Trunk

There's info about some of this in the Little Orbit essay. Near the bottom of the essay about the area from Ren-4 to Ren-7. Before that, simple method to activate those points (twiddlin'). cheers, Trunk

It's natural that some trapped heat would come out when you first got circulation going. Likely it'd be somewhat closer to neutral over time, I'm bettin'. Coincidentally, I've been starting to listen to lectures by Mark Griffin, a Teacher here in the LA area that I used to sit with regularly. I just finished listening to his lecture The Five Stages of Pratyahara for the 3rd or 4th time and it goes over "following the breath" (which he calls "bellows breathing") and breath retention and then some more advanced maneuvers in the central channel and leading into advanced states, put together in a sequence. He's enlightened and a technically very clear thinker & speaker. I mean, I learned about "following the breath" in probably my first meditation class, decades ago, and this lecture clarified a lot - and gave a really smooth transition with as much clarification about breath retention. Deep, clear, detailed. Some of the more advanced steps were beyond my capacity to follow, but interesting to hear about. Trunk

John, No problem! (Deleted a bunch. ) Welcome! to TTBs. Trunk

People vary. Get over it. You're going to look all sorts of ways before you die. Just acting out a bunch of childish first-world cultural neurosis.

I've never tried it, but everyone seems to like it. Always mentioned positively around here.

Cultural silliness re: weight. Lots of different people, all shapes and sizes. * sheesh *

Not to discount a doctor - obviously critical if you've got an acute condition, but... Self-acupressure (not puncture, no needles) has been one of the most grounded, practical, and incremental avenues of inner exploration~integration that I've taken up within the last few decades. My self-work with it over the last several years has been... absolutely critical to my gradual process of "opening the channels". Unless you've gotten regular massage and qi gong practice since you were a child, (or unless you're just really gifted), I don't see how anyone can really comprehensively open their channels without it. Under the heading of "essential self work" for those into internal cultivation - I'm more and more convinced.

The above caught my curiosity so I talked privately to a studious friend who said (and gave me permission to post anonymously),

A safe way to DIY is self-acuPRESSure (no needles, just self-massage). Link. A dr wouldn't be bad either; you could do both. In fact, if you do go to a dr, you can ask him/her what acupoints would be helpful for you to work on at home

* whew! *

I find that to be an almost unbelievable sentiment and had also to assess whether you were joking. Wow, just wow. I know that, as men, we get caught up in our combat instincts - especially when we're post-puberty and younger than maybe 30ish. But geez! The bodhisattva vow is central to Tibetan Buddhism for plenty of good reasons (and there are versions of that basic intent in most religions). Once you actually start entering the spiritual arena there are profound forces at work. To use those abilities for killing has unfortunate back-lash. This sort of thing goes to like the first virtue teachings in any tradition.

Sounds to me like you are doing really well. Often I've found that my practices have little impact on the basics my of sexual cycle, tempo, enjoyment and need for sensual closeness. .. at least in relation to the popular goals that I now find narrow and extreme. What I do find are smaller changes. My centers are more open, I resonate more naturally with my partner. I recover faster, my cycle is smoother in some ways. Often my esoteric practices utilize sexual energy, and I like those inner connections that I merge with - but that doesn't necessarily translate to major changes to my normal physical behavior. My point is, meditation would probably be good for you (given that you're pretty well developed in some ways already and that this kind of work looks to be your natural inclination) - but it may or may not give you the results you're looking for (as stated in the first post of this thread). Here's the basic breathing meditation. You can do it during formal sitting time, and also you can do it for a few or more breaths any time. This principle is good to know about. It's not the first step in meditation progression, (and usually occurs through specific skillful method) but it's a key orientation point further down the road and it could be that you'll progress quickly. Trunk

Sometimes I watch High Stakes Poker with a friend. Thus, the new av.

"Now the Dude was a lazy man, quite possibly the laziest man in Los Angeles county - which puts him in the runnin' for laziest world wide." "Is it a weekday?" cz2ET5K6zY0 p.s. Re: goats etc. Using spiritual power to kill, can anyone say, "bad karma"?

