A Question For Experienced Qigong Practitioners

[The Way Is Virtue]

I have noticed on numerous occasions in the past when I was practicing tai chi and sitting meditation fairly regularly, and now again that I am practicing zhan zhuang regularly that sometimes when I make physical contact with people when shaking hands or when paying cash for something at a store or whatever and the like that I can feel what certainly seems like some degree of energy getting passed from me to the other person. With some people it only seems to be a smaller amount, but with certain people who appear to be run down it seems like it can be a fair bit of energy and in some cases it can take as much as a week or more for me to start feeling my energy level coming back up again. With some people there seems to be what feels like an immediate electric shock feeling as soon as they touch me like some of my energy jumped across to the other person in a very sudden jolt. As I mentioned, in some of these cases I can feel quite a noticeable dropping in my energy level almost right away when this happens, and it can take a while to start building up my energy again.

 

I can understand why some qigong practitioners prefer to go off into isolation for periods of time to practice qigong. I would guess I am not the only one who experiences this sort of thing, so I am wondering if people have any practical advice on ways to deal with this (other than not ever touching anyone, which is pretty hard to avoid in society ) and maybe any techniques on how to protect oneself more from this sort of thing? I suppose as one progresses further in their qigong practice they can rebuild their energy quicker when this happens, but are there techniques one can use to help prevent this from happening? Anybody else running into this?

Edited November 4, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[The Way Is Virtue]

[Edit:] Not sure what happened but this reply was created for my post above from me. I guess I was trying to answer my own question.

Edited November 4, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[fiveelementtao]

Are you closing down thoroughly? It is important to make sure you close the channels after opening them and ground your energy in the lower tan tien before going back to "normal" life. If that is not the problem, then it would be beneficial to journal or talk with someone about boundary issues. If someone has latent issues maintaining their own boundaries, then it is more likely that such a person could unconsciously give away their energy or allow others to take it from them after qigong. That would explain why people seeming run down take your energy.

That's all I can think of...

[Gerard]

Funny you mentioned this. The other day an emotional vampire disguised as a spiritual practitioner touched my forearm and 2 hours later I felt as if something was trying to drill my arm. well I had to shake off that negative energy using my intention especially when she mentioned that a follower of Aleister Crowley (very bad news as this fellow played heavily with the dark side) came to visit her and was upset about the fact she had the statue of the Buddha in her lounge room. I have no idea who this lady is or with who she has been involved with but knowing she works in the area of past life regression I was already suspicious about her. I made a mistake by touching her as she became very emotional and started crying after chatting with me for a while.

 

As I said before, I immediately shook off the bad karma that tried to get into my system. It is unfortunate to see people being involved in spiritual counselling and guidance without having fully healed themselves emotionally as otherwise they are easy prey to psychic attacks.

[The Way Is Virtue]

Are you closing down thoroughly? It is important to make sure you close the channels after opening them and ground your energy in the lower tan tien before going back to "normal" life. If that is not the problem, then it would be beneficial to journal or talk with someone about boundary issues. If someone has latent issues maintaining their own boundaries, then it is more likely that such a person could unconsciously give away their energy or allow others to take it from them after qigong. That would explain why people seeming run down take your energy.

That's all I can think of...

Yes, I do closing after finishing qigong practice, but I guess the problem could relate to the fact that I tend to continue practicing qigong fairly automatically throughout the day which may be leaving me too open, but I don't know.

 

. If that is not the problem, then it would be beneficial to journal or talk with someone about boundary issues. If someone has latent issues maintaining their own boundaries, then it is more likely that such a person could unconsciously give away their energy or allow others to take it from them after qigong. That would explain why people seeming run down take your energy.

That's all I can think of...

I'm not sure I am following you here. Are you saying that you think I could be unconsciouly giving away energy for some reason? Can you elaborate? I am thinking it is more likely a problem of continuiing practicing the qigong state throughout the day and maybe then being too open. My experience is that this mainly happens when I make physical contact mostly with people who appear to be at least somewhat run down, i.e. with people whose energy levels seem to be low. A former tai chi teacher of mine used to use items such as wooden tai chi swords or other such objects when teaching students when he wanted to help adjust their form by moving their arms or legs and such into proper position. He said it was because it is just like the case of connecting a stronger charged battery to a weaker charged battery where the charge will tend to start flowing right away from the stronger battery to the weaker battery. Not sure why this doesn't seem to be as much of a problem for other qigong practitioners though. I am thinking that I may need to learn to some energy/aura defense techniques to help control this sort of thing, but I am not sure what techniques there might be that come from qigong traditions?

