I need some help with gathering generative force and transmutation! Inner alchemy

[Andrei]

SkyReach, try drinking these teas and see which is working best for you:

Reishi /Lingzhi/Ganoderma (neutral)

Rehmannia root (Yin) combined with Turmeric (Yang) or Ginger (very Yang) if producing gases.

American ginseng root (Yin)

Korean ginseng root (Yang)

Wolfberries/Goji/Gou zhi/ Lycium (neutral)

Cinnamon bark (Yang)

Star Anise (Yang)

He Shou Wu (slightly toxic for liver, better combine with Milk Thistle to help liver processing the toxins)

All these are traditionally used in Chinese Medicine, they all are adaptogens and regulate the hormonal production and neurotransmitters. You can mix all of them or just pick one or two usually in Yin-Yang pairs. You can get them from a Chinese store in bulk, or you can ask a TCM doctor how to use them or if they are good for you. Ultimately is just about trial-error and see what works for you in the long term. I am not saying you should quit meditation, I am saying that meditation done excessively (for your own body and lifestyle) will change the hormonal cocktail and will trigger some mechanisms. Nocturnal pollution is a very normal mechanism, it is just like the period in women, you can manipulate its manifestation just you have to know what you are doing, what, when, how etc. it's not just sit 2.5 hours everyday and that's it you've done it. Meditation is about inner introspection, how your body works, cause and effect and so on. You correctly identified that overheat is triggering the pollution as well as an incorrect food intake before going to bed, but now you have to identify which food is bad and which is good for cooling down or balancing the energies (neurotransmitters) or no food at all or just a tea. That would work only for you but you have to test it.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Andrei

[SkyReach]

Awesome Post thank you thelerner!

I probably repost this every year. Its got some good advice from a solid traditional serious practitioner who has posted here. It covers things from thought (being on guard against sexualizing woman) to practical (don't use heavy blankets) to spiritual practice (do an 1 to 2.5 hours of meditation before bed)

Great advice! I also found heavy blankets or tight undies can cause problems

By Dao Zhen

I think for serious students, this is a big hurdle to overcome.
It is best to not get into the habit of gaining depression when an emission happens in sleep.
It is natural, and go slow and do not force anything, nor become obsessed with "saving" jing.
Keep practice, follow solid methods and guidelines.
With time, all will become secure quite naturally.
I have found the following to be a help for me in my practice.
Yet this is by no means advise from an expert, as I have very little experience.
In the tradition I am learning, it is generally accepted that a serious student is celibate.

Great advice. I admit that I do get depressed when I have an emission, but this is mainly because I do feel the consequences. I don't feel the energy as well in my body, my meditations don't go as smooth or deep afterwards, my allergies flare up sometimes, Im not as content, less energy, need more sleep, etc.. Ill try to not be so hard on myself. I tend to be much more dedicated once I have some time under my belt in conserving. I more motivation but when I have a loss I loose motivation. I need to work on this.

- Points to help prevent emission during sleep -

1. Change conditioned habits and patterns in regards to viewing and interacting with women - on the street, and in the manner we speak and deal with them in public situations -

If we flirt, and have playful interaction with women, it may stir things up quite a bit, and cause trouble during sleep.

Honor and respect women as your sisters in Tao, yet do not view them as sexual objects, nor project sexual fantasy on women.

1-a. Do not view pornography video, magazine, or sexual movies.

2. Diet. Do not over eat, and do not go to bed while full. I have found it best to eat the last meal of the day around 5pm or so. Also in the tradition I am learning, it is thought best to follow a simple vegetarian diet, with no spice, garlic, onion, scallion, chives, and cilantro.

I did not know cilantro could cause problems! Good to know

3. Do not have very heavy blankets on the body that will create too much heat when sleeping.

4. Do not sleep on the stomach. Sleep on the back with one leg crossed over the other – hands resting below the navel, or on the right side with one leg tucked behind the bottom leg at the knee level – right palm cupping the ear – left palm below navel area.

5. The most important point I have found that helps is to sit for 1 - 2.5 hours or so in proper seated meditation practice before sleep. This is perhaps the most important point, and will yield the most results.

In this tradition, we have a method to transfer Jing to Qi that is taught.

It is termed - "Lighting a Fire", or "Burning a Soft Fire".
It is very effective, and yields the effect of the Jing being transformed to Qi, and really is like something burns away and evaporates.

There is great warmth generated in the Lower Dantian area that moves, and steams upward during the process in a manner that is very pleasurable and uplifting.

One is left with a feeling of great expansion, and the sign that the Jing has been completely transformed, and it is safe to sleep is one has a feeling like a vast, expansive, clear blue sky.

