ChiDragon

Nice going.....Rara You do that a few times. Pretty soon, there will be no need for that. You'll see when the time comes.

This is the way how Lao Zi talks. He uses a negated statement to make the thought positive.

FYI..... The oven in external alchemy is the cauldron. Metaphorically, the cauldron is analogous to your lower dan tian(abdomen) as in the internal alchemy. Fire is the burning fuel for external alchemy and your breath(oxygen) is the fuel for burning in internal alchemy.

Again, this is a good example of not able to "sink chi to the dan tian" which one will get a stabbing feeling in the solar plexus

Thank you. Your shallow breathing is your problem. That is the kind of answer I was expecting from you; and that was why I ask the question first before given you any advice. The things that you had mentioned in the OP: 1. What's more worrying is that sometimes that same sensation becomes a kind of unpleasant, aching, sore, almost itchy feeling. Sometimes it alternates between pleasant and unpleasant. You have breathing problems which will cause your body to be lack of oxygen or hypoxia. It will give you these kinds of symptoms. 2. What's stranger is that if I maintain awareness and mindfulness throughout my day, that same pleasure/pain feeling will show up in the same area of my body even though I'm not even focusing my awareness on my chest Focusing on the chest, without breathing properly, is only a mental thing. You need to do the physical such as deep breathing down to your dan tian or abdomen to have any changing effect on you. 3. I don't believe in chakras. Or blockages. Or emotional baggage surfacing itself as a physical sensation. And I am still very skeptical, despite this strange phenomenon that is happening to me. I'm quite certain I don't have any heart or heartburn issues. Yes, you are right about that. Your problems are not in these areas. You need to practice some Chi Kung breathing exercise, in your meditation, like breathe slowly, long and deeply down to your dan tain. It was known as abdominal breathing or dan tian breathing. 4. If someone can make a strong case for chakra or chi, I am even open to that. Your goal in breathing it to "sink chi to the dan tian". Chi means your breath or air in this case. This is my rational pragmatic explanation for your experience. It was, also, my rational pragmatic explanation for my past experience.

May I ask how deep can you breathe.....??? Does your breath go deep down to the lower dan tian pleasantly or it only stops at the chest area....??? Thanks!

Where have you been when I was talking about the cell respiration or metabolism......??? What do you know about cell respiration...??? Can you talk about the mitochondria, in the body cells, and how do they generate the biochemical energy like ATP......??? ATP involves with the decompose of glucose by oxygen as we breathe.

Thanks! bubbles... It seems rather complicated. I just need one breath to get rid of my anger. I'd felt that the anger goes straight down with my breath to the lower dan tian and did not return, and that was the end of that.

I glad that one was enlightened by not being stagnated to something in its superficial value. Once one had learnt the little secret behind an art, that's all it takes to be enlightened and benefited eternally.

What you are saying you have no expectation in advancement in whatever you are practicing. Talking about religion, I have people come to my house and talked about their beliefs. I gave them a counter offer with my understand about the concept of Wu Wei. They walked away with a sorry expression on their faces. It seems like that they have regrets for coming to my front porch. Yes, It seems to me that you are.

hi....bubbles Meditation breathing in Zazen will help me to get to this level of Taoist cultivation. People wouldn't say take a deep breath when one is upset for nothing. Like they say, one has to experience it to know it. Once one knows it will become enlightened about a particular thing. I had something in my signature which related this but I don't know what happened to it. My signature don't display anymore.

"Suppression is a much higher level in the cultivation of the mind." Yes, I agree that suppression can lead to sickness if not understand any cultivation of mind and body. If one knows that anger will hurt one's body, then one will find a way to avoid it. It may be very hard at the beginning. Suppression is not an easy route. How many people can take an insult and walk away without fighting back. The keyword is "cultivation" which mean suppress angry before going through transformation which is something not to be neglected.

I am sure your teacher is very good. My friend, there are many levels of very good to one's satisfaction. I am very happy for you if you are happy where you are. Your further comments are welcome if it can alleviate your hostility toward my posts.

Thank you for your advice. Well, "transformation" can be easily done under no pressure. "Suppress" sounds so unwillingly is because it is. Suppression is a much higher level in the cultivation of the mind.

Wow...... Thank you for your understanding. May I add something to your comment about the term "Kung Fu". It has two homonyms. 1. 工夫: hard work; great effort; great skill 2. 功夫: martial arts. In you comments, the former is item #1; and the latter is #2. I do appreciate the last comment. May peace be with you. Happy new year.

The front is Yang and the back is Yin. The outer side of the arms and legs are Yang; and the inner parts are Yin.

Thank you! Well, we were just talking about the fundamental concept of yin/yang in general. The fundamentals should be able to apply to any case. However, there will be more restrictions when the concept was applied to a specialized field. The people in the specialized field will set up their own esoteric terms and definitions. Thus the fundamental shouldn't be confined or abide by other definitions. Have a splendid day.

Well, practice Chi Kung first will keep one's mind in tranquility. It may suppress the aggressiveness in the later stage of Kung Fu if one decided to practice it. If one starts with the practice of Kung Fu to begin with, then one may not attain to a peace of mind as a Chu Kung practitioner would.

Good morning, Joe. I thought you knew a lot about Kung Fu too; but what have you told me....??? Let's not start a Kung Fu fight here because it is too rough for me. Anyway.....happy new year. PS..... Throughout the year, I have learned to suppress my anger with anyone. It's not worth it to loose my temper over some naive issues.

Of course, Wudang priest practice Chi Kung which the main practice for longevity. However, when we are talking about Kung Fu, we need to know that there are many styles and their characteristics. Wudang has its own style of Kung Fu. Normal Kung Fu is pretty rough as compare to Tai Ji and Chi Kung. Since they are Taoists, thus their Kung Fu styles are not as rough as the Shiaolin monk styles. I glad that you have experienced with this which make it easier for us to communicate..... May I point out that practicing Kung Fu is consuming lots of body energy while Tai Ji or Chi Kung produces more energy that one can handle.

I had post more info here once before

What I meant was apply the concept of yin/yang above to a house rather than a human body.

Yes, with respect to body in the TCM application. I buy that but it was looking at the back and the belly rather than the front and back. You are looking at a human body. What is you are looking at a house....???

Here are the Yin/yang attributes for the observer viewed from the outside. Outside the TCM as well. 若陽動陰靜。Dynamic is yang; Static is yin 陽剛陰柔。Hard is yang; soft is yin 陰升陰降。Ascend is yang; descend is yin 陽前陰後。Front is yang; back is yin 陽上陰下。Upper is yang; lower is yin 陽左陰右。Left is yang; right is yin 表者為陽。Exterior is yang; 裡者為陰。Interior is yin. PS..... From the TCM perspective, the YANG meridians on the YIN back of the body are in harmony. It is because they have met the interaction within the concept of yin/yang. The quote is from the fourth paragraph: Ref: 陽前陰後(Yang is the Front and Yin is the Rear)

It's easy to translate but does the translator or the readers know what this method is all about.....???