24 Rules That Guide Your Practice

[Eternal_Student]

Wow, good thread. The 24 rules were awesome...

 

The ones I think about often are as follows:

 

Not eating too much before practice. Allow the food to get into the actual small intestine rather than sit in the stomach.

 

Not urinating right before any sort of lower dantien compressions or intense qi moving. The act of opening the tubes right before can create a leak in qi if you push too hard. Allow time for the ureter to close before you go train. Also, if you have any sort of stomach bug, make sure you crap it out before you start to add qi to your battery. If you tonify yourself while there is a pathogen in there, it can make it stronger.

 

Don't train in the qi level if you are emotionally upset. Physical work is called for at this time.

 

Don't absorb summer sun. Its too hot and will fry your nervous system. Makes you a little crazy.

 

Pay attention to your level after sex. Sometimes its good to train, sometimes not. I often get my yuan qi tickling immediately after sex, which makes no sense since I just lost part of my jing. But it does happen.

 

Definitely make sure you have lightened your energy before training in the shen level.(secret smile) Leaving a stagnation area of emotions can cause negative entities to be attracted to you. They can manifest as part of your Karmic debt.

 

Make sure you cleanse your home often, both in physicality and energetically, before you meditate. Neighbors can leave a very dirty energy stench if you dont have good feng shui protections.

 

Allow your spirit to move you. Pushing too hard at times with the "don't skip a day " attitude, can leave you two steps behind. If the motivation and focus is not there, move to something that doesn't require you to tax your zhi. (That's the will of the kidney)

 

Try not to sweat in the winter. I love to snowboard, so Im screwed. It directly taps the kidneys. See post by enouch on things to make cardio better in martial practices.

 

Drugs or alcohol. Not before or during training. Period. Bad in so many ways. An old bagua rules to training that I have somewhere, says not to use strong drugs or alcohol around training. That leaves ground for not so strong drugs, which I never quite understood. But it was from a traditional source which confused me. I'll try to find it...

 

That's all that comes up at the moment. I'll ponder.

[Aetherous]

Try not to sweat in the winter. I love to snowboard, so Im screwed. It directly taps the kidneys. See post by enouch on things to make cardio better in martial practices.

 

Isn't that only if your sweat is exposed to the cold?

[宁]

good, thank you... please come again if you remembered anything else...

i hope others would think about contributing in the near future...

anyway, i'm thinking of adding this thread to the list of threads that appear in my signature...

[Taomeow]

Good rules.

 

Here's some of mine that aren't on the list:

 

Observe San Niang days and don't start anything new, challenging or dubious on one of those.

 

Watch the phases of the moon in general, do decreasing practices and increasing practices accordingly.

 

Do long-distance practices (tapping into anything that isn't right here in space or right now in time) on the 14th, 15th, 16th days of the lunar calendar.

 

No practice at top yang times (1--3 pm).

 

When falling off the wagon and non-practicing for reasons you're tired of analyzing and arguing with yourself about, do artwork.

 

If you hate a chore, treat it as a practice and do it as though it's sacred.

 

When in doubt, ask the I Ching.

 

Try to remember that if you really want results, you need courage. Easy practices bring moderate success. Difficult ones are transformative. Impossible ones are what it's all for -- to make the impossible possible.

[Ya Mu]

...

If you hate a chore, treat it as a practice and do it as though it's sacred.

...

 

Yes!

[宁]

 

Observe San Niang days and don't start anything new, challenging or dubious on one of those.

 

Watch the phases of the moon in general, do decreasing practices and increasing practices accordingly.

 

 

@Miao Lady: how can i find out more specifically about these two suggestions? Further comments?

 

@Eternal Student

@Ya Mu

Good posts

 

the list is still thin...

[Taomeow]

@Miao Lady: how can i find out more specifically about these two suggestions? Further comments?

 

San Niang is a kind of adverse energy usually discussed by the decent ones among feng shui masters -- if memory serves, it's part of Xuan Kong (space-time) FS. Briefly: 3, 7, 13, 18, 22, 27 days of every LUNAR month are San Niang afflicted. I've noticed though that the adverse energy starts coming in with the moonrise, not with the change of the calendar date, and lasts a while after sunset the next day, receding gradually like the tide. (I am very aware of this energy because, well, I'm very sensitive to the basic amoeba-style life-related stimuli, pain/pleasure. With a mindful practice, simply paying attention, anyone will eventually notice that these days are conductive to things not going smoothly, to assorted mishaps, blunders, accidents, aggravations... Besides, I've noticed that they work like a kind of space-time trap, imagine a hole in the road where things tend to slip-slide under their own weight... all the important stuff that shouldn't be undertaken on these days tends to get scheduled smack on one of these unless you watch it like a hawk and don't let it. Whatever new and significant you start on one of these days is likely to turn into a pain in the ass. Example: and acquaintance bought a car on a San Niang day. The car proved a lemon; the owner somehow, uncharacteristically -- he's generally a responsible adult -- forgot to register it in time and missed a deadline or two whereupon he got invited to appear in court, whereupon he somehow missed the court appearance too and now a warrant has been issued for his arrest! Worse yet, I know a lady who got married on one of those days... yikes... Potentially still worse: don't get sick on one of those days, and if you do, treat whatever ails you diligently, no slacking, it will tend to linger if it's a San Niang afflicted affliction.)

 

As for the waxing/waning moon, that's basic magic of absolutely all traditions, you don't "eliminate" when energy is surging, and you don't "increase" when it is decreasing. So, e.g. -- no strength/muscle building routines on the waning moon, this is a good time for "emptying" practices. And vice versa.

[hagar]

Ok, these are not tested by a control group but this definately is the foundation for a good practice session for me.

 

- Setting:

If possible, practice in Nature. But always tune into the places that are "dry" and "still". This means, I get detrimental effects from practicing close to water, rivers, wind.

 

- Beginning.

Always being with the end. That is, if you start with the end state, you can continue. If not, start over.

Always tune in, and respond to the energy, never lead or guide first.

Always search for the absolute ideal location for your practice. This is a practice itself. When you do, listen and feel where the there is an energetic response. Then you can sit, or start.

Always "turn on the light" before practice. If you do not, you are just leading yourself astray. Inquire into how that actually feels

Never start with serious intent. A good practice feels almost like a joke.

Never focus on the problem. Always focus on the light in which the "problem" arise.

Be graceful as you approach your limit or pain.

 

General:

Treat your body as a piece of nature, and your "me" as a japanese tourist.

Do your practice for the Universe, or to the benefit of all, like you feel the stars are watching.

Listen, feel, respond: Treat your internal and external world as uncharted territory, as a mystery. (it actually is a mystery)

Everytime you start, do it as it was the very first time you practiced. In reality, you need to do so to embody the change that is happening everytime you practice. It is always another place than you may think.

 

Be kind to your desires, and indulge in whatever you enjoy. Then let them be.

 

But most important of all; ask yourself:

 

- Why am I doing this?

 

PS: This list is mainly written to myself, and may be relevant to just me. Probably.

 

h

[宁]

This list is mainly written to myself, and may be relevant to just me. Probably.

 

h

 

Actually some of your thoughts came to confirm my own feelings related to practice.

It's interesting that nobody taught me these, it's just something i've been discovering on my own, bit by bit.

 

@Taomeow

I got 沈志刚 laoshi's book, i saw some pictures there related to practice and phases of the moon. but my chinese is still very basic, so i'm looking for other resources... do you have something you could reccomend?

 

There are still a fiew folks that i would like to hear on the subject of 'rules'... Exorcist, YM Wong, Song Yongdao, Pietro... are there any of you out there?