The sign that one has made some gain in transformation of Jing over a period of time, is generally one will stop to have dream activity.

There is a great stillness in the sleep state, and no real strong dream activity.
This is also related to the pattern of the Metal conquering Wood; Or the Po suppressing the Hun during the night.

When the Hun is suppressed by the Po, it wanders away from the sphere of the liver, and the resulting experience is dreams.

As Jing is transformed into Qi, and the Hun is strengthened, there is less and less dream activity during the sleep state.

One sign I have also come to notice is that if I was lazy and just lie down for sleep without practice, there will be a feeling of something stirring in the lower Dantian, like a movement, or maybe even a worm or something is really moving and stirring.

This is a sign that one will experience an emission during sleep, and it is important to have a strong will power, and sit up and cross the legs and sit to Burn the Soft Fire.

It is also a good idea to get into the habit of getting up from sleep at any time in the night when you awake and there is a stirring in the sexual organ, or a strong erection.

Just sit up, cross the legs, and lightly gaze over the Lower Dantian area and sit in stillness.

In this system, they also teach a standing method of body movement, contraction and breathe retention in the first stages to strengthen the lower gate, to help prevent the emission during sleep.

This stage does not last forever.

It is as if the body and being is at first in a habit to let the liquid flow out, and loose the essence.
Yet with slow and steady practice, the body and being learns another way.
It becomes the natural state to preserve the essence, and no loss is experienced.

It is an investment of time.

So it takes a strong and steady will power.
Constant and steady daily practice over a period of time.
Persevere.

Thanks again. I will definetly be applying much of this and burning the slow fire. Just to be sure, this is accomplished by "gazing" over the LDT area correct?

[Andrei]

Just make sure you put a cauldron on that fire and put some water in that cauldron, otherwise you will slowly burn your own soul. Just sayin...

[SkyReach]

You are making lots of good hearted effort!

Thanks!

The tenor of your questions and statements gives the impression that in a certain way you approach this from the idea that you are creating a cocktail and when you get the better part of the formulas working you will start to get the fireworks you want. It reminds me of most of us guys trying to bake something for the first time without a recipe - we are usually the only ones who will eat it.

 

This is a path that will create fireworks unfortunately probably damage and great setbacks - though one can never tell.

It is pretty typical to move from Hatha to Raja Yoga - I did this. Keep up the posture work it is of great benifit given your retention work. You have done no damage to yourself from prior releasing - if you are reading an author that says otherwise - disregard them.

 

The transmutation you seek is best to seek from the LDT and then upward. The energy you wish to fuel transformation in your third eye must come from coarser energies transformed into ever higher energies and this starts in the LDT.

 

Where you are playing with the breathing and the kundalini you are simply playing with fire and if you have concern for damage to yourself, the concern for prior damage from releasing is child's play by comparison to what you may be about to do to your physical systems in this endeavor

I agree, and the last thing that I want to do is create more damage. I do think that excessive loss of "generative force" does indeed damage us though, lessens our lifespan some, and creates some ignorance and lack of intelligence if abused (no pun intended to anyone). I think that it is also stated in the book "Taoist yoga" how excessive loss of generative force is damaging. On a positive note, I know that I should not worry and that any loss can eventually be made up with this system!, and this is one of the reasons that I am here in the first place. Check this article out, http://gnostictransformation.blogspot.com/2009/04/science-of-orgasm.html

I look at it this way-

I used to be a flower farmer, and now I am a vegetable farmer, so I know a good amount about how plants work. There are 2 basic stages, vegetative (growing) and flowering (fruiting). These different stages require different nutrients. In the vegetative stage they require lots of nitrogen. In the flowering stage they require lots of phosphorus. This phosphorus is what allows the flowers to grow and bloom!

The semen is mainly made up of lecithin which is basically a phosphorus compound (read link I posted above for info on this). Studies have shown that the lecithin is stored in the brain and the central nervous system mainly.

This phosphorus compound is what fuels the brain and central nervous system, so If our bodies are lacking these compounds then these bodily systems cannot function at normal or high levels, or at least our potential is limited to some degree.

The chakras are like flowers, and the highest chakra is considered a 1000 petal lotus flower in some traditions! These flowers need to bloom just like a real flower needs to bloom, and for that it needs phosphorus compounds.

When our "stalk" is flowing with high levels of phosphorus compounds, these systems flourish and this is how geniuses are created, look at the continent lives of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Spinoza, Newton, Kant, Beethoven, Herbert Spencer, Tesla, etc. When weak from a lack of these compounds I believe the chakras are temporarily damaged or slowed down, or cannot bloom. This feeds the negative ego's, creates mental and emotional disturbances, brain fog, and a weak nervous system. Im trying to figure out how the lecithin fits in with Taoist teachings. So far I think that the Phosphorus compounds create lots of spark or combustion in the nervous system, which creates internal energy. When we loose semen we leek out energy produced, and energy producing fluids I think. Its like loosing lots of windmill power!

