bamboo

Thanks Dainin _/\_

thank you for bringing this to my attention. Is it possible to buy the DVD of this form anywhere?

@Rideforever The Mco is for refining qi you have accumulated, it is not for building qi. The admonition in most of the classic texts is, "trying to run the mco without qi is like putting a pot on fire without any water in it...you ruin/burnout the pot." I'm paraphrasing but hopefully you get the idea. No water in the boiler, no steam in the pipes 😎 Best, Liam

Qigong masters sharing their views of Meridians This article was published in the monthly magazine "Qigong and Sport" in Xi'An, Shagxi province of China in the 1990s. In this article some Qigong masters who belong to different schools share their visions of the energy channels' system. Strikingly, their descriptions are very similar, which provides another evidence of some objective reality beyond our limited perception. It is obvious that in our normal state of awareness it is impossible to perceive the energetic form of Qi directly. A University-trained Chinese medicine doctor can only assess the flow of Qi by analyzing the signs and symptoms - such as looking at the appearance of the patient, hearing the voice, palpating the pulse or observing the tongue. However, direct perception of Qi can be achieved by prolonged Qigong practice, involving meditation and careful self-observation. The ability to perceive Qi directly is termed as "internal vision" in Qigong. The accounts below come from advanced Qigong masters who mastered their internal vision and use it to help their student and patients. General notes about the system of energy channels and circulation of Qi An article by Zheng Jingyue, Zhang Jilian "Internal tunnels" can only be seen with "internal vision". This is still true in the modern days. Using the methods of "penetration", "visual dissection" and "micro-vision" by means of the Eye of Wisdom [tian mu or "heavenly eye" between the eyebrows] we could see that the tunnels are actually far from being "tubes". The thinner ones are more like silver silk threads; the wider - resemble the stripes of light. Interweaving, they form a cobweb engulfing all our tissues. In the cross-cut, the tunnels are circular-shaped or oval-shaped, however sometimes they are of irregular shapes, and the substance flowing through them is similar to the liquid crystals of the LCD displays. In ordinary people this substance possesses relatively dense texture with scarce amount of more "dispersed" areas. It flows slowly and steadily. In those who practice Qigong, the texture is more light and clear and it flows faster, with ease. In the epicenters of disease the substance has highly dense and heavy texture, it is dark-colored and moves extremely slow, sometimes even showing signs of complete stagnation. Once we were doing a group session of Qigong therapy with external Qi emission. During the session many patients began to perform some spontaneous body movements. One lady ceased her movements abruptly and "petrified" in a rather extraordinary posture. In order to find out what was the cause of this, we had to use "penetrative vision". It was found that although the wider channels were about 4-5mm in diameter and should not have been causing obstruction of the flow, the substance in the epicenter of her disease became almost solid. That was the reason why the lady was fixed in this posture. After two days of continued practice her reaction on the external Qi emission became normal. The "penetrative vision" showed that due to stimulating action of external Qi the flow of the substance through the affected area was restored. The color of the substance contained in the energy channels may vary too. Depending on the level of a person's Qigong practice, it may be colored from white and red - up to the purple/violet. Also, depending on the level of one's Qigong practice and the degree of "opening" of the Eye of Wisdom, every person may perceive the picture of the energy channels differently. That is why we cite not only our visions here, but also the visions of our colleagues. Master Zhang Xiaoyang Zhang Xiaoyang: "Energy channels exist in a fluid state and to the person who can use internal vision, they present themselves as light. This light is the Qi itself. I observed energy channels as a fluid flowing into pre-defined routes in the tissues of skin, muscles, internal organs and fascia. Without any external influence the fluid moves slowly and the movement is almost unnoticeable. As its movement follows the complete cycle that correlates with the cycles of Heaven and Earth, movement of the Moon and Sun, at any moment of time which we would take it looks steady, immobile. However this is not true. If we needle any acupuncture point, within a short period of time Qi activates and its flow in the given area of the energy channel speeds up. The Qi in turn moves the fluid which starts moving through the passages of the energy channels. Once the fluid reaches the following acupuncture point, its movement stops for a short moment and during this time the point lights up like a little star. After that, the fluid carries on with its flow [through the channel]. To sum up my observations; 1) energy channels in the human body are located at different levels and depths. 