Please advise on a standing exercise to open leg channels and sole points

[Aletheia]

Don't go into too deep a stance, just a slight bend in the knees and stop "looking" for qi. Just look into the horizon (eyesight should around 25-30 degrees angle down from vertical if you are aligning correctly). Just forget everything else and breath from your stomach, but don't force the breathing. Just stand, breath, relax more and more with each breath. As you relax more, you will be able to sense the qi.

Thanks. After a while I just kept trying different breathing techniques, moving farther forward/backward, moving my feet farther out etc,

 

Anyway, I'm going to do my first sitting meditation in a bit and see how that goes!

[dwai]

Thanks. After a while I just kept trying different breathing techniques, moving farther forward/backward, moving my feet farther out etc,

 

Anyway, I'm going to do my first sitting meditation in a bit and see how that goes!

There are no special breathing techniques needed. This is not at all complicated. Hold your frame and breath slowly and gently.

 

The worst thing beginners can do is dig many shallow wells. Dig one well and dig deep, you are bound to find water

[dwai]

Balance your weight evenly between the heels and balls of your feet.

Edited March 26, 2017 by dwai

[Aletheia]

I think it's a mental thing atm and I'll get it right in the next few day I think.

[Aletheia]

I'm going to get a grounding mat. Are there any good ones on amazon anyone can recommend? I got the idea after I just looked up mopai and it says

 

 

 

Without making sure that you are grounded at the perineum point during meditation your effort will be wasted. This is because your access to Yin Qi has been cut off. Without the equal flow of both Yin and Yang entering your body, you won't be able to cultivate period. Grounding is essential. In order to make sure that you are grounded you can either sit outside on the ground or use a grounding wire. Ask for details if you are interested in the grounding wire.

 

And really heat actually at the perineum itself was only something I vaguely felt today when I tried standing meditation for the first time. I can feel the point between the perineum and the diaphragm, at the end of a breath, creating heat and can feel heat at all the other lower points like the bladder and the tailbone, but I don't really feel it right at the perineum itself and that could be because I'm not grounded properly. Like I was saying before.

 

EDIT: actually I can feel it now while I'm sitting down. So I was making that up about not being about to feel heat at the perineum. I'll still try out the grounding mat and see how it goes. I'm thinking about using it while sitting down and standing.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Aletheia

[MooNiNite]

opening the 6th chakra naturally opens the arms and legs. 

[Aletheia]

The thing is when I'm sitting down I feel qi more tangibly then anything I experience externally through the senses. But when I stand up I don't really feel it, or things feel quite different. So I'm not sure why that is.

 

Earlier I tried standing and everything felt the way it does when I'm seated, breathing, concentration etc and it felt like everything was right. But the qi is really much more subtle for some reason. I'm not sure how normal that is for qi to feel different when standing and seated. Does that happen for anyone else?

Edited March 27, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

I got a grounding mat and there actually does seem to be a big difference with the heat generation and I felt heat between my eye-brows for the first time too. Although this was all sitting down, not standing.

[Fa Xin]

Hi aletheia

 

First I would say the best thing is to find a good local tai chi teacher to show you how to stand. The adjustments are extremely subtle and very hard to duplicate via self training.

 

If this is not an option at all, I recommend you check out John Loupos "Tai chi connections" both DVD and accompanying book. Having trained with him personally for a year and seen the material, I can't think of a better resource for learning the subtleties of body mechanics.

 

FX

[Aletheia]

Thanks, FX! I'll check it out.

 

I was thinking back to when I healed my friend and I was standing up at the time and get the impression I wasn't feeling it like I do while seated even then. So the energy is there, I think.

Anyway, I worked out why I was getting tension headaches which I think I was talking about earlier in this thread and it was because I was getting a bit emotional thinking about the healing.

The level of consciousness achieved during the healing was pretty mind-blowing for me personally. It was like being at the edge of eternity watching the gathering of time enter into reality. That by itself is quite extraordinary, and then I think to myself while it occurred material reality was measurably affected plus someone else actually experienced it too on a personal level and got better (because she was going to go to hospital, the leg got better, I pulled out "sick" energy and the leg changed colour and all the pain went away) plus there were other people there who all witnessed what happened and the whole thing gets me a little emotional when you add everything up.

If someone confronted me about feeling heat between the eye-brows for the first time I wouldn't be too confident defending my claim because it was only brief and has only happened once. I feel the same way about the healing, but I can't really deny it because it didn't just happen in my bedroom while I was by myself. My friend actually asked me if I could feel the heat while it was happening too.