My goals are not to have any fireworks, I just want steady conscious evolution. I want to advance my psychological perceptions and regain my health to its full potential so that I may live as long as possible, leading to a longer life full of spiritual progression! I want all of my flowers to bloom into beautiful consciousness absorbing receptors that help me be a better person and a bearer of some light in this darkened world.

The whole cocktail approach is exactly and precisely where the "alchemist is a fool" - completely missing the entire point. (I am not assuming the worst on your part - I just want to illustrate "the fool" in this caricature).

You do not want to become a careless baking experiement. A concoction made from all the best ingredients does not necessarily make for a good result - you can even have it all correct but then way overheat it.

The Fool forgets that the transformation is the spirit IN embodiment - the enfolding into the physical plane - transcendence from within embodiment - complete nonresistance.

You are not trying to create an escape hatch and rocket fuel - if this was the objective you would not have decided on taking on a body and being here in the first place.

 

Some things take time - it may be that some of this time has already taken place in your distant past - but humility is necessary and patience is also required. A good intelligence is also very important - you have stated that you need work in this area - so you should set out to work on this as well - very important. Try doing one logic problem everyday - or twice a week. Also work on imagining pictures and things vividly - extremely useful. Start with "seeing" things you really like - your favorite food or cars or mountains.

 

For the most part, without instruction stick to typical yogic breathing - breathing into the abdominal area or specifically into the LDT.

If you are not working with an instructor and a whole and proven teaching then breathing techniques are more detrimental than helpful. Reverse breathing can be very damaging and breathing into the base of your spine without a clue is probably more along the line of playing with TNT while thinking it is small firecrackers.

Im not worried about RAB, Im more worried about loosing generative force, and I believe RAB is something that can help keep me from loosing it. I am not sick or in ill health in any way, my psychological state is solid, and I have a clear vision of what I want to accomplish in life. I refuse to allow fear to control my life, but at the same time I know my limits.

 

You should not be trying "to concentrate" energies in the third eye area - this is wrong thinking and or wrong translation. Effort in this area is the opposite of what you desire. Effort in this sense is the opposite of what is required on the entire journey.

That is not to say persistence is not required or discipline - both of which you seem to have.

This was taught to me from the head of the Himalayan Institute of Yoga. Its called prana dharana, and they teach it because supposedly the pituitary region is the most sensitive region in the body so this is the best zone to learn how to "feel" the prana within the body, and is also the area used to "concentrate" and stabilize the mind so that you can compact it and get good enough of a feel for it to eventually start to move it into other areas of the body. This would help me to have deeper concentration on the LDT area I would think. Maybe I am mixing traditions too much but I just don't see the harm.

Quote:

 

"Next I think we need to bring the spirit (fire) once it is good and concentrated, down to the lower dantian just below the belly button and concentrate on this area correct?"

Just the opposite - the energies rise upward from the LDT

You concentrate energy only in the LDT and from there the energies will transform and rise not by force but as transformation has taken place and this is where real effort pays off.

 

Real effort is intentional suffering - intentionally holding oneself in the termoil of life and transcending habits and proclivities that are reactionary and base. This is the heat for the fire. This is that which is necessary for the tempering of the metals.

Posture work is incredibly effective during this process - not "head" work.

Filling the LDT allows for the energies of the termoil of life and the robustness to meet them head on - postures and breathing help you to break patterns and relinquish fear and distribute energy to all possible abilities of the body.

 

Meditation helps to assimilate the changes and brings you to be seated within the body and in communication with the intuition that comes from this union. Here you join the horse with the rider and become one.

Great info thank you so much Spotless!

[SkyReach]

SkyReach, try drinking these teas and see which is working best for you:

Reishi /Lingzhi/Ganoderma (neutral)

Rehmannia root (Yin) combined with Turmeric (Yang) or Ginger (very Yang) if producing gases.

