Maddie

For a while now I have been curious to reconcile the indian chakra yoga system with the chinese meridian system. I think that what the indians call chakras, and the chinese call the extrodinary vessles are probably very closely related if not the same thing. http://acupuncturetoday.org/mpacms/at/article.php?id=31543 This is a very interesting article where this dr. of TCM explains how the Yin Wei Mai and the solar plexus chakra have very similar funtions. Also consider how the governing , thrusting and conception vessles go right through the whole chakra system. This is something I'd like to know more about.

Why do you have this opinion? I find it interesting that for example the solar plexus is considered of the fire element, relates to digestion and metabolism and turning food into energy. The middle burner (jiao) the the triple burner is said to be where the fire chi is, relates to digestion of food, metabolism, and the conversion of food into chi. Kind of interesting eh?

I don't think location is it, because when I've done the version of ZZ that I do, no matter where I've done it, and I've done it in several places that were very far from eachother, Alaska, Washington, Texas, I get the same sensations, but I must include that when I ususally begin many new types of qigong that I often feel a little odd at first. I've also noticed from doing my curent ZZ practice that when I finish I feel like I have cotton in my ears, and they ring a little. ???

Yea it seems so simple that its complicated lol, amazing that you can change so much about yourself by simply standing lol. Yea that the mind can change energy method is western psychology which though useful for its theory in my own experience has been very limited in its application. The energy can change the mind approach is the eastern energy work method, which is the only way I've really made any changes in my thought process.

Yes I pratice daily, and usually in the same spot. I do not find it difficult at all nor am I tense. The only concentration I have is if I'm holding the ball at a certain spot/leve I'd focus my breathing there. If I am in wuji posture on inhale I focus on my dan tien, and on exhale on the bottom of my feet. I've noticed that if I hold the ball for 5 min I generally feel ok, but if I try to do it for 10 min I feel odd. When I say odd I mean that if I do hold the ball in front of a new area of my body, then I usually feel very tired, shaky, nervous, and feel strong emotions associated with that area. For example in "The Way of Energy" it starts you off holding the ball in front of your middle dan tien/heart chakra area (the book does not call it this, but that is where it is). I noticed that I began to get quite emotional and feel lots of hatred for no reason at all, I got very tired for a while, and felt just unusual. After a while these symptoms went away, though for a while I had stopped doing ZZ because it was to hard to deal with. Last week I began holding the ball in front of my sacral chakra area, for a few days I got super horny all the time, it even woke me up at night, I got tired again. This week I have been doing it at my solar plexus, again feeling tired, shaky, nervous, angry, irritable, and realzing very acutely my self-esteem issues, and things like this.

Yup basically pretty much any digestive issues are going to be spleen meridian / soloar plexus /middle burner (jiao) issues. And while I do realize our thoughts affect our energy, I also realize our energy affects our thoughts. The only way I've been really able to change my thought process effectively is to change the energy first, and then the thoughts follow automatically.

If you do standing meditation and use the hold the ball posture at the solar plexus level (I have found this to be very effective) you can do it with out any specific mental focus at all, or you can focus your breathing in the solar plexus at the same time. Usually in the ZZ posture I focus on the solar plexus at the central channel in the center of your body. When doing the MCO I I get the front and back of the solar plexus, (and every other chakra for that matter) but if I'm working on the solar plexus I pause at this area front and back longer and give the chi more time to work on balancing the chakra. I've also found that eating spicey herbs and pepers add a lot of yang to my solar plexus, after eating spicey herbs I can feel my solar plexus being very hot as the spices pass through my duodeum section of my intestine. This done on a regular and consistent basis is very beneficial as you build the fire chi stored in the middle burner (jiao).

Anyone know of how chakras might compare to extrodinary vessels?

