Tingling in cranium

[Oolong Rabbit]

Okay, not sure what has brought this about, but for the past 2 days I have been feeling a tingling sensation in the upper half of my head. It will be quite noticeable for a while, die down and then return. It's kind of hard to explain, but it feels like a bunch of fingers shampooing my scalp simulataneously or like I have an invisible energy helmet on the upper portion of my head. Possibly this is related to Jing retention and pulsing the energy around the microcosmic orbit which I started playing around with a month ago. I have also been doing a version of the Yang 108 for a year now, but I don't think that is related. Anyone ever experienced this? Is it just the clearing out an energy blockage?

[Spectrum]

Can you relate the sensation to any other times in your life when the same or similar sensation has happened?

 

What would it feel like say if this same sensation was spread out over the entire surface area of your skin?

 

Does it change after you practice your Tai Chi?

 

Most likely it sounds like a new circuit being opened, not something being blocked. Surface level sensations of flow and pulsations through an area can mean it's in the process of opening or closing... if your practice regularly then most likely in your case opening. It seems to be a sign on the path for sure. If you have been guiding chi around the orbit circuit then this might be some residual or again, meridians that have simply never reached full "charge" before.

 

Tai Chi is the best way to cycle and move energy around the body in my opinion. There are other activities, but none that i've found outside of the water that give you the floating sensations of good chi gung or tai chi (internal arts) practice. The motions of tai chi, yes, even the yang style produce eddies and swirls of chi in your ma.

 

Spectrum

[三江源]

Hi Oolong. I've had that sensarion in the past. It's just one more thing. Nothing to worry about. SO Long as it doesnt hurt, and you arent getting headaches.

 

just keep flowing through the orbit and it will pass, methinks.

[Spectrum]

Try standing stake in wuji while holding the ball above your head? I wonder what would happen.

[doc benway]

I've had a similar sensation periodically. Never lasted more than a few days and never amounted to anything in my case. On a somewhat related note, I've recently been able to focus and maintain my mind of intent at the very crown of my head much more consistently while practicing the form and push hands and it's done wonders for my balance - xu ling ding jin.

[Spectrum]

Awareness to the crown is one of the 10 points Yang Cheng Fu transmitted to Chen Man Ching I think (Yang Family Classics?)

 

Anyways when I do that during push hands (crown point awareness) I find my upper back and neck are suspended while my lower half is rooted. That produces a really smooth sensation of evenly rooted weight transitions while the arms are effortlessly changing. Nice observations.

 

I hate to say it again, but we're talking about Sung here, the psychophysiological state of relaxed body, alert mind. Inhabiting the space between mind & body... I digress. Thanks for the observations.

[Oolong Rabbit]

Can you relate the sensation to any other times in your life when the same or similar sensation has happened?

 

A few months after beginning tai chi I started feeling some intense tingling in my fingertips which got to the point where it almost felt like my hands were encased in a sphere of energy. That usually only lasted a few minutes after I completed the set and gradually became much more subdued. I can often still feel tingling sensations in my hands if I focus my awareness there, but it isn't anywhere near as intense or 'raw' as it was originally. The feeling on my my head is lasting much longer (hours) and the energy doesn't feel as raw or unrefined as the feeling I was getting in my fingers and hands if that makes any sense.

What would it feel like say if this same sensation was spread out over the entire surface area of your skin?

Probably something akin to the way one's body feels during orgasm.

Does it change after you practice your Tai Chi?

I will have to get back to you on this. I did a couple sets earlier this afternoon, but didn't pay much attention to the before and after sensation.

Most likely it sounds like a new circuit being opened, not something being blocked. Surface level sensations of flow and pulsations through an area can mean it's in the process of opening or closing... if your practice regularly then most likely in your case opening. It seems to be a sign on the path for sure. If you have been guiding chi around the orbit circuit then this might be some residual or again, meridians that have simply never reached full "charge" before.

Hope you are right Spectrum. I feel safe with the tai chi, but I am an novice at the Jing retention and microcosmic circulation.

Tai Chi is the best way to cycle and move energy around the body in my opinion. There are other activities, but none that i've found outside of the water that give you the floating sensations of good chi gung or tai chi (internal arts) practice. The motions of tai chi, yes, even the yang style produce eddies and swirls of chi in your ma.

What does ma stand for?

 

 

Hi Oolong. I've had that sensarion in the past. It's just one more thing. Nothing to worry about. SO Long as it doesnt hurt, and you arent getting headaches.

 

just keep flowing through the orbit and it will pass, methinks.

 

So it was while practicing the orbit? How long did it last?

 

Thx Cat!

 

 

I've had a similar sensation periodically. Never lasted more than a few days and never amounted to anything in my case. On a somewhat related note, I've recently been able to focus and maintain my mind of intent at the very crown of my head much more consistently while practicing the form and push hands and it's done wonders for my balance - xu ling ding jin.

 

What were you practicing at the time Xuesheng?

 

Try standing stake in wuji while holding the ball above your head? I wonder what would happen.

 

I will give it a whirl tomorrow Spectrum. What do you expect that will do? I just started to add a little standing meditation the past week or so, but I find this to be extremely ifficult to hold for any length of time.

[三江源]

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Edited April 18, 2015 by 三江源

[doc benway]

Awareness to the crown is one of the 10 points Yang Cheng Fu transmitted to Chen Man Ching I think (Yang Family Classics?)

