Strength of concentration in MCO

[Manaus]

Hello,

I've been a reader of Mantak's books ever since, but the practice as exposed by him never ringed a bell. He talks about 'points', 'concentration', which in the ears of a westener sound like 'no pain, no gain'. Am I missing something? I've heard: The more strength, the less qi but also: the more concentration, the more qi.

What is the strength you apply when practicing microcosmic orbit meditation? How do I know when it's right?

 

Thanks!

[forestofclarity]

I haven't read Chia in years, but I can say that I doubt he means a strong, tense concentration. I remember a lot of focus on relaxing. There is an old Taoist story about the farmer who planted seeds, and impatient with his progress, tried to help them grow by pulling on them. Of course, it didn't work, and he ruined his harvest.

 

I've been meditating a very long time and have to learn the hard way that strong, tense concentration isn't healthy. If you bring that type of tension to the LDT, I think you're going to have a lot of problems. I see my energy body like a flower. You can't make flowers bloom. But with water and sunshine, they will bloom naturally. 

 

Rather, what I've seen most effective in my own practice is light concentration. Attention in some ways is itself like a light. You don't need to do anything to it intensity wise. You just need to pick where it goes.

 

For example, think of a cat. You can do it instantly, without effort. The same goes with concentration. When the attention wanders off, just bring it back. It will wander off quite a bit, but over time it will wander less. 

[Manaus]

Unfortunately I never received a sensation of 'openness' from Chia's books, where the energy center are tiny dots. But maybe that is because I read the books translated. Until recently, when I got some digital copies of the original. Still, who knows, deep imprinting... 

 

I notice that if I keep a relaxed focus, energy starts to go by itself, but in the wrong direction (up to the throat). And my energy sensation is not a dot, either.

[RiverSnake]

Manipulation of chi is a subtle art. Relax and be gentle...its not like hammering a screw. Also i do not recommend Mantak Chia, his methods can be a bit dicey...IMO. 

[soaring crane]

Those tiny dots are a distraction.

 

Entire cities are represented by tiny dots on maps. But the dot isn't the city and reality is far far more complex than the graphic representation. It takes a lot of time to familiarize yourself with a city, and the energy centers of the body are no different.

[Aetherous]

The more concentration on a part of the body, the more stagnant and disturbed your qi becomes...whereas if you do no method, then your qi normalizes. Have barely any focus on the areas, and don't feel the need to spend a lot of time at each one, just a little bit and then move on...if you really insist on using such methods. Play with energy, don't try to control it...qi follows where the mind goes, no need to wait for it or try to feel it. Just my view.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Aetherous

[Seth Ananda]

My experience has been like this:

Tense or forced concentration does not develop very well and can even burn out.

Relaxed gentle concentration gets stronger and stronger, is easily sustained and can become immensely pleasurable.  

[Perceiver]

Mantak chia has a tendency to make exercises overly complicated. He likes details, it seems.

 

In my experience with the mco i've found that the best results come from, as seth ananda says, a gentle concentration where you just let the orbit run itself while you observe it.

[Manaus]

In my opinion, Mantak's teaching is often paradoxical: 

 

- follow the flow of energy, but bring it down

- a sincere smile has value, but picture it in front of you at command (even fake is ok)

- concentrate like a lenses with sun rays, but maintain 90% attention at LDT 

- MCO should always start from LDT, but you can start from mid eye brow

- LDT is at the navel, but it is at the center of navel/sexual center/ming men

- complete the MCO before macrocosmic (legs, hands), but if qi is stuck at the head concentrate on the feet

- inner smile focuses on heart, MCO don't concentrate too much on heart

 

How much frustration this brings, maybe it's part of the training, who knows?

[soaring crane]

In my opinion, Mantak's teaching is often paradoxical: 

 

That's a good way of putting it, yes. I'd wager you can get more solid information here than from Chia's books, but I guess it can become quite paradoxical here, too.

[forestofclarity]

Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. Do you reject centering on the LDT? This is the one universal method I have been taught across traditions. I find that centering helps me remain grounded and present. 

