Antares

What sort of MA do you do? Far not all of them are "healthy". Better doing IMA where there is internal training without intense exercises in it. I recall once many years ago when I was doing some sort of "training" on my own I started feeling stuck energy in my head. I did incorrect yoga training from the books mainly and I did breath retaining exercises and even reverted asanas. When I woke up in the mornings I felt like I was working all night but I continued my "training". Thanks God I had DaoDejing book and began reading it. And then something "switched off" in me and I realized that balance of Yin and Yan is very essential in any training. I stopped doing "yoga" and started looking qigong teacher in my area. I lived in Ireland at that time and could not find any knowlegeable teacher. I decided to train kung fu where there were intense exercises, "taichi" forms and some funny qigong which was mishmash of corrupt "shaolin" training. And I payed quite much money for that trash. Bit I was thinking I was doing advanced shaolin training. My psychic state of mind went way worse than before. One day I realized that I do something wrong and started looking internal MA school. There was wingchun teacher in my area and I wanted to train wingchun with him... but when I met a teacher and he saw me I was rejected. He said I had a lot of yang qi in my head and that wingchun is not for me. Then I went to aikido school and I was taken on the board and I can say it helped me to bring my energy back to balance. There must be soft and gentle training in the beginning of IMA training. Even fitness can lead to yin yang imbalance and quite easily. All we do is affecting our yin and yang so you must be aware of what you are doing. Fitness and sport are good for body and might have some benefits but are very questionable for yin yan balance. In general my advise is to train with a teacher who can see your energy state.

I would advise you to stop training at all. What you can do now is walk barefoot but only when ground is warm enough. I hope it is quite warm there in Egypt now. There is an exercise which referred to as "qi descenting" which you should do often. You would just rise your hands up above your head and feel like you hold a ball there above your head and immediately bring the ball down in front of your body. Feel how the qi goes down through your body into the Earth. Your hands should go down slower than upwards. Use light gentle attention don't use imagination, just feel it and relax. Probably you can do sport but it depends on age and your health state. Normally I would not recommend sport to anyone even jogging but in your case you might have some benefits of it. It 's better doing walking. Also accupuncture would be much of help but only if you can find knowlegeable chinese practitioner

Ok. His teaching seems to be a part of the Northern school. And if I am not mistaken Pregadio describes the Northern neidan theory in his book. Here is a fragment from Pregadio's book. What are the methods for this stage in Damo's lineage? He describes the sitting method in his book on neidan, but this is not the fist stage method I believe. I am curious to know the Northern schools first stage methods

How do these goals and stages correlate with classic daosit scriptures? Can you elaborate on it? May I know his lineage please?

What's that? If you do not have teacher better doing Flying Phoenix. But may be not good for newbies

For ZZ standing energy channels should be already open and energy should be balanced to some degree and move freely otherwise individual can get: 1) Nothing at all but waste of time 2) Imbalances which are difficult to eliminate sometime Something that Most People will NOT tell You... It's common for people to say that Qigong is 100% safe and you cannot harm yourself doing it in any way. Just like lifting weights can help you to strengthen muscles they can also harm you because you need to carefully hold the weights that you are for example, holding above your head. Qigong CAN be done wrong and in this case as opposed to lifting weights, it is more subtle. There is a particular term for when the exercises and Qigong principles are done incorrectly: Energy Deviations. When we practice Qigong we are working with the subtle energies coursing through the body which activate the various structures and organs. Just like something powerful that can help you, it can also harm you if you are not aware of the risks. Energy deviations are essentially harmful energy flows which manifest in the body that come about from incorrect practice. Why is this being mentioned here? Because Zhan Zhuang is a Qigong exercise which one can practice to accumulate a lot of energy. You can imagine what can go wrong if this energy is not accumulated, balanced and nurtured in the correct way in the body. One such example of energy deviations is excessive energy getting stuck in the head which can lead to mental problems. With incorrect practice or with no guidance from a teacher It can happen that a practitioner will experience 'interesting' energy flows and sensations/experiences during and a result of practice but unfortunately these are often actually energy deviations and the practitioner is moving in the opposite direction of the correct results. It is easy to understand why this can happen because on the outside Zhan Zhuang LOOKS very simple. https://www.daodeqigong.com/post/how-does-zhan-zhuang-work-post-standing-qigong

I' ll tell more All chinese IMA of the Past worked with yuan qi on the deep level. Dmitri Artemyev managed to find a few teachers who preserved neidan in IMA. Very rare thing these days. And who knows may be Neidan originates from IMA. But I believe they have the same Nature

Real Dan Tien. Balance. Martial abilities... Sex drive... Strong body. Is it beyond classics?

Daogong has several levels and the results are not the same on every stage. Every exercise can be performed with different level of Yi work. People who practise alchemy have higher levels of Yi development. Yes, IMA is deeper than Daogong. Latter one is good point to start for the vast majority for far not everyone can perform IMA exercises right in the outset. Contemporary people are not in perfect states of mind and energy and they need proper initial methods. In the Past Chinese people could start off with Xing methods right away but now all people need xin method in the beginning.

