Maddie

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?

My ex girlfriend and I broke up about two and half months ago, and yet it feels like it was only yesterday. I don't understand why I can not get over her? I have tried everything, meditation, qigong, natural cures and the like. I am tired of pat answers from people saying "just don't think about her" or "don't worry about it". I mean if that was so simple to do, I would not be having this problem in the first place. The bigger thing is, I don't understand why I would even miss her at all, as she was horrible to me and treated my like shit. A few years ago I left my now ex wife and that was a relief, it was wonderful to get away from her, and she treated me like shit too, so I don't understand why I'm so hung up on this one. I believe with all my heart that she has borderline personality disorder, and now she acts as though I'm evil and won't even speak a word to me, and tries to pretend she does not even see me if she has to walk by, and I just don't get it, as I had never tried harder to be there for anyone. I meditate several times a day, take herbs, do acupuncture, take Bach flower remedies, crystal elixirs, and homeopathic cures, but it seems as if nothing works. I might go a few days where I think I'm doing better, and then BAM I fall right back into feeling hurt, and missing her. Why on earth would anyone miss someone so badly, who treated them so horribly?? She would hit, bite, scratch, and scream at me, and yet I just kept taking it and being kind to her back, and now she acts like I'm the devil? I just don't get it. Anyways if anyone really is in the know about how to get over something like this I would really like to hear about it. What I really don't want to hear are things like "just don't think about her" or pat answers like that. I will appreciate any help.

It's tricky fo sho

It seems that a lot of the discussion lately (for good reasons) is about compassion/love vs the need for boundaries, whether its letting a child or a partner manipulate you. I think this line can be tricky sometimes. One thing I started to contemplate yesterday in regard to this is about how we feel about ourselves, and how that relates to our boundaries and to what we perceive as appropriate compassion....

One of the main practices I have been doing lately (after my horrible break up) is the Inner Smile Meditation. I think it has been helping me a lot on an emotional level. I was interested to hear about other people's experiences with this meditation.

Powers might exist, but power corrupts... :-/

Yea that video was very interesting. Something I have noticed from this post, and the replies to this post, also ties into the relationship dynamic I had with my ex. I have found some of the answers and responses to be good, wise, kind, and compassionate. I have also found a lot of the replies here to be very ignorant and non-compassionate. How does this tie into my past relationship? It was primarily compassion that kept me tied to her as long as I was. I would like to make it clear that I had dated people before her, and I would not put up with people's crap, so I'm not a push over. My ex had suffered numerous traumas in her past. First during an incident she would freak out at me, and I would be thinking "this is bullshit, I'm out of here", and start packing my bags to leave, and would tell her she was acting nuts. Then when she saw I was about to head out cause she was going koo koo for coo coo puffs, she was then threaten to kill herself. So I would be like "oh shit" and talk her out of killing herself before I left. Then she would start crying and tell me that she needed me... blah blah blah, and yes I know she was manipulating me, but right or wrong I couldn't help but feel a great deal of compassion for her as shes weeping and sobbing and telling me how bad her trauma hurt her, and how much she needed me ect. Now I know this is a classic symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder, but I only learned about this disorder after we broke up, so no I did not go into this relationship knowing she had this disorder, no I am not a masochist. So I think statements that say I wanted these problems, or that I was a pussy for putting up with her, or that people think I deserved all of these are very ignorant and very non-compassionate statements. And believe me, after being with her, I am now very good at recognizing ignorance and non-compassion. When someone is going through a rough patch in life you don't say "oh you deserve it" or "you really wanted it", no you have compassion and say things like "oh I'm sorry your hurting, I hope you feel better". I mean come on we can learn all this stuff, but if we don't learn basic compassion 101 then what is the point of learning all these other things. So I'd like to clarify, no I don't want her back, nor am I hoping she will come back to me. Yes I do realize that there is something about me that was drawn to her, and stayed with her, and yes I do realize that, that part of me is not healthy, and with that realization yes I am working on doing something about it... just saying.

This answer seems to make more sense than any so far. I have been pondering this explanation quite a bit lately.