Heat in stomach

[FixXxer1846]

Been working on my health since last year and one the things I'm after is opening my microcosmic orbit. Turned out it was plugged from all sides. Now, after many months most of the painful spots are gone (rub them away or point your palms at them while concentrating on the spot), my emotions are much better and some physical ailments have improved or are gone.

 

I have kept a lengthy log of all my sensations and improvements during this period. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Ren and Du channels (Conception and Governing vessels) exist: I felt many acupuntucture points, streams of energy, tingling, intense heat, etc. Even tried testicle breathing. Amazing how cold that feels and how the sex drive goes to zero (although my channels aren't open enough to completely remove the energy... after a week I can do all the testicle breathing I want...)

 

Still there are a few things that bother me. Like a said, a lot of things have improved. And things like my hay fever were completely gone after focusing on the yin-tang for several hours. The hay fever had become very severe last year and the qigong showed it was strongly related to bad emotions that same year. However, I am still waiting to feel ANY heat in my lower stomach... You know, where the tan tien is supposed to be.

 

Granted, the first time I focused there for 20 minutes I fell asleep and woke up thinking I had dropped a burning moxa stick just below my belly button... so intense was the heat. But I NEVER felt any heat anymore thereafter. It's my most severe problem area there, so in the beginning there was lots of pain, gurgling and spastic movements. That all settled down and after 50 hours or so digestion was greatly improved. But it's still far from perfect after... I don't know... 150-200 hours.

 

This greatly annoys me since the lower belly/tan tien/cauldron is the motor of the entire meridian system. Even though I'm quite young (29) and have a strong body, my yang energy definitely is trapped somewhere or overall down. The tongue diagnosis shows it clearly and especially my nose still has a tendency to get very cold (noticed that during an occassional stress attack cold energy literally rushes into my nose). Acupuncturists have not been able to help (in contrast to my own acupressure and qigong) so that's no option. I need to kickstart that cauldron.

 

So my basic question is if there are any people here who feel (very significant) heat in the lower belly when focusing here... And how long does this take for you?

 

I assume in the long run I will feel it too (nervous energy is still trapped there... definitely), but really want some reassurance that there actually are people who feel heat, like Mantak Chia describes, for example. I can get strong sensations at the Ming Men (first time there was heat also) and some sensation at other points, but the tan tien/Qi Hai/CV-6/Belly Button area is very unresponsive with me. Except for gurgling and very minor sensations. Can't hop to the U.S. to get Chia or Chunyi Lin to kickstart it for me so will have to do it myself.

[Informer]

Been working on my health since last year and one the things I'm after is opening my microcosmic orbit. Turned out it was plugged from all sides. Now, after many months most of the painful spots are gone (rub them away or point your palms at them while concentrating on the spot), my emotions are much better and some physical ailments have improved or are gone.

 

I have kept a lengthy log of all my sensations and improvements during this period. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Ren and Du channels (Conception and Governing vessels) exist: I felt many acupuntucture points, streams of energy, tingling, intense heat, etc. Even tried testicle breathing. Amazing how cold that feels and how the sex drive goes to zero (although my channels aren't open enough to completely remove the energy... after a week I can do all the testicle breathing I want...)

 

Still there are a few things that bother me. Like a said, a lot of things have improved. And things like my hay fever were completely gone after focusing on the yin-tang for several hours. The hay fever had become very severe last year and the qigong showed it was strongly related to bad emotions that same year. However, I am still waiting to feel ANY heat in my lower stomach... You know, where the tan tien is supposed to be.

 

Granted, the first time I focused there for 20 minutes I fell asleep and woke up thinking I had dropped a burning moxa stick just below my belly button... so intense was the heat. But I NEVER felt any heat anymore thereafter. It's my most severe problem area there, so in the beginning there was lots of pain, gurgling and spastic movements. That all settled down and after 50 hours or so digestion was greatly improved. But it's still far from perfect after... I don't know... 150-200 hours.

 

This greatly annoys me since the lower belly/tan tien/cauldron is the motor of the entire meridian system. Even though I'm quite young (29) and have a strong body, my yang energy definitely is trapped somewhere or overall down. The tongue diagnosis shows it clearly and especially my nose still has a tendency to get very cold (noticed that during an occassional stress attack cold energy literally rushes into my nose). Acupuncturists have not been able to help (in contrast to my own acupressure and qigong) so that's no option. I need to kickstart that cauldron.

