New 100-Day Challenge!

[the1gza]

Well man... I took a nap, it was very... stimulating, and now I am back at 0 hahahaha. I mean, is there any tips on what to do about dreams when trying to retain, because this came outta nowhere. At least I feel ok, but the counter is starting over.

[dogson]

Yep, I reset today too actually. Don't beat yourself up about it too much, it happens.

I've never had it happen in my sleep, only once in my life when I was 13. I will say that young coconut meat is said to replenish in one day what normally takes 35 days to totally come back.

 

Other foods that nourish jing/semen: pine nuts (really a seed), pine pollen, pumpkin seeds (one of the best sources of zinc), sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, walnuts, goji berries, schizandra berries, maca, chaga (rich in zinc); oysters;  saturated fats of all kinds are good for building hormones. Cholesterol gets a bad rap but you actually need cholesterol to build hormones. Eggs, red meat (especially lamb) are great for building jing for this reason.

 

On the herbal side: ho shu wu, schizandra, deer antler, ant (rich in zinc), eucommia, ashwagandha, astragalus, nettle root

 

And let's not forget Sunlight, especially in the lower quadrants, very important and useful, at least 20 minutes direct exposure.

Edited March 29, 2015 by dogson

[the1gza]

Well yea, I woke up and it was like,. "Well oops!" I mean I wanted to feel bad, but it was like, "There ain't shit I can do about that at this stage of development." Granted, it was still a bit salty (Most certainly no pun intended; I don't know what that shit tastes like lol), but I couldn't really get heated about it. 

 

It's kinda strange that you mention a lot of these foods, because besides the animal-flesh foods (I been a vegetarian since I was born, and while I don't think that meat is bad for humans, there are just qualities with meat that are far too unappealing for me to even desire to eat it), I've used all these foods. For some reason, herbs and special foods don't seem to be things that are very helpful to me. I'm not just speaking in terms of sexual stimulation, but they've been somewhat useless for me with my health period hahaha. I can say that out of them, I have had a beneficial and sizeably life-changing benefit from the herbal fruit blend triphala; that shit is absolutely amazing for your gut health. That's what also stirred interest in Ho shu wu when you brought it up, because it seems blends do a pretty good deal of work for me on that end. I also will state that I really got into herbs as a raw foodist, and for them it was like, "Do not cook anything, including herbs". That turned out to be a pretty shortsighted and ignorant way of using things, as some of these herbals got no power without heat extraction.

 

What I can say is that I don't really feel that different, in fact it's like it never happened. Perhaps I won't know unless I start my exercises again, but hell, I woke up earlier and went to bed earlier than usual. I didn't fall tired because of it, I actually just threw out a great deal of riffraff activity that normally has me awake until 5-6 am in the morning. So when I did wake up early today, I didn't feel like I wanted to go back to bed. Hahaha, it almost seems like I am lauding what happened, which I am not. Rather, I am pointing out that, at least for me, it hasn't proven to bee the worst thing in the world, and I'm not going to go fishing for catastrophe if it ain't there. Overall, the days were far more productive and, for whatever reason, FAR less stressful and hectic. I mean I can't even really say enough about the latter point; the days even seem longer and capable of having more room for accomplishment. I don't think it is lost though, so I will see what's up.

[dogson]

Trained 2 hours xing yi today, and about 15 minutes of the ZMQ37 form.

Also been studying Bruce Frantzis "tai chi fighting applications" videos which are quite good.

[the1gza]

Day 1:

 

All of the below exercises are from Stephen Chang's Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises.

 

Deer Exercise: 3x/day - (16:00) 

Turtle Exercises: 3x/day - (15:00)

Crane Exercise: 3x/day - (20:00)

Deer/Crane/Turtle combined form: 3x/day - (18:00)

Solar Plexus Exercise: 4x/day - (20:00)

Abdominal Strengthening: 4x/day -(10:00)

 

Semen Retention: 1 day

 

I'm back at it; I forgot about the General Maintenance but I'm gonna get to those tomorrow

[the1gza]

Day 2:

 

All of the below exercises are from Stephen Chang's Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises.