[The Way Is Virtue]

Funny you mentioned this. The other day an emotional vampire disguised as a spiritual practitioner touched my forearm and 2 hours later I felt as if something was trying to drill my arm. well I had to shake off that negative energy using my intention especially when she mentioned that a follower of Aleister Crowley (very bad news as this fellow played heavily with the dark side) came to visit her and was upset about the fact she had the statue of the Buddha in her lounge room. I have no idea who this lady is or with who she has been involved with but knowing she works in the area of past life regression I was already suspicious about her. I made a mistake by touching her as she became very emotional and started crying after chatting with me for a while.

 

As I said before, I immediately shook off the bad karma that tried to get into my system. It is unfortunate to see people being involved in spiritual counselling and guidance without having fully healed themselves emotionally as otherwise they are easy prey to psychic attacks.

Not sure if this is what is going on in some cases but there do seem to be certain people I have run into from time to time who seem to make a point of always touching me on the arm or shoulder when they come to talk to me, and they can seem to draw off a fair bit of energy sometimes.

Any suggestions on how better to deal with this sort of thing?

Edited November 4, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[simply puzzled]

I can understand why some qigong practitioners prefer to go off into isolation for periods of time to practice qigong. I would guess I am not the only one who experiences this sort of thing, so I am wondering if people have any practical advice on ways to deal with this (other than not ever touching anyone, which is pretty hard to avoid in society ) and maybe any techniques on how to protect oneself more from this sort of thing? I suppose as one progresses further in their qigong practice they can rebuild their energy quicker when this happens, but are there techniques one can use to help prevent this from happening?

 

This isn't Daoist, but in western magic we do something called "shielding". Basically, you're creating a barrier between you and other people so that they cannot steal your energy. We do this in addition to, not in place of, grounding and centering. There are a lot of methods; here is mine: Ground and center. Now, imagine a ball of energy in your center. Now imagine this ball slowly expanding. You are *not* imagining your center expanding, you are imagining a ball of energy *from* your center. Allow that ball to slowly expand until it surrounds you like a forcefield. Take a moment and know that this field will expand and contract around you as you. Swing out your arm, and the field stretches like latex. Then, take a moment and visualize this field acting as a gate. Positive, loving energy flows in and out, and negative, draining energy is repelled.

 

Do this for a few moments at the end of your meditations until it builds it up in your mind and you'll only have to think about it occasionally. This won't repel someone with greater energy ability than you. I've had people do this weird thing where they find the vibration of my shield and then just flow through it. It also has to be up before someone starts draining you. Once you feel it, it's too late to throw up the shield, rather like trying to close the barn doors while the horses are leaving. But, if you keep it "up", it's good for blocking out the day to day draining of energy.

Edited November 4, 2010 by simply puzzled

[fiveelementtao]

I'm not sure I am following you here. Are you saying that you think I could be unconsciouly giving away energy for some reason?

 

It's not an "either or" situation. All the things you mentioned are certainly possible causes, BUT... nothing happens in our lives without our conscious or unconscious permission. It may be by addressing the remedies you mentioned that you are also defining and strengthening your boundaries and may be preventing further occurrences of energy theft.

 

But it is also a spiritual axiom that everything in our internal and external universe is caused and/or attracted by us on either (and mostly) an unconscious level. It's not a big deal. IME, the best way to handle any situation that needs attention is to do the common sense external remedy, (like the ones you mentioned) and then ask yourself "Why have I attracted/manifested this in my external world."

[The Way Is Virtue]

This isn't Daoist, but in western magic we do something called "shielding". Basically, you're creating a barrier between you and other people so that they cannot steal your energy. We do this in addition to, not in place of, grounding and centering. There are a lot of methods; here is mine: Ground and center. Now, imagine a ball of energy in your center. Now imagine this ball slowly expanding. You are *not* imagining your center expanding, you are imagining a ball of energy *from* your center. Allow that ball to slowly expand until it surrounds you like a forcefield. Take a moment and know that this field will expand and contract around you as you. Swing out your arm, and the field stretches like latex. Then, take a moment and visualize this field acting as a gate. Positive, loving energy flows in and out, and negative, draining energy is repelled.

 

Do this for a few moments at the end of your meditations until it builds it up in your mind and you'll only have to think about it occasionally. This won't repel someone with greater energy ability than you. I've had people do this weird thing where they find the vibration of my shield and then just flow through it. It also has to be up before someone starts draining you. Once you feel it, it's too late to throw up the shield, rather like trying to close the barn doors while the horses are leaving. But, if you keep it "up", it's good for blocking out the day to day draining of energy.

