Alchemistgeorge

Yes. Me. I guess it might help for you to say more about your goals and your idea. Do you feel that you have material that is not already being published/taught by others? Or do you feel that you have an idea for presenting the material that is different / novel / innovative and that will help people learn the material more easily? I haven't seen a shortage of instructional information. I learned a bunch of stuff from: classes, books, and a few DVDs. To be fair, none had any naked people in them. What materials do you want to teach? specifically? ie which techniques and from which teachers/schools/lineages? For example: male / female deer exercise? testicle massage? ovarian / breast massage? I haven't taught Taoist sexual practices in quite a while, although I actively teach non-Taoist/non-Tantra sexuality and sensuality classes. With regard to Taoist sexual techniques I've answered dozens and dozens of questions in online forums. Its been a less than inspiring experience, and as the years pass I feel I understand more and more why the sexual techniques were mostly kept secret. While there aren't great books out there, I tell people who are interested to either read Mantak Chia's original books (Healing Love through the Tao and Taoist Secrets of Love), or Bruce Frantzis' new book Taoist Sexual Meditation. All of Mantak Chia's information is available through classes from many instructors and DVDs from at least two sources, and Bruce Frantzis seems to release instructional material quite frequently. From what I've seen on various internet forums, most people are at the level where they are very happy with entry level material like Jolan Chang's that don't actually teach many energy techniques, but talk about the overall theory, and 'set and setting' and noticing and feeling your partner.

I'm posting my extra copy of "Medical Qigong Exercise Prescriptions: A Self-Healing Guide for Patients and Practioners" on paperbackswap.com. This is by Suzanne Friedmann, who teaches extensively in the SF Bay Area. I often do "Pulling Down the Heavens" and "Opening and Closing the Three Burners" from this volume.

Just finished "Eat, Sit, Sleep: My year at Japan's toughest training temple". Having every aspect of your life minutely proscribed for a year. Wow. Now I'm reading "Zen Baggage" by Bill Porter about a pilgrimage in contemporary China.

I've seen these mentioned in various Japanese literature. I think they are part of Mikkyo, the "secret teachings" of Shingon and / or Tendai Buddhism (which of course, came to Japan from China, to China, from India.) You will see pictures of the hand seals / 'te-no-uchi' / kujiin in Don Draeger's books - I believe he was taught this as part of his Katori Shinto Ryu training. They are also briefly mentioned in Kurikara by John Maki Evans, which is the most detailed book I've ever seen about Mikkyo as part of Japanese sword training - however that book is not the tiniest bit tutorial, you cannot practice from the book, but he does give an overview about some of the principles of standing under waterfalls, use of the kuji-in, etc. I bought the first Lepine book: "Qi-Gong and Kuji-In: A Practical Guide to An Oriental Esoteric Experience". The practices seemed quite straightforward, but require a substantial investment of time.

no criticism intended. I just wanted to be sure I understood what you meant. Your English is better than my second languages.

yeah, the sexual practices are far trickier than people think. You can search for some of my previous posts for more I've written on this topic. I'm now working my way through Bruce Frantzis' new book on the topic - very different approach from the fire tradition stuff I've learned / seen elsewhere.

George, you mentioned that you've done a lot of Mantak Chia's stuff. I'm assuming that's the 58 DVD set he sells? How is the instruction in that? I had some of his old stuff yeeeeeeears ago and found it practically unusuable. Between his accent, bad audio and slower than turtle's pace of teaching it crossed the line between patience and exercise in futility. I learned directly from Master Chia and various of his senior students. I'm pretty used to Mantak Chia's accents, and once you know the material the DVDs/ CDs are great as references - but mostly I used his books. I've also had good luck with Michael Winn's CD/DVDs.

was considered? is considered? Thanks.

I've done virtually everything of Mantak Chia's up to and including Fusion I, II, and III. Fusion is, imho, pretty trippy stuff. Knowing so little about you, I'd guess it could take a year (or more) to work your way through the pre-requisites just to get to Fusion, and you could spend a year there easily. The advanced stuff is purely internal, sit, close your eyes and go within. I learned the 6 healing sounds in 1987, they are still part of my tool kit. Ultimately it seems to me to be sort of arbitrary where you start - you pick something that seems good and practice. Since you are the kind of person to do 1000 cuts a day, you know that 'sticking to it' is half the battle. And without any experience it seems hard to make a good choice, so you pick something to 'get experience.' As you learn, you might change systems. or not. A pretty standard piece of advice is to find an instructor you like and learn from them. If they have kendo where you are, there is probably qigong. I've learned lots of things from books and tapes and CDs and DVDs, and it is so much easier to learn from people, and the energy of an instructor and / or fellow students will definitely help get the engine cranking and catching.

Welcome! I'm also a big fan of Stephen Chang's books! A lot of good stuff in them.

I'm not a Tantric practioner, I've done Taoist fire tradition sexual practice (mostly from Mantak Chia) on and off since ~1988, with excellent results. I'm now working my way through Bruce Frantzis book on water tradition Taoist sexual practices. My answer might not be applicable to Tantra. You aren't actually redirecting fluid/liquid - ideally the seminal fluid never leaves your testes. While you are "closing the lower gate", and while initially you are using muscular contraction to redirect the energy upward (and gently compress your prostate which reduces the need to ejaculate), at some point you will develop the ability to put your attention on your crown point and the energy will simply rise without any "huffing and puffing" or "contracting & clenching". As a beginner you are using the physical body (muscles) to help "change the switches on the tracks" so that the train is going up, not out. But ultimately those switches are energy switches and can be activated & controlled with energy/intention, not requiring muscle. You do not become 'muscle bound'. When you decide to have a baby, you simple don't redirect the energy upwards, you let it go out. I was taught that as a preliminary you do want to ejaculate once to get rid of your de-energized sperm, and let your body make a fresh batch before you ejaculate for conception. I have seen one comment online to the effect that some of the higher "immortal practices" (Kan & Li) and above do make it more difficult to ejaculate, but that it is still do-able.