Ok here is what I know about the Solar Plexus Chakra from study and research over the years. The Solar Plexus chakra lies in the solar plexus region of the abdomen between the sternum and navel. It is the third chakra up, and the top of the lower three chakra's that govern the physical plane. It has to do with our personal sense of power, self esteem, and digestion. Emotions associated with it are guilt, shame, anger, pride, ego, and competitiveness in its negative state. When it is strong people tend to be very assertive, when weak timid and passive, when over active, people tend to be pushy and forceful. It is one of the most Yang chakras and its element is fire. Intestingly enough the middle warmer of the triple warmer organ where the solar plexus lies is said to be where fire chi is located, it transforms food into chi, and regulates digestion. It is the seat of the ego and the will. Being that it is the Yang chakra, men who's solar plexus chakra is strong attract women automatically. Think of the sports hero, the athlete, the warrior, the alpha male, those are all examples of people with a strong solar plexus. The Archetype of the solar plexus is the Warrior in its positive state, and the Servant in its negative/weak state. Its all about how we feel about ourselves, our boundries, our assertiveness, our yang power, our energy. It is also one of the most emotionally supseptable areas of our bodies which is why when we are stressed we feel tension in our solar plexus area in our gut. A good way to empower and balance the solar plexus is to do the "hold the ball" stance in standing meditation at the solar plexus level, and to breat into it during seated meditation. Signs that your solar plexus chakra is healing and detoxifying are sudden bursts of anger, emotion, frustration, and other related supressed power emotions.

Good info, but very basic ;-)

Dr. Yang of YMAA says 24 hours

Is anyone familiar with side effects from zhan zhuang? I've noticed that if I'm going to feel side effects from any type of qigong, its this. I've noticed in particular that if I do the holding the ball position in front of chakras that I consider relatively weak, such as my solar plexus, that I feel very odd later. Is this a normal thing to get through or what?

Hey Non I got a question. The last time you went to speak to a woman, did she say you were a pervert for talking to her, or is that what you thought she would think if you were to go talk to her?

Oh I realize it wasn't really meant as a compliment, but I was happy anyways lol :-D. Funny thing is, is even though she said that, she just can't stop to seem emailing me, and getting flirty haha.

Hey I feel for you, if you've read any of my posts you'll know I tend to approach things from an "energy first" perspective... take care of the energy, the problem takes care of itself. Taoists say our heart stores our shen (spirit) which is responsible for our direction in life, our zest for life, and for healthy loving relationships, all things you listed as an issue. If I were you therefore I would work on my heart/fire meridian. The inner smile and healing sounds can take one a long way in this regard. :-)

Hey Ya Mu, I was just curious as to why you do not consider the 8 brocades true qigong? as they have been part of chinese qigong for a long time? In my personal experience I do also use them as a warm up, but I personally feel that they are a qigong in their own right, if not the most advanced one for sure. Just curious as to your reasoning?

You know I had a rather unusual experience the other day. I have an online dating profile and my pictures on there are from a few years back. Now I know the story with such things is that someone posts a picture from 20 years ago and looks nothing like they do now. But a few years back should be no biggie right? So this woman is a few years older than me. So I show up and she says "oh you don't look anything like your pictures" and I'm thinking "what have I aged that badly??" lol. So I asked exactely what she meant, and she said "you look a lot younger than your pictures, you look like a little kid" lol, and I was like "?!?!". The only thing I could think of is that when those pics were taken I had not been doing qigong very long, and obviously a few years down the road now I have done more qigong. Perhaps as I do qigong and its detoxifying effect might undo some of the aging process?

Hmmmm yea that would be interesting to explore, as I've heard its applicable in these situations.

I suppose I should have specified that not all women are on ego trips, just like not all men are, but many are. Though I would have to say that the healthy way to approach this is if you see a woman who is on a ego trip, just recognize it and avoid her and don't get sucked into her issues. Keep your eye open for a woman that is more well adjusted and not having ego issues, and go for that. Just remember that even women who don't have ego issues, will not all be attracted to you, for everyone has their types, and its not personal, its not even conscious, its just the way it is. Its good to not over think stuff :-)

Very true ;-). Its not easy being human lol, we have that spark of true love with in each of us, yet we also have to contend with ego, lust, ect... it definately keeps life interesting.