 

So my basic question is if there are any people here who feel (very significant) heat in the lower belly when focusing here... And how long does this take for you?

 

I assume in the long run I will feel it too (nervous energy is still trapped there... definitely), but really want some reassurance that there actually are people who feel heat, like Mantak Chia describes, for example. I can get strong sensations at the Ming Men (first time there was heat also) and some sensation at other points, but the tan tien/Qi Hai/CV-6/Belly Button area is very unresponsive with me. Except for gurgling and very minor sensations. Can't hop to the U.S. to get Chia or Chunyi Lin to kickstart it for me so will have to do it myself.

 

Honestly, I found it at the solar plexus. To aid in ignition of the fire I sometimes use my right hand vertically with the thumb point at the solar plexus with my left hand on my left thigh. Then I use breathe to sink it to the dan tien. Breathing out is what seems to sink it.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Hopefully some people with more expertise than myself will chime in soon, but my thoughts are that intense heat in one area is not necessarily so good, unless maybe a master is doing body work on that area for some reason. Some warmth and feeling is good and adequate, in my non-expert opinion. More than that is not so necessary and bad if it's painful as that will cause you to involuntarily stress and tense up which messes up the groove.

 

Some things you might try:

 

1) ocean wave breathing - basically hold an invisible chi ball in front of the dan tien which expands and contracts slowly with the breath

 

2) if you feel heat in the ming men, bring it up to the dan tien with deep slow breathing (bring it up with the inhale, then relax with the exhale, repeat).

 

double check if the "burning moxa" didn't create a subconscious resistance to the experience... In fact, intent has a lot to do with it (sort of like intentional placebo-- the body ends up doing what it believes is happening) so you might even imagine a burning moxa in the dan tien while you do this

 

 

edit- for the record, posted at the same time as Informer.. was not making any comment about his skillz, lol. Also, I should say that more heat might be used in higher level healing practices, but they know what to do with the heat so it's safe[r].

Edited September 5, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[Informer]

The left hand positioned vertically with the thumb pointed in the same general location aids in metta for me.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Informer

[FixXxer1846]

Hopefully some people with more expertise than myself will chime in soon, but my thoughts are that intense heat in one area is not necessarily so good...

 

The heat in the tan tien is reported by practitioners of Mantak Chia and related systems where the focus is on the Qi-Hai/CV-6. It's the only location in the body where excess amounts of energy can be stored safely. The students with the really great results, meaning the dissolution of serious ailments (almost unreported by the average forum dweller), virtually all report stages of intense heat in the tan tien. This heat (the filling of the cauldron with jing energy) is then used to open up the other points on the orbit.

Edited September 5, 2011 by FixXxer1845

[Harmonious Emptiness]

 

I fixed:

- Many painful spots around my eyes and along the Conseption Vessel on my entire stomach.

- A relatively red nose due to many tiny veins. Already cleared up for 80% percent.

- Serious hay fever. Can now go out all day during hay fever season... maybe one sneeze when I get back inside. That's it.

- A seriously broken heart (a gaping hole in my chest and pain like I get a heart attack... Got hay fever symtoms while working on it and was emotionally transported back to moment some of this stuff happened)

- 95% of dandruff in eyebrows and hair is gone. Playing around with homeopathy remedies brought initial result, but soon caused massive hair loss (am not bald though, but was seriously thinning in recent years. Hairs were all over the place in my bed, desk, etc.)

- Hair loss (a ton of painful points on my head along the GV meridian... fixing it (maybe at 75%) with MMA style bridging and some qigong... huge amount of intensely "cold" energy there that I was able to get rid of... by pointing my palms there while watching my favorite TV series).

- My digestion greatly improved. Let's not go into too much detail, but the "gas" aspect I definitely need to curb further. That was my initial problem 12 years ago that caused a ton of neverending stress... and therefore a chain reaction.

 

Guess I'm lucky because I've always been fascinated with fixing stuff like this in an alternative way. Guess you need to have problems in order to figure that stuff out. Haha. But I wanna feel my tan tien. &^%$##@(@$^. Anyone?

