Trunk

If they're billing themselves as teaching tantra, then almost certainly it'll be bunk... unless they are Tibetan, and then it won't be at all what you are expecting.

I had a private discussion with Sean about that a year ago or more. (Or rather, I blabbed and he listened.) I came to the conclusion that there'd be too much of a tendency for people to try and address medical conditions via that cyber-forum. Bad scene. Bad for people with genuine conditions, bad repercussions for TTBs. I like talking about points, channels, herbs, etc., in the context of promoting general cultivation progress. But that'll probably always stay mixed in general forum sections for the above reason. Trunk

I enjoyed that one quite a lot.

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That was very sweet and true.

The site says that it's a mineral supplement. Interesting. I was listening to a recorded talk by Jeffrey Yuan and he mentioned that minerals correspond with jing. Nice reference links. Sounds like you've been keeping a nice 'favorites' list. Really useful. You know what might be a good board mod? If there was, for each member, 'favorites' functionality for threads and posts. Then I (or any surfer) could browse your (marked 'public') favorites. Also, for TTBs community as a whole, I could look up 'most favorited' threads, posts. It'd be a way of dynamically capturing TTB's Greatest Hits.

My observation is that many beginners in the pop-Taoist community focus on very narrowly presented, very advanced, goals - such as semen retention and immortality. But they lack grounding in substantial basic health mechanics present in Taoism, such as students of Chinese medicine receive. As a result the pop-Taoism students often end up hurting themselves, damaging their basic harmony, and eroding their chances for longevity.

Check out the Healing Love: Dangers section of alchemicaltaoism.com. It's not everything, but has at least some elements that should be considered as part of the picture.

I thought, "ho hum, another website" and then, "oh well, I'll take a look"... Delightful! Wonderful! Thank you! (one of the images from your site) * the eight immortals *

You choose your practice routine; I won't do it for you. A lot of the education simply occurs through experience: You practice, observe results, and learn. The experience adds up. Just like learning anything else. Be patient with yourself. Steady as she goes.

Correct. "6 Channel Theory" sees the 12 regular channels as 6. It's a very balanced way of applying self-acupressure. (And simple. ) Correct.1. Open the regular channels. 2. When those are going nicely and you are feeling abundant, work on the acupoints for the 8 extra. 3. Repeat. (and take time off as you see fit) Feel free to experiment and so forth, but the above 1-2-3 is the basic layout. It puts your body through a fair amount of work, so pace yourself: be sensitive to your own body's needs. Once you've cycled through the 6 channels (which, if you do one every other day or so, might take a couple of weeks) then take at least a week off. Maybe several, or even a month or more if you like. Tinker with various points here & there in the mean-time. Go to other practices, etc. Then come back to the 6 and do it again. While movement qi gong and still practices are good & helpful, it is my opinion that it's unlikely that you'll really open all the channels sufficiently (especially whichever ones are stubborn for you specifically) without a thorough approach to self-massaging the channels - such as the one that I just mentioned. cheers, Trunk ~ edit ~ More resources in the massage section of alchemicaltaoism.com.

As long as you are basically healthy, order doesn't matter with that setup. Just work through the 6 channels at your own pace, allow time for your body to process as you see fit. Occasionally use the pts for the 8 extra when you have surplus to store away deep.

Good info here (link).

Mistakes do happen; sometimes they choose the wrong guy/girl. p.s. Please refrain from triple-posting.

This is not something I know about, but just to yap randomly... The vajra body is based on light. In Tsongkhapa's 6 Yogas of Naropa it says that once you accomplish this body, it will last as long as this universe. So, not 'forever' but for a long time. What those two statements have to do with eachother, I'm not sure - but they seem related to me somehow.

That's typical.

In any sort of traveling adventure like that, I'd make a point to visit some organic farming communities along the way.

Probably you-all have already mentioned, but the substance-to-light transformation has a lot to do with "enlightenment".

Over the years this online community has clarified many things, and much of it is archived at AlchemicalTaoism.com. If you're a noob and interested in a topic, take advantage and browse over there, as well as the helpful pinned topics within the Taoist Discussion forum. That'll quickly get you up-to-speed and help improve the level of conversation.

Good question. An important question actually, to keep in mind over the long term. As far as diet, look here. As far as herbs, go to whichever herb-store site and read up on yin tonics, blood tonics, and herbs that cool and circulate. Then there's practice. Plenty to explore there.

Stop Cobra, stop retention. Both of those produce "damp heat" (the Chinese medical term for what you've got). Read through at least the first few essays of the Healing Love Dangers section of AlchemicalTaoism.com. ~ later edit ~ Cobra is not a restorative, btw. It's yang. It's hitting the gas pedal, not filling the tank. And, even as a yang formula, it's not balanced - more towards extreme. Not recommended.

My experience is that retention generally hasn't aided in my clarity. During natural peaks in my spiritual practice, I simply have less sexual activity - and the unaroused practices assist along that line. Retained jing has a heavy spin on it that is not easy to clarify. Whether this homo-erotic-when-practicing-retention tendency is - not natural to you, a disorder of your natural tendency brought about by some excess from retention, or - it's illuminating some aspect of your nature that you haven't integrated yet, or - who knows what, things are often complex and unknown... .. any which way, I'd say to go easy on the retention... it lends a high rev that most men (I'd guess) are not really suited for - and can promote sexual-behavioral issues in the guise of spiritual practice. Whatever the complex makeup of each of our natural orientations, harmony and clarity help. More helpful towards that (usually, I think) is clarifying your nature through other, more steady, practices. Sitting, standing, chanting, silent, whatever lower center unaroused practices ... Take your pick from whichever classic methods. cheers, Trunk

No, but it goes with the territory.

"Running the orbit" with mind~intent can sometimes be problematic (regardless of which direction). My suggestion was specifically towards the physical activation of acupoints (and channels) through self-massage, "twiddling" in this case. Physical massage is much more likely to get to the physical level of difficulty that you're experiencing, imo. And that by-passes the "which direction?" question altogether. "twiddling" an acupoint not so fast!: lazy pace p.s. How cool is that!

I've been inspired by bellydancing again. So much control of deep muscles within the abdomen and along the spine. Totally pertinent to Taoist development. Tons of stuff on youtube (search "bellydance lesson"). Here's a few of interest. Flipping a coin from the tan tien: snFtVdSQlkw the "belly roll" HUAy8ndY7AY Sadie YamDoDK71Ds Sadie's Complete Bellydance Guide at amazon. Check out the reviews! cheers, Trunk