Anyway, I don't really want to screw things up and I really want to get a good foundation, I just lack loads of qigong/neidan knowledge. Some guy in another thread here was implying I'd been infected by Hempel's insanity and I need some help, I think. So I said I wasn't clinging to every word Drew writes on his blog. Which is true I don't read everything he writes. But then Drew wrote I was being "wilfully ignorant" for not reading his "idiot's guide." So I was thinking, well I may be ignorant, but not wilfully so.

Then it occurred to me maybe he's right and perhaps I should read his "idiot's guide."

Whatever, I think Drew deserves some credit here because I think I'm doing pretty well seeing as I literally haven't got a clue what I'm doing. I don't think you'll find another system on the planet where you get someone achieving qi protection before they even know what it means to mediate. Which is what I was asking about in the other thread.

 

I'll read the guide and see what happens. Hopefully it's got some wim hof shaking knees in there somewhere because I already know how to do that one!

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

For now anyway I'm thinking about doing one round of wim hof shaking knees, then another round (36 breaths) sitting down and then doing 5/10 minutes seated meditation with my grounding mat and just keep going around like that and see how it goes.

 

I'll try that out after I finish my tea.

 

I'm celibate atm too and I'm eating stir-fry with rice noodles with some added eggs. Then eating nuts and some mackerel if I get hungry and I only begin eating in the evening. Does anyone have an opinion about that?

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Spotless]

As you practice pucker the toes slightly - this will accentuate the main center in your foot - Yongquan point.

Later as you progress grip the ground with your feet. When you turn from one side to the other keep the feet flat and gripped when they are not required to move. "Own" the ground below them.

 

It is not advisable to draw full earth energy directly up the legs and into the body or LDT. Willfulness in this is going to bring up a vibration that is counter productive to the bodies energies - doing the above actions will in time bring up the energies you wish in accord with what the body can handle in good health.

 

To much full on earth energy is too dense and low a vibration for the body. (Actually about 1-2% is more in line with a healthy strong connection).

 

You will find in time a deep connection as in roots with the earth energy - the feet will extend several feet down and the earth energy will come up to the knees in an almost rubbery high boot feel at times.

 

Sitting on the floor with both feet touching toes to toes heels to heels and bending over them until one can rest the elbows on the floor with forearms down and palms up on the floor will help to open up the leg channels.

 

In exercises (qi gong) grab the floor with your feet and with your whole leg as well - like if you strongly grabbed hold of something - you use you hand and forearm and biceps and probably shoulder back and pecks. Grab onto that ground.

 

Breath into that LDT

 

(I did want to revise my numbers from above - the legs - to LDT can handle more like 10-15% earth energy - the upper parts of the body much less - 1-2%.)

Edited March 29, 2017 by Spotless

[Aletheia]

Great! thanks for the help, Spotless.

[Spotless]

I did want to revise my numbers from above - the legs - to LDT can handle more like 10-15% earth energy - the upper parts of the body much less - 1-2%.

 

At some point hopefully your feet - legs become much like hand - arm:

It is a bit like walking on hands - gripping and padding along, placing the handfeet like you place you hands on a counter top.

 

You can feel the pulse of things

around you - the pulse in the land.

 

Yesterday I stood in a very small park area and noticed a tree not far from me. It was not particularly large but it was very much alive and its root energy field extended well out to me. I just stood and looked at the field and then with no intention of mine connected with it and stood swaying ever so slightly with the tree. I could see that when I stand I am always swaying to some degree, rooted naturally in the Earth and Heaven energies.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Spotless

[dwai]

I did want to revise my numbers from above - the legs - to LDT can handle more like 10-15% earth energy - the upper parts of the body much less - 1-2%.

 

I'd like to +1 your post and also suggest that it's better to just stand in a few postures (at least 5 minutes per posture) and just breath from the belly. Only initially, we have to be mindful of the structural alignments. After a while, you can enter the posture and the energy will kick in.

 

Also another thing to be mindful of is, excessive sensations are felt only when the channels are opening. When they open, you should not feel any "sensations", but a whole-body, even, internal wetness or coolness, like menthol (or at least that's how it feels to me). 

 

Just stand. Sitting is not as powerful as standing in this regard, because with sitting you bypass and directly connect with your tail. In fact, if you want to sit, I'd recommend sitting on a chair. That is still better than sitting cross-legged or in lotus.

 

Lotus has its role to play after you have re-integrated your whole body, imho. 

[Spotless]

Dwai:

 

"Also another thing to be mindful of is, excessive sensations are felt only when the channels are opening. When they open, you should not feel any "sensations", but a whole-body, even, internal wetness or coolness, like menthol (or at least that's how it feels to me).

 

Just stand. Sitting is not as powerful as standing in this regard, because with sitting you bypass and directly connect with your tail. In fact, if you want to sit, I'd recommend sitting on a chair. That is still better than sitting cross-legged or in lotus.