Intersting info. Thanks! I will experiment with that a bit and see if it helps. Visualization is not the easiest for me but I should be able to manage that. I suppose one gets better at visualization with practice...

[The Way Is Virtue]

It's not an "either or" situation. All the things you mentioned are certainly possible causes, BUT... nothing happens in our lives without our conscious or unconscious permission. It may be by addressing the remedies you mentioned that you are also defining and strengthening your boundaries and may be preventing further occurrences of energy theft.

 

But it is also a spiritual axiom that everything in our internal and external universe is caused and/or attracted by us on either (and mostly) an unconscious level. It's not a big deal. IME, the best way to handle any situation that needs attention is to do the common sense external remedy, (like the ones you mentioned) and then ask yourself "Why have I attracted/manifested this in my external world."

Thanks very much for the feedback fiveelementtao. This is not a major concern to me as it seems to be less of a problem as I progress in my qigong practice, i.e., I can rebuild my energy somewhat quicker now and also smooth out any imbalances that may have resulted from it. Yes, I guess I could be unconsciously projecting energy without realizing it. I would guess that I should also gain somewhat better control over such things as I progress further in my practice.

[Birch]

I've had a few "schlopp" experiences where I can feel, well a "schlopp" of energy going from me to someone else and vice-versa.

 

I don't mind the ones where I'm giving. I'm not so keen on the ones directed at me.

The ones I really didn't like were the spikey attack episodes but I reckon they don't "steal" as much as they "bother" and you can "deflect" them with this barrier stuff.

 

I figure if you're plugged in then you're plugged in period. I realize this sounds stupid, but ultimately what do you have to lose energetically speaking? Yes there is transfer but is it a zero sum thing? I guess it depends on what type of stuff you're dealing with.

 

I think taking good care of yourself (taking heed to respond to yourself when feeling drained or to the contrary very generous), and as others have mentioned doing a check on your own psychological boundaries is very good advice.

 

I'm not quite sure but I think some boundaries might not actually be real ones - hence the tiresome (and so therefore energy-sapping) business of holding them up, whereas the real ones are just there and you're not listening to them.

 

I know this is a lot of subjective pondering

[suninmyeyes]

 

 

But it is also a spiritual axiom that everything in our internal and external universe is caused and/or attracted by us on either (and mostly) an unconscious level. It's not a big deal. IME, the best way to handle any situation that needs attention is to do the common sense external remedy, (like the ones you mentioned) and then ask yourself "Why have I attracted/manifested this in my external world."

Yes ,nice.

This approach is like taking a plane instead of walking to from Europe to Mongolia.

It is super helpful way of looking at life and doesent live any room for vicitm mentality.

Not saying it is easy to accept it though.

[The Way Is Virtue]

I've had a few "schlopp" experiences where I can feel, well a "schlopp" of energy going from me to someone else and vice-versa.

 

I don't mind the ones where I'm giving. I'm not so keen on the ones directed at me.

The ones I really didn't like were the spikey attack episodes but I reckon they don't "steal" as much as they "bother" and you can "deflect" them with this barrier stuff.

 

I figure if you're plugged in then you're plugged in period. I realize this sounds stupid, but ultimately what do you have to lose energetically speaking? Yes there is transfer but is it a zero sum thing? I guess it depends on what type of stuff you're dealing with.

 

I think taking good care of yourself (taking heed to respond to yourself when feeling drained or to the contrary very generous), and as others have mentioned doing a check on your own psychological boundaries is very good advice.

 

I'm not quite sure but I think some boundaries might not actually be real ones - hence the tiresome (and so therefore energy-sapping) business of holding them up, whereas the real ones are just there and you're not listening to them.

 

I know this is a lot of subjective pondering

Thanks for the comments. Giving it more thought I really think it is simply a matter of energy just having the innate tendancy to want to flow from a higher charge to a lower charge, as my former tai chi teacher described it, and that was why he would sometimes use an object such as a wooden sword when adjusting beginner student's tai chi form. He would not be so careful when interacting with intermediate or senior students. So I am thinking it is not really something that needs to be 'fixed' so much as it being a natural tendancy that one needs to learn to work with. I can understand that someone who has not directly experienced this sort of thing might well be inclined to think it must be indicative of a problem that needs to be addresed and corrected, but that does not seem to match my experience. On a few occasions people have walked up to me from behind and touched me on the arm or shoulder as they start to talk to me and I have felt the sensation of energy passing to them right away.