2) the width of the energy channels varies depending on the person 3) the width of the channels also fluctuates depending on time 4) the width varies in different areas of the channel. In particular, applying various needling techniques, the width and the speed of the Qi flow in the channel will change. Speed of the Qi usually increases with intense stimulation. In the case of broadening of the channel, external stimulation of the "biologically active" point leads to the change of the color of the point's radiance. Points located on a single closed path, glow similarly to the bigger and smaller stars of various luminosity. "Larger" points such as Bai Hui, Jing Ming, Da Zhui and Zu San Li would correspond to the stars of the 1st grade of luminosity whereas smaller points - to the stars of the 2nd and 3rd grades. Every point accumulates certain amount of electric energy and influences the functioning of the energy channel, playing a role of a "pump", stimulating the flow of Qi-liquid through the muscle tissues. Regarding the "central-median channel" [known as Sushumna in Indian Yoga - O.A.], there are no references to it in the ancient [Chinese] scriptures teaching of energy channels. However, during my Qigong practice and experiments with acupuncture, by means of internal vision I could see the channel leading from Bai Hui point down to Hui Yin point, forming straight line through the trunk. At the beginner's stage of Qigong practice this channel is very thin and hardly seen at all. However with some improvement in practice it becomes wider and looks like a transparent column of red light. In ordinary people, the "central-median channel" exists as a dashed line coming through the internal organs." Master Lu Xuezhi Lu Xuezhi: "Energy channels represent another vital system of a human being. In healthy people they are transparent, free [of blockages] and full of light. In those who are exhausted and ill, the energy channels look drained, dried, fainted, and "knotted", and in the origins of diseases "plugs" can be seen. The channels of those who practice Qigong are free, radiate bright light and filled with Qi. Qigong helps to utilize full potential of this another "vital system". Energy channels also serve as an important device providing the exchage of "informational energy" between the man and the nature. Subtle matter of nature, entering the "man's field" through the endings of energy channels in the skin, penetrates deeper into the channels and via this network distributes itself into internal organs and other parts of the body. Energy channels also play role in breaking down and expelling harmful substances out of the body, and in the storage of the vital energy. They contribute towards keeping the organism healthy. Energy channels are able to convert the "subtle matter" of nature and "seminal Qi" accumulated in the internal organs into radiant crystallized substance and accumulate it within themselves. This accumulated energy in case of emergency or in need can be quickly discharged to replenish the lack of Zheng Qi ["upright" or anthipathogenic Qi] in the organs that underwent some pathological changes, or used to ward-off the external infection. With the build-up of reserves of this "subtle matter" the person gradually becomes less dependent on food received through the digestive system. He/she will nonetheless have a continuous highly energetic supply that would fill all the organs and bodily structures with the "seminal Qi". As a result of these processes, the state of "refraining from food" spontaneously arises in the person - he/she stays healthy and full of energy while not taking the "gross" food. Even if a person does not practice Qigong, his or her channel's Qi circulates anyway, although without any conscious control it just follows its natural way. If you try to use your will-power to change the natural flow, it will influence mainly the Yuan Qi (original Qi) which flows outside the channels. This intrusion without taking into account other relations in the energy body, may lead to an imbalance of the overall "Qi mechanics" and cause significant harm. Opening of the Lesser Heavenly Circuit In the course of diligent and regular Qigong practice, firstly Post-Heaven Qi [acquired after one's birth] and then Pre-Heaven Qi [given before the birth] begins to circulate through the energy channels. Breaking though the barriers of Wei-Lu, Jia-Ji and Yu-Zhen, it forms the ring of circulation along the Lesser Heavenly Circuit [also known as Microcosmic Orbit represented by Ren and Du Mai channels along the midline of the body - O.A.]