 

General Maintenance Exercises - 50:00

Lower Back Exercises: (10:00)

Lung Exercise: (5:00)

Liver Exercise: (10:00)

Kidney Exercise: (5:00)

Sexual Gland & Lower Body Exercises (5:00)

Arm Exercises: (10:00)

Deer Exercise: 3x/day - (16:00) 

Turtle Exercises: 3x/day - (15:00)

Crane Exercise: 3x/day - (20:00)

Deer/Crane/Turtle combined form: 2x/day - (12:00)

Solar Plexus Exercise: 4x/day - (20:00)

Abdominal Strengthening: 4x/day -(10:00)

 

Semen Retention: 2 days

[dogson]

Trained xing yi about an hour today, doubling up on yoga and xingyi class this coming week. Super psyched. April feels good.

[the1gza]

Day 7:

 

All of the below exercises are from Stephen Chang's Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises.

 

General Maintenance: (1:00:00)

Deer Exercise: 2x/day - (16:00) 

Turtle Exercises: 2x/day - (15:00)

Crane Exercise: 2x/day - (20:00)

Deer/Crane/Turtle combined form: 2x/day - (18:00)

Solar Plexus Exercise: 2x/day - (10:00)

Abdominal Strengthening: 2x/day -(5:00)

 

Semen Retention: 7 day

 

I realize that I should probably stick to leaving my posts to being strictly based on practice that I am doing, or interested in doing. I'm not really a guy who gives a crap about things creational theories, philosophies, or the "laws of the universe". I have my own take on them, obviously, but there is no reason for me to get into debates based on mental ideology. It's something that I thought would not be so emphasized here, as we do focus on spiritual models that prioritize knowledge through practice as the the primary vehicle of teaching. It's no big thing, I just realize that i have gotten back into the groove of a bad habit that I discarded a while ago. So my fault for instigating any such activity on any thread, because my aim is focused on cultivation practice, not spiritual ideology.

[dogson]

Self-expression is a human need very often overlooked when taking a completely practical viewpoint. The ones who don't have that need, or who have transcended it, those are the hermits practicing deep in the mountains, the ones I'm going to china to find this summer. I do appreciate your focusing on practice though, that's something I wish TTB focused on more. But forums in general serve as meeting places to share any kind of thoughts or experience. That's the upside and downside of the internet... you can just write whatever nonsense without much fear of what people think.

 

1 hour xing yi

1 hour meditation

[the1gza]

Well, I have found that self-expression is best approached from practice, at least when you are doing this type of work. I feel that humans are somewhat stuck in a linear mode of expression, and in my experience, this has been mostly what's facilitated in forums. There is more than enough self-expression we can facilitate when talking about practice, rather than focusing on ideologies written in times and by people we can barely comprehend. My self-expression is almost over-exaggerated in the realm of theoretical debate, and I found that it often leads nowhere. So I don't really have a problem with self-expression, it's rather that the focus is purely on mentation without practical application based on "inner" self-expression. Those hermits are doing a lot of self-expression, we just wouldn't have a clue how to orient to those guys because they have expanded their framework of what that self-expression is. 

[GreytoWhite]

While I was not participating in the beginning I'd like to share something that I've been doing the past month or so - neigong on a bicycle. A little while back I was riding my bicycle for the first time in what seemed like ages and wondered if I could still ride without hands. Confirming that I now have much better balance than I previously did I then experimented with holding the ball. Once holding the ball with minor silk reeling internal adjustments was not an issue I moved into larger silk reeling patterns. Well one thing I've learned is that chansi enables me to steer without hands so long as none of the turns are too sharp. I've also noticed that I have to massage my legs more and stretch but it also "densifies" my legs by stabilizing qi and removing blockages. Big increases in stability and balance as well as power have come about in the past few weeks and I'm quite pleased with the results. 

 

Non-physically I've noticed a number of things. Firstly, I am so grateful for a canal path where I can ride and work on this with some level of privacy it seems when others look at what I'm doing I get these weird energy bursts. Secondly, I seem to enter this "stream" state if I can get my breathing and leg pumping in proper sync. It's really intense and things seem to move like I'm about to jump to hyperspace from Star Wars. Thirdly, I'm far more detached from physical/emotional sensation. I recently tripped on some psilocybin mushrooms and it was one of the most productive and purifying mushroom experiences I've ever had - during that trip found and banished an attached serpent entity that had coiled around my throat and sunk its fangs into my heart.

 

If you want to try this make sure your seat is up high enough so that your leg almost extends all the way (85-90%) and your K1 point is on the center of the pedal. I don't have clips but that would probably make this whole thing easier.