I did. He only mentioned that embryonic breathing is possible and that he only had glimpses of it. That' all. Shall I consider all the book as a instruction for Neidan training? I suppose NO. He describes sitting practise and his experience with postheaven qi (breath) work. This is preparation stage only and far not the best. As I said it is crucial to keep right balance of Yin and Yang and this is one of the essential feature of the Daoism. I do not mean it does not work but the issue how to stay healthy and balanced when you cultivate. Breath work is very dangerous for it can easily lead to imbalances. Dmitri Artemyev, the personal disciple of the Teacher of Single Yang, related stories how his Teacher explained once the differences between sitting cultivation systems and dynamic ones. He even brought him to some Longmen practitioners and he was able to see the difference - many of them had health issues and did not look healthy. There was a reason for that - abundant Yin. So what Damo does and explains in his book? He took the method of sitting cultavationed and mixed it with other qigong systems which he picked up somewhere in China. That' good if he can maintain the balance but you should watch you state if you do this. I would not do it without knowleageable teacher who can see your energy state and can do corrections

Dan Tien has physical manifestation,for example. On the certain stage the flow of yuan qi can be perceived as a physical substance, not that you can see it with your eyes but its manifestation will be quite obviuos. And this is where certain "siddhas" (abilities) come from. I do not say I have it but I know that it is possible (I witnessed it). As for postheaven cultivation it can either impart some abilities there is a difference concerning internal state of the individual. All extra abilities or states of mind have underlying energies behind it. For example, authentic Iron Shirt is qigong or neidan? Now some teachers sell it as qigong exercises but in my opinion it is based on preheaven qi cultivation. If you posteaven Iron Shirt then you might get some results but they are not compared to preheaven qi results

Good question and I would like to get that list as well. Both internal and external of course. I meant external sign that I saw. That probably could be achieved through Qigong as well but I believe it was due to preheaven energy feature. I know that person was a personal student of the famous Chinese XinYi master and they had preheaven cultivation in their style. I do not think that Chinese master would do postheaven only training

I have found the Damo's article here: https://damomitchell.com/2019/08/20/stages-of-breathing/ Seems nothing about The precelestial Breath is the original and initial Ancestral Breath.(1) This Ancestral Breath is in the real center of Heaven and Earth within the human body. [Placed between] the Secret Door and the Gate of Life, hanging in the middle, it is the Heart of Heaven.(2) The self-cultivation of the divine Immortals only consists in collecting the precelestial One Breath and using it as the Mother of the Elixir. https://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/ruyao_jing_1.html But I will continue reading his book. What I can say now Wu Liu people do not recommend sitting more than 20 minutes per day. As I said sitting produces Yin. WLP people say it is good for quieting the mind but is not alchemy at all. They wanted to spread Longmen lineage as well but rejected that idea as far as I know. But may be something changed recently.

Cleansox, this is secret info. I myself know only a few aspects of verification. But that one I mentioned was quite obvious to me

I meant verifying somebody who teaches Neidan whether he indicates the features of successful Neidan practise. Also I am not talking about "my" opinion and I rely on Daoist classics. I just attach value to daoist scriptures and theories on Neidan. But it up to you, may be you disagree

Before beginning any practise it worths reading theory. Otherwise you can do something wrong what is not Neidan. But I have experience of some Pai' initial methods. Even from this perspective I can compare it with other Pai method

Yes, complex, but mind you it is worth reading Traditional Daoist scriptures on the topic. I have got Damo's book actually and just was going to read it and now it is good chance for me to read it. So here fragments from his book "White Moon On The Mountain Peak": Page 23: Starting out in NeiDan or Internal Alchemy is much like building a campfire. In the beginning we must prepare the ground and collect together firewood. . The kindling is burned first to produce a small flame and from here we tend to the fire until it is burning brightly, producing the warmth and light we are seeking... We prepare our body and set up the correct internal conditions for our practice. From here we begin to "light the fire" through the use of our breath and very precise methods until we have a healthy degree of energetic warmth in the lower abdomen. And what are the methods he is talking about? Page 24: Unlike many other traditions Neidan sitting practices seamlessly work together with standing and moving energetic exercises such as Dao Yin and Qigong to create a dynamic system which encompasses a veriety of internal techniques. To me it makes no sense. First of all what breath is he talking about? Second - Dao Yin is more health orintated, there are ancient forms of Dao Yin and some schools use it as preparatory methods but not as method of Neidan. Neidan methods are unique and comprise the Pai' unique method but this is not Dao Yin or Qigong. To me he seems to mean the sitting as main method. Sitting produces Yin. Also Neidan does not use breath as it is postheaven energy, Neidan does not work qith postheaven energy. So to me this sounds like Northern method of Neidan which quite widespread in China

I do not practise Neidan yet

I see. I saw specific feature of yuan qi development in one of the Wu Liu' practitioners. Does not matter to whom I am talking here, the idea is that everything should be verified. If I am right on the Damo' Northern path methods than this is quite specific method which I would not be attached.with.

I see... You say it works for people. Can you discribe any specific feature that can indicate that yuan qi is restored? In general I suppose this is Northern type of methods but may be I am wrong. Northern methods are based on sitting methods in which one is reaching utter Yin which then is supposed to be turned into Yang. Yes, Russian preliminary method (Daogong) is quite specific one but in my opinion it is given in the outset quite reasonably for it allows an individual to feel qi and it builds energy body balancing it. Also is very good for Yi development. With low Yi Neidan methods makes no sense

Just wonder how one can verify Damo's method is authentic one? I did not even see he mentioned lineage from which he inherited methods. I read 2 books of him and to me it seems he teaches qigong mostly. Standing and sitting methods. I did not even notice proper preliminary method for balancing. Standing methods are not much of help without foundation or basic work which is supposed to be dynamic exercises. BUT this is only me personal opinion, I did not see all methods that he teaches and there might be far not everything disclosed in his books.

Fair enough. In this case I suppose the best "method" is to be capable of earning. Without it no one can make progress on the Path. All life is the path (Dao)

But what is your method? You can do methods online if you have money. I know Russian branch Of Wu Liu does quite powerful transmission even online.

Glory of the Sun (in Russian) Above The Earth (Russian too)

I was drinking and smoking a lot, then I found a teacher