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Hi all, I am new to the forum and would appreciate if you would have any advice for me. I have had pain or discomfort in my right shoulder for easily 15 years now due to me carrying my back pack full of books solely on my right shoulder for my 10 years of academic study (I am only 35). It would come and go but my plan was to eventually heal, at least partially, my shoulder with ZZ. I have been practicing ZZ daily for a year and half now. I was practicing Wuji and holding the ball from the book by Mark Cohen, keeping in mind some advice from Master Lam Kam Chuen "don't worry, pain will go eventually". And indeed, as I was able to put more time into it I felt my arms lighter while holding the ball, felt my right shoulder as if "unlocked" and more free to move than the left one and recently felt that I had a much better balance on a single foot, although I did not specifically train for it. I have also gained in neck mobility: I can turn my head to the right to look behind me much more easily than I could few months ago. In the recent weeks I could hold the ball for about an hour or so without forcing too much, 2 times a day. Now, recently I have noticed that my shoulder discomfort has come back but instead of being located close to the shoulder where it used to be, it has gone down to the right scapular region. I can feel pain in the region joining the scapula to the upper back and in the region joining with the rib cage and also tension on the right side of the neck. Just to mention that during the practice the pain tends to be actually less severe. The pain slowly just comes as the day passes and as I am sitting at my desk staring at a computer screen all day (on a laptop in fact). In spite of that I do have some physical activity as I walk 1 or 2h per day at least. My question is the following: Is this pain a good sign or should I look at it as a warning sign that I need to change my practice? For example my posture could be rubbish but I don't know about it; unfortunately I don't have a teacher. I can only say that I have always felt unsure about the right alignment for my upper back... Any piece of advice would be much appreciated! Many thanks.

I have recently started standing qigong but I am having some pain issues. I do the wuji position with feet hips width apart. As soon as I bend the knees for the position, within 5 mins I develop a boring pain in my right hip extending to the back of thigh. Also with bend knees I feel more weight on right foot than the left. Is this some alignment issue? How can I correct this issue to have equal weight on both feet? That would also solve the right hip pain I think. Any suggestions? Thanks

It occurred to me last year that you cannot heal pain without first feeling pain, cannot heal suffering without first suffering yourself. With this understanding I have let myself feel, richly and deeply, for perhaps the first time since I was a young child. I flung open the gates, unlocked the portcullis, and let what was outside come in. At first it was liberating, exciting even. Then, as the months carried on, it grew increasingly painful, ultimately terrifying. I began to experience panic attacks. This was completely new to me! This week, perhaps exacerbated by the extreme heat that blanketed my region, I felt something in me break. Perhaps break is not the correct word. I felt something inside me give way, and in giving way I learned something about myself that I never realized. I cannot do it alone. I need others. This may sound obvious, but it was not to me, far from it. I've always been stoic, a real stiff upper lip kind of guy. I've always felt that I could reason my way through life, through all challenges before me. And I always looked down upon the emotional and saw them as weak. I was wrong on both counts. Reason and stoicism do not make you strong. Emotion and feeling do not make you weak. It is the balance that brings strength. It is the balance that heals. The road is long and the trek is hard. I still feel pain and the pain still carries suffering, but I feel I have finally crested the hill and I can see the blessed water in the distance.

What is everyones experience of leg channels opening? One member on here told me his experience of it involved a lot of pain in the legs. Did it feel like possible circulation/deep vein issues for anyone? Do you have to be at a certain level of development for the leg channels to start opening, or can someone like myself, a novice, go through this? Just trying to get a handle on some pain ive got, and start an interesting topic for the forum. Cheers

