styx_oarsman

I've been practising sitting meditation for little more than two years now. I do mostly Embryonic breathing (as described in Yang's book) and few months ago I started attempting the Microcosmic orbit. Since the beginning of my practice I've felt a tension in the upper back area, right below the left shoulderblade. First it felt only like tensed muscles but stretching or relaxation didn't really help and later came a strong sensation of "heat" in the area. It feels like if something was literally heating my muscles up and it's not very pleasant. It doesn't really hurt, though. I'd call it uncomfortable. When I took a longer break from meditating, both tension and heat gradually disappeared. When I started meditating on a regular (almost daily) basis, some six months back, the sensation reappeared and got worse. During the last month or two it's turned into an almost chronic thing - I feel it practically every time I sit or stand without moving for a while. I guess it's some kind of Qi blockage, but I have really no idea what to do with it. Besides meditation, I practise martial arts, little bit of yoga and rock climbng on top of that, and in general I consider myself to be in good shape physically. Therefore I assume it really must be a "byproduct" of my meditation practice. Thank you in advance for any comments or help.

So, I started doing the things you guys have mentioned, both the yoga asanas and relaxation techniques and after only couple of days I'm getting definite results. The area feels much more relaxed and somewhat "cooler" (the sensation's pretty hard to decribe, though). I'll probably try to gradually strengthen the muscles in the area and I'll also work on my posture. I'll see where it gets me. Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it

Thank you very much for replies, I really appreciate it. It really could be caused by bad posture, I'll try to work on that. I used to have posture problems as a child. bubbles: Yoga really does help. I'll try those postures you mentioned. Gerarg: wouldn't opening of a channel be a more of an abrupt process? This problem of mine has developped over an extended period of time... But I'm no expert in this area. Anyway, my hips and butt feel quite alright

If I understand it correctly, you're supposed to make your breath slow, deep and smooth and keep practicing until you don't have to think about it and it just happens by itself. Regulating without regulating, so to say. But it probably takes a lot of time. I've been trying for some time, but I'm definitely not quite there yet.

Hi anamatva, I recently got the book you're referring to myself and so far I like it very much. The theory is described in detail and probably gives you a good picture of EB. There's also a lot of important ancient documents related to the practice in the book. Yang translated them himself and offers his commentaries as well, since some of the documents (well, for me most of them) are hard to comprehend. I've been practicing the embryonic breathing only for a few weeks now, but I feel I've already make some (small) progress. So good luck to you

I experimented with the length of sleep a little bit and found out that 7-8 hours really works best for me. If I sleep much longer than that, I'm usually kind of dizzy and sleepy the whole day. Only sometimes (like when I'm really tired physically) I need to sleep longer. In such cases, 9 hours is usually enough. But that's just me. Maybe I'm a byproduct of this industrialized society In general, I'd say the quality of sleep is probably more important than the length.

I'd like to know your thoughts regarding meditation/qigong practice when one is sick. I don't mean seriously ill - I know there is a wide branch of medical Qigong that deals with that - I mean just when you catch a cold or flu etc. You know the situation - you don't feel well, you have a sore throat, feel dizzy in the head and you need a tissue every two minutes. Personally, I find it very hard to concentrate and so I do only some simple relaxation techniques and try to conserve my body energy in general to let my body regenerate by itself. I stop all other practices or physical training until I feel better (but that's commons sense, really). Anyway, I'd very much like to know your opinions. Do you alter your practice when you're sick?

Getting a cold once a year, that's exactly my case. On one hand, I'm glad it's nothing more serious (I used to get sick much more often when I was younger), on the other, I could do without it... But relaxing meditation and deep slow breathing worked for me pretty well this time. I didn't do any physical exercise though - I felt I really needed to rest. All the same, I hope that I'm done with sickness for this year

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions. I don't get sick often (once a year, maybe) and this time it took me by surprise, so maybe I'm just trying to understand it. Maybe my body actually sent me some signals and I just didn't notice. Well, I feel all better now... it gave me a "pretext" to get some real rest, to sleep a lot and let my body regain strength. I meditated every day for a half an hour or so, but only to reach a deeper state of relaxation. It felt a little weird (I mean different than usual) but I guess it worked.

