freeform

@charlesjorden Welcome to the forum What you describe is indeed jing and kidney yin depletion. It’s combined with issues in the liver (all regular marijuana users have this issue). Once the kidneys are not able to ‘anchor your Qi’ - your Qi will rise and scatter - causing anxiety, racing thoughts, emotional outbursts, heart palpitations and all the other symptoms you mention. It’s not popular - but the answer is indeed as @Nuralshamal says - it’s all about the boring fundamentals. The issue with doing reverse breathing with with jing and kidney yin deficiency is that it will further sap your jing! You must first recover before you can build. The reverse breathing helps to sink the mind to the Dantien - which is centring and helps with all manner of other things - but you have to build up to it - otherwise it would cause more of a problem than anything. Being moderate with sex/masturbation is good. But the key is moderate - once a week or once every other week is fine - and healthy... You’ll need to avoid ‘lust’ too - because it’s not just ejaculation that depletes jing - it’s also lust, desires and addictions. The first and possibly hardest thing is that you’ll have to stop using weed. From people I’ve helped the best way seems to be to switch to CBD only edibles for a period of around a month - and then slowly taper off that too. This can be hard! Cannabis can be as - if not more addictive than many other drugs when it’s used as a sort of emotional support thing over a long period. So you’ll need some help and support to do this. Secondly you need to fix your sleep... 8hrs every night - no less and no more (the no more is also important). You need to establish a regular sleep pattern - where you wake up the same time every day (even weekends)... And you must be asleep by 11pm every evening (which will greatly help the liver and increase your vitality). This also takes time to do - consistency is the key. Once sleep is sorted - exercise is crucial. Find something you enjoy and do it several times a week. Once these three fundamentals are in place, ask for assistance here and I’m sure people will help direct you to reverse breathing material. Just remember - don’t expect this transition to be easy. But know that at the end of it (within 6 to 9 months) you’ll feel like a new person - far stronger and more resilient. Ask for help from people in your life - and even here. You can do it! Good luck!

There comes a time when the usefulness of a discussion runs its course. All the best in your cultivation

My point was that the way most people understand ‘Yi follows Qi’ is incorrect. I explained that it’s because the term Yi is often misunderstood as a directed or focused intent. I did not say there is no Yi involved in movement in taiji or in sinking. In the video you posted, he talks about Ting (soaking of the awareness through the body) being the quality of YI... this is the major element missed by many. This is the ‘awareness’ aspect of Yi I was talking about. Yi happening at the cellular level - not the mental. Hope that clears things up. Good video by the way.

Ok - I didn't follow the full conversation by 'tai chi swings' do you mean Song Shen Fa type movements? Like these: As with anything - when you're learning you'll use intention and all kinds of other 'training wheels' to learn the movement. Once the 'shape' of the movement is there and completely automatic (in the same way as riding a bike is automatic - you don't have to 'intend' to keep balance) - the idea is to move away from intention and towards attention (Ting) and release (Song)... Then what I mean by 'minimal intention' is a period of exploration... you explore where your listening skill (Ting) is able to penetrate... you explore what layers you're able to release (Song) and so on. The meaning of Yi is closer to 'quality of one's mind'... but most people assume it means directed/focused intent. The example people would give of Yi follows Qi is - focus your attention on your palm - keep it there for a couple of minutes and you'll start to feel all kinds of sensations... so people assume this is qi - and this is how you use Yi... But what happens in that example is that by directing and focusing your mind on a small part of your body, you're enlivening the nerves in that area that start to pick up lots of sensations... this is not Qi in the way that Qi works in qigong (or other internal arts). The meaning of Yi is closer to this example: you get angry - your Qi will move upwards... you become happy or excited - your qi will expand and scatter... angry and happy are the 'quality' of your mind... that quality is what 'instructs' the movement of Qi. Except with qigong and taiji we're developing more subtle forms of Yi than the emotions... such as sinking... Sinking can only happen through release (song) - because if directed by intention, the qi won't sink - it will rise - because despite your intention - the quality of your mind is activation/engagement - not 'Song'. Hope that helps explain what I mean (though I realise it probably does an awful job of it!) And here's to me trying to be a little more efficient with my posting. Below is a link to a discussion about 'how qigong works' - I thought it was about time the truth of that was explained more clearly - instead of dumbed down like it usually is by teachers...

I need to get better at organising my writing... in-depth posts end up being added to random topics (I’m usually off-topic anyway - which doesn’t help) Yeah - I think it’s the case that what Yi means is quite different to ‘intention’ as we use it in the west. There’s another issue in that in some contexts, the meaning of Yi is indeed quite similar to the western meaning. Contextuality is of paramount importance for learning the meaning of any of these key terms.