 

Lotus has its role to play after you have re-integrated your whole body, imho."

 

In general I would not express to much worry about feeling "excessive sensations" unless they are like inflammation pain signals.

I have never experienced "excessive sensations" in my legs but certainly some interesting ones - like sinking into earth energy.

Being so rooted you can lean backward - fun stuff!

 

Standing meditation is as you say the most powerful in regard to leg and earth energies - and sitting in a chair is nearly as powerful.

Standing is arguably the most powerful of all forms in general but sitting in a chair would be an easy argument as well. Lotus and half lotus, siting or standing are fine anytime you are called to do them.

 

I don't see energy work as a "before and after" thing so much - at least in this discussion - most people are considerably disassociated from their legs and feet. One works on this in cultivation gradually even if they are in a hurry - the feelings and connections are just so remote generally. So much is going on for someone in these stages that often more helpful is simply the enticement of what it is like rather than setting out a time line of - before and after.

 

Also - this is a process that continues to expand - way way way beyond conception.

Edited March 30, 2017 by Spotless

[Spotless]

I do remember my feet killing me about half way through a 1 hour Qi Gong session after about half a year of doing them.

Sometimes I had to stop (during class) sit and massage my feet.

 

Then I started to message my feet before practice and that solved the problem. I think I messaged my feet like that prior to class for about 6 months until it was no longer needed.

 

In my warmup now prior to teaching / practice I message my toe tips, toes and soles.

 

This is a good example of what Dwai was alluding to - I have done years of sitting full lotus and my leg channels were generally open long ago but in Qi Gong the opening is of a different nature and this would qualify as an "excessive" sensation that passes.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Spotless

[dwai]

I do remember my feet killing me about half way through a 1 hour Qi Gong session after about half a year of doing them.

Sometimes I had to stop (during class) sit and massage my feet.

 

Then I started to message my feet before practice and that solved the problem. I think I messaged my feet like that prior to class for about 6 months until it was no longer needed.

 

In my warmup now prior to teaching / practice I message my toe tips, toes and soles.

 

This is a good example of what Dwai was alluding to - I have done years of sitting full lotus and my leg channels were generally open long ago but in Qi Gong the opening is of a different nature and this would qualify as an "excessive" sensation that passes.

I remember doing hour-long standing meditations after more than an hour of Taiji form work. By the time we were done with the standing, my feet would feel like they were buried inside the ground, and the qi would pool up in my feet, the yongchuan points would feel swollen and when I walked it'd feel like there's water squishing around in my feet.

 

The key to standing, in my experience, is to understand that standing doesn't just involve "rooting", but also suspending from the crown point. If we suspend from the crown point properly, the weight doesn't crash into the ground through our feet. 

 

There are a few minor adjustments in the structure that help with standing for long periods of time (which of course most seasoned folks here know) for the OP.

 

1. suspend from the crown point (top of the head and not center of the head). This results in the chin tucking in slightly and eyes gaze out about 25 degrees below the horizon
2. Lower back relaxed and tailbone slightly tucked in (like you were resting your butt on a bar stool or a large beach ball if that feels better). Make sure to not exaggerate the tail 
3. Toes point straight forward or slightly toed in (toeing in slightly is better as it opens up the lower back further)
4. Knees bent, but not cross the toes.
5. Weight distributed between heel and balls of the feet, so that you can still wiggle your toes from that position. 
6. Upper torso should lean forward slightly. This is what straightens the spine more.
7. Tongue touching the upper palate, mouth closed and breathing through the nose.

 

When these principles are followed, the weight doesn't crash down into the joints but just flows down into the ground. Minor adjustments are required from time to time. 

 

A good technique to see if crown point is suspended properly is to gently rock back and forth in front-back and then left-right directions. Rocking forward-backward, find the point where you sense a tingling (or the most tingling) in your crown. Remember that.

 

Now rock side-to-side and look for the same sensation. With some practice you can find the best point of suspension. Throughout the standing, we have to constantly ensure we stay suspended. Eventually you won't have to think, the suspension will kick in automatically, like you were a light bulb hanging from the ceiling

 

During standing, if you feel heaviness in your upper body and head (third-eye especially), wiggle your toes a bit. That'll send the energies downward.  

 

My first teacher, who now lives and teaches in Tucson, AZ (if anyone is interested in getting lessons from a Taiji Master)  has written detailed instructions on how to suspend properly from the crown point -- 

 

http://gbolarts.com/pages/notes_archive/notes-001.html

Edited March 29, 2017 by dwai

[Aletheia]

Thanks for the help! I'll have to make sure to start making notes so I can take it all in, Although once you are exposed to something a few times the knowledge is absorbed in to the periphery of awareness and necessarily restructures the life-world.