This kind of thing used to happen to me quite often when I started meditating, some two years ago. I would completely lose the sense of direction; sometimes it felt like flying, sometimes like falling into an abyss... Usually it made me feel dizzy and confused and I had to open my eyes to regain "balance". I recall that when I was a kid (like 6 years old, but I'm not exactly sure) it used to happen to me almost every night, right before falling asleep. It was actually quite pleasant sensation. It doesn't occur that often anymore. I'm glad, because it's really difficult to stay calm and focused when your body's rotating like crazy and you don't even know which way is up

When it comes to serious mental illnesses (schizophrenia and such), medications are often the only thing that can keep the illness under control. They may have side effects but without them the patient won't be able to get out of the state of acute psychosis... A friend of mine suffered from some form of schizophrenia and he tried to "cure" himself using Soto Zen meditation (he was aware that he had "a problem", but he didn't know it was a psychosis). From what I could see, it only made the thing worse. Eventually, he suffered a breakdown and ended up in hospital. The medications got him back on his feet... But it's a complicated subject; it's often difficult to find just the right combination of medicaments for the patient and doctors themselves are sometimes in the dark. I think however, that alternative medicine or qigong etc, could be very useful after the critical phase of the illness is gone.

I've had a similar problem - not exactly hate, but rather negative thinking and "sadness" in life. Also, I used to get annoyed very easily. Meditation and proper breathing helped me a great deal. I don't do anything too special, just some basic qigong stuff. I feel much happier and more "in balance" now. I think that regular practice is important, too.

I'm really happy to hear this because I've been doing sitting meditation for a couple of months and I've come to a point where I can feel warmth around and "inside" my navel area - and I was wondering why I don't feel it more in my underbelly instead. I figured I was doing something wrong... So, thanks for clearing this up for me

Of course. I think western psychology says that the basic conflict is between what we want and what is expected of us - being happy or saving face, in other words.

I think this is a great insight. I've had a similar experience myself - I've been training "traditional" Japanese Budo inside the Bujinkan organization (which teaches 6 schools of bujutsu and 3 schools of ninpo) for several years now, and recently I realized that all the "inner" or "deeper" teachings are reserved only for instructors - 5th dan and higher. For a long time, I even thought that Bujinkan doesn't teaches about energy at all, because no one ever mentioned it. Then I spent a year in France, where I attended classes in a certain Dojo of a quite famous Bujinkan teacher and realized, that it actually is a part of Bujinkan teachings; it's just reserved to only very advanced students. Bujinkan is a Japanese organization and I've been told that this is the way the Japanese want to have it. But I found it strange all the same - not that some stuff is reserved to advanced students per se, just that most beginners are not even aware of it. In my Dojo, a lot of people (not the instructor, of course, but some fellow-students) are even making fun of the whole "energy" idea in general, as if it was some kind of fairy tale. I've been doing Qigong for a year now and when inside the Dojo, I mostly keep it to myself. But I don't want to leave Bujinkan, for I find the traditional Budo fascinating and effective. It's just strange sometimes, like living in some kind of lie.

When it comes to salvia, even little can be too much

I tried salvia once, back in college. I chose a nice location, a cottage next to the forest, and smoked it during the night to make it more interesting. And it was a very intense experience - like if time and space both collapsed and I was somehow caught "in between." Then the world around me turned into rectangles... like in some cubist painting. Then I saw a black dog and got kind of scared, because he was just standing there, looking at me. I have no idea how long it lasted; couple of minutes, I guess. I recall I was very confused the whole time and wanted it to end. I don't think it would be possible to combine salvia and meditation. Based on my experience (and on what I've read on the subject) it's very hard to concentrate even on the simple things, like staying still and not running away I think meditation is out of the question. But it was an interesting experience all the same. A lot of people tried salvia back then - it was actually legal in my country (Slovakia)... and all my friends' experiences were similar to mine. I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend it at all, just not as a mean to improve your meditation skills. It's like what Arthur Koestler said about his first LSD trip: "I solved the secret of the universe last night, but this morning I forgot what it was."

Hello everyone, I'm a history student living in Prague. I've been practicing traditional Japanese martial arts for a few years now and at some point I started searching for a "meaning" beyond the simple self-defense or combat training. Last year I visited a Qigong seminar in Paris and it got me all hooked up. I've read a couple of books on the subject... and now I'm even more interested. So, that's my reason for being here, basically. Daniel

Thanks a lot, I'll look at it