If people are having fun and learning and not getting hurt, then I don't see anything wrong with it. Still better than baseball. I saw some foam rubber sparring swords once, looked like a ton o' fun. One dangerous thing is the psychology. You train younger males in vigorous, fun, sword movements.. maybe even sparring... and they get really into it physically. Not too big of a step (for a young mind in good-judgement-deficit) to take a swing at someone with a real sword. It's one thing to take a swing at someone with your hand (or even foot) but to have a weapon... that takes it immediately to a lethal level regardless of amount of time training. No time to train respect for the art, respect for each other, respect for the weapon - and no time to weed out kids who aren't psychologically suited for weapons work at all. Hmmmm. Trunk

I've noticed the "relaxed breath retention at the apex & nadir" show up in various systems as well. It is usually complemented by some moderate kinds of breathing that focus more on moderately massaging the physical, plus a broader system of breath + movement (like yoga, qi gong, or internal martial art). The still relaxed retention is in small doses within a broader regimen, as I've seen. It's strong: over-use and you get kinda wacky for a while. Moderate use can really help.

Good point and on-target to the item of confusion in this thread and elsewhere. Heat is widely misunderstood, I think. Though there are some kinds of heat that are good signs at very advanced levels, I believe that in the beginning heat is: - a sign of trapped heat (stress) releasing - perpetually aroused jing, sexual heat, being considered a good thing - a sign of pressure being used too early in training. People want circulation in/from the lower tan tien and there is the somewhat crude but sometimes useful strategy to use pressure and heat to prompt circulation. While sometimes this works, it's overall a risky way and sometimes loses the beginning goals. When energy is harmonized then circulation occurs of it's own and (while some initial trapped heat might come out) it supports the general beginning goals of harmonizing and calming: The energy becomes supple, kind, circulating and nourishing. Without subduing, you can not accumulate. All this talk of paths of fire // water are dancing around the basic path of harmony. Trunk

*bump*

Plenty of methods at my site and elsewhere. Whatever you do, the breath is going to be involved - so it simplifies it some to have that in mind. cheers, Trunk

Yup, zinc is important. This product has zinc in liquid form (gelcaps). See my previous link in this thread to the minerals discussion.

Just to comment on this one question: Yes. Two things that I find (within the context of your question): 1. Really very little weight is needed. All the weight I really feel I need is to feel enough 'pull' in a certain way so that I engage and flex the relevant connected fascia and muscle. I use three 2&1/2-pound weights and generally lift 7&1/2 pounds and sometimes 5 to start with. That part of your body doesn't engage in quite that kind of pull in really any other way. (Of course sex does but only in a portion of the way this does, if that makes any sense.) All you need to is engage and flex the fascia. It's basically healthy for that area. 2. The thing is, are you able to process the extra energy that you bring up into your body? I'd say that most men are challenged by that ... and - in a Taoist view - that leads to a broad context of practices, briefly stated, but a long course of work of: opening the tissues and channels, stilling the mind, heaven~earth integration through the sinews & marrow, and Light integration. A lot could be said about each of those topics. Stick around. My current kick is learning about self-acupressure, acupoints, and channels. Huge amount of very reliable information which is largely over-looked in the pop-Taoist culture and really critical to the Taoist process of cultivating the body. There's some more of my meanderings on these topics at the site listed below. That's my three cents. Trunk

Perry, Great intro! Love it! Welcome! Trunk

You are The Stig.

It's really important to open the microcosmic orbit to open all of the channels.

Diet is worth experimenting with. There are various Chinese herbs and herbal formulas. You'd want to go more towards yin tonics or balanced yin~yang formulas - in order to restore well - not really yang stuff. DragonHerbs.com has a good selection & quality and they also have advice by phone. Can be a bit o' $$ over time, but often worth trying. Then there's meats & proteins which are very nourishing, restorative... might be against your current sense of aesthetics, but might also be healthy & important for you. Steak & eggs, or something more exotic (link) (and very inexpensive). I've more recently been experimenting with some quality mineral supplements (link), which I think are important - occasionally in small doses.. very affordable. And, yup, the oils are part of it. ~ edit ~ There are a number of "friendly oils": fish oils, borage oil, hemp oil (a complete protein and a favorite). I shift around which ones I take; I think variety is good - though I'm not clear on all their differences. Witch has a book, The Orgasmic Diet, that talks about oils and other. I haven't read it but people seem to like it (and it's on my amazon wish-list).