 

So it sounds like you've learned how to use the heat (see my edit comment), so it's probably not so dangerous. After your early experience, I didn't want to suggest generating lots of heat as it sounded like you were just beginning to experiment with it all.

 

So again, I suggest ocean wave breathing and visualization. There's surely more ways, but those 2 are fundamental.

[FixXxer1846]

Focused in the past two days more on the center of the body, where the tan tien is supposed. Things changed again, strongly too. First a few heat waves. Than cold shiverings in the upper torso and arms, followed a few heavy spastic movements of the torso and legs. The latter happens regularly when focusing on a different, blocked aspect of my microcosmic orbit, whether it was acupressure, moxa or now qigong.

 

That's interesting. Focusing on the navel (first with palms; then with the mind and breath) gave me certain strong sensations once... they went away. Only causes a lot of warth in hands (which used to last much much longer when I tried it ten years ago... everyone commented on my warm hands back then) Supposedly just focusing on that point alone will be enough to fix that whole area. That may be true eventually, but when focusing on CV-6 just below it, some of these sensations briefly came back. That's only logical, because in TCM it has considerably different effects and is actually more potent than the navel, certainly when it comes to building up the kidneys and spleen.

 

The heat went away again for now. If I consistently manage to get heat there or feel my tan tien I'll give this topic a final update. Or somebody else must beat me to it.

 

Quotes from the 1980 book I posted on that reviewed experiences with Mantak Chia and a few other systems:

 

"Dam-Tin is a very mysterious spot in the body----it is a powerful heat generator, radiating

the heat in all directions throughout the body," Mr. Shaw said, "Darn-Tin is a spot four

finger breadth below the navel, about an inch inside the skin surface. Take a deep breath

and the Chi-Energy gathers at the Darn-Tin. During meditation, practise deep breathing

comfortably, taking it easy." (Dam-Tin is Acupuncture Point#C06 Chi Hai) ... "When you meditate, you should think of nothing. I know it is hard to do that, and it took me six months before I could do that. It's really amazing, as soon as a thought arises in my mind,as soon as the empty mind is disturbed, the heat in the spine immediately ceases to rise up, and even falls back down. To keep the heat rising and circulating, I must think of nothing!""

 

Review from the early 20th century (this guy was dying, so I hope I reach this state faster...):

"One morning, after two years, when I was meditating, I again felt

strong vibrations and intense heat in my Darn-Tin area (Acupuncture point # CO-6 Chi-Hai),

the same vibration that occurred one and a half years ago that quiet down after six nights.

This time, the heat and vibrations rushed up the spine and struck the back of the head at the

occipital area (Acupuncture point #GO-16, Feng-Fu or Yui-Gen)."

 

And Chia himself (who focuses at CV-8 instead of CV-6):

 

"The Chi Energy felt like a water current under the sea. It felt like a suction force The

current felt warm. It originated from the navel (Acupuncture point; Chi-Chung #C08).

When I was practising Level I --- Opening Up the Governor and Conception CHannels,

the Chi Energy felt warm. When I was practising Level II ----- the Fusion of the Five

Elements, the Chi Energy felt hot."

 

Student of Chia (interview):

 

"D: So the heat that you felt at the navel point was very strong?

A: At the beginning it wasn't strong. Later when I graduated to more advanced formulae the

energy increased considerably.

D: Were you able to describe it at any point like a flame or fire?

A: Yes, when preparing the hot element, I reached a certain point when it is a burning thing.

! It is the sun and the moon, the heat of the sun and the coolness of the moon.

D: The other students I have interviewed so far described it, as no more than warmth or fullness.

A: No. I've gotten much more than warmth."

 

I aim for a bit of (internal) warmth/fullness for now or feeling the tan tien itself.

[Kali Yuga]

Heat in the dantien is pretty much foundation level alchemy - but when you do get it, it makes you realize the enormous potential of inner alchemy. Many practitioners will be bouncing off the walls up and down when they get it, because it's not easy for everyone - for some people it takes a long time to arrive at the correct meditative state to reach that level of creating heat at the dantien. I assure you many people here have been there already - but not all of those who talk about it.