American ginseng root (Yin)

Korean ginseng root (Yang)

Wolfberries/Goji/Gou zhi/ Lycium (neutral)

Cinnamon bark (Yang)

Star Anise (Yang)

He Shou Wu (slightly toxic for liver, better combine with Milk Thistle to help liver processing the toxins)

All these are traditionally used in Chinese Medicine, they all are adaptogens and regulate the hormonal production and neurotransmitters. You can mix all of them or just pick one or two usually in Yin-Yang pairs. You can get them from a Chinese store in bulk, or you can ask a TCM doctor how to use them or if they are good for you. Ultimately is just about trial-error and see what works for you in the long term. I am not saying you should quit meditation, I am saying that meditation done excessively (for your own body and lifestyle) will change the hormonal cocktail and will trigger some mechanisms. Nocturnal pollution is a very normal mechanism, it is just like the period in women, you can manipulate its manifestation just you have to know what you are doing, what, when, how etc. it's not just sit 2.5 hours everyday and that's it you've done it. Meditation is about inner introspection, how your body works, cause and effect and so on. You correctly identified that overheat is triggering the pollution as well as an incorrect food intake before going to bed, but now you have to identify which food is bad and which is good for cooling down or balancing the energies (neurotransmitters) or no food at all or just a tea. That would work only for you but you have to test it.

I already use many of these things, but Im now realizing that I may be using an excess of Yang spices and herbs and not enough Yin. Yea I do lots of introspection meditation, Its so beneficial!

Alchemical balance, that's what I need!

Just make sure you put a cauldron on that fire and put some water in that cauldron, otherwise you will slowly burn your own soul. Just sayin...

How do make the cauldron?

 

I don't wanna burn my soul lol

Edited January 4, 2015 by SkyReach

[SkyReach]

When your first drawing it out of the scrotum, each point along the orbit is one breath. Once it feels like it's moving more freely, use the 'four cardinal points', one breath for each. And once it flows easily through these, one inhalation should take it from bottom to top, and the exhalation from top to bottom.

 

Don't force it along its path.

 

Also, everyone else is right in saying that this practice requires a yogic diet, and remaining pure in mind as well. Bit if you've been celibate for a year now I think you'll have no problems at all once you get the feel for it

Awesome information thanks a lot!

[Spotless]

Their is nothing wrong with fireworks per se - it is just fireworks out of sequence - like shooting off commercial fireworks inside your home.

I have had massive fireworks but never something that created panic or pain.

 

It always proceeded unexpectedly by grace and not manipulation or force - very validating and exceptional - great light.

 

Try not to over-engineer your thinking - the real stuff obliterates all the thinking - nothing you are thinking is paving the way for anything in this path.

[SkyReach]

thanks for all of the help

Edited January 5, 2015 by SkyReach

[Andrei]

How do make the cauldron?

 

I don't wanna burn my soul lol

 

It's a metaphor. Taoists spoke mostly through metaphors and most people around here take them literally. "Burning your soul" is also a metaphor.

[Daeluin]

How do make the cauldron?

 

Liu Yiming, Awakening to the Tao, (Cleary):

 

 

 

Steadying the Furnace and Setting up the Cauldron

 

When alchemists cook medicines, first they must steady the furnace and set up the cauldron. The quality of the cauldron is firmness, whereby the medicine is contained; the quality of the furnace is flexibility, whereby the firing is operated. If the cauldron is not strong, the medicine is easily lost; if the furnace is not steady, the fire flies off at random.

 

What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of refining body and mind. Firmness of determination in cultivating the Tao is the cauldron. Becoming stronger with perseverance, never turning back even though foiled a hundred times, being imperturbable, unwavering -- this is "setting up the cauldron." Alert observation at all times is the furnace. Working gradually, serenely, unpressured -- this is "steadying the furnace."

 

When the cauldron and furnace are stabilized properly, you burn away the acquired habits that have become compulsive over the course of personal history, thus bringing to light the original state of completeness, sloughing off all acquired pollutants.

 

When the slag is gone and the gold is pure, you get rid of the old and take the new. Now you change the furnace and cauldron, and set aside the tongs and bellows, to do advanced work, melting the real gold down into liquid and frost, returning to the state before birth.

 

So it is that the alchemical classics and writings of the adepts consider steadying the furnace and setting up the cauldron the first priority.

[ChiDragon]

It's a metaphor. Taoists spoke mostly through metaphors and most people around here take them literally. "Burning your soul" is also a metaphor.

FYI.....

The oven in external alchemy is the cauldron. Metaphorically, the cauldron is analogous to your lower dan tian(abdomen) as in the internal alchemy.

 

Fire is the burning fuel for external alchemy and your breath(oxygen) is the fuel for burning in internal alchemy.

Edited January 10, 2015 by ChiDragon

[kio]

How do make the cauldron?

 

I don't wanna burn my soul lol

Lol... But this is the whole point of internal alchemy, to set the soul on fire and begin to cook it (sublimation).

 

If you're doing it correctly, physical heat will be generated. The thing you want to watch out for is heating the Numinous Spirit too much (and thereby burning yourself through nervous exhaustion) and not heating it enough, in which no development ensues.

 

The cauldron is already there, you just have to reinforce it with practice

Edited January 9, 2015 by kio