My response to this will depend on whether you really want to hear my perspective - or you feel this is more about who’s right and who’s wrong I don’t mind either way. I’ve already spoken at length about this before. What I’m sharing has rarely been talked about in public as far as I’m aware.

Precisely. If you’re intending - it’s basically a form of ‘doing’... In Daoist practice we want to ‘do without doing’. I’ve used the analogy of digging a trench for water to flow down naturally, of its own accord - rather than carrying the water in buckets. Intention is required in small degrees to dig the trench... attention is required to let the water flow. Most people, however, misunderstand and instead ‘intend the water to move’... which in essence is like moving water in buckets. What’s more efficient in moving water - you or a river? It’s because most people misunderstand what Yi means in this context. Indeed it’s not that simple. For instance you intend for Qi to sink to your Dantien - on the surface you’ve got it righ... but the Qi won’t sink (imaginary Qi might)... Because what’s going on below the surface is you’re using your mind to consciously direct something... therefore Qi will move up to the head to help you in this endeavour. When people intend or imagine, the Qi will follow the trench you’ve created - go up to your head to help with your imagination or mental intention. The way you actually sink the Qi is a lot more nuanced and involves release rather than mental direction. It very much depends who the student is. If you’ve been accepted as an inner door student or disciple - there is a ton of instruction that actually enables these things to work...

In my experience attention trumps intention. But there’s quite a lot of intention required in the beginning before it can be dropped. Imagining anything (like tree roots growing out your feet) makes it impossible to develop attention. The difference between qigong to callisthenics is in the quality of both mind and body. You must be able to transition to a very different engine of movement - away from contraction and levers (standard movement) and towards expansion and stretch through release .

yes Though humans is better (and usually more challenging)

Here’s a post where I describe them:

I’d be careful with that... vitality is an indicator of Qi... But it’s not the only indicator... in fact vitality can be a sideffect from a Qi deviation. There are the 8 classic Qi sensations. (8 touches of Qi)

This is crucial to understand. Qi is not vague. However the term is very context dependent. And within each context what it 'is' is very specific. Think of it as similar to the word 'energy'... electrical energy, potential energy, 'I have lots of energy today'... 'my phone ran out of energy'... solar energy... wind energy... 'she has so much energy'... Each context means something specific - but separate the term from the context and it seems completely vague and subjective. But within each context it has a specific meaning.

Regular daily walks. Spending time with others. Get your mind out of all this and into something outside of you. The most powerful advice (but one that is almost always not taken by anyone) is to find a way to volunteer your time to help others less fortunate than you. Such as working at a needle exchange, soup kitchen or some other charitable project... might be tricky to find during the pandemic though

Full of alchemical symbology I believe Liu Yi Ming called it the clearest description of the alchemical process... Though I think the level of clarity is a little over stated 😅

Qi in this scenario will be the catalyst that brings these qualities into the physical from the 'spiritual' (or more frequently) from the 'mental' plane.

Qi is not a force or ‘energy’... but it can behave as those

Not enough Qi

My response was shared in the spirit of thoughtful disagreement - not a call to arms I may have misunderstood you. But it seemed to me you were saying that alchemy is a kind of natural unfoldment that happens by itself once we take certain blocks out of the way. I don’t agree with that because that’s not how teachers I respect talk about it. I didn’t feel I moved the goalposts of my initial statement - but I’ve certainly been known to be clumsy with such matters! I replied precisely because I found what you said interesting and worthwhile (even if I disagree) - I’m glad you’re sharing your experience - I might be a little insensitive and blunt, but my intention is most definitely not to shut you down, or anything like that! The divine is strongly reflected in nature. You’re very fortunate to live and work in it

On this there are many theories... there is also a difference in the numerology of the unfolding of preheaven jing into physicality for men and women... for women it’s 7 for men it’s 8... All jing-directed developmental processes occur according to these numbers... (such as puberty at 14 for girls and 16 for boys ... etc)

Oh because they considered periods (particularly when aligned with the lunar cycle) as a profoundly effective way to purge Xie Qi (pathogenic Qi) - as well as any turbidity in the blood. (I heard that that’s partly why women tend to live longer than men.) For the vast majority (of even quite advanced practitioners) holding on to the period is akin to blocking up the exhaust of your car. In very controlled surroundings and with full-time practice, there’s no issue. Because one is not generating xie Qi from reactive emotionality.