 

In my mind, our qi starts out fairly disturbed and scattered. Most people are so distracted that they seem unaware that they even have bodies unless they're sick. Concentration practices or qigong with forms is a way to re-introduce the energy body to a more spontaneous state. In the TTC Chapter 38, Laozi describes the degeneration of the Tao to virtue to kindness to justice to ritual. One might think that this also presents a ladder to return to the Tao: ritual, to justice, to kindness, to virtue, to Tao. Someone at the low end of the ladder might even reject ritual, and claim they are already spontaneous. 

 

Spontaneous methods appear to me to be about learning to flow. But without first being collected, what is there to flow? 

 

What do you think?

 

The more concentration on a part of the body, the more stagnant and disturbed your qi becomes...whereas if you do no method, then your qi normalizes.

[RiverSnake]

When I first started out in my practice I handled energy in a very crass way....and it worked....although crude....but as you alchemize oneself and become more attuned to the subtle....then the subtle aspects of ones practice opens up. New worlds of depth and subtle energetics open up and you become more efficient in your usage of energetics.

 

This is a natural result of diligent practice...and a process that most practitioners go through....IMO. Stronger concentration works, but not very well, it's a clunky tool that is eventually discarded when approaching the subtler layers of ones discipline.....IMO.

Edited July 12, 2015 by OldChi

[thelerner]

Its small but there's a verbal bias here.  Concentration tends to denote force/work.  If we substitute the word Awareness we can keep the same phenomena but stay away from the forehead creasing stereotype. 

 

I tend to agree with some advance people that what most think of as MCO is not.  Its a body/nerve mantra that can possibly lead to MCO but its more a drip then fire hose of the full blown 'real' phenomena.  note I am certainly at drip level though like any mantra there are benefits there. 

 

I think getting more familiar with the points along the route is a must.

[RiverSnake]

To add one more point, I think this is why women tend to grasp energetics easier. They know how to be soft and receptive, generally speaking. While men tend to try and "force" things through strength and usually think that more stress and struggle equals better results. You get better results when you are relaxed and in an open state....this applies to most things, even outside of esoterica.

Edited July 12, 2015 by OldChi

[Aetherous]

Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. Do you reject centering on the LDT? This is the one universal method I have been taught across traditions. I find that centering helps me remain grounded and present. 

 

In my mind, our qi starts out fairly disturbed and scattered. Most people are so distracted that they seem unaware that they even have bodies unless they're sick. Concentration practices or qigong with forms is a way to re-introduce the energy body to a more spontaneous state. In the TTC Chapter 38, Laozi describes the degeneration of the Tao to virtue to kindness to justice to ritual. One might think that this also presents a ladder to return to the Tao: ritual, to justice, to kindness, to virtue, to Tao. Someone at the low end of the ladder might even reject ritual, and claim they are already spontaneous. 

 

Spontaneous methods appear to me to be about learning to flow. But without first being collected, what is there to flow? 

 

What do you think?

 

Nope I don't reject centering on LDT. I don't do it personally right now...the way that I center, or basically calm the mind, is by calm abiding meditation on an external object.

[z00se]

The more concentration on a part of the body, the more stagnant and disturbed your qi becomes...whereas if you do no method, then your qi normalizes. Have barely any focus on the areas, and don't feel the need to spend a lot of time at each one, just a little bit and then move on...if you really insist on using such methods. Play with energy, don't try to control it...qi follows where the mind goes, no need to wait for it or try to feel it. Just my view.

 

Yeah i agree. However that is what i find is the beauty of qigong. Gaining consious control over you're body functions that most people can't do.  It's learning new ways to play with your body, it's addictive and fun.  It's not easy and takes years and years to master. It's like an art, like drawing, or painting, but the canvas and paints are setup infront of you always no matter where you are, all day and all night.

 

A blending of TCM theory with qigong. Mantak chia has several different approaches, spiritual, physical, emotional, and they all end up at the same place. Different ways work better for different people. Mantak chia has combinded them all into a system, using TCM theory as the foundation for the first two levels so that one can experience the interactions between the elements themselves... at many different levels.