 

Agreed, that's 虛靈頂勁 'xu ling ding jin': xu~empty, ling~light/lively, ding~crown of head, jin~energy

It's directly out of Taijiquan Lun or Taijiquan Treatise attributed to Wang Zongyue from X'ian in Shaanxi province. Nothing is known about Wang for sure but by legend he is the link between Zhang San Feng and Chen village. It certainly predates Yang Cheng Fu and, probably, Yang Lu Chan. It's also a part of the Wu/Li Classics. 2nd stanza - "Empty, lively, head-top energy; qi sinks to dantian; neither incline nor lean; suddenly hidden, suddenly appearing. If (opponent's) left is heavy, then (mine) is empty; if (his) is heavy, then (mine) disappears. If one looks up, it seems all the taller; if one looks down, it seems all the deeper. If one advances, it is even further; if one retreats, it is even closer. A feather cannot be added, a fly cannot alight. My opponent does not know me, I alone know him. A great hero faces no enemy. In a word it comes to this."

 

 

 

 

What were you practicing at the time Xuesheng?

 

To my recollection it generally occurs spontaneously. Sometimes it happens during seated meditation. I mentioned it to my shiye once and he told me to ignore it during meditation. I often get a very similar feeling in my left shoulder blade area.... I ignore it as well.

[Spectrum]

Whatever happens is a result of our relationship to emptiness. Afterall it's your head that tingling. I have no idea. Our dialog only effected the timing of the practice (something new/discovery) You might have done it anyway, opened a Tai Chi book tommorow and saw it as a three ring practice or something. The most important thing is the breath really, the body has a way of settling itself like sand in water, the mind on the other hand is partyly your job. (active mind becoming passive, letting go of percieved outcomes, engaged but not attached, emotionally clear)

 

The sensations are a little like accents in a differnt language dialog. We are speaking body. By listening (to the body, small and large) Taoist tradition has been gathering (and letting go of) universal information for many thousands of successive generations. TaoMeow has some very interesting things to say about this, as does Prof Lily Sui on Oahu who heads the Taoist Immortal school of Accupucture. She is from the Dragon Tiger Mt. tradition.

 

There are those who would say that form and tradition are not of value in todays modern culture. I would challenge that w/ a bodily inquiry into what modern culture has transmitted to them ergonomically.

 

I fasted from coffee yesterday, I'm 5 sips into this Chelsea. Makes the box resonate higher but thinner. Gotta have "organic" coffee, no chemicals. Chemicals change the frequency of things. Shifu Sui won't let people in parts of her herb gardens because she says when some people get around the plants it changes their medicinal qualities. This can be researched in "Primary Perception" a book on EEG's and plants.

 

This plant needs some light that's not going 60 cycles a second.

[Spectrum]

Agreed, that's 虛靈頂勁 'xu ling ding jin': xu~empty, ling~light/lively, ding~crown of head, jin~energy

It's directly out of Taijiquan Lun or Taijiquan Treatise attributed to Wang Zongyue from X'ian in Shaanxi province. Nothing is known about Wang for sure but by legend he is the link between Zhang San Feng and Chen village. It certainly predates Yang Cheng Fu and, probably, Yang Lu Chan. It's also a part of the Wu/Li Classics. 2nd stanza -

 

"Empty, lively, head-top energy; qi sinks to dantian; neither incline nor lean; suddenly hidden, suddenly appearing. If (opponent's) left is heavy, then (mine) is empty; if (his) is heavy, then (mine) disappears. If one looks up, it seems all the taller; if one looks down, it seems all the deeper. If one advances, it is even further; if one retreats, it is even closer. A feather cannot be added, a fly cannot alight. My opponent does not know me, I alone know him. A great hero faces no enemy. In a word it comes to this."

 

To my recollection it generally occurs spontaneously. Sometimes it happens during seated meditation. I mentioned it to my shiye once and he told me to ignore it during meditation. I often get a very similar feeling in my left shoulder blade area.... I ignore it as well.

 

xuesheng,

 

Thank you. I ... * ...

 

That's it. That's what i've seen that draws me near each time. It is all so familiar. If you recognize you seek without words. I feel this whenever i see the fullest potential of human elements combining together to form a cohesive realization. Homerun. Hole in one. Slam Dunk. 1st round K/O. The 3rd Stanza. All the perfect move.

 

"Empty, lively, head-top energy; qi sinks to dantian; neither incline nor lean; suddenly hidden, suddenly appearing. If (opponent's) left is heavy, then (mine) is empty; if (his) is heavy, then (mine) disappears. If one looks up, it seems all the taller; if one looks down, it seems all the deeper. If one advances, it is even further; if one retreats, it is even closer. A feather cannot be added, a fly cannot alight. My opponent does not know me, I alone know him. A great hero faces no enemy. In a word it comes to this."

 

This is amazing translation, body poetry, plain view koans. I mean I am printing this out right now and putting it in my journal. Is this what is considered the 40 chapters? I believe this type of spirit to practice is why Yang Cheng Fu's practice looked like it did. The golden mean in motion. A whip in motion. 300 percent efficiency w/ 100% relaxation/letting go of outcome. This doesn't mean limp wristing, it means maintaining a flow to your bows and frames as they relate to the whole, I can't believe at this point that these practices evolved from a last man standing philosophy.

 

More in a bit I have to go for a walk.practice with this.

 

Spectrum

Edited September 9, 2007 by Spectrum