This is an important point. One of the greatest draws on ones jing is what I’d call ‘mindless habit’... This isn’t necessarily the big lifestyle habits (like brushing your teeth before bed) - these are the micro-scale mental and emotional habituated responses. Effectively our mind sets up little shortcuts - so rather than ‘wasting’ energy on direct perception of the reality of each moment - instead we have little shortcut patterns... These are our preferences, biases, judgements and habituated reactions. The older you get, the more of these habitual patterns you have (generally). Until eventually you become completely absent - and just go through life like one of those robo-vacuum cleaners. Habitually reacting to obstacles - but no presence or consciousness there. This is a big drain on one’s jing. (As well as the quality of ones Qi) This is also why it’s difficult for older people to be more flexible with their mind... to learn new things, to adopt differing perspectives etc. What cuts through and over time purifies this habituated gunk is mindfulness... or Ting for Daoists... Being deeply aware of the totality of the present moment... instead of operating on shortcuts. Try washing yourself with this deep presence. Try eating mindfully. It’s difficult because shortcuts are tempting and the convenience addictive... but take a week to do the normal stuff (cooking, eating cleaning, walking) with deep mindfulness and you’ll start to sense how you feel when your jing is more consolidated vs more scattered and overused.

While I made a comparison with animals - I’m talking more about the ‘human animal’ nature... the part of us that aims for survival, status, reproduction etc. You could say these things are conditioned - and they are - but only within certain constraints. For instance babies’ feeding habits (and how willing they are to put unrecognised objects in their mouth) can be used to accurately predict their political affiliations in later life. In the same way it can predict how open they are to strangers or to new experiences. But the fact that they tend to move towards or away from the unfamiliar is there in everyone. The act of judging whether something foreign is safe and interesting or unsafe and disgusting is an automatic response. That’s very deep conditioning of our human-animal nature. Similar conditioning exists in animals. It’s not a socially imposed program. It’s a biologically imposed one. That’s what I mean by our animal nature. Being reflexively open to something foreign is no less conditioned than being reflexively guarded. The wisdom traditions work to get rid of any reflexivity or automacity in this regard.

Oh I didn’t either. I just wanted to reiterate how important the psychological part of the post is... (I also didn’t want an important post to slip away unconsidered) stopping the physical leakages was suggested as the ‘next level’. From what I learned from a group of female alchemists - the ‘slaying the red dragon’ type practices (to stop menstruation) is categorically not recommended to anyone who lives in society. (Regulating it is another matter.) For females the biggest drain on the jing is apparently indulgence in emotion and sensory/hedonic stimulation. For men it’s indulgence in survival-based desires (sex, power and domination).

Thank you @Small Fur for a very informative and mature look at jing. While I may not agree with everything - it’s clearly coming from real experience. What I find is often missed by modern Daoist practitioners is the psychological aspect of jing. Daoism is all about the different layers of reality. The form within the formless and the formless within form. We have a naturally materialist way of looking at things - and so treat jing like a magic substance we can hoard. But ‘guarding your jing’ is as much a psychological thing as an energetic or physical one. You ‘leak’ jing more through enflamed desires, a scattered mind, and emotional reactivity than a few late nights and occasional overwork. For instance when we read about being physically moderate - this applied to people that had very labour intensive lives. Carrying water, growing your food etc - these are labour intensive activity - and a daily minimum for people of the past. Then add in the labour intensive work that pays money - and the opportunity for depletion becomes apparent. We as modern humans don’t even get close to that level of physical work. So we might read about being moderate with physical exertion and decide not to do that run or build that decking... But we’re underestimating what ‘moderate’ means for a healthy person. Similarly what was moderate in terms of a scattered mind, enflamed desires and emotional reactivity has changed considerably... we live in a world of constant stimulation, access to all manner of drugs, all kinds of stimulating foods, emotionally driven news coverage, porn or near-porn all over the place... every wish and desire is culturally encouraged and can be met at a moments notice... For us it’s the psychological aspect of jing that’s under far more pressure than the physical. Of course the physical will follow the psychological... but I don’t believe stopping ones period or all sexual expression will do much if our jing is scattered and made turbid by our mind. In fact this can be extremely dangerous. Stopping this stuff in normal life has been strongly discouraged by several of my teachers. Keep these for when you retreat to a cave.

I don’t think it’s conditioning. I think it’s a natural instinct to see ‘other’ as potentially dangerous... It’s the case in the whole of the animal world. In fact it’s through conditioning that we force ourselves to trust a stranger (rather than the other way round)... A wild dog will always be wary of a stranger... a ‘tamed’ dog is more likely to wag its tail at a stranger...