[dogson]

If you want to try this make sure your seat is up high enough so that your leg almost extends all the way (85-90%) and your K1 point is on the center of the pedal. I don't have clips but that would probably make this whole thing easier.

 

I was going to ask about this - I've been concerned about biking and the intense pressure on the perenium/prostate/balls blocking qi flow. Have you noticed this at all?

 

Regarding my lack of involvement with TTB lately, GZA got me thinking about how little discussion of actual practice takes place here, and I realized my time is better served reading books than forum-rolling. My job producing music is spent behind a screen already, so I've been limiting my time on the internet with apps like SelfControl, AntiSocial and Freedom. I'm headed to Taiwan soon for a xing yi immersion. I can literally feel the cell phone side of my head twitching whenever I touch my iPhone 6 (and I don't even put it to my head for phone calls!), which is a pretty strong reason to start shunning electronics for a season.

 

I'm going to award the prize to the1gza, as almost no one else participated in this challenge, and I want to own up to my promise before I leave the country. If I find a good master I may stay indefinitely. GZA, PM me your details and I'll FedEX you a prize. Let me know if you want the xing yi course, the tai chi mastery course, or both. I trust you'll only take what you're committed to using; your discipline in this challenge is truly inspiring and you definitely deserve this material man. Thanks for being an accountability buddy too, and for introducing me to The Book of Internal Exercises.

Edited April 20, 2015 by dogson

[the1gza]

No problem, and honestly I stopped posting because I simply just forgot hahaha. I mean, at a point, posting things like retention days was redundant, because it stopped being "special" in a sense that it is just a normal thing right now. I'll hit you up with the details, and I am aiming for the tai chi course. Thanks

[dogson]

Cool. That's awesome about the retaining by the way, I go through cycles where it stops being an issue. Further to the point, if you have a specific amount of days in mind (as I do - 100) STAY STRONG if your urges reappear, there's nothing worse than beating yourself up for a slip when you could have that psychological strength.

 

I think at a certain point you do, truly, become "Full" and you can handle a release, but the benefit of psychologically knowing you're at day 65, or day 80 - the benefit of that is huge. So if you have already decided on an amount of time just crush it, if your body actually needs the release that's why nocturnal emissions exists, the will power aspect of knowing you got the victory is important.

 

Creating cycles of confidence and victories, from small ones to huge ones, is the real game of life no matter what you want to accomplish...

[the1gza]

Yea, I have gotten to a point that it really doesn't matter to me. Unless I am having a child, and I am certainly not trying to in anything that could remotely be considered the near future, I really don't see a point to agitate it on my own. I also have an extremely dwindling attraction to the idea of having sex with a woman who does not hold her primordial evolution to the same, or higher, regards as I do. It's a little alien, because cute women have always been something that my attention prioritized. For that to not be the case anymore, and for me to be more and more comfortable with the possibility of not having relations with an "earthly" woman at all (there are several "otherworldly women" that I have been in contact with), is something that, while alien, is becoming eerily comfortable. It's strange because I can't really seem to be interested in anything a "normal" 27-year-old is, but hey...

[LifeJourney3000]

Cool. That's awesome about the retaining by the way, I go through cycles where it stops being an issue. Further to the point, if you have a specific amount of days in mind (as I do - 100) STAY STRONG if your urges reappear, there's nothing worse than beating yourself up for a slip when you could have that psychological strength.

 

I think at a certain point you do, truly, become "Full" and you can handle a release, but the benefit of psychologically knowing you're at day 65, or day 80 - the benefit of that is huge. So if you have already decided on an amount of time just crush it, if your body actually needs the release that's why nocturnal emissions exists, the will power aspect of knowing you got the victory is important.

 

Creating cycles of confidence and victories, from small ones to huge ones, is the real game of life no matter what you want to accomplish...

I've been following this thread off and on since it started. I haven't been part of this particular challenge since I have been on my own since before this one began. But, I have to agree that once you have reached a certain point and time, you really don't have any desire to stop. 

 

I'm on my 141th day. My intention was to reach 100 days, but I've just decided to continue. I've done retention, off and on, for almost 2 years and every time I've retained it became easier and easier. My longest stretch was 112 days just before my existing one.

