Encephalon

http://www.energyarts.com/Articles/Bruce-s-Articles/Release-To-Freedom-The-Dissolving-Process-of-the-Taoist-Water-Method.html "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" by Bruce Frantzis is a great intro to the water method.

I can't speak for Chia's methods, but I did start with nei kung. At the two year point I was experimenting with many forms of breathing practice and overheated myself; lots of heat emanating from my face, hands, and chest (this also happened to be in Los Angeles last summer - very hot). An acupuncturist told me that many westerners who begin chi kung practice bring up their fire energy and overheat, partly due to the western diet, and aren't nearly as adept at bringing the water energy down, so I went for some acupuncture treatments, took some cooling herbal formulas, and scratched the caffeine except for green tea. My meridians/gates continue to open up on a daily basis - I have 2-4 hours of practice time available to me - but I'm focusing most of the time on the water method a la Bruce Frantzis.

PERSEVERANCE Invisible lines. The fisherman repairs his net And the fish are nearly caught. If a fisherman does not have a properly repaired net, then his trip is useless. Preparation is the major part of his endeavor. Only when the fisherman keeps his nets intact, keeps his boat repaired, and studies the conditions of fish and water does going out to fish become a mere formality. Then fish fall into his hands as if guided by invisible lines. When it seems as if nothing encouraging is happening to us, it is important to remember such perseverance. Work may be drudgery, maintaining a home may be routine, and we may find our goals quite distant. But we must persevere and prepare nevertheless. That will bring a steady pace toward our goals, and buoy our faith in rough and threatening times. To taste the fruit of perseverance requires maturity and experience. We need to cultivate patience, planning and timing. We build our resources even when circumstances seem to be against us. We don't neglect anything we have set in motion. If we nurse our plans through good times and bad, our plans will eventually succeed with the inevitability of fish caught in a net.

I think you're doing me a service in pointing out the imprecision of my thought. You nailed, above, I believe. For those of us who have only recently acquired some proficiency with internal energy, visualization is great. I would agree with the rest of your sentiment, that it's a tool to be discarded when the channels are open. I've posted some things at length by Franztis and C.K. Chu about some of the advantages of nei kung training over more external forms of chi kung. It wasn't my experience that visualization helped with the initial opening of the Gov. channel and functional channels, only some of the more stubborn spots like the shoulder blades, pelvic bones, and the legs. Arms and hands opened quick, thumbs first, and it's been a blast ever since.

Thanks for this recommendation. Just put a hold on a copy at the library. My bodywork knowledge has gaping holes, but would you call it helpful for someone with no experience in Tuina? Regards, B

So when many people hear "relax" they think, "oh yeah, like you're going to sleep." And then their body goes limp. But it's not like that. I don't know if I could put it in any sort of category (like a trinity), as I don't know what it would be paired up with... but relaxing is very important. You're right. There are a lot of people who buy gym memberships who are similarly disconnected, only some of them have been at it for 30-40 years. I guess it would be cool to run an experiment to see deeply a person can relax themselves physically before the application of any chi kung or yoga breathing techniques. The breath is what switches your nervous system from "fight or flight" to "rest and digest," and completely changes the entire hormonal environment of your bloodstream, much for the better. That's where all the magic starts to happen, but I'm still curious about how far sheer physical strength contributes to relaxation. I think Bruce Lee was right; strength really is the godfather of all other fitness criteria, including your capacity to relax. I'd be interested to know what the contrary arguments are, if any.

Yes, indeed. My trinity - relax, attent., visual - needs to be reconceived. I'd be grateful if we could all get on the same page here, for my own sake, but for everyone else's too. What about relaxation? To be purely western about it, I've always thought that strength training combined with flexibility exercises would yield a very relaxable body, kind of like yoga, but without the breathing element. As long as the strength/flexibility relationship doesn't become to skewed in either direction, you can initiate a deep relaxation response in most people; just my musings as a trainer. Deeper states of relaxation require the breathing component (blood oxygenation), but I'd be curious to know what other factors you've all deciphered. Thanks in advance.

May I please request a clarification of visualization? I think I understand the concept of intent as you defined it. But if I use the "spiraling" imagery as described by Chia, spiraling the energy around my limbs or meridians, connecting one gate to another, am I using visualization? I think I'm obliquely trying to ferret out the role of imagination in this process. (And I still think a certain amount of anatomical awareness helps, but that's a different story). Thanks for all the thoughtful feedback, folks.

Look, you guys... I'm really busy right now. Can you keep it short?

WALKING Trail beside stream, Fragrant pine. Rocky red earth, Steep mountain. Walking may be a good metaphor for spiritual life, but there are times when simple hiking is literally the best activity. When one walks in the woods or climbs mountains, there is a wonderful unity of body, mind, and spirit. Hiking strengthens the legs, increases stamina, invigorates the blood, and soothes the mind. Away from the madness of society, one is freed to observe nature's lessons. Erosion. Gnarled roots. The carcass of a dead deer. A flight of swallows. The high spirals of hawks. Bladed reflections of rushing water. Just budding bare branches. Gray rock, cracked, shattered, and worn. A fallen tree. A lone cloud. The laughter of plum branches. Even a little circle of rocks beside the trail -- who put them there, or did any hand arrange them, and no matter which, what are the secrets of that circle? There are a thousand meanings in every view, if only we open ourselves to see the scripture of the landscape.