. Those who have enough internal energy can "break through all barriers with a single arrow". With the opening of the Lesser Heavenly Circuit, according to the principle "the water of the prominent rivers overflows into tributaries" 12 primary and 8 extraordinary vessels begin functioning. Following that, the rest of the "channel-sons" and "collateral-grandsons" regain their permeability so the "Greater Orbit" of the "Lesser Heavenly Circuit" is formed. Internal Qi in the organism of a practitioner begins to ascend and descend freely, enter and leave, uninterruptedly circulate. This provides for spontaneous "Qigong training" 24 hours a day. There is a transition happening from the situation when the person trains "post-heaven Qi" to the situation when "pre-heaven Qi trains the person". Everything ill and harmful leaves the body. Transformation happens on the cellular, molecular and nuclear levels. The exchange of internal energy from largely chemical becomes atomic. The work of the vital system becomes more orderly, and a full re-birth of the body follows. The very foundation of life is strengthened. Those who do not practice Qigong or only train the "post-heaven Qi" doing Qigong forms and sequences, cannot reach to the arrival of the "heavenly original Qi" and fullness of the internal Qi. In this case, there is not enough Qi to fill up the minor energy channels, which leads to stagnation. As a result, stimulation of blood capillaries weakens and 70-80% of them simply do not work. This in turn is reflected in the body metabolism which leads to inevitable [negative] manifestations in general well-being. Not only blood capillaries are associated with the minor energy channels. In fact every pore on our skin is connected to them. If the True Qi (Zheng Qi) fills the channels, the "body breathing" starts to form and the person gains the ability to absorb "subtle matter" from the "human field" directly through the pores, in addition to the ordinary way of breathing through the lungs. The arrival of "body breathing" opens avenues to some deeper levels of achievement such as "restoration of the intra-uterine breathing", "leaving the senility and coming back to the childhood" [i.e. reversal of the natural processes of aging - S.S.]. The progression of Qigong practice Regarding the Taoist concept of "internal circulation of civil and martial Qi" and "black and white channels" forming a curved line above the Du Mai (Governing vessel), the author and some of his students could observe them at a certain stage of their practice, after the appearance of the "central-median channel". In the beginning of work with the "central-median channel", there is a sensation of a soft "tissue" of Qi, moving along the vertical line of the body. Then, the luminous tube is formed, stretching between Hui Yin point up to the nostrils, which later joins Fan Xue point in Bai Hui area [top of the head - O.A.]. Between the vertex and the perineum a vertical column is formed resembling a luminescent "daylight" lamp about 5mm in diameter. When the "wonder pearl" (Dan) starts moving through the channel, it changes its light from red to white. Following that, two channels appear by themselves respectively on the left and on the right. At first they are felt more like movement of the stream of Qi, and then start to emit the light by themselves. With the absence of the "central-median channel" the Qi collected from the Cosmos comes through biologically active points and pores of the skin, and circulates through the surface of the skin which leads to the increase of its temperature. After opening of the "central-median channel" and Fan Xue point, the Cosmic energy like a waterfall rushes into this channel, which instantaneously sparks up with golden light. When this light fills up the whole body, a person starts to feel a powerful warmth inside and outside. Sometimes this "luminous energy" penetrates the body and goes straight into the ground, connecting the Man with Heaven and Earth. Man, Heaven and Earth become an indivisible One. Sometimes the "wonder pearl" ["dan"] appears, which descends down into the area of the perineum, drifts back into the "white channel" and comes up above the Du Mai vessel. Then it comes into the head and descends down the left channel. Once it reaches the perineum again, the "pearl" enters the "Black channel" and following above the Du Mai vessel, comes to the head again to descend down the right channel. With the advance of the training level, the meridians, collaterals, the central-median channel and black and white channels constantly widen up and eventually merge with each other. The "luminous energy" fills up the whole body, the boundaries of the channels dissolve. It is said that "Every inch of the body becomes a biologically active point, and the whole body becomes a Dan Tian". Thus the historic potential of the energy channel system is actualized. In the course of Qigong training it reaches its peak of development." Credits Original translation from Mandarin Chinese to Russian is done by S. Sergeyev, 1997. Russian translation can be found here. Cross-translation from Russian to English is performed by Oleg Amiton, 2008

