Improper Energy Cultivation horror stories (Share here..)

[DaoChild]

Truthfully I don't have one.

 

I find them fascinating though.. and wonder whether it's due to there actually being something to the Taoist energetic theory, or something else

 

I was reading the book "Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits" since I'm moving to China next summer, and at one point the guys were interviewing this 70 something year old hermit.

 

He used to be an avid reader, and then he said one day he went blind. They asked how it happened and his response was something along the lines of :

 

"Taoist cultivation can be dangerous; I did something wrong and they just went out like a candle"

 

Scary.. but at least it makes me feel a bit closer to the possibility of there being "concrete" results that come from energetic cultivation.

 

PLEASE share any stories you've heard I find them interesting.

[lino]

Example #1 - Me

 

My suggestions:

 

1. Make more than sure that you have 360 degree security 24/7.

 

2. If you feel something "positive" and you don't have that 360 degree security 24/7 then it is a lie.

 

3. If you don't feel something then it doesn't exist for you.

 

 

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. " -Buddha

[Aetherous]

Practicing kechari mudra on an airplane while doing emptiness meditation, it seemed like I had a heart attack. Looking back, I think it was, but I was too cocky at the time to go get it checked out. I was 23 and very healthy.

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

When I first started learning reiki, my teacher had me doing a lot of (yi mind) energy work on my head and in my third eye. Of course, this quickly became problematic, because unlike her other students, I actually did all of the practices and I did them for long, sustained periods of time.

 

At first I began feeling lightheaded and dizzy on and off for hours after I had stopped the practice. Then I began feeling unfocused, unable to concentrate, and confused, with strange noises in my ears. The teacher's fix for this at first was to give me reiki on my head to help "balance" me. As I continued to practice, I began to develop continuous splitting head aches and migraines. When it got to this point I discontinued the practice and focused on grounding and the real world for a while. After a few weeks things went back to normal.

 

Moral of the story - Make sure that the advice you are following has actually been carried out as directed by someone before you, with good effect. People often recommend techniques because they have read about them or have done them intermittently or without real effort or intention. This is particularly pronounced in any New Age community setting...

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Practicing kechari mudra on an airplane while doing emptiness meditation, it seemed like I had a heart attack. Looking back, I think it was, but I was too cocky at the time to go get it checked out. I was 23 and very healthy.

 

Wow- full on kechari, with the tongue tip tickling the pineal area? how did you attain that so young? Did you do the serial cuts on the frenulum underneath the tongue? Anything else to report about kechari?

[Aetherous]

Oh sorry..."level 3". I got to level 3 without snipping, simply by practicing a lot in the right way.

[Prince...]

My acupuncturist had a reiki attunement and got sick immediately after it. She said she had headaches, body pains, and nausea for about 2 weeks. She asked to be un-attuned and everything went away. She said she's never had an interest in reiki after that...hahaha...but she hands out business cards for a massage therapist who also does reiki. I said I hope that's not the same person that worked on you!

[Eternal_Student]

Oh boy. After 15 years in the business, do I have stories.

 

One man who became a "teacher" of tai chi had chi sickness. When he performed a set of exercises in the popular yang family tradition, it looked as if he was popping and locking. No smooth movement at all. And he thought he was completely smooth...

 

Patients mother: became schizophrenic after attempting Kundalini without an instructor. She is still in the hospital under care to this day.

 

Military friend: Kundalini sickness. Was in Iraq and he was dabbling in the yogic path of a certain process. During a firefight, the extreme adrenaline surge kicked in the "spirit" and he experienced 3 days of complete slow motion. He said it felt like 10 years....

 

Another well known qi gong instructor that my teacher met at a NQA conference, nearly punched him out after he just put a hand on his shoulder and said hello. This guy had a very high level of skill but not a clean soul.

 

A local instructor who is also very skilled at a particular manner of internal martial art, has this complete obsession with constantly putting students down. Its very sad. So much knowledge, and still stuck in the power dynamic of the second chakra.

 

A patient/student became entranced by energetic vampirism. She know has to wear sunglasses at all times because of light induced, excruciating headaches. She is also constantly fending off shingles and is essentially crazy. Recently I heard that she developed ovarian cancer.

 

Be careful with searching for power. Make sure that you work on cleaning out karmic and emotional imbalances BEFORE you attempt any sort of advanced practice. Find a good acupuncturist who can treat energetic illnesses and don't put excess amounts of chi in your head right off the bat. Keep the dantien building slow, and save the brain stuff for much later. Its just smarter that way!

 

I'll try to think of more...

[Thunder_Gooch]

I did dynamic tensions exercises while in a lucid dream/obe state (not with my physical body), and it caused my physical arms to ache from the insides out for weeks afterwords.

 

It felt like my arms had become balloons, and swollen and stretched out, like someone had squeezed all the blood to the tips of my fingers until they exploded with pooled blood.

 

However it was worth it, but I am not going to share that story here.

[Gerard]

"Taoist cultivation can be dangerous; I did something wrong and they just went out like a candle"

 

Scary.. but at least it makes me feel a bit closer to the possibility of there being "concrete" results that come from energetic cultivation.

 

PLEASE share any stories you've heard I find them interesting.

 

It is indeed dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. It is like giving a loaded weapon to a 3-year-old child.

 

Grounding, grounding, grounding and avoiding tension during practice. Water methods are safer than the fire ones but individuals need to train in the method that suits them best (bear in mind the year of birth in here).

 

I have read horror stories but never heard of any in person, I am sorry.

Edited October 7, 2009 by durkhrod chogori

[King Kabalabhati]

If your intention is to increase well-being and loving capacity for the benefit of everyone around you instead of personal power, and you also have other, meaningful and grounding things in life to work on I think it's quite safe to cultivate, even without a teacher.

 

But to go into it intensely for the sake of experiences, super rapid progress or "far out" powers is something I wouldn't recommend, even with a teacher... Teachers face the same problem as students, their pride or lack of sensitivity may blind them from being realistic with the limitations a student has for their rate of progress.

 

It's good to be honest with yourself when studying from books: "Is this exercise really simple enough for me to understand? How do I feel when doing it?" And if problems arise, to consult a teacher before continuing.