 

Mantak Chia's methods give the practitioner access to limitless amounts of chi. It's a bit like nuclear power. How big do you make the bomb? Need to be careful you don't blow yourself up. But power is good too. First we thought a hand saw was great for cutting down a tree, then we got two handed saws, and that was the bees knees, double the power. Then i guess larger and larger chainsaws came out and we could chop hundreds of trees down in the time it took to chop down one with a stone axe. More power, more possibilities, more ability. Build up slowly though, you learn to use a hand saw before you use the largest chainsaw available, or end up chopping off your leg.

 

Nope I don't reject centering on LDT. I don't do it personally right now...the way that I center, or basically calm the mind, is by calm abiding meditation on an external object.

 

 

I also like this. Finding ones own way. There are lots of good ways, we can try several different approaches and use what works best for us.

 

After all once you have experienced what your aim for is in qigong, there are so many more things one can do, and things to explore.

 

Answering the OP, you will know you have it right when it does it's self. You will know you are advancing when you need to do less to get to the same point. You will know you are there when the chi dissapears and you just 'live'.

 

I like all the answers in this post. Just do it how you think. You can use strength, but eventually that strength will give way. Use strength but be receptive too. But most of all just practice, there is no substitute. You need do nothing more than practice to find out how to do it right. The right way will be shown to you, that is something you can feel confident in

[z00se]

I haven't read Chia in years, but I can say that I doubt he means a strong, tense concentration. I remember a lot of focus on relaxing. There is an old Taoist story about the farmer who planted seeds, and impatient with his progress, tried to help them grow by pulling on them. Of course, it didn't work, and he ruined his harvest.

 

I've been meditating a very long time and have to learn the hard way that strong, tense concentration isn't healthy. If you bring that type of tension to the LDT, I think you're going to have a lot of problems. I see my energy body like a flower. You can't make flowers bloom. But with water and sunshine, they will bloom naturally. 

 

I like this. It will just bloom by it's self, that is eastern thought. But in the west we control every aspect and also bloom, but with big guns, warships, and medicines and operations that zap cancers and destroy enemies (or others that aren't our enemies). Constant work, finding ways to control the problems that our constant desire for control causes.

 

Either that, or the eastern way, constant work, finding ways to ignore or overcome the temptations for control, where were we to exercise a few of those temptations it would lead us to find it easier to overcome further temptations.

 

So then, we become good at controlling, so good that to an outsider it seems we aren't controlling at all.... or we become so good at flowing and going with the flow that to an outsider it seems we are controlling every single aspect of it.... or number 3, we control sometimes, and other times we flow, and to an outsider they still have no idea of what we are doing inside. It is all a funny game, round and round, no matter which way one looks at it. There is no right or wrong, there is only one's path, And that path should be one that the individual enjoys, else it is all for nothing.

 

There is a time to control, and a time to allow to bloom, which is what you go on to say later. That is also the path i enjoy.

[z00se]

Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. Do you reject centering on the LDT? This is the one universal method I have been taught across traditions. I find that centering helps me remain grounded and present. 

 

In my mind, our qi starts out fairly disturbed and scattered. Most people are so distracted that they seem unaware that they even have bodies unless they're sick. Concentration practices or qigong with forms is a way to re-introduce the energy body to a more spontaneous state. In the TTC Chapter 38, Laozi describes the degeneration of the Tao to virtue to kindness to justice to ritual. One might think that this also presents a ladder to return to the Tao: ritual, to justice, to kindness, to virtue, to Tao. Someone at the low end of the ladder might even reject ritual, and claim they are already spontaneous. 

 

Spontaneous methods appear to me to be about learning to flow. But without first being collected, what is there to flow? 

 

What do you think?

 

I see myself go into ritual, i know it is not healthy. It is good for getting work done, i can work like a madman, drink beers to slow down and sleep, then work again the next day, on and on, powering past others. Some of my best work of my life was done like this. The body doing the same things over and over again, while becomming more and more aligned and intune with the direction it's heading, eventually overdevelops certain muscle groups, certain mental thoughts, certain looping. It all comes to a crashing halt as it swings too far out of balance.