The story you're about to hear might sound terrifying, but, at the same time, it can be a great lesson for you all - I beg you to not make the same mistake as I did. Before I start, I'd like to say that I'm very happy that I found this forum. It's my pleasure to meet you all! As much as I'd like to write about something positive and share some good vibes with the community, I really can't - I'm in pain for more than 2 years, and I need your help. Traditional western doctors can't help as they are totally incompetent and "intellectually impotent" when it comes to the following phenomena.. Ok, so where do I start... Like many of you, I've been excited to learn and practice Qigong for many years. I first started practicing martial arts, and kept doing it for close to 5 years and literally fell in love with kungfu, meditation, qigong, and everything related to Taoism and the like. I enjoyed great health, vitality and happiness for many years. And then it happened, a stupid foolishness, a terrible action out of curiosity and the desire to be healthy and retain my sexual energy and vitality. I found some courses on the jen-mo acupressure point. The One-Million-Dollar point they say...or, perhaps, the One-Million-Regrets? At the beginning, I was pressing this point successfully and was able to have orgasm without ejaculation. Whether I was still losing the energy through urination I didn't know - for all I knew was that I could enjoy multiple orgasms with my girlfriend and have a good sexual life. It all seemed almost magical, I was even more excited to get more involved with spiritual Qigong, explore it in deeper depths. But I didn't. Instead, I became miserable. I lost many things, it became harder for me to enjoy happiness. It happened one day, when I was pretty sick from a terrible cold. I had a very strong chronic cough which lasted for weeks. I moved to a country in the North, and my body was not used to the climate there. Being a fool (Yes, I admit it, an idiot is probably a more proper word to describe myself) - I started practicing this exercise believing that it will help me recover faster... Now up to this day, I still have no idea what actually happened. I probably pressed the point to strong, I also did it closer to my anus because before that I was perhaps not pressing it correctly. I have no memory now if it was painful at that moment. I think I felt a mild pain but nothing serious. From that day, my life turned into a nightmare. I was not aware what was happening to me, and worse, I didn't even know that it was connected to pressing the million-dollar-regrets point. I started having a severe pain while sitting and when trying to stand up. Coming from a patriarchal family and being taught that "one needs be a man", I didn't complain for many weeks, but then the pain was becoming more and more severe. There were times when I literally had to use my hands in order to stand up from a chair, the pain was so severe that felt I could collapse. Worst of all? I had no idea what's happening. I thought at first it was a tailbone pain (become I felt it around that area, around the rectum). I went to every single doctor and none could find anything wrong with me. First, they checked my tailbone and inside rectally to check for prostate enlargement - nothing. Then on X-ray they found some slight misalignment, but it turned out it's nothing, some old injury and so on and so on. Then for months I did all kinds of medical analysis and examinations - x-rays, MRIs, all kinds of blood tests to check for infections, urologists, gastroenterologist, orthopedist, neurologists, only God knows all the trouble I went through - at the end? Nothing. I was going in circles. Diagnose: A hypochondriac.They made me a lunatic.Stop this craziness, go out and have some fun, there's nothing wrong with you, you're perfectly healthy, you're too young to be a hypochondriac. At the same time, I was doing my own research. I went through all kinds of medical books and journals to find what's wrong with me. Pudendal Neuralgia, Pudendal Nerve Entrapment, Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome, Chronic Prostatitis, and on and on the list goes (I even discovered all possible bacteria and viruses which might cause an infection in that region that might cause a pain like that and did all examinations privately). Nothing, folks, perfect blood samples, beautiful MRIs and X-rays, seemingly a healthy and strong young male. But was I? The only thing I found to be helping me at least temporarily to manage it, was to take B-Vitamins (Neurobion), to lose underpants with a hole around the tailbone with very elastic jeans so that the pain is minimized. Well you say, not that bad, there are many worse things happening to people, at least it wasn't a cancer. I agree, but I don't wish this to even to the most evil of foes - the story doesn't end here. I soon caught the same virus, and I started having the same strong chronic cough. A terrible virus, strong chronic cough for almost 2 months. Ready for this one? New pain, now in the upper left back (with time, I found out that the pain was more intense on the left side of my tailbone/rectum, so it was the left meridian). It became also chronic in nature, I felt it at certain movements, while sleeping (waking me up), when lifting, practically at all times except when lying straight on my back. So now I was not only not able to sit, but I had hard times sleeping, going to work (I couldn't wear my backpack), and many other crappy things. Ah that jen-mo point.. It finally occurred to me - it was all happening on my left-side bladder meridian, perhaps I somehow had closed the flow of chi when I pressed that point. I found this to be true not only from these 2 chronic pains, but once I was running and started having pain in my Achilles tendon, which is also the same pathway for the bladder meridian. I am still in this condition up do this day and I am doing everything to manage it. I am emotionally stable and can control myself, but the pain greatly affects my everyday life. I still have hope that somehow, someone (including myself), might be able to help me. Is there anyone here on this forum with a similar experience? Are there any senior Qigong masters that might be able to help me and suggest some practical chi gong exercises that might unblock this channel? I found some threads related to the jen-mo acupressure point. - This one being the main one: I know and understand that you have no motivation at all to spend time researching this and just to try to help me. I am no one in your life after all... But I'm honestly hoping that there will be someone emphatic enough to try and understand my situation and help another sentient being. Last but certainly not least - FORGET about that million-dollar-crap, like I said, I was doing this successfully for years, but one bad pressing caused me so many terrible things.. Well, any suggestions?

hey! my story short, is that when i was young up to my teenage years, i used to be cold emotionally, having shield around myself and heart in order not to get hurt by others. and with time i became careless about what others would say and wouldn't affect me (At least what i noticed). which lead other to see me as a cold person and distant and such. about 2 years from now, i started learning how to feel my emotions back and be sensitive to feel them since i was kinda numb of them, and started working on my heart chakra because i used to feel a heavy block of energy around my chest etc.. Now after practicing vipassana, i could feel strings or dots of pain around my heart and on my chest and i watch them and they get healed and go away and later on others appear... and working on it. The thing is i m becoming a lot sensitive. sensitive to criticism to other or me, when someone act mean to others or when i see a poor kid on streets begging or seeing emotionally broken person on tv or movie... when such things happen usually my throat start feeling uncomfortable, tight and more sensations of pain appear on chest when i scan the body. Yesterday, i saw, a poor kid on the street crying and alone in the dark... it made me feel sooo bad and made me think about humanity and the pain and suffering all around the world. from being cold and emotionless to becoming an empath and being overwhelmed by the environment, how to find the middle way (balance)? Thank you! <3

