Why Do We Focus On Dan Tian ?

[Uroboros]

Yes, kinesthetic sense dominance is part of it, but it's more than that. It's a kind of intelligence by different means, occasionally giving me proof that it far surpasses the intelligence of the neocortex. E.g. it predicts the future, I think I wrote about it at some point -- the LDT supplies me with forecasts that I have learned to read as "warnings" and "promises" -- one hundred percent accurate. It's hard to always do what it says because for one thing it's nonverbal and it's up to my upper brain to "get it" correctly and choose my plans accordingly, and for another, the messages bypass what we normally utilize when planning for the future -- ignorance of certain factors we can't consciously perceive, wishful thinking, "hope," justifications and intellectualizations, all that cognitive noise. The LDT just knows "what's in it for me," so to speak, and tells it as is. And whenever you're not ready to hear the message, you try to ignore it... but in a couple of extreme situations it basically yelled at me, so I couldn't ignore the warning, it kept "yelling" till I changed my understanding of the situation and, accordingly, my inner "readiness" and my external plans. It can be very extreme. But in more mundane situations, it can be just a whisper... and I'm learning, trying, to listen to that whisper at all times, because it never, ever lies.

 

How do you cultivate and connect with the LDT in this way?

 

How does it "feel"?

 

Its completely fascinating, this information you are sharing...

 

Peace

[Mark Foote]

... it never, ever lies.

 

That is also my experience, though I never connected it with LDT as you have.

 

I overrode that intuition and lost someone very dear to me, once. It can be life and death.

 

It probably is destiny calling, versus another trip around the wheel on the way to destiny calling, at the very least. So I've thought about it a lot, and my conclusion is that I can't change myself without the experience of inner happiness in the process, happiness that is not directly connected with the senses including the mind.

 

Some of the civil war veterans mentioned that they would like to relive parts of that horrendous war in heaven, which I think is a testament to the fact that it is the engagement of all the senses to the fullest extent possible and the expansion of that extent possible that draws us, even through pain.

 

Staying open to remembering how to breathe, and to the practice of action in the relinquishment of volition that emerges in remembering how to breathe as never before, comes about spontaneously as the happiness of the engagement of all the senses moves beyond the happiness associated with individual senses.

 

"You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around"- Kobun Chino Otogawa.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Mark Foote

[MERCELESS ONE]

 

Fascinating ideas.

 

I practiced a insight practice for a long time, and would notice how my insight would come and go depending on how stressed I was. That as I practiced and relaxed into insight, I would have more, but if I had some hard days I would become more reactive, and see less into my emotions. Struggled with this... that it was like the practice was required.

 

Sounds like your saying that as you develop the dantien, you move up in awareness and energy and stabilize?

 

John

yes you do, only because of the energy level. the more energy the higher the function. but also the middle and upper dantien should be tempered as well.

[ChiDragon]

Yep, a complete LDT focus is not for everyone

Why not?

Who told you that?

By saying a complete LDT focus, it implies that there is a partial LDT focus. Am I right?

If so, what is the difference?

[gendao]

According Kostas, John Chang says the Dantien is the first cell formed during the conception of the human fetus. This is the actual, original cell that was formed when the sperm penetrated the egg of every one of us. According to Sifu Chang, this cell remains intact throughout our life time and is located at the end of the umbilical cord where it terminates inside the abdominal cavity. Apparently, this cell, because of its unique, nature can hold vast amounts of energy, as most qi gong practitioners will tell you. This cell or dantien is held in place by six “cords” (what those cords are I don’t know) which the neikung aspirant must sever in order to progress along the thunder path.

"Elixir" = DAN ~ DNA?

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

"You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around"- Kobun Chino Otogawa.

 

The cat only crouches in order to pounce.

...

[gendao]

Another reason may be to submerge our conscious in our subconscious, which gets embodied in our body - so we can become conscious of our subconscious...

On the mythological level, it represents descending into the Underworld to retrieve the "Elixir"...and ultimately attain "Immortality" (transcending physical life & death).

Edited February 10, 2014 by vortex

[dawei]

...

 

The cat only crouches in order to pounce.

...

 

Have you ever subdued a crouching cat?

 

There are few "only" examples in real life... but your example is very visual !

[Mark Foote]

According Kostas, John Chang says the Dantien is the first cell formed during the conception of the human fetus. This is the actual, original cell that was formed when the sperm penetrated the egg of every one of us. According to Sifu Chang, this cell remains intact throughout our life time and is located at the end of the umbilical cord where it terminates inside the abdominal cavity. Apparently, this cell, because of its unique, nature can hold vast amounts of energy, as most qi gong practitioners will tell you...

 

"It is important to note that the Dreaming always also comprises the significance of place."

 

(from here.)

 

I do believe the dantien is important to my sense of place, when I'm relaxed enough to allow proprioception to inform equalibrioception. And to waking up and falling asleep, the in-between, as it were.

[BaguaKicksAss]

I find it helps to keep the practitioner grounded, and things flowing in the best direction.

[Marks of Glory]

LDT

 

It is a place central to the body in relation to all directions, up - down, front - back, left - right, so essential to produce central equilibrium.

 

It is the mid point between heaven and earth, manteinind a RELAXED awareness of it helps standing on the midline between worlidy perception and high intuition (once again central equilibrium)

 

It also brings vitality to the physical body, making it strong and healthy for a long time.

[Qingtian]

The LDT just knows "what's in it for me," so to speak, and tells it as is. And whenever you're not ready to hear the message, you try to ignore it... but in a couple of extreme situations it basically yelled at me, so I couldn't ignore the warning, it kept "yelling" till I changed my understanding of the situation and, accordingly, my inner "readiness" and my external plans. It can be very extreme. But in more mundane situations, it can be just a whisper... and I'm learning, trying, to listen to that whisper at all times, because it never, ever lies.

 

Maybe the English expressions "gut feeling" and "listen to your gut" are dim cultural memories of a time when the ability to listen to the LDT was a more common skill?

 

To answer the OP's question, I don't have any theory as to why; my teachers have all just specified that I work with that part of the body and my awareness in the various practices, so I do, and I've had good results from following their instructions.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Qingtian

[Taomeow]

Maybe the English expressions "gut feeling" and "listen to your gut" are dim cultural memories of a time when the ability to listen to the LDT was a more common skill?

 

Oh, definitely. Languages retain earlier wisdom... In Russian, the word for the abdomen, zhivot, literally means "that which lives" or "that which gives life," and in the older version of the language simply meant "life." The word for "animal," zhivotnoye, is of the same root and means "that which is alive."

 

This is my experience of the "gut feeling" -- it's a feeling of life directly, without the mediation/interpretation of the neocortex. (Which is hundreds of millions of years younger, basically an infantile organ in evolutionary terms, with about as much understanding of the bigger picture of life as any infant has. In TCM, the upper brain still falls under the category of "miscellaneous and curious" organs.)

[spatha]

From my understanding, Dan-Tian converts our Jing to Qi and this process happens naturally.

 

"The lower dantian lies near the huiyin ("gathering of Yin"), at the meeting point of the Control Channel and the Function Channel (dumai and renmai)."

"In the first stage of the neidan process ("refining essence (Jing) into pneuma (Qi)," lianjing huaqi), circulating the essence along these two channels generates the inner elixir."