 

My experience is some people seem to be fairly 'expert' at doing this sort of thing, while with others it just seems to be that they are somewhat run down, although I am certain that in most cases they consciously don't realize that this is what is happening, and many probably do not even believe that such things are possible. If what I am saying is not too far off the mark then, yes, for the average person who does not practice qigong at all or not overly much then the net sum exchange of energy with others may be about 0 as you say, but I do think there is always some exchange of energy between people going on, both positive and negative, that mostly we are not consciously aware of but the balance of exchange may not be so even for some. I really think that at least in part for me that the issue may relate to leaving myself too open in certain ways, and I can probably learn to better control that with practice, but I also think that as I progress more it may be less of an issue as the exchange becomes less of a percentage of my overall energy level and I gain a better ability to recharge quicker and adjust for imbalances and such, but I don't know for certain. That is what I suspect anyway. It does seem that things are moving in that direction now that I am making the effort to practice regularly and to practice more. Sometimes things don't have to be too complicated.

Edited November 6, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[Gerard]

Not sure if this is what is going on in some cases but there do seem to be certain people I have run into from time to time who seem to make a point of always touching me on the arm or shoulder when they come to talk to me, and they can seem to draw off a fair bit of energy sometimes.

Any suggestions on how better to deal with this sort of thing?

 

Watching them carefully before you meet them, from the distance. I did it but I made a mistake prior the meeting: not listening to my inner voice and walking away as a result.

 

I will next time, for sure.

 

I have noticed like yourself probably that the more you advance in this path the more likely you will attract people in need of emotional healing, which is good if they are keen to heal themselves by their own effort. Hence you are a guide and a teacher. Not god if they intend to draw energy from you for free because healing requires a lot of work and discipline. In addition those people carry with them entities in a piggy-back fashion, and this is when the real problem starts. It happened to me once when I invited a female to my place for a healing session but unfortunately she brought with her a ghost which decided to reside in my bathroom. Tapping noises, water running, sudden presence of cockroaches...all signs that a ghost is present. One night, I felt the entity floating above my head while I was meditating in the lounge. I asked for advice to a friend of mine who has experience removing entities as she learnt that from her guru while living in an ashram in India. Following her advice, I did a thorough house clean-up and finally got rid of it.

 

I am not going to invite anyone anymore because my place hasn't been built using traditional Feng Shui rules, it is not well protected either and I can't be bothered buying certain crystals and minerals to block entities.

[The Way Is Virtue]

Watching them carefully before you meet them, from the distance. I did it but I made a mistake prior the meeting: not listening to my inner voice and walking away as a result.

 

I will next time, for sure.

 

I have noticed like yourself probably that the more you advance in this path the more likely you will attract people in need of emotional healing, which is good if they are keen to heal themselves by their own effort. Hence you are a guide and a teacher. Not god if they intend to draw energy from you for free because healing requires a lot of work and discipline. In addition those people carry with them entities in a piggy-back fashion, and this is when the real problem starts. It happened to me once when I invited a female to my place for a healing session but unfortunately she brought with her a ghost which decided to reside in my bathroom. Tapping noises, water running, sudden presence of cockroaches...all signs that a ghost is present. One night, I felt the entity floating above my head while I was meditating in the lounge. I asked for advice to a friend of mine who has experience removing entities as she learnt that from her guru while living in an ashram in India. Following her advice, I did a thorough house clean-up and finally got rid of it.

 

I am not going to invite anyone anymore because my place hasn't been built using traditional Feng Shui rules, it is not well protected either and I can't be bothered buying certain crystals and minerals to block entities.

Interesting. Yes, I guess in some cases it is not just a drawing off of some energy but maybe passing on of negative energy (some people call it 'sick energy' I believe) or as you say possibly even parasitic entities. Interesting about the ghost experience. I've never had an experience like that but there was a show on TV called Haunted or Haunting or something like that which I used to watch which re-enacted various haunting accounts reported by various people, mostly in the USA area. There were stories similar to what you describe of ghosts following people to other locations, as well as one story which I think was supposed to have taken place in Macau or maybe Taiwan or thereabouts where a US Ambassador or something like that brought his family over there since he was assigned over there, and the family moved into the Ambassador's residence there. They had various ghost type occurences going on which scared the family so bad they brought in a Taoist priest that had been recommended to them. The Taoist priest looked around the house and reported to them that it appeared the house had been designed and placed in such a way by its designer to invite or promote bad luck and negative energy and such, and the Taoist priest told the family that he could do a ceremony to make the problems stop for a few months, but he said he didn't think he could prevent the problems much longer than that and advised the family to move out of the house as soon as possible. That was the first I had heard of Feng Shui having a relationship to such things but then again I haven't ever studied Feng Shui at all. Interesting stuff though for sure.

Edited November 6, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue