Positive Effects Ending in Failure?

[Neophyte]

Hello y'all,

 

I've been practicing Nine Palaces Qi Gong since the spring of this year, and I've also been practicing "Health Maintenance Qigong" (or Medical Restorative, Baojian, Yiliao Qigong). Also, I sit in full lotus everyday, while reverse breathing.

 

First, let me tell you about the health benefits I've had.

 

By the time I finish practicing Nine Palaces or Medical Qigong, the soles of my feet vibrate intensely and this sensation can last for an hour after practice. That's not all, my abdomen feels warm and vibrates. My kidneys feel very warm and vibrate, and this vibration slowly rises up my back, to about my neck. The physical sensations I feel are very pleasurable. In fact, my kidney area seems to be permanently warm and comfortable--which is something I had never felt before I started practicing Qi Gong.

 

I feel very good about those sensations and would like to continue practicing...

 

But I recently developed something else. I don't know if this is a possible effect of incorrect practice, but my scalp hair suddenly started falling out. I don't know why, but it's falling out at a rate faster than men who are balding. It could be completely gone within 2 or 3 weeks max.

 

It is not genetic hair loss, nor from excessive sexual activity.

 

I don't know why I am experiencing this but I'm freaking out and worried that I am practicing incorrectly.

 

What should I do? Because I really want a full head of hair!

Is it reversible?

 

All responses are very appreciated.

Thanks.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Well, I don't have too much specific to add to this thread, but I don't want to leave you hanging.

 

Basically... there could be a lot of reasons for why this is happening, you should consult an expert to be sure. I'm not an expert, this is just info from the top of my head that I'm pulling from memory. Some stuff might not be totally right. Do the research yourself, and consult with the proper professionals.

 

Generally, there are different types of hair loss. And a lot of different reasons for why you might be experiencing it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldness

 

I suggest looking into what causes hair loss. Might help to give you some idea of what's causing it, and what signs to be looking out for, both in the way the hair falls out, and in your lifestyle.

 

If the hair is falling out in a "pattern" like the ones in these pictures: http://www.ishrs.org/hair-loss/hair-loss-male.htm then it might be linked to male pattern baldness. Which could occur because of a number of factors- your genetic predisposition, the conditions of your body (hormone levels, stress, major chemical changes, etc etc).

 

One thing you should look at is the hair that falls out. If it is thicker at one end, then gets thinner towards the bottom, it may mean that your hair follicles are going through a miniaturization process. Eventually the follicles close and tighten up so much that hair can't grow. It doesn't mean you've lost the ability, it just means that the scalp is too tight for stuff to circulate through the follicles to give them what they need.

 

Most people think that male pattern baldness isn't really reversible. I dunno. There are sites like this one: http://www.hairloss-reversible.com/ which teach exercises to help stimulate blood flow to the scalp (which in theory fights and may reverse the tightening/miniaturization that I mentioned above). I don't know how effective they are. Users seem to be split down the middle. I don't know of any studies done testing regrowth methods like this.

 

Then again, there are always hair regrowth products that you might want to check into if you think it's a male pattern baldness type thing (and again, it might not be genetic, genetics are a very complicated thing).

 

There's also diffuse patterns of hair loss, which are only in a few cases considered to be part of "pattern baldness". Most typically, diffuse hair loss (as in, losing hair all over the head, no real pattern) can be caused by lots of the same factors above. Typically, this is reversible, and reverses on its own once the problems have been identified and corrected.

 

There are also events like telogen effluvium, which occurs when a lot of hairs in a certain stage suddenly fall out. This happens a couple months after an event which was a major shock to your body. Stuff like a major illness, significant loss of blood, etc etc. Basically, lots of extra hairs fall out, in addition to the hair that normally falls out, which gives the appearance of hair loss, but after a couple more months pass, it gets back to its usual growth cycle.

 

Other things like thyroid problems can lead to hair loss.

 

Then there are things like female pattern baldness, which is slightly different than in men.

 

There are also a lot of specific vitamins that go into supporting hair growth, and if you aren't getting the right amounts of those, it could impact your hair loss/growth. Then, some people just shed hair a lot at a certain time of year, and then it grows back. Maybe you weren't so self conscious of it in the past, so didn't know it, but now you are, and now you're freaking out.

