Qigong; eating a bland diet

[qibrush]

I've heard that following a bland diet has some interesting benefits. I've heard this mainly from the 

qigong/ martial arts side but I really can't find information on this anywhere. If anyone 

on this forum has knowledge about why the bland diet has benefits or even done it themselves

please share, I'd love to know.

Edited July 24, 2015 by qibrush

[liminal_luke]

I believe there was a comment about bland diets by Kevin Wallbridge (sorry if I´ve got your handle wrong) over on the "What do acupuncturists think about coffee" thread in the "healthy bums" section.

[Fate]

I know from my cursory introduction to 5-Element theory that blandness is associated with Earth Qi. Have you taken any surveys or looked into the balance of  your 5 elements? I'd recommend that for deciding a balancing diet rather than what is "good" for qi gong practice. I'd rather eat what's good for my energy body any day

[thelerner]

I believe Glenn Morris of martial art and esoteric energy fame wrote in his book 'Path Notes of ..' that after kundalini people would naturally turn towards a mellower diet.  Strangely he mentioned eating less meat yet having a taste for raw meat/ sushi. 

[qibrush]

I know from my cursory introduction to 5-Element theory that blandness is associated with Earth Qi. Have you taken any surveys or looked into the balance of  your 5 elements? I'd recommend that for deciding a balancing diet rather than what is "good" for qi gong practice. I'd rather eat what's good for my energy body any day

Do you have any advice on where to look?

[Taoist Texts]

I've heard that following a bland diet has some interesting benefits. I've heard this mainly from the 

qigong/ martial arts side but I really can't find information on this anywhere. If anyone 

on this forum has knowledge about why the bland diet has benefits 

 

修行人听予劝，细斋食不可美又美，更何须异馔多般，但一味而已。

恬淡中常遂意，万神畅调姹婴欢喜，得自然结就金丹，占蓬瀛仙位。

 

The practicing folk please listen to this kind admonition of mine,

Your subtle vegetarian food must not be plied with a beautiful taste upon taste.

Why should there be many different dishes supplied?

On the contrary keep it one-flavored and chaste.

 

Peace and blandness will constantly enter your heart,

10 000 spirits at ease, happy maiden and child,

On its own the golden cinnabar will incept,

On the isle of Peng-Yin will you saintly position accept.

[Fate]

Do you have any advice on where to look?

http://nqa.org/resources/assess-your-energy/

 

This is what I had in mind for energy make-up. As far as further nutrition advice based on your composition, that's outside my scope, sorry. Hopefully as your practice develops you will be able to better 'tune in' to what your intuition is saying. Aka how subtle cravings indicate what your body needs (as opposed to wants!)

 

I can't speak for the legitimacy, but here's something on the tastes and elements:

http://www.carahealth.ie/health-conditions-a-to-z/traditional-chinese-medicine/5-element-theory-chinese-dietary-therapy.html

[SonOfTheGods]

Painting with a broad brush leaves out the finer details.

[qibrush]

修行人听予劝，细斋食不可美又美，更何须异馔多般，但一味而已。

恬淡中常遂意，万神畅调姹婴欢喜，得自然结就金丹，占蓬瀛仙位。

 

The practicing folk please listen to this kind admonition of mine,

Your subtle vegetarian food must not be plied with a beautiful taste upon taste.

Why should there be many different dishes supplied?

On the contrary keep it one-flavored and chaste.

 

Peace and blandness will constantly enter your heart,

10 000 spirits at ease, happy maiden and child,

On its own the golden cinnabar will incept,

On the isle of Peng-Yin will you saintly position accept.

Could you please expound on that?

[Taoist Texts]

Could you please expound on that?

well traditionally any spiritual teaching was based on rejection of human desires. The outer dimension of that is practical: if you eat tasty food, you will overeat, if you overeat you will be sluggish and sleepy, the tasty  food will trigger lust and desire for other indulgences like alcohol, entertainment, companionship. There will be no time nor energy nor inclination  for training.

 

The internal dimension is that tasty food will disturb your mind so your training will fail. The traditional approach is to just eat something bland 'to paste up the mouth' as they say, to keep the hunger at bay forgetting about the food till tomorrow noon. If you keep up this lifestyle the training will progress smoothly.

 

also

 

Yoked to Earth: A Treatise on Corpse-Demons and Bigu

[Aetherous]

I think instead of a bland diet, you'd want a balanced natural whole food diet. Bob Flaws recommends the bland diet, and primarily by having rice congee...but the fine print is that rice is a diuretic and will deplete your qi if you aren't supposed to be having diuretics. Also if you try having carbs as your primary food source, you're going to feel weird...you need proteins and fats also in nearly equal ratios.

Basically, go with a natural whole food diet that makes you feel normal and you'll be on the right track.

[Meroe]

exactly a year ago I had to do a specific bland food diet in order to balance the humors of Ayurveda as transmitted by my teachers, until i had a purge event. i had to do it for 11 days for this to happen. i didnt do chi gong during this time, however.

 

by the 6th day, my meditations became so powerful, that i was struggling to keep my mudras and my tounge to the roof of my mouth. my body was shaking, my teeth were chattering. thats how much energy was flowing, practicularly through the Baihui point.

 

i cant honestly say ive had as great a breakthrough since then.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Meroe

[alchemystical]

exactly a year ago I had to do a specific bland food diet in order to balance the humors of Ayurveda as transmitted by my teachers, until i had a purge event. i had to do it for 11 days for this to happen. i didnt do chi gong during this time, however.

 

by the 6th day, my meditations became so powerful, that i was struggling to keep my mudras and my tounge to the roof of my mouth. my body was shaking, my teeth were chattering. thats how much energy was flowing, practicularly through the Baihui point.

 

i cant honestly say ive had as great a breakthrough since then.

 

Would it be possible for you to share that eating plan here?

 

I've recently been looking into the whole food/mood thing and believe there really is something to this and searching through here lead me to your thread which proves the same thing. Very interested if you feel like sharing more information and your experience please.

[Taomeow]

Would it be possible for you to share that eating plan here?

 

I've recently been looking into the whole food/mood thing and believe there really is something to this and searching through here lead me to your thread which proves the same thing. Very interested if you feel like sharing more information and your experience please.

 

This is an oldish thread so the person you asked may or may not answer, but the effects he describes are of "surface yang."  A bland Ayurvedic diet is quite yin, and can "push" excessive yang from deeper in the body out to the surface and expel it.  Which is why in Ayurveda it is prescribed for all manner of inflammatory disorders.  The typical dish that is used for this therapeutic purpose is kicharee.  It is usually administered as a monodiet (you don't eat anything else), in most cases for no longer than two weeks to a month.  If it's working, the condition will improve or resolve by the end of this period.  It is not eaten on a regular basis except by yogis and monks who practice other austerities as part of their overall regimen.   

 

Mood-wise, this can help, e.g., with manic states, agitated anxiety, etc..  It can, however, exacerbate depression, apathy, "loss of appetite for life" and the like.  Proceed with caution. 

[Aetherous]

Coming back to this thread...

I've been reading more of the Nèi Jīng lately, and there are tons of ideas in it about how flavor helps to build the body and create more essence (just paraphrasing here). By having a bland diet, a diet without much of any flavor, are people actually weakening themselves and shortening their lifespan?

[liminal_luke]

I like flavor so I´m hoping it´s not bad for me.

[thelerner]

I like flavor so I´m hoping it´s not bad for me.

me too, yet the call to go bland has a certain masochistic appeal to me.  Later this year I'll have to try it for a few days or a week.  Keep it simple, mostly one food at a time.