ChiDragon

Please don't practice what is in BOLD. It is the worse thing that could ruin the life of a teenager. I was a teenager once. Believe me, it was horrible. You are lucky that you have discovered the danger of the practice at 16. You can stop it early. It was not the meditation that caused your problem. It was the culprit in BOLD. The meditation will help you to be in good health. As in my case, I practiced Taiji for years to bring my health back together. I also practice sitting meditation and slow deep breathing exercise. The point is to bring in the oxygen into your body to generate the energy for the function of the organs. Scrotal compression will cause nerve damage, it will ruin your reproductive system. It may cause internal pain in the belly that no one can bear with. Luckily, I have a solution to get rid of the pain in few minutes. I have had helped a few people in this forum before, before I was banned. As a matter of fact, I had posted many times here before too. This secret even an acupuncturist would not know. If you have this problem, I don't think you have, I am glad to post it again. Perhaps it might help others in the future.

By definition: Yuan Jing (元精): is the innate jing already existed in the body. Yuan Qi (元氣): is the innate Qi in the body. These two elements must be maintained by the later 精 and 氣 to recycle. One must understand what they meant before go any further to pursuit the study of Neidan. PS Please note that Jing (精) is not semen as the later Taoists thought it was. People are misinterpreted from 精子(semen)

Understand what is 吐納(Tu-na).

It seems to me SHIFU COSTANTINO VALENTE is more into practicing Medical Qigong than Neigong.

I would like to comment on the pause. It is only a transition from one state to another. For example, a ball was going up until it reaches the top, it pauses and then falls back down to earth. It is analogous to the Yang state, when the ball reaches the top and pauses, then, to the Yin state when the ball falls down. When the ball hits the ground, it was considered to be at the full yin state. It is at the full yang state when the ball is at maximum height.

易經 is a fascinating book. Indeed, the Chinese society was evolved based on Yijing. By following the principles from Yijing, it makes China a very strong nation. The principles of the Traditional Chinese Medicine are based upon the concepts of 陰陽(yin-yang) and 五行(wuxing) .

Please keep in mind. Qigong is for breath work and Neigong is for increasing the body strength to be very powerful. However, one must know Qigong before the practice of Neigong. It would help to speed up the Neigong process.

Hi, Lo2022, welcome to TDB. Good, please continue with the breath work. It is because that is what Qigong is all about.

Within the three treasures, 神 (shén) is like the spirit of the body. It is an visible image reveals the emotional state of the body. By looking at the body, the shen(神) will show a spiritual mood. It shows that one may be happy or sad. The moods can be lively, cheerful, sad, or in fear. It also shows the body's intention what it will do next. It could be shown how mean the person is by sending out a signal for people to stay away. It may show what kind of illness is within the body. A pale face indicates that a person might be in suffocation of air. In other words, lack of oxygen, due to breathing problem. A person is lack of oxygen would have poor blood circulation. It will cause to have tired eyes and the face looks grotesque. The voice will be low and cannot compete a full sentence with one breath. The Shen(神) is used, here, to reveal the health condition of the body. The description of Shen(神), here, may be a little off the tradition concept but it give a general idea perhaps is not to much off.

Ah! Master Yang Luchan( 楊露禪（1799年－1872年） ), the master of Taiji, himself. If he is invincible, then, he must has a healthy and strong body to be invincible. FYI Taiji masters do not have big muscles to show off but invisible strength called jin(勁). The Jin is acquired from the diligence of practice day and day, month by month, and year by year.

Who is this invincible Yang? Where is the invincible Yin then? Ask me any question about Taiji from a guy who practice for more than forty years.

If you want a traditional answer, it is all out there in the internet. If you want a scientific answer, it takes some effort to combine your physical and biological knowledge of your body.

I don't think age has anything to do with learning. It is totally up to the intelligence of each individual with the willingness to learn. Yes, It works both ways. The student has to put the work in on their own to progress. The purpose of the Taiji is to condition one's body for good health. It is a matter of practice with diligence.

I have experience in Teaching Taiji in the Chinese Senior Community Center. I see couple students can correct the posture by one or two reminders. All the rest can never change. They can only do it right at the time when was reminded. Then, they go back to the same old way again. What I am saying is that is up to the intelligence of the student and the ability to adapt. I have one student learning the Taiji sword, she is the one who ask me to initiate the sword class. Unfortunately, I have repeated many many times instructed her to make the corrections for weeks. I still see the samo samo with no improvement. I was, finally, had given her up. I was told that she is not interested in doing it right but just to exercise by doing the movements. Now, she is joining the advance class as well with a slight improvement. P.S. I told my students, how do you know that you are doing it right is to find your balance point at each move. Then, it can flow to the next move. Otherwise, one will be off center and might fall off in one direction or the other. The self correction was accomplished from the diligent practice not relying on the teacher. One can only learn the basic moves from the teacher, the rest is self discipline.

Initially, yes. However, the movements can start anywhere as long the arms and body start at the same place and the same time.

Yes, it makes a difference is because the movements of your body and the arms are out of sync. The arms and the body should be moving in same direction. Otherwise, your body muscles are twisted due the movements in the opposite direction. Thus you are putting a strain on your muscles that will cause fatigue. P.S. Even though, your arms are not moving, but actually, they are moving at zero speed which is still against the movement of the body.

The most basic effective breathing method: 調息呼吸

This kind of practice do require one already have a long period of Taiji practice. The body has to be developed with Jin(勁) which I called a Taiji body. Jin(勁) is acquired from Taiji practice for a long long time. It is the tremendous body strength that the body can be exerted.

I give you the Taiji system to become powerful. It take about 3 to 5 years of practice diligently to condition your body to begin with. It take another 5 to 10 years and more to become real powerful. Taiji Fajin is the most powerful force which one can be acquired from Taiji practice. Please observe his stance, the knees are standing at 90 degrees at Zhan Zhuang(站樁) position. It is the highest realm one can acquire from Zhan Zhuang(站樁).

"內丹術是道教一種重要的修煉方法，現在一般視為道教氣功（道家多稱「煉氣術」）的一種。內丹術指以「人身是一小天地」的「天人合一」、「天人相應」思想為理論，進行性命的修煉，以人身為鼎爐，修煉「精、氣、神」等而達成強身健體、提高人體的生命功能、延長壽命、乃至成仙、長生不老之目的。" Ref: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/内丹术 "煉氣是道教徒日常修持的重要內容之一，就是以持久地鍛煉導引和呼吸(breathing)，融會天地之精氣於自身，祛除疾病，長生成仙。 " Ref: https://zh.daoinfo.org/wiki/煉氣

Please show justification.

Yes, I agree Shen(神) can be translated in an ordinary way . However, esoterically, an ordinary person cannot translate those terms the same way as a Chinese Taoist would.

Yes, Ming has two meanings. Ming gong(命功) is part of the dual cultivation of Xing and Ming, 性命雙修.

Have you read the Chinese version of Neidan? Without the special technique of breathing, Neidan cannot be accomplished. However, without the special breathing technique, breath will not and cannot change automatically when certain stages are reached.

Yuen Shen, 元神(original soul) remains the same, yes. The way of humans was born is their Ming(命), thus it cannot be changed.