 

What i have found is seeing and realising those overdevelopments early, using TCM theory of foods and qigong meditations to control and limit these overdevelopments both in physical organ tendon meridians within muscle groups and thought patterns, to pull ones self out of the loops that we loose ourselves within, with relative ease... as if there was no attachment to the ritual at all.

 

To me kindness and justiceis the sweet spot to hang around between for health in society. Virtue.... perhaps if you're a hermit, otherwise somebody else might destroy your health.

 

By being spontanious one does indeed learn to flow, and by feeling what is flowing one collects themselves, if you catch my drift (pun intended). I have experience of this, infact more experience than collecting myself first before learning to flow.

 

The vast number of ways to practice qigong is amazing, and becomes aparrent discussing with others. It just sinks home yet again to myself that the most important part of qigong is practice, time spent practicing is much more important than what is practiced. Watching and learning of course are important too.

[z00se]

Mantak chia has a tendency to make exercises overly complicated. He likes details, it seems.

 

In my experience with the mco i've found that the best results come from, as seth ananda says, a gentle concentration where you just let the orbit run itself while you observe it.

 

It is very complicated, agreed. With complexity comes a fast but disorientating path to percieved great power.

 

What are the best results? What is your goal? Balance, calmness, keen observations power of mental faculties? Obviously that would be achieved if that is what you are practicing.

 

But were pushing, pulling, powering up organs, strengthinging organs to physical martial arts attacks, or healing physically sick organs were the goal, then Iron Shirt would see the best results.

 

Horses for courses, Practices for capabilities

 

Mantak chia has a huge amount of course content. One can't read Chia's MCO book and understand what healing tao is all about. There are 3 levels, and each level goes to the peak of the mountain along a different route. One can't understand without climbing at least halfway on each route.

[Spotless]

In my opinion, Mantak's teaching is often paradoxical: 

 

- follow the flow of energy, but bring it down

- a sincere smile has value, but picture it in front of you at command (even fake is ok)

- concentrate like a lenses with sun rays, but maintain 90% attention at LDT 

- MCO should always start from LDT, but you can start from mid eye brow

- LDT is at the navel, but it is at the center of navel/sexual center/ming men

- complete the MCO before macrocosmic (legs, hands), but if qi is stuck at the head concentrate on the feet

- inner smile focuses on heart, MCO don't concentrate too much on heart

 

How much frustration this brings, maybe it's part of the training, who knows?

 

Paradox is part of much of this type of training - all of the practice we speak of here.

[z00se]

In my opinion, Mantak's teaching is often paradoxical: 

 

- follow the flow of energy, but bring it down

- a sincere smile has value, but picture it in front of you at command (even fake is ok)

- concentrate like a lenses with sun rays, but maintain 90% attention at LDT 

- MCO should always start from LDT, but you can start from mid eye brow

- LDT is at the navel, but it is at the center of navel/sexual center/ming men

- complete the MCO before macrocosmic (legs, hands), but if qi is stuck at the head concentrate on the feet

- inner smile focuses on heart, MCO don't concentrate too much on heart

 

How much frustration this brings, maybe it's part of the training, who knows?

 

Yes it is part of the training. All these eastern teachings are paradoxical, a bit like a japanese koan, but when you 'get' it that means you have understood it and 'passed' so to speak. In the west we teach a different way, give all the information and do a test at the end. You seem to be having trouble, fustration is never going to help you 'pass' only getting over that fustration on your own will help.

 

I will give you an answer (my answer) to this koan, because i too was fustrated with how it all went together and it probably set me back due to how western learning style was ingrained as i grew up. If you feel this will 'spoil' the surprise for you in 10 years time, don't read any further. The deeper you go the more you will understand. Here are some answers with some analogies, the best way i find to transfer meaning;

 

 

- follow the flow of energy, but bring it down

 

To begin with the energy goes up the spine easily, but doesn't come down the front channel easily. So guide, but don't force the energy through the orbit. More guiding will be needed down the front channel. As soon as it starts to run by it's self more, use less guiding and more following. The following is where you want to be at, but you need to 'train' the energy so to speak on where to go. Physically i believe you need to rejuvinate the fascia (extension of the nerves) to get rid of any trauma or any sticking together of the fascia that prevents smooth chi flow. Iron shirt 1 exercises help with this. Do the backbend to help frontal facia. Beat your chest like Tarzan. It can help.