 

And I have no idea of how any energy practices could be tying into it. But if you are causing extreme body changes, or have even experimented with them in the past (even several months prior) it might not be catching up with you until now.

 

 

But yeah, given all that, you should see a professional, because it might very well be anything.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[The Way Is Virtue]

I feel very good about those sensations and would like to continue practicing...

 

But I recently developed something else. I don't know if this is a possible effect of incorrect practice, but my scalp hair suddenly started falling out. I don't know why, but it's falling out at a rate faster than men who are balding. It could be completely gone within 2 or 3 weeks max.

 

It is not genetic hair loss, nor from excessive sexual activity.

 

I don't know why I am experiencing this but I'm freaking out and worried that I am practicing incorrectly.

 

What should I do? Because I really want a full head of hair!

Is it reversible?

 

All responses are very appreciated.

Thanks.

Haven't heard of qigong specifically causing sudden hair loss although I suppose it might be possible. It sounds from your description that you are not experiencing any other negative effects like headaches or strange aches and pains or other signs that something might be wrong? You haven't started using some new sort of hair care products or other substances on your body recently that might be causing some sort of reaction? No new foods or supplements recently? There was something in the news recently about the 'Brazilian Blowout' hair straightening treatment causing sudden hair loss

 

If the hair loss problem is as you have described, then you may well want to consult a doctor and see if they can help. If this is being caused by some sort of reaction to something it might well start growing back once you find the cause of the problem and eliminate it. Anything eles that might have changed recently in your environment or your normal routine?

Edited October 13, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[hagar]

[The Way Is Virtue]

[Aetherous]

9 Palaces qigong from Baolin Wu? If so, it says in the book that the practice isn't good for some people. I would discontinue it if I were you.

[manitou]

Or....if all else fails....meditate on why you are manifesting this. At some level you are doing so. Try and determine what hair loss actually means to you. Are you embarassed for your appearance? If so, perhaps ego must be addressed. Did it signify strength or power to you as you were growing up? Some biblical stories or fables equate hair with strength. Could there be any connection there? Your body is doing this at your direction at a very deep level.

If and when you determine the actual karmic cause for the hair loss,then an imprint to the opposite may be in order. Ceremonialize it. If you are familiar with soul retrieval (shamanic) then this is the type of action that can easily be taken once the old memory can be found and reversed.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Or....if all else fails....meditate on why you are manifesting this. At some level you are doing so. Try and determine what hair loss actually means to you. Are you embarassed for your appearance? If so, perhaps ego must be addressed. Did it signify strength or power to you as you were growing up? Some biblical stories or fables equate hair with strength. Could there be any connection there? Your body is doing this at your direction at a very deep level.

If and when you determine the actual karmic cause for the hair loss,then an imprint to the opposite may be in order. Ceremonialize it. If you are familiar with soul retrieval (shamanic) then this is the type of action that can easily be taken once the old memory can be found and reversed.

 

I try to be careful about saying stuff like, "you are manifesting your problems." I feel like it can, at least, be partially true, but not completely true. And sometimes a partial truth can be just as harmful as an outright untruth. The universe is a crazy, sometimes complicated, sometimes simple place. And sometimes reducing a cause to something like, "oh you manifested your own problems" might be cutting some important parts out of the picture. Sometimes the only way it's "your fault" is because you were just there at the time something happened. So unless one is in a position to correctly perceive the things that are going on exactly as they are going on.... yeah, best to avoid cumbersome verbiage.

 

That said, I'm interested if you can share more about "soul retrieval", how you do it, what it entails, and how it can help this, or any other, situation.

Edited October 14, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[manitou]

The Sage in the Tao is not worshipful of any outside entity. What I mean when I say 'at some level we are manifesting this' is because at the very base level we are god, unless one prefers to think of an outside entity floating around somewhere to whom we must petition for our wants and desires, much like Santa. An enlightened one understands that we do manifest all. That places ultimate responsibility onto ourselves for all situations - health, social, political, world-wide.