That was a really cool story about the Dali Lama. Though I have not met him personally, I do love watching him on TV, and reading his books as even through this medium I can feel some of what you were talking about. He has challenged me to strive towards unconditional/universal love that has no expectations :-). As far as a method to cultivate this would go, I would assume working on the heart chakra would be a good way to clear all the obstructions that block the love that is already within us from shining forth :-)

I can't really speak about the other two, but ba-duan-ji (8 brocades) is what I do daily, and one of the main parts of my practice. It has a clearing and balancing effect on your meridians and their associated organs. I've found it to be very effective for good physical, mental, and emotional health. Though while I feel its very effective on the meridian/organ level, I don't know if it directly works on the chakras or dan tiens (it could but I dont' know) though since chakras are connected to organs I suppose it can and does in an indirect way.

To me this is the very painful part of doing the inner smile. As you smile to your organs and come into contact with yourself, and you see the things about yourself that are less than flattering, it is not a very fun thing :-(, yet it is a good thing as this is how we grow. I think as humans we love our denial more than almost anything else. I guess this is another thing about increased sensitivity, it goes in all directions and can make you feel very bad about yourself when you deal with your "inner asshole" as I put it, quite painful.

Lol yea I'm sure I added to the reputation of the officer corps as well haha. Yes well one thing you said about the "beast within" is very relevant. Our lower three chakras are basically our animal nature, and most animals have at least the first three chakras as well. As sexuality is an issue (at least in its raw form) governed by our lower chakras, our lower nature, it is a very animalistic, instinctual type drive. SUBLIMATION: One reason that retention can become so difficult is because our kidneys store jing, and govern our sexuality. Once they have made just about all the sperm that our bodies can hold and we are "full" the kidneys (as the ruler of our sexuality) send us the signal that its "time" to perpetuate the speicies, as they have been doing for millions of years of evolution. This is natural, this is normal, this makes retention extremely difficult lol. The only real effective way to get around this function of our kidney meridian system is to do what makes it happy, lessen the amount of sperm within us. The usual way of course is simply to ejaculate, but if we subliminate then we transform this sperm into jing and store it is our dan tien. Same result. I think we can gague how effectively we are truely sublimating our sperm into jing by feeling how badly we desire sex. Sublimation is not an easy thing to do, and just like anything it takes time and practice to get better at it. I've noticed when I sit down to sublimate and I can tell things went really well, the sex drive thing is a piece of cake. Other times when I was distracted or for what ever reason things just didn't go well, its easy to feel this as well as it does not take too long for sexual desire to go through the roof. YIN/YANG: Also as males we can tend to become extremely yang if we do not find a good way to balance our excess yang with yin. There are many ways to do this. For example with that army officer female, I could tell her desire was high, which in her case being a woman meant that she had a lot of excess yin. As she was touching my body I could feel the yin/yang exchange taking place and it was very balancing. I've also found that standing meditaion is a good way to ground excess yang into the earth and draw up earth yin chi. Doing the MCO is effective as well, as when you move chi through your perinium which is the yang pole, your draw that yang eventually up to your crown which is your yin pole (just like on a magnet) and a degree of balance is achieved as well. Obviously the easiest way to achieve yin/yang balance is to simply have sex with a woman which explains why that is what most of the population naturally seeks to do, even if they do not realize it is for this reason. I've found that simply being near females helps achieve some balance automatically, but if the natural way is not enough then doing the "Drew" method of intentional yin/yang transfer through the third eye is helpful as well.

Yup thats what I learned from that, which is why I don't do it anymore. It was mostly just an experiment anyways, yet very informative. I take no pleasure in making people feel bad.