 

 

- a sincere smile has value, but picture it in front of you at command (even fake is ok)

 

You can fake laugh. Loud, quiet, different ways, copy other peoples laughs you have heard of. At times in your laughing you actually will REALLY be laughing, perhaps laughing at yourself, or how others laugh. You watch those real laughs and see what is happening. Replicate that more and you will be doing more real laughs than fake laughs. Eventually you can real laugh any time you want because you have practiced it.

 

 

 

- concentrate like a lenses with sun rays, but maintain 90% attention at LDT 

 

You would also have read in the book awareness out, concentration in. They are two different things, the yin and the yang. Controlling the two is the final step before non-dualism. So concentration, focus can be concentrated, focused, directed, while you are reading this your eyes are focused on the words. Meanwhile you will be less aware off the desk your PC is on. This is awareness. You will probably be even less aware of your toes. They are 2 seperate practices.

 

Some meditations expand on and develop awareness, others develop focus. Healing Tao develops both, thats why i choose it as my meditation style all these years, it encompasses everything (more on this later). So you expand your awareness out, searching and being aware, while you turn your focus inwards performing the alchemical transformations within (the formulas). This way you can search for ingredients for your formulas without with your awareness and bring them in to power up your alchemy within. Awareness is expanded in higher levels, especially fusion.

 

Another important point is attention at LDT. If you use your brain to do the formulas, you feed the monkey mind. Use your brain first, until you can do the MCO, then transfer control to your LDT. Your LDT becomes the brain directing the chi in the orbit, and later in the other fusion orbits, organs, and even inner smile. But your LDT needs to be trained how to do it, your brain can teach it. It's like how you don't need to think how to write each letter with a pen, it just flows out your hand. Your brain already taught your LDT that one when you were in primary school.

 

- MCO should always start from LDT, but you can start from mid eye brow

 

This is only part of the paradox And this is why i like Healing Tao, because it incorporates all levels, the only way to true enlightenment.

 

It can also start from your perineum, or outside your body, from your spirit. This is a bit like the training thing i spoke about earlier. In physical qigong, you use your perineum to direct the power, the physical flexion of the muscles in that area. This develops the physical demi-god within. Your physical ability to feel and push becomes god like - like the amazing feats of tai chi experts. The earth is god. In this style PHYSICAL FEELING is developed.

 

In emotional qigong, it starts from mid eye brow, control is centered in the heart, inside the brain and in the LDT. It is a balance middle point. This is the heart dantien development, and developing the chi within the organs. Practice at this level awakens the emotional demi-god within. You can feel other's emotions, direct healing energy to others, connect to other planets. You can use your chi to push and pull, or move things. I've used my chi in Aikido to hold somebody to the ground without touching them. (Bullshit you say? Yes, to some extent, but to some extent no. They have no desire to get up, my chi was strong and effected their energy body, and they remained pinned to the ground with my intent) This is the world of chi. Chi energy is god. In this style CHI FEELING is developed.

 

In spiritual qigong, it starts from outside the body, above from your spirit, the source of all your spontaneous thoughts and actions - not habits. Here you develop spiritual energy (my weakest point yet it is slowly improving). This awakens the spiritual god within, where you develop wisdom, can predict the future, can direct your life in the way that is most spiritually fullfilling. You can see far away, and develop clairvoyance.