Glad you enjoyed it. FYI, this is not my work. I'm merely posting daily pieces from "365 Ta0" by Deng Ming-Dao. So, I walked into this nightclub...

My thanks to both of you - Cat & Carson - for sharing this.

Good to hear from you again. I hope other people chime in. My wife and I would like her to be pregnant by our birthdays in September (both Virgos). I run my energy all the time, but I did overheat myself last summer, as you may remember! Don't wanna overheat the fetus. Congrats!

RESOLUTION Footsteps in the sand Quickly washed away: The seashore mind. Going to the beach means walking in fresh air, listening to the sound of waves, feeling the grit of sand beneath our feet. The narrow ribbon between land and ocean is a perfect place to understand the mind of wisdom. Just as there is a dynamic balance between sand and water, so too is there a dynamic equilibrium between the quiescent and active sides of our minds. Just as the sand is constantly being washed, so too should we keep our minds free of lingering impressions. We often let thoughts, regrets, doubts from past activities carry over into the present. This leads us to conflict. Instead of allowing this to happen, we should act without leaving consequences. This requires great thoroughness. Such completeness is challenging, but to succeed is to live perfectly. By resolving the problems of each day to our utmost satisfaction, we attain the sublime purity of a beach constantly washed by waves.

I don't feel like I'm making the progress opening up the legs as I did with my upper torso. I'm assuming that's normal, at least for westerners. Is there a particular posture that is best suited for this? Standing, sitting on zafu, MCO chair style? Also, I've been using Frantzis' map of the energy gates lately with some good results. I find it practical to concentrate on opening, or dissolving, specific gates, and then connecting those gates along the meridians. Any other groovy visualization/sensory tricks I can utilize?

SUBCONSCIOUS Heaven and hell; Our subconscious. Meditation opens seldom glimpsed areas of our subconscious. When that happens, extraordinary thoughts and awareness come to us with seeming spontaneity. We realize truths that were opaque to us before; we perceive events that were previously too distant. But no one ever became superhuman because of meditation. They only opened their own latent potential. Everything is locked inside of us and need only be opened. That is why it is said that heaven is within us. In the same way, the pains and the struggles of the past sometimes haunt us with astounding vehemence. Problems and conflicts are difficult to exorcise. Although we may practice spirituality and move on to new endeavors and relationships, past hurts still come back in our memories and dreams. These are not demons from another world, nor are they karmic manifestations of previous lives; they are scars in our subconscious. No matter how diligently we try to make progress, there still are pains that curse us day after day. This is why it is said that hell is within us. We ourselves are the battleground for good and evil. There is no need to look beyond our world. Everything to be understood is within us. All that must be transcended -- the pains and scars of the past -- is within us. All the power of transcendence is also within us. Tap into it and you tap into the divine itself.

The following link was provided by a Bum when I asked for a good selection of Binaural Beats. There's one recording entitled "Adrenaline." It's only five minutes long, but it offers a good jolt, because there's a track of lightning and thunder recorded on top. Since lightning bolts explode out of the earth and into the atmosphere, not the other way around, the recording is a great visualization for experiencing lightning bolts shooting up the through the Bubbling Springs of each foot. http://www.iso-tones.com/tones.html ps - I'm not entirely convinced of the efficacy of BB technology, but I use it anyway, with noise cancelling headphones, as a means of minimizing noise pollution.

This is loosely related to the practice of turning your body into a "chi vacuum" as taught by Chu nei kung. It's the opposite of forcing chi into the body with aggressive "fire" breathing.

Most of us band nerds were introduced early on to some advanced breathing techniques that resemble the diaphragmatic movements of some spiritual teachings. We used to work on full exhalation a lot when I was a kid in drum and bugle corps.

My humble thanks. I guess I should also thank the life I have right now, which allows me to practice for several hours a day.

You don't play a brass or woodwind instrument, do you?

It's the experience of connectedness, interdependency, as Scotty mentioned. A western style ecological education is about as close as the west gets to Asian theories about mutual causality, and Buddhist psychology certainly says a great deal about the kind of mind that is capable of experiencing this reality. The west has done a respectable job of quantifying it but the east can show us how to consciously experience it. In fact, the Buddha's doctrine of mutual causality placed this experience explicitly in the center of his teachings. (paticca samuppada) Internal alchemy seems to be a pretty staightforward approach for tuning up your nervous system enough to be sensitive to this ecological and interdependent reality. And, I would have to say that certain lifestyles are more conducive to cultivating this awareness than others.

Thanks, Steam, for posting these. I hope all newcomers, and everyone else gets a good look at them. The subject of basic anatomical awareness in the pursuit of internal alchemy was a robust subject not too long ago. It probably never goes away. I'm not sure where it resolved, but I think these graphics are very helpful when you first start to refine your visualization skills and build up your chi flow. God knows consumer culture can kill your imagination if you let it. The external and internal plates together are really helpful. Thanks again.

After pouring over a pile of literature on brow chakra "third eye" psychology, I would guess that one acquires the ability to synthesize the sum total of all sensory input, memory, knowledge base, formal education and life experience into a highly refined reservoir of awareness that is radically accessible via a highly developed intuition. Maybe I'm just projecting wishful thinking, but I imagine (and dream of) the ability to respond and adapt to any situation with absolute skillfulness, compassion, and spontaneity. I'm not too interested in the metaphysical musings and conjecture; let me know what I can do with my nervous system.

See MY earlier post on carburator repair.