 

It only becomes a fault-finding exercise if one places judgment on it - like it's your 'fault' for becoming sick, your 'fault' for allowing yourself to be abused, etc. The need for placing fault is not necessary. The best way is to try not to place a judgement on anything. Living in non-judgment is not easy and it takes quite a while to achieve it. There are different methods. And then, of course, one can readily revert back into a nasty judgement mode the minute you turn on the TV and watch the news. But in reality, the 10,000 things merely 'are', as it infers in the Tao. After all, the Tao treats us all like straw dogs. The soul brings to itself each and every situation that brings something to our attention that needs to be changed internally so that a perfect channel can be achieved. The soul is merely looking for a channel for perfect expression. What appears to be negative may not be so at all - how often does something that appears horrible at the beginning turn out to be a true blessing? All is soul and what it needs for perfect expression of the One. After all, we are merely a perfect vessel looking for a time and place to happen.

 

Soul retrieval itself has been done in many indigenous cultures; this concept was understood back at the beginning because they understood that they were all One. Egos had not yet been individuated. |It was about the collective, not the individual. Soul retrieval is the art of finding the spiritual cause of the malady and 'imprinting' the soul (or tricking the soul) to go off in a different direction. It is trying to determine what the soul is saying and what it needs. The Tao would call this 'bending the light'. Here is an example.

 

There was a lady my husband and I knew when we lived in Ojai, California several years ago. She had developed breast cancer, early stages. She was 78 years old, a nice church-going Catholic woman. Why develop breast cancer at that age ?? Before we did any sort of a soul imprint we needed to find out more about her emotional situation and what was going on around her in her life. Turns out, several years prior, her 55 year old son and his girlfriend moved into her house and had basically overrun her life. This fits nicely with the fact that she had recently developed the malignancy in her breast, which would obviously point to motherhood issues. Not only did they treat her badly and eat up all the food she couldn't afford to buy, but she was concerned that he could not find work.

 

Jesus was her man. Although she would repeated pray to Jesus about the cancer(and no doubt about her son) she was unsuccessful in getting the answers she wanted(I suspect that by her continual petitioning she was actually reinforcing the problem). When we performed a ceremony on her, we established a ceremonial area, we used rattles, drums,and flute music. I had found a small box and asked her to put a picture of her son into it. I downloaded a picture of Jesus off the internet and placed it in there too,along with a few feathers to symbolize the problem flying away to Jesus. We had already dug a hole for her (due to her age - although I would have prefered to have her dig her own hole) - but she did get down on her hands and knees, say a prayer asking Jesus to take care of her son - TRUSTING him to take care of her son so she wouldn't have to worry anymore, and she buried the box. It was a tearful event for her. When we got toward the end of the ceremony, at one point we were all touching and we all felt electromagnetics come up out of the earth and up through our legs into our bodies. Needless to say,the 78 year old Catholic woman was scared to death of this hocus-pocus, but she saw it through. This electromagnetic force, of course, was kundalini energy responding to the ceremony and our combined consciousness. Energy follows thought. At the risk of sounding trite, at her next doctor appointment the cancer had removed itself and had headed on down the road.

 

Soul retrievals are heavier ordeals than the above described scenario - they involve long-standing tendencies and maladies which have developed over the years, which have usually stemmed from one memory or one particular ongoing situation. One has to get to know the individual quite well,well enough to get them to voice their uncomfortable childhood memories (if that is the cause,it usually is). Again,one imprints to the opposite, if the connecting memory can be found that started the ball rolling downhill. I've only done one soul retrieval and it was powerful - only the woman promptly went home afterwards and had a mild stroke. This was not the desired result, or so I thought at the time. Actually, it turned out that the stroke slowed her speech and her thought process down to a level where she could be better understood,more loving, and better loved by those around her. Her mother told her that there was a peace about her that had never been there before, as she had been an extremely high-energy thinker, actor,and talker. I'd love to think that this was the 'desired result', but I'm still wondering about that one. I suspect a soul retrieval would be emotionally similar in impact to an exorcism in many circumstances, just a different spin.

 

|On another occasion, a woman was unable to let go of the memory of her murdered sister which was keeping her in chronic depression and self-pity. She had been saving the clothes of her sister, almost like a shrine. In imprinting to the opposite, we took her out to a wilderness area and started a bonfire and had her ceremonially burn her sister's clothing. After the burning, she instinctively went down on the ground, face down. At this moment about 40 crows landed on the tops of the sycamore trees and started screaming while she was laying on the ground and the clothes were burning. Ceremony helps us tap into the synchronicity of the moment. As in Be Here Now. It connects past, present, future (if one chooses to buy into the illusion of linear time).

 

I hope this has helped to clarify.