah this is a paradox that I just couldn’t get my head round for many years. But so many advanced teachers talked about the fact that actual spirituality (as in cultivating Shen or spirit) is completely independent from morality or even from just basic human decency - that I realised it must be an important thing to really understand. It had me wondering how this could be so. I’m still not 100% sure about this... I think there’s such a distinct separation between your primordial Self and your manifest self that by the mechanisms of internal training you can leave the manifest self completely unrefined, but still manage to cultivate your primordial spirit and attain many of the later stage attainments. Many schools, however, place great importance on refining your manifest self. The De (virtues) are the fruits of a fully ‘transformed’ manifest (post heaven) self. This is the attainment of ‘sagehood’. Lao Tzu being such a sage. Personally I think there needs to be cultivation of both virtue and spirit.

Well a number of things. I can share the experience of a lady I know who did this for 6 months. Bear in mind that she thought she was doing the right thing, and that she was quite a dedicated practitioner, training a number of hours a day. Most people who do this once a week in a class or whatever won’t have any issues (nor any benefits, mind). Basically this lady was trying to ‘open her third eye’ at the recommendation of a yoga teacher. After several months she started to develop headaches and her idiot teacher told her that it’s a good sign and it indicates that her third eye is about to open, so she doubled her efforts. She told me that she didn’t notice the transition herself, but basically at first she became manic (if you’ve met a bipolar person during a manic episode you know what I mean). Then she started to lose the ability to string sentences together. Her headaches got worse. She stopped being able to drive. She lost her job as a school teacher. She’s a single mum and having lost her source of income she couldn’t pay for a flat. She and her daughter had to live in a hostel for months (with all kinds of alcoholics and drug addicts). It took her over a year to get back to relative normality. Thats the reason I say don’t do it

Bearing in mind I’m no Chen expert, this guy at least demonstrates some internal skill. Not sure how good the form is overall though.

I find posts that share personal experience in training the most valuable of all. Thanks. You’re also very kind in your posts I would’ve said that in that video demonstration, the man showed absolutely no understanding of the internal mechanisms behind taichi. I would guess he’s an external martial arts practitioner (looking at his body) - and he’s probably very good at that. He should not be demonstrating taichi.

Yeah - the key is ‘advanced’. The way these arts work is that each level is built on the previous one. It’s not that the technique itself is advanced, it’s that the technique is only used at a much later stage. It’s like learning a language - poetry might be an advanced manifestation of language - but you need to know what the words mean and how they go together before poetry is of any use.

If only I could offer you real ’nothing’ - might be quite enlightening!

1) Because in general it’s dangerous and counter productive. You can cause yourself a lot of harm doing this. I’ve met several people that have done this and literally ruined their life. 2) yes it can 3) hyperventilating will also create intense experience 4) Don’t do it 5) Yes - in the intermediate and later stages of development.

Not quite. Jing Jin is the riverbed for Qi (not jing) in the context of qigong. Jing Jin could be roughly translated as ‘sinew channels’... these are specific physical lines of conductivity (of qi) running through the fascia network of the body. The TCM meridians are different - TCM meridians are part of the mental model of TCM for the purposes of medicine. Although the meridians do (generally) run along the same lines as jing jin, they’re used very differently than in qigong.

Qi is not electricity - so any ‘western science perspective’ that tries to shoehorn Qi into some existing principle is bound to be problematic. The physical counterpart to Qi is the ‘jing jin’ lines running through your body. From a western scientific perspective this is part of the ‘fascia’ and ‘interstitium’ networks. The jing jin lines are like the physical ‘river beds’ that Qi runs through. They are slightly different to the meridians from the TCM perspective.

Yeah, I’m not convinced by the article. Admittedly I know little about ‘religious’ Daoism - burning ‘hell money’, hundreds of deities, temples and monastic living etc. However, it is certainly the case that with every spiritual system there’s the Exoteric (outer door) version and the Esoteric (inner door) version. The general tendency is the outer door tradition gives ‘normal’ people a taste, some hope and a way of connecting to the tradition without going through the hugely difficult and uncomfortable process of inner transformation. It helps to keep order with moral values, generate some money and some legitimacy in the public eye. The esoteric, inner door aspect is always focused primarily on following a practice of inner transformation. Yes there may be some ‘religious’ aspects - shrines, fu, connection to deities etc. But these are secondary to the main aim of the system. This is the case with most religions. For example what we commonly know of as Buddhist meditation techniques are generally just the outer door preparatory techniques. In Burma (Myanmar) - which is a very Buddhist country, I did many retreats... most of them followed the standard vipassana framework and a monastic lifestyle. I kept searching. It took a while, but eventually I found a teacher that taught practices that would be completely unfamiliar to most Buddhist practitioners (but strangely familiar to Daoist practitioners). This included energy work, ingesting herbal and alchemical preparations, transmissions etc.

Sounds like you just need a bit more energy in your life. This is quite simple, but most people don’t do this... 1) exercise - physical exercise of any kind that gets you out of your breath and sweating at the very least. 3 times a week minimum. Make sure to do a lot of core exercises and mobility/stretching. 2) get to sleep before 11 every night. Don’t sleep longer than 9hrs or less than 7. Make sure to get some sunshine as early as possible. 3) eat blood nourishing foods. Red meat from naturally reared animals. Black beans, leafy greens. Cod liver oil. Nuts. Mushrooms. Goji. 4) stop celibacy (but don’t over do it - once a week is fine). Stop reverse breathing. Stop horse stance.

You can’t do Nei Dan before becoming very proficient in Qi Gong first. So why not start there?

Yup - completely agree. Yeah I agree - I was sloppy with my words. I don’t mean being heavily focused on dry mechanics and alignment. Rulers certainly have no place in these arts! What I mean is being deeply focused and absorbed inside. Most people find it completely boring to be patiently listening for very subtle (for a long time) internal changes and processes in their body. Especially whilst standing in some uncomfortable posture for ages.

Sadly, you’re probably right about the majority of teachers. I’ve met very few that actually have the skills that they teach. Not sure what you’re trying to say? Trying to memorise the corrections is clearly ‘a joke’... if you have a good teacher, and you yourself are a good student, your awareness would be focused inside while you get the correction. The correction is always aimed at helping to manifest the right conditions inside you - so you’d be able to feel the shift inside, and then take that change into your practice. The outer shape is not the important bit - the inside is important. So actually the ‘correct’ posture for you will change as your body changes and develops. And that’s why the corrections can sometimes seem endless. But yes sometimes it’s just a teacher who doesn’t know what he’s doing and just pokes holes in people’s postures to demonstrate skill. Sad really.

In terms of the Daoist internal arts (whether Qi gong or taiji) the above is faulty understanding. Alignment is not for the purposes of ‘feeling’ or ‘learning’. Alignments are all about building the correct body. You’re not training your muscles, you’re training relaxing and releasing (song) whilst fully absorbed (ting) and holding a particular posture. The the tiny details of the posture are important as they set up the correct shape that under force of gravity will create the right type of stress and tension through the interior of your body that will then build and develop over time. This is what develops the ‘inner power’. If being this anal about alignments doesn’t interest you (completely understandable!) then you’re not suited to these arts. Much better to invest your time in something you actually enjoy. Body weight flow type exercises are fun and very popular these days - something like that might be much more rewarding for you.