Maddie

My motive in the first place was to be less spacey and more effective in the real world. Suggestions?

I stand corrected, you did say to put black at the bottom of the feet ;-). I don't believe I have used moldavite before. I was reading your response to K about the lower chakras and the upper ones. In my case my reasons for wanting to add emphasis to my root is because I feel that my upper chakras are doing alright, but that I am not very well rooted in physical reality (I'm top heavy). People at my school told me they thought I was stoned all the time (which I'm not) and I do admit to being somewhat spacy. So I want to be more down to earth. Up until recently my answer to that was to use dark stones like Obsidian and Hematite but I found this to be too grounding and not enough energizing. So I wound up feeling less spacy but sluggish. In the half week or so that I've been using red stones I've had some interesting experiences for sure, but I'm beginning to feel a little more interest in reality and a bit more energized (so far).

This made me wonder about practices and sounds for the meridians. I am currently a TCM student and find online and in books all sorts of stuff for the chakras, but what about the meridians. Granted much of what I am studying in the way of acupuncture is for this purpose, but I am curious about other practices that specifically work on the meridians.

ok thanks. Just a final note for the evening that I believe is relevant to the topic at hand. I was doing the "Lam" mantra just a while ago for the Root chakra, and in the midst of it became aware of some negative self-beliefs along the lines that I don't deserve good things... hmmm. Also my appetite as been enomous the past couple days as well.

Whats the Lotus Buddha mantra? It really opens the Root Chakra?

Could you elaborate a little more? Did it specify what the dangers of red are? My own subjective experence with red so far is that it feels good (I'm not saying thats a good arguement for something, as cocaine can make you feel good with out being good for you) but if I was going to describe how it makes me feel good, I'd say it makes me feel good about being me, and being present.

Thanks for the feed back, I actually have used crystals for a while. The reds were Jasper, Ruby, Goldstone, and Garnet. I've had them for a while and have salted and cleared them many times. I believe the difference was not in the fact that I used crystals, but that I used Red ones. I have worked on all the chakras with crystals but in the past I predominately used black stones for the root chakra, as you mentioned. This was the first time I used just red and nothing else. The reason I dedided to use red as opposed to the black that I usually use for the root chakra is mainly a desire to increase my energy level, as I had been feeling unmotivated and lethargic lately. So I guess my question is more about the root chakra itself as opposed to the method of working on it.

Hmmm funny cause I've been pondering the root chakra the past couple days a lot as well. A couple days ago I was about to head out to class but got shooting pains right in my root chakra area. This got my attention so I did a meditation with red gemstones and visualizing everything as red. I have felt very unusual since then. I've had insomnia (which is rare for me), felt very spacy and tired, and just "off".

Latest update. For the past couple days I've felt rather unusual and I can think of only two things that I've done differently. The first is a few days ago I did probably about an hours worth of the Zhunti Mantra. The second is that around the same time (later that day) I meditated with red gemstones and visualized myself and the entire room I was in as being bright red. My reason for doing so was to work on my root chakra, which is one chakra I had not paid all that much attention to in the past compared to the other ones. Since then for the past couple of nights I've had insomnia which is rather unusual for me. Also I've felt very "unsual". I don't really know how else to explain it yet, I just feel weird. Kind of tired, and lethargic, and spacey. Is this a result of the Zhunti Mantra and/or working with my root chakra using all that red? Or something else entirely?

I used to do the semen retention thing quite a bit but found that it made me rather sex obssessed.

I've been doing hour long meditations for a few days now, and so far the best way I can describe it is that two contradictory events are happening at the same time. This morning while sitting and breathing very strong erotic thoughts and feelings just bubbled up of their own accord. I did not try to make this happen, though I did not try to stop it either. I simply observed it the best I could. The other side of the coin (thus the contraditcion) was that while all of this was bubbleing up, I felt a certain detachment or state of observation also. In the past I had rather negative and judgemental attitudes towards many aspects of sexuality. Now that I've been doing mindfullness (simply observing without judgement) it seems/feels that I have made space for these formerly repressed/stuck thoughts/energies to come up to the surface and do what they need to do. Thus I feel it more, but at the same time feel more detached from it. Hope that makes some sense.

