Light Phenomenon -- advice? ideas?

[EFS White]

Dear Community,

for the second time in my life I am experiencing a strange light phenomenon. It has happened once last spring, and is happening again right now as I am typing this. Last time it lasted for about three hours; right now it has been going on for about twenty minutes.

Let me describe:

With eyes open as well as with eyes closed I see a jittery left-hand semi-circle, flashing about 7 times per second in rainbow colors. The phenomenon started out as a centered light and its radius has now gradually expanded to where the edge of this thin circle has reached the edge of my field of vision. I do not experience any headaches or other discomfort.

 

Just like the last time this has happened, I am currently in a prolonged stretch of cultivation practice, celibacy, stillness meditation and breathing techniques -- which is why I am wondering whether or not this might be an important (?) stage or significant moment (?) of the cultivation progression.

I know this is a dumb question but... is there anything particular I need to be doing right now?

Thank you for input and / or sharing your experience.

(Yeah, or maybe I am just having a stroke or something...)

Edited January 13, 2016 by EFS White

[Brian]

Just keep doing what you are doing. Don't get attached to the phenomenon but it is a familiar one to quite a few here and is one of the tourist attractions along the path.

 

EDIT: Oh, and don't be surprised if that phenomenon changes over time.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brian

[EFS White]

Thank you.

Just for sakes of debriefing: 

This odd light lasted for a little over an hour yesterday, and vanished very suddenly. I did continue with my breathing exercises and applying non-attachment. Thank you for your input, good to know others have experienced this as well.

[Taoist Texts]

I am currently in a prolonged stretch of cultivation practice, celibacy, stillness meditation and breathing techniques -- which is why I am wondering whether or not this might be an important (?) stage or significant moment (?) of the cultivation progression.

 

It is. For details you can read this  

 

 

Taoist Yoga: Alchemy & Immortality Paperback – January 1, 1999

 

by Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk) (Author)

 

or ask him

 

 

conspirachi

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Taoist Texts

[Taoist Texts]

Just keep doing what you are doing. Don't get attached to the phenomenon but it is a familiar one to quite a few here and is one of the tourist attractions 

Absolutely. If you are a tourist;). Otherwise its a guiding light.

[Brian]

Absolutely. If you are a tourist;). Otherwise its a guiding light.

I only meant "don't get attached to it."

[RiverSnake]

Thank you.

Just for sakes of debriefing: 

This odd light lasted for a little over an hour yesterday, and vanished very suddenly. I did continue with my breathing exercises and applying non-attachment. Thank you for your input, good to know others have experienced this as well.

 

Many strange phenomenon on the path. Just part of the territory.

 

It helps keeping a regular journal. Puts these things into perspective in the long term and grounds your experience so you can reference them later. Very useful for tracking your path.

[cheya]

Uh… this isn't necessarily a path-associated phenomenon…. 

This electric flashing light experience is familiar to people who get migraines (and many who don't) and is called an aura. It often precedes a migraine. I've been getting these occasionally for decades (sans migraine), starting long before I ever heard of chi or energy paths.

 

But I am curious.

TT, could you summarize what Charles Luk has to say about the experience?

[Taoist Texts]

But I am curious.

TT, could you summarize what Charles Luk has to say about the experience?

Sure thing. 

 

Alchemy is defined as a union of xing and ming (whatever those are). For them to join they have to be at their fullest state. Further, one has to make xing full first. The first visual light experience is an indication of xing being full. The OP reports the light being "jittery left-hand semi-circle, flashing about 7 times per second in rainbow colors. " This means that xing is not quite mature yet.

 

It first happened to me when after a couple of weeks of dedicated training i walked into a dark room and before i could flip the lights on, i saw a block of white light right before my eyes, i had to shake my head to convince myself in my normalcy;). There were no smartphones back then but if you wanna see the closest thing to this light u may wanna download a flash light app on your smartphone and turn it on in in dark room.

 

The fullness of ming is indicated by a golden light, but this time it is not a visual experience.

[Andrei]

Whatever light you see is an excitation of the visual cortex inside your brain by the electrical signals made by your own hormones and neurotransmitters. They may have different colors which means they may come from different organs or they have different frequencies. Whatever hallucinations you may have (visions or dreams) are just parts of your internal world. The brain is called in Daoism "The mud ball" because it's a total darkness there inside, but as soon as you activate the organs that produce hormones and neurotransmitters, they start bio-chemical reactions that produce bio-luminescence. The more light you project in this darkness the more you know yourself (your mind), but you have to be careful you never know what you find there, but also you have to be courageous to admit that whatever you find are parts of yourself. 

[Henchman21]

It is important not to be distracted by side effects related to cultivation, such as tingling or magnetism between the hands or lights. Never practice with the intention of causing these. Notice them and continue.

[ralis]

Sounds like a migraine to me, but without the pain.

[EFS White]

Thank you all for your thoughts.


@Taoist Texts

I did read the "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy & Immortality" book, and your rendition of what this means as related to my experience seems quite compelling. Thank you. Even while the experience was unfolding I suspected that there must be a meaning behind this behind "only" a semi-circle and that only a full-circle would indicate the completion of a particular stage of the cultivation process.

I do not have the book at my disposal at this moment, but I seem to remember that it is advised to do something very specific once this light becomes visible. Do you remember?

What astounds me is the fact that the phenomenon just seems to come out of nowhere, and without any indication of whether or when it may happen again.

--

As the suggestion of a migraine / aura has come up several times: I do not insist on this being a cultivation phenomenon, and if it was merely an aura I can perfectly accept that. The only thing I find to be curious is that in my almost 38 years of age this is only the second time, and within 9 months, that I have experienced something like this. If it were related to a migraine I would expect to have experienced it more often by now, would you agree?

--

At any rate, thank you for your contributions. 

[Taoist Texts]

Thank you all for your thoughts.

 

 

@Taoist Texts

 

 

 

I do not have the book at my disposal at this moment, but I seem to remember that it is advised to do something very specific once this light becomes visible. Do you remember?

 

The light is an indicator, it shows that the tank is full, thats all. This does not mean that you need to do something the very second the light appears, or wait till it appears again. It means that now you can proceed into the second stage, with the light on or off.

 

However, you are saying that your  light is irregular in shape and color, meaning it is not mature. You may want to keep doing what you are doing till the light is a solid block of neon white.

 

As to the next step, this is the key paragraph

 

 

When the mechanism (of alchemy) begins to move and gives out flashes of light

that hall of voidness (hsu shih, i.e. the heart devoid of feelings and passions) will be illuminated by a white light

which reveals the mysterious gate (hsuan kuan), the presence of which does not mean emptiness.

 

Man lives and dies because of this immaterial spirit-vitality; he lives when it is present and dies when it scatters.

 

Hence it is said: 'Spirit without vitality does not make a man live; and vitality without spirit does not cause him to

die.' Prenatal spirit in the heart is nature and prenatal vitality in the lower abdomen is life; only when spirit and

vitality unite can real achievement be made.