Hey people, just randomly found this site while googling spontaneous qigong. http://www.dontow.com/2009/08/spontaneous-qigong-or-zifagong-%E8%87%AA%E5%8F%91%E5%8A%9F/ Baically the practice is just to stand with the feet shoulder width apart, arms by your sides. I pressume the tongue is on the roof of the mouth, and breath through the nose. Just stand like that, zhan zhuang style, and after some time the body will begin spontaneous movements. I did try a similar zhan zhuang posture about a year ago, like the one in the nuts and bolts of zhan zhuang on youtube. After a while areas of the body did feel like they unlocked, a release of tension, but no spontaneous movements. But i didn't practice it for that long. Anyone have any experiance with this kind of spontaneous practice?

Hi Yuyu, I have trained with Shi Yan Lei at Shaolin temple UK. I have to say I'm not a fan of the Shaolin version of Baduan Jin/Eight pieces of brocade that he teaches. The benefits of Dr Yang Jwing Ming's (ymaa.com) Baduan Jin set far outweighed it - but that's just my opinion..

I am no expert Mooninite but I don't believe they are the same. I don't know if you've ever seen the diagram of the 9 palaces according to Daoism but they are 9 chambers in the brain arrayed around the cerebral cortex I think. When I first started to practice Longmen pai I really wanted to learn the Bagua yi qiu practice - I would ask all the practitioners I met if they knew it and if they would teach me. Then finally I found someone who new it and would teach me - now I know it I never ever practice it. Strange!! We always want what we don't have then when we get it we don't even use it.

The practice that the OP is referring to is the Bagua yi qiu/8 trigram mental sphere - it is not just mental construct. It is an actual exercises with regulated movements. The "Yi" is intention in this instance, and is so named because the intention is placed inside the ball made by the palms facing one another. It is quite rare for a practitioner to get these balls to appear - it is quite a high level phenomenon. Even though we cannot get the balls to appear the external movements still give rise to internal changes. One of the effects of this practice is working with the nine palaces in the head - besides the function of extracting the external organs and massaging them mentioned in the book. Best Liam

Hi John, Yes I am

Ming gong/Life force training - pertains to working with the lower field/xiatian and the body's jingqi. This type of training strengthens the root of your life and cultivates longevity. Examples of this within Longmen pai would be Basic sitting procedure, Pingheng gong/Equilibrium exercises and Ziran Huanqi fa/Natural energy exchange method (walking practice). Xing gong/Spirit or Essence training - pertains to working with either the third eye, upper field/shangtian or the mind. Examples of this within Longmen pai would be the golden flower practice/Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi and Zhineng fa. Paraphrasing as I can't remember the exact original quote but there's a daoist saying that goes, "Cultivating only xing gong and you will be like a ghost inhabiting a corpse. Practicing only ming gong and you will be an idiot with a life as long as heaven and earth." It is therefor recommended to cultivate both together so as to avoid those two pitfalls. Otherwise you may end up with special abilities and brevity rather than longevity

Sure you can do that Michael but it would be I'll advised. Master Wang explains that all practices related to the third eye and xing gong burn a lot of yuan qi - so if you don't have proper methods for refuelling then you are spending money from your bank account. Without a job, how are you going to deposit back in. That's why all the proper cultivation schools practice twin cultivation of essence and life force.

Longmen pai is the main method for developing these abilities. It was Master Wang Liping that was heading up the group of 10 qigong master who were tasked by the Chinese government to run this national program to bring forth these latent abilities they refer to as exceptional human function (EHF) in the book. There is a brief description in the book of methods for developing the third eye - it is too Xing gong and not enough Ming gong focussed for most adults to be able to use it safely though. As master wang said, ' when the children sit they have no pain at all and their bodies are very comfortable.' When we all sit with master wang it is pretty painful so more ming gong practices are needed in order to have a good base from which to build on.