I am currently reading a book on Zen called "The Three Pillars of Zen". I read this part: I can't help but feel that the basic premise here, that overcoming the pain is some form of spiritual breakthrough, is false. I went to the dentist a while ago to get a bridge put in. When they were taking an imprint of my teeth by placing a dental appliance in my mouth filled with quick-drying-cement, something happened and I found myself in a horrible amount of pain. I think it may be related to the fact that I have one tooth with a rather large mercury amalgam filling in it that was reacting to the chemicals in the 'cement' that they had mixed. I was in a horrible amount of pain, similar to the effect when you touch a piece of metal, like a spoon or metal appliance directly on the filling. I had to hold the appliance in my mouth for two minutes! I was screaming and shocked. Such pain! I used all my willpower and endured the two minutes of intense pain. A little crowd of people whom were curious about what the screaming was all about soon gathered. Anyway, after that, having endured the torture and great pain, I felt like I was high. It was a great feeling. I was so elated that I didn't even consider the high-priced payment that followed. The effect lasted for about 1 hour. I felt like I was floating on clouds. My point is this: sure, great amounts of pain will eventually release endorphins in the brain and make you high. It has nothing to do with spirituality. I laughed when I read about the response from the Zen teacher to the student, especially when I remembered the effect the intense pain caused me from visiting the dentist's office. Reminds me of "runner's high" or "jogger's high". Granted, great pain can cause some interesting states of mind, but where except in Zen do you find the idea that overcoming pain or pushing it unti the brain releases joy-juice is something spiritual? Question: Once you overcome the pain from sitting extended amounts of time, does it ever come back in later sessions? If it does, then it isn't any form of accomplishment, is it?

I'm experiencing pain and stiffness at the moment when I sit in meditation. I'm wondering whether sitting upright with no support just causes tension? Either way, it's very distracting and not too pleasant. When I then consciously slouch I feel better...but then it's like I'm doing more stretching exercises rather than meditating. Simple breath meditation just seems to be harder for me these days than say 6 months to a year ago. Perhaps my back is just shaped differently. Long car journeys in an erect seat also hurts a lot after a couple of hours. Does anybody have any clue as to what this could be? The doctor once said that it's just because I'm used to slouching and that I need to train my back muscles up by doing yoga exercises but since then, I've been more mindful of posture yet still it seems to be a problem.

Does anyone have any idea of what it would feel like to tear the lower dan tien? I know most people adhere to the 72 hour (some say one week) rule, because after all no one wants to risk tearing their dan tien but are their any stories of people who have?

So I've been meditating for a while now but for the last half a year I stepped it up and started meditating at least 3 hrs a day. I just do a simple meditation where I would just focus on my dantian. Around 4 months ago I developed heat there whenever I focus on it. In the beginning it was just warmth and then later on it got really hot. It only gets really hot when my mind is completely focused for like at least 10 minutes on my dantian. That only happened a handful of times because for me its really hard to stay focus on one thought for a long time. Anyways last month it stopped getting really hot whenever i focus on it for a long time and I started feeling pain near my testicles.It hurts a little bit but its not super painful or anything but I feel like energy is flowing to my testicles instead of staying in my dantian. Just wondering if anyone know or experience anything like this and any advice on how to get the heat back to my dantian would be great thanks.

Unclouded Light First Creativity, stemmed to give me legs, Emitted me a brain to react to enrapture I desired, a pen, and some finger to hold upon the almighty blade I prescribed to give it meaning, But changed the focal point, not sure of the outcome Stultification, confidence to be better than myself, I continued to write, Away from the wretchedness, I bonded my hands to my eyes, as to not see, but to feel the Pain of poverty, slavery, and emotional abuse from a father who does not provide LOVE To children of whom his seed spelled upon the awaking body of a beautiful woman gloomed and Doomed by ties within the mental instability of her mind... Second The ceremony of confusion awoke her from the slums of passion Needless to say, her outermost cries bewildered her into the night Encompassing for a better need to painfully pigment rays of light, Where darkness melted Onto oceans of despair Falling flat with stigmas all throughout her biological structure She felt uttermost fear of terror His seeds of slippery magicians confronted her with barricades of nowhere to go And nowhere to run However, she remained optimistic in the mastery of her own solidifying body Thus, she adjudicated to her own trial to bring an end to carrying another youngster For a man who did not know LOVE... Termination of induced panic stroke her apoplexy in her psyche Slowly loosing oxygen to all her elements of her consciousness Third There she lay, lapsed without judgment or verdict Alone, painfully free from the reproducible aggressions and assaults Upon her weak rickety characteristical strength and vitality With a twinkle in her eye of exemption... More At:http://www.leonbasin.weebly.com

It wasn't but a few days ago, her and I talked about her relationship. Now, I find out she is gone. Car accident took her life. She was an amazing person! Met her in my Psychology class, was in her group and had deep conversations that I will remember for ever. I'm just speechless, I am beyond words. A person such as her gone...Wow....WOW....WOWWW.... May you Rest in Peace Crystal! Keep smiling bright!!!