 

The major reason for starting this is because I was a internet porn addict. I would binge on the weekends after long week at work to blow off steam. It was personally very draining when the next day (either Saturday or Sunday morning) I would wake up having brain fog and couldn't concentrate. The next week would be trying to recover from the binging. It was a vicious cycle. There were times that I would say I'm quitting this time, but I would always find myself saying a little peek wouldn't hurt. Then I get sucked in.

 

Have I fallen during this stretches you may ask? Yes I have many times. Once I binged on watching porn without releasing within the first month of my 112 day retention and you feel just as bad, maybe even worse. This current stretch of retention I had relapsed one night and binged on porn for two hours the day after new years. But, didn't release. I felt like crap for the next week, but slowly I started to feel better.

 

Meditation has been pivotal for me to keep me grounded when I feel agitated. But, I agree that even if I were to see porn, say on TV, it doesn't do anything for me now. Like I don't even have the desire to watch it. I get little reaction from it. I believe this is the key when it comes to an addiction, once you have completely committed to overcoming the addiction, you find you are not a slave to it anymore.

Edited April 24, 2015 by LifeJourney3000

[dogson]

Yeah man, I regularly drop into /r/nofap and I love seeing the similarities between people undertaking it in that community and this one. I mention this to both groups but very few people are interested. It's frustrating that by and large, people are really unwilling to explore outside of their chosen mileu. It's so amazing to be hanging out on reddit, taobums, chilling with yoga people, DJs, producers, finance people, chefs, and to enjoy the creativity and the benefits of all these different people. I think that's real taoism. Look at the world you live in and look at who you are and just explore and develop. Constantly. Look at what habits are sapping the most energy and just evade them, do something else, drink coffee and go to an art gallery. Commit to doing something wildly different instead of getting on the internet when you come home at night.

[LifeJourney3000]

Dogson,

 

It is so true what you said. Ever since I started this journey I am a different person. I feel more confident, more grounded and out going more than before. I've concentrated my energy on things that matter to me. I went to Europe last year (have a house there which I go to every year), and the first time I actually was very social and getting a lot done. Usually, I ejaculate every other day and this time I did not do it once. The two years before I was actually watching too much porn and releasing, which made me depressed. I had ruined my whole trip because I was anguish and lethargic.

 

So now I am on my 158th day. I really don't miss it. Sometimes I catch myself and say, "Hey I can't believe it has been that long".  Its gotten to the point where I don't crave it anymore. Like I've become accustomed to this lifestyle. I'm not fighting any urge to give in. Which I believe is one of those dangers that has been discussed here; you beat yourself up because you gave in. It's not about the longevity anymore. 

Edited May 12, 2015 by LifeJourney3000

[Henchman21]

congrats to all the practitioners here. i hope to participate in something like this in the future!

[ケンジ]

For me this is life and death. That sounds very silly and extreme, but I am not exaggerating. I believe I open demonic pathways and invite entities into my space when I engage in masturbation and view erotica even one time.

 

Not to mention I am also a drug addict (trying to put the benders behind me for good) so when I open these demonic doors through lust it activates my other addictions and it is 'all aboard the hell express' from there.

 

Perhaps this thread can convery much much better what on Earth I am speaking of as if it doesn't sound like phooey already,

 

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread693255/pg1

 

Not to mention ejaculating alone for a man is basically energy suicide, so in a way I am shortening my lifespan and slowly killing myself everytime. It's been a couple weeks since the last 'edging' episode which was utterly demonic and I was drunk and on dangerous chemicals once it was underway. I know there are forces outside my own mind at play with these addictions, but I take full responsibility for the choices I made.

 

I am an active user on NoFap in fact I promote this forum sometimes lol, my username is the same over there as here.

 

My Master is aware of my problem and is very supportive and really cares about me so I do have hope I can overcome this problem, also my kung fu brothers are my main support and have made it clear I need to reach out before I go mess up again.

 

This is not some temporary challenge, this must be a change for the rest of my life. Sublimation and transmutation, the only time I want to ejaculate ever again is if I am trying to get my future wife pregnant if I ever get married. Otherwise celibacy unless I find a loving partner and may have non-ejaculatory sex with.

 

I do not view things from the perspective of a 'worldling', I am a very spiritual man. So please forgive this post.

Edited June 12, 2015 by ケンジ

[dogson]

Now this shit is getting real. Yes, life and death. Very well said.