Hi Synchronic, Nice to see you discovered the good stuff (white tea). Silver needle is my favourite tea also, I had to stop drinking it a few years ago though. I am a qigong/neigong practitioner and I noticed it has a pronounced cooling effect on the stomach and spleen...in fact I would go so far as to say cold. This may not be a problem for you depending on your constitution and practices but just thought I would make you aware

Sorry, I didn't mean to start a raw food war on the thread. I do not have green juice everyday but I do try to get in 3-4 a week - after consuming it my energy levels go through the roof and I feel like I could wrestle tigers

Green juice!! Lemon ginger blast ala Lou Corona. This is probably the single best thing I consume in a day. Mine is comprised of cucumber, celery, spinach, apple, lemon and ginger. Nutritional powerhouse, hit's the stomach and goes straight into the blood with very little work on the part of the digestion. Green blood transfusion Whoops forgot this was meant to be "Staples". Well it's a staple for me

Nine tail, you need to stretch the body before meditation either using asanas or qigong warm up stretches. This will help to open the channels and increase circulation to unblock congestion. Meditation comes after asanas and pranayama/breathing practice in the limbs of Yoga don't forget. It's the same in qigong too.

Hi MooNiNite, I gained a rudimentary working knowledge of the practices of the mountain daoists. Since seeing Master Wang I have also attended a couple of other LMP retreats with long term students of grandmaster, Qin Ling and Aurelian Popa. Both are very accomplished. I am currently studying with another teacher who trained with Laoshi (master wang) back in the 80's. I don't want to mention my running total for travel and retreat costs - but this stuff is important to me. There is so much to learn.

Yeah I would be up for this I went to see Master Wang 4 years ago and have been studying it since.

We can all quote from books about things we have no first hand experience of. Many even in the chan school who followed other paths criticised this method. The interesting thing for me is why people go out of there way to disparage others methods. As the saying goes, "When chickens are cold they go into the trees, when ducks are cold they go into the water."

Koans are not paradoxical phrases, they are semantic devices to foster concentration and break through habit energies by interrupting the internal dialogue that maintains them. The viewpoint you put across is a common misconception. This was a technique used during the height of the chan school back in the Song Dynasty that gave birth to great dragons such as Huanglong Huinan - who was the master that enlightened Lu Dongbin. So lest you confuse others please don't perpetuate misconceptions.

Here is David Verdesi teaching XSZ. If anyone's interested. Clunky English over Russian voice over, sorry.

Hi Oneironaut, Regarding your closing question as to whether Rinzai or Soto schools can be used in conjunction with neidan practice I would say it depends. It depends on what practices from those zen schools you are using and what neidan methods you want to mix in. When I began meditating, it was the techniques of the zen school that I started with. Namely koan/gong-an meditation, that is a technique common to both the schools you mentioned. At the time I was using a basic stretching and warm up qigong set together with 8 pieces of brocade to regulate the body for meditation. The meditation technique and the qigong I was doing worked very well together without any clash that I could perceive. A few years later I had the opportunity to go and train within a real neidan lineage and jumped at the chance. It was only once I started training proper neidan that I noticed that my former zen meditation techniques and the neidan that I was now practicing were not working well together. The act of continually calling the koan/meditation saying to mind can cause qi to flow up into the head which can be at loggerheads with the initial aims of neidan working with the xiatian/lower field. If you are using the more universally compatible techniques from those zen schools such as 'activating the mind without dwelling' then I foresee no problems. That is basically my practice these days. Hope this was useful to you.

William Bodri has some good information on his site meditationexpert.com - have a look at at the articles in the "Religions and their non-denominational cultivation practices" section. There is definitely some Christian cultivation material and how it relates to other traditions.

So...yeah....daoist yoga nidra anyone? Before this goes so far off topic that no one realises it's not a thread about whether Spiralina cures or causes cancer. Just saying...