 

To me at this time in my life those sort of things have little purpose for me, so i don't do that kind of thing much, and therefore my spiritual development is reduced to what i feel useful. What i do find useful from spiritual development is feeling and knowing my spirit so that i can more easily fulfill my spirit's desires (or destiny as you may), using my developed physical and emotional bodies. This is the spirit world. Spirits cannot push and pull things, they can't move stuff (themselves), but it is linked to knowledge and understanding. The power comes from changing a course of action so that the people (or things) change how you want rather than using the physical or using chi. I find this type of practice most easily feeds my monkey mind. Spirit energy is god. In this style WISDOM and CONNECTEDNESS is developed.

 

I may be wrong but in my framework of thinking, this is where Spotless excels, and our points of view are like the coming together of yin and yang To me i feel the level one practices at depends on one's personality and stage of life. I am typically a thinker type person, so increasing my wisdom just feeds my monkey mind. By doing physical and chi level practices, my naturally thinking mind develops wisdom from my lower level practices without having to purposely develop wisdom. I confer then that perhaps people who are more physically orientated would benefit by doing more spiritual practices. This is important for the newcomer to healing tao. Trying to race to 'high' level practices because they want to win the race may be counter productive. The level of practice you concentrate on should depend on your personality. High level practice doesn't mean advanced, low level practice doesn't mean basic, it only refers to how high above the earth the control comes from.

 

Now i kind of lied earlier in this answer. None of these powers are really god, they are demi-gods. GOD is incorperation of all 3 demi-gods so that you become GOD. At this level physical, emotional and spiritual insight all reinforce each other so that you KNOW you are right, you are in the NOW and KNOWING becomes the way. A simple example. I'm walking down the street and see a lady walking down the street in the opposite direction. I see her facial expression with absolute clairity (amazing clairty), i can see she is upset yet hiding it, (physical demi-god), i can feel/see with my third eye fear in her kidneys and urgency in her heart (emotional demi-god), i can sense that she wants to get away from her husband and to her mothers ( spiritual demi-god). I can now confer (if i was a real god i would KNOW) she has had an arguement with her husband, she is scared, and is going to her mothers. GOD level =) We get closer and closer to this god level the more we practice and become more advanced in each of, while also balancing the 3 levels.

 

Until you reach higher levels, use the LDT as i described while answering your previous question, as the 2nd brain.

 

 

- LDT is at the navel, but it is at the center of navel/sexual center/ming men

 

Where do you feel it? These are only guides. It probably depends on your body shape and how big your belly is It will reveal it's self to you very quickly don't worry.

 

 

- complete the MCO before macrocosmic (legs, hands), but if qi is stuck at the head concentrate on the feet

 

Yes, start inside the body so you can feel the chi and open the orbit. Then expand out to the arms and legs, chi pressure will drop and you will have reduced sensation, but now you know what you are looking for it won't matter so much. You can now boost your chi using whatever means you have learnt so far (fusion is a nuclear power plant) and increase chi pressure however much you want evenly throughout the body. I took too long to expand my practice to my arms and my legs, it's now easy to develop blockages in my shoulders because of this (iron shirt kept my leg/hip channels wide). Iron shirt 2, expanding the shoulders fixes this.

 

Qi stuck in the head.... well chi must want to go there if it's getting stuck there. Which part of the body is furthest from the head? The feet. Get that energy far away from the head, but don't lose it (a major problem with healing tao). Don't be afraid to give your chi away, or let it 'leak out'. At the start of the book it says stop leakages. It should read, learn how to control leakages, but don't hoard energy. There is plenty of energy that you can easily get to replace any leakages, it couldn't possibly leak out fast enough once you progress. You only stop leakage, or hoard the energy when opening the intial orbit. Later share it around and give it away or you will overheat.

 

 

- inner smile focuses on heart, MCO don't concentrate too much on heart

 

This took me a VERY long time of dedicated daily practice to really get. It depends on the heat of the energy (from an emotional perspective). In the book it says don't put too much hot energy in the heart or brain, cold energy is fine. You might understand it better from a physical perspective (all 3 paths up the mountain align). Heat is tension, cool energy is relaxedness. When you use hot chi you make the muscles around your heart tense. A tense heart is hard to pump and the ventricles within the heart reduce their volume making each pump less efficient. Don't put pressure on your heart for long periods of time is what it means.