I do mindfulness meditation. Basically I just sit, and observe my breath. I did try going for an hour and I do think there is something to it like you said. I broke up last summer with my gf, and since that time I have abstained.

Thats basically what I've been doing

Taoism is quite varied but in a very general sense both Buddhists and Taoists attempt to cultivate essence into qi and then qi into shen and raise that energy to the upper dan tien in order to cultivate spitituallity. The methods used may be different, but the end goal is the same.

I can only speak from personal experience but in the past I was more Taoist focused and now I'm more Buddhist focused, though I always incoorperate aspects from both. To me the Taoist approach was more "technical". What I mean is that you consciouly manipulate your meridians, qi, ect.. through active conscious effort. While in Buddhism you are less "technical" and tend to "let things happen". Just thought I'd make a comment on Sinansenncer's post about becoming something that your not in Buddhism. It's my understanding that in Buddhism your actually trying to realize your true nature, and become what you really are, and just don't yet realize it. Though I do agree that Buddhism is about escaping samsara.

Something else more specific I've noticed lately is that after meditation it tend to feel more anxious/emotional, and sexual. I'm not sure why this is. As to some questions about the specifics of my practice. I was going for 40 min at a time, usually twice a day. After getting feed back from this post I've reduced it to 30 min at a time. I'm not sure why my thoughts and feelings become so sexual after meditation, but it can last a good while after wards.

Hmmmm good point!

Thanks I like this answer, thanks to the rest of you too.

Just recently I have moved from doing primarily Qigong meditation to Buddhist meditation. I did this because I felt that qigong meditation was causing me to look for / cling to emotions and experiences (not saying this is everyone's experience, but it was mine). So I was hoping that Buddhist meditation would be more "gentle"? But what I have noticed from doing simple emptiness meditation and chanting "Om mani padme hum" is that all sorts of burried stuff is coming up, and it can seem a bit over whealming. Is this normal? What are the typical stages of stuff that happens when beginning this? What is normal, what is not?

Hmmm thats interesting. As you can see I'm a bit new at this and not super familiar with all the terminology. So then you can do the two together eh?

I was told/learned that you should to emptiness first, otherwise you may not be ready to do mindfulness properly.

Yea I'm aware of mindfullness but am not sure if I'm ready for that yet. What I'm trying to get out of this in the long term would be enlightenment, but for now just trying to deal with my inner stuff.

Yes the type of Qigong meditation I did was seated. It focused more on working directly with the organs, channles and chakras. The reason I decided to switch was because I found myself over analyzing emotions. I decided to switch to a more Buddhist approach partially as a way to let go of the control issues. To be more specific a lot of what is coming up now is as you say my "neurosis" I suppose. Those unpleasant and obsesive thoughts and feelings that are not fun at all. The Buddhist methods I'm now using are simply chanting "Om mani padme hum" and "emptiniess" meditation i.e. simply observing the breath. ps: I guess I should mention that I still occasionally use a qigong/taoist meditation to help me deal with some of the stuff that comes up, but do not make it a regular practice any longer.

Um IDK I'm a man and I feel that I have a lot of inner suffering going on.... so I'm not sure about this theory?

I hope this isn't too off topic but ..... I've been a pretty laid back, easy going type of guy, but just very recently I started doing Solar Plexus chakra meditation and it seems now I feel more angry in general and power issues seem to be more at the forefront of my mind. I'm hoping this is just a phase one must go through in working on their solar plexus, and hope that this will clear up and a more balanced attitude towards power will emerge. The reason though that I began the solar plexus meditation in the first place is because I'm tried of being sooo passive, so anyone have any experience with such things?