Welcome! Northern CA or Southern CA? There are a bunch of folks in the SF bay area.

I'm posting my extra copy of "Combat Techniques of Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua: Principles and Practices of Internal Martial Arts" by Lu Shengli on paperbackswap.com Here is what is about it on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Techniques-Taiji-Xingyi-Bagua/dp/1583941452

Thanks for your detailed answer. Now to put it into practice <smile> FWIW I studied with Mantak Chia from 1987 thru 1995, and many of his first generation students : Gunther & Rylin, Michael Winn, Ron, etc. Summer camp at Big Indian, then Pathwork Center, so I wonder if our paths crossed.

Hi Eternal_Student, thanks for all your replies. Since it is after Christmas, perhaps you are done with your wonderful Christmas gift to this forum? If you are up for more questions, what is the TCM view on Insomnia? I'm a person with a high stress work situation - 2012 has been really tough. Since business went south, 3 or 4 times a week I'm wide awake at 3:00am, unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours. I'm in bed by 10pm, no caffeine after 3pm, no alcohol most days, no eating before bed, made sure the bedroom is dark, etc. etc. etc. The fact that the timing is so consistent makes me wonder if it is an imbalance in one of my organs - my lungs? - and how would I find out if it is an excess or a deficiency? and how would I address that with qigong? I'm working on getting a new job .... FWIW I do over 2 hours of qigong a day - mostly standing meditations (zhan zhuang / I Chuan) or standing in WuJi doing Outer Dissolving/Energy Gates. When I'm awake at 3am I'll often run my micro/macro orbits [ and or "the bridge & regulator" ] for an hour, or do "the six healing sounds" for an hour, or sit up in bed and do 'outer dissolving.'

I'm assuming you know there is an open forum on Bruce's site - EnergyArts.com Forums? Bruce doesn't post that often, but many of his senior students do.

There is an entertaining book "American Shaolin" which is the story of the year that an American spent training at the Shaolin Temple in China in the 1990s. The author meets, and kicks, someone trained in this art. Kicks him hard. In the groin. He declines the opportunity to learn this art, but describes a couple of the practices briefly. He also meets people trained in breaking bricks and stones with their heads, he again declines to learn that art - he notices all the practicioners stutter, which makes him wonder .... I don't know for sure, but I believe that aspect of Tie Dang is that one retracts one's testes back up into your body. I have seen some comments indicating that this training ought start before puberty or there is risk of trouble. I have heard teachers describe 'iron shirt' training where you pack qi to some part of your body and then strike that part of your body with a stone or half brick, you do this over most of your body an inch or two at a time. over time you become much less vulnerable. There didn't seem to be any wisdom, insight, or spiritual aspect, just ... survival.

anamatva, thanks for posting this. And glad to hear other TaoBums are on Paperbackswap.com! [i've gotten 223 books so far from paperbackswap for the cost of postage] How much information does the book contain on meditations / practices to move, apply, refine sexual energy? And are any of the descriptions sufficiently detailed that one could practice them?

gee, I've learned many different Taoist meditations, some specifically say to close the eyes, some say specifically to have the eyes partially or fully opened. Within the tradition I study there are both closed eye meditations and open eye meditations. I don't use an eyeshade when I do closed-eye meditation, but I use one to get deeper sleep at night. I think of an eyeshade as being like training wheels. At first you are learning to develop focus and concentration, if an eyeshade helps, go for it. What I'd guess is that as you develop your ability you will reach a point where you won't need it.

yup.

As far as I can tell, this sort of thing can be extremely helpful along the path. However, I know some folks who believe these kind of "connections" or "relationships" with deities or advanced teachers are "two way streets" - that you get, but you also give. In most situations I've seen, the cost to the student is low. Not everybody always reads the fine print, so I thought I'd mention it.

I sat next to a woman at a retreat who stopped eating after doing a week of 'greater kan & li' - she was persuaded to eat after about 10 days. While I know it is part of the higher practices, I never met anyone who actually did it.

8 Strands of Brocade is like 'qigong 101': safe, easy, provides reasonable results for the effort. Take you 10 minutes(?) a day. Lots of books, youtube videos, etc. Good place to start. Another is Zhan Zhuang Standing - which you can start out doing 5 or 10 minutes a day. Here is a set of youtube videos how to do it by Lam Kam Chuen filmed by the BBC(?) - start with 'day 1' - Stand Still, Be Fit

There are two other books I know of Healing Impotence the Traditional Chinese Way by Guo Bao Wei The Background and Beginning Practice of Xi Sui Kung Genital Weight Training by Hern Heng I've read the 'Healing Impotence' book and reviewed it on Amazon, it contains most of the safe aspects of the practices. No idea about the other book, I do see Hern Heng listed as an author of several books

Some of the practices of this are part of (or used in) "marrow washing" - I don't remember the Chinese - something like 'changing the tendons, washing the marrows" - the weight lifting (and requisite massage & stretching). There is a book by Mantak Chia "Bone Marrow Nei Kung" which explains those practices and how to drive the sexual energy into the bone marrow. It does not include any of the 'become invulnerable to injury' parts of the training. It also has quite a list of pre-requisite practices. There is obviously risk of a pull or tear to tissue around your crotch. I can't think of worse place to injure. Aside from that, I would say the practices are medium/high risk because of the quantity & type of energy you are working with. I did the practices years ago, probably 20 or 30 hours or practice total as an addition to standing Iron Shirt training. It does result in healing. It is often taught at the Taoist Summer Camp Michael Winn runs.