 

However hot and cold is subjective in the individual. I feel hot chi as not hot at all, it's more an intensity, speed and frequency of the vibration that is hot for me. After using hot chi a while it actually makes me feel more physically cold, probably because of the constriction of the blood vessels and arteries, reducing blood supply, but amping up the metabolic rate. TCM would say i burnt up my yin leaving me depleted and cold. Cold chi feels physically hot for me, but the vibration is slow, the metabolic rate is slow, muscles relax and blood vessles dilate increasing the blood flow and therefore the heat.

 

The inner smile and cosmic inner smile are opposites. Inner smile is cooling and cosmic version is hot. This is a very important aspect of the whole healing tao practice. If i had of attended a course i probably would have got this a lot earlier on and saved lots of time. This distinction is just as important as the awareness / focus distinction. It needs to be mastered to be able to become GOD, the real GOD as described above. You need to clearly understand yin and yang before they can be fused and you can experience enlightenment at some level. Sorry, understanding is no use, you have to be able to do (I can still hear Mantak Chia's voice on the tape).

 

I feel what i have written is a real gift for you if you chose to read it. It took me over 10 years of countless hours to practice and realise and understand these things. It's taken me another 2 hours to write it out for you. However, as Mantak Chia says, knowing is of no use, we must do it. And as i have written already in this thread, i think it is less important what you practice, but more important the time you put into practice.

 

Share what you learn with others, healing tao is very rewarding, and knowing the answers from these koans will not really deter from the joy of first hand experience of these answers, you may even find your own answers different to mine. However knowing my version of these answers will hopefully help you progress using a western learning style :-)

 

If it helps at all, i never attended a single workshop in my life, except that of becoming a Bowen Therapist, and learnt everything i know from practice from books. 90% Healing Tao books. I've gone down the wrong path plenty of times, make stacks of mistakes, but i feel i've mastered myself, and you can too. The most important lesson i could tell you is listen to yourself. Take advice, but try it out before taking it as gospel. You are the decider, you must understand, it's all about YOU.

 

Enjoy

[ChiForce]

Since you asked.....

 

Strength here is the intensity, the stability, and the duration of the Pearl Light, Mysterious Gate, or the Golden elixir.  Is the white light your third eye would perceive when the MCO is completed...when you manage to transform your jing, to chi, and chi to shen.  And they are being mixed in the cavity or cauldron in your middle dan tien.

 

When you first started, just focus on your lower dan tien and to focus there as if placing a piece of your mind in your dan tien and to observe the world from there.  Don't force it.  Keep your mind calm and free from thoughts.  Keep your breathing pattern regular ( inhale, expand your abdomen, and exhale, contract it.)  Keep practicing it until you can breathe normally and regularly like this without any conscious effort.  Is like learning how to breathe again.  It may take weeks or months before you would notice any sensation in your dan tien.     

Edited July 18, 2015 by ChiForce

[Manaus]

@z00se Wow, thank you so much for your time pal, what can I say... 

I hope the information you gave will help to make this a better world. On a personal level, I'm taking note.

[Manaus]

@ChiForce at the moment I have two places which I can focus on

 

The first, it's behind the bladder. The sensation is of relief, other-than-me, peace. It's way below the navel, I'd say the baricenter of the body.

The second is the navel. I can feel heat and qi there, which tends to go up quickly and 'highlight' the upper half of the body. The sensation is stronger, but it's more 'me'.

 

Any idea which one is the LDT?

[ChiForce]

@ChiForce at the moment I have two places which I can focus on

 

The first, it's behind the bladder. The sensation is of relief, other-than-me, peace. It's way below the navel, I'd say the baricenter of the body.

The second is the navel. I can feel heat and qi there, which tends to go up quickly and 'highlight' the upper half of the body. The sensation is stronger, but it's more 'me'.

 

Any idea which one is the LDT?

The LDT is few inches below your navel.  Opposite of the navel is the back, the spine, is called the Gate of Life and Death or Ming Men.  In the beginning, you can gather the chi from these 2 places.