Genetically, different men have different amounts of jing - the guys who can afford to blow it out every day usually end up being rock stars, and then die young. But for a cultivator of any stripe, I truly believe that if a man doesn't at least attempt a 30 day period of abstinence, why even bother cultivating chi at all?

 

So much of the self-help industry and the health industry feels broken due to missing this. Imagine a mechanic who tells you to keep trying different things, replacing parts - meanwhile, you're driving the car with no fuel and no oil. That's the problem in 99% of the cases in this world, and every "hater" is basically just starving from energy suicide, which is also emotional suicide.

 

as per the Demonic side, Leonard Orr writes about this in his books on physical immortality - he calls it the unconscious death urge. Most of western society doesn't believe in god, or any kind of divine force. Straight up, it's just all inert dead matter, so it follows that those people, too, would strive to become dead matter. It's a function of the materialist worldview.

 

The good news is, people are very impressionable, especially at the psychic level. I've posted at length here about Ho'oponopono, forgiveness, as well as just aggressively clearing the energy with raw intent. It's not for the faint of heart. I just feel energy so intensely that I have to do it, much as you have to flush the toilet if it's full of sewage.

 

i used to post my testosterone stack jutsu - various herbs and supplements combined with sunbathing etc - but I think the mentality of being celibate is more powerful, because you begin feeling blessed all the time. Which is better than feeling like an aggressive, sex-starved alpha male, for sure. I'm in Bali right now, and they make offerings at least 3 times a day to the various spiritual forces, and every single day is a holiday of one kind or another. It's so beautiful. I've seen people get into traffic collisions here and both people are just smiling through it. That's the consciousness we're going for. Within that consciousness, everything else is just details.

 

Much love sir. Thanks for your input.

[the1gza]

The funny thing is that a person can have sexual enjoyment and actually benefit themselves. The problem is that people are not very willing to investigate and try things that might be completely customized; there's a harsh dependency on the work of ancestors. The problem with that, in addition to being stagnant, is that we often have way less info on what they did than we think we do. Most people do not know the shamanic roots of Yoga, Taoist alchemy, magick, and the like. Many of these cultures had practices in which the practitioner made love with otherworldly beings, and I say otherworldly quite literally here. I don't use spiritual because that gives the idea of utilizing something that is not as "material" at this world, when in actuality these are just beings that live on different wavelengths than the ones prioritized by people in the general world.

But all that is to say is that there are many ways to satisfy certain desires and actually fall in line with things like conserving Jing. It's just that those things can be somewhat uncomfortable; I've had incredibly satisfying encounters with female deities and primordial beings. Moreover, these interactions were EXTREMELY beneficial from an energetic and health point-of-view, and contained sexual sensations that are WAAAYYY too multifaceted to put into normal linguistics. Despite that, I found myself uncomfortable with the idea of not having a girlfriend, even though I don't even want one hahaha. I stopped completely just from a priority stream that I didn't even realize had no meaning to me. I had long-surmised that it wasn't important for me to have a "human" female companion because of this, but I somewhat underestimated to comfort of normal priorities and how they could impact my decisions. But it was so nestled that I not only stopped that deity sex, I went back to watching porn, which is easily more defeating than deity sex (I find that deity sex increases your ability to attract women quite a bit). It helps to add that deity sex has only be ejaculatory in one instance for me, and I've had primordial sex well over 300 times.
 

So it is honestly about priorities. Most of this involves letting go of old priorities, or at least our idea of old priorities. I often find that the "letting go" procedure is not so much a thing of getting rid of desires, but actually expanding the perception of how that desire manifests. I don't think sex is to be shunned, but rather that folks need to allow for sex to manifest in fashions that are far more expansive than just "bustin' a nut". The issue is that most cannot get over that, and it has been my experience that I often cannot understand how some people practice Qigong or other arts and don't feel deep changes that inspire them to explore beyond their comfort zones, or don't produce experiences that allow them to accept that "siddhis" or "superpowers" as anything more than metaphors. However, what I do see is that there is a huge issue with individuals being able to open into new ways of living and prioritizing. Perhaps it's a security issue... who knows. We just gotta be able to do it for ourselves while we are aware of things. 

[Blackfinger]

... Look at the world you live in and look at who you are and just explore and develop. Constantly. Look at what habits are sapping the most energy and just evade them, do something else, drink coffee and go to an art gallery. Commit to doing something wildly different......

excellent nugget of far-reaching advice there. kudos.