 

I was going to post a podcast for Drew that I thought he might like seeing as he was talking about alien abductions, but there's something in it concerning the nature of the self too which pads out what I'm saying above so I'll post it here -

 

http://www.declinecast.com/2017/02/09/7-intro-to-sloterdijks-spheres-trilogy/

 

After Nietzsche's "death of God" and the realisation of the vastness of cosmos which followed, the human psyche was totally exposed to alien extraterrestrial invasion! The gods/god and angels where switched out and replaced by unknown and unknowable entities that inhabit interstellar space! The actual cause of that problem goes back all the way to the copernican revolution and the collapse of the Babylonian world-picture, I think. Maybe mentioned in the podcast too, not sure though.

 

In the podcast I think he says alien abductions began to occur with the rise post-WWII electronic media. All cultures are always mediated by a primary means of communication whose effects on the psyche go unnoticed because of their all around pervasiveness.

 

EDIT: Maybe Drew will read this @ 14:00 in the podcast he says there's a shift from images (like the images of qigong or Kundalini yoga which have a real essence about them because they relate to frequencies of consciousness i.e. jing/qi/shen/ and are anchored by the Dao) to linguistics which do not have any essence after the death of God and are phonetic anyway. Zizek is a Lacanian psychoanalysis and doesn't believe in images, that's why he's completely nuts!

 

In Western metaphysics the essence of things was given by the transcendent -- the Platonic forms, God etc so without that capture to hold meaning in place the world falls into a chaotic state of nihilism like Nietzsche said it would.

 

Structuralism is what followed the death of God and it says meaning is given by difference. Cat is different to bat, sat etc so meaning is given by difference within the whole structure of language. But no essence. Lacan was using that system of difference for his linguistics.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

I didn't mean to go off topic there. I've bookmarked this thread so I can go over it again. I really appreciate all the help too. THANKS!

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[dwai]

Thanks for the help! I'll have to make sure to start making notes so I can take it all in, Although once you are exposed to something a few times the knowledge is absorbed in to the periphery of awareness and necessarily restructures the life-world.

 

I was going to post a podcast for Drew seeing as he was talking about alien abductions, but there's something in it concerning the nature of the self too which pads out what I'm saying above so I'll post it here -

 

http://www.declinecast.com/2017/02/09/7-intro-to-sloterdijks-spheres-trilogy/

 

After Nietzsche's "death of God" and the realisation of the vastness of cosmos which followed the human psyche was totally exposed to alien extraterrestrial invasion! The gods/god and angels where switched out and replaced by unknown and unknowable entities that inhabit interstellar space! The actual cause of that problem goes back all the way to the copernican revolution and the collapse of the Babylonian world-picture, I think. Maybe mentioned in the podcast too, not sure though.

 

In the podcast I think he says alien abductions began to occur with the rise post-WWII electronic media. All cultures are always mediated by a primary communication means whose effects on the psyche go unnoticed because of their all around pervasiveness.

 

EDIT: Maybe Drew will read this @ 14:00 in the podcast he says there's a shift from images (like the images of qigong or Kundalini yoga which have a real essence about them because they relate to frequencies of consciousness i.e. jing/qi/shen/Dao) to linguistics which do not have any essence after the death of God and are phonetic anyway. Zizek is a Lacanian psychoanalysis and doesn't believe in images and that's why he's completely nuts!

 

I wouldn't worry about that kind of stuff really (alien abductions etc).

 

Reality is much simpler. It is the mind-chatter that causes most issues in the world. A key part of being comfortable in our own skin is to realize that the mind (thoughts) and body are not really who we are. There is an eternal aspect to our being, that is constantly witnessing everything that happens.

 

If you meditate properly long enough, the witness state will rise forth. Then you can realize that you are not the mind or the body. And spend more and more time in that witness state, not attaching to anything (concepts, perceptions), will result in a very profound sense of freedom, and ease of being. There is immense peace, love and joy in being this way.

 

Spotless can explain this much better than I can

[Aletheia]

I'm not saying I personally believe in alien abductions. I'm saying the phenomena can be explained by the "death of God" it's actually a technical term in philosophy, I should have mentioned that. As my friend said when region dies it doesn't just stop working but morphs into other areas of life and most likely manifests as paranoia and anxiety etc. "the greys" "the avatar of Trump" etc.

 

So when religion is working all meaning systems point toward it. Something happens in nature and its an act of God, the week is organised around the church, you see a painting and you know what it reflects, you know where you came from and where you're going etc. When "God" dies meaning starts to splinter and deform while black holes begin to appear within the fabric of reality which in turn allow dark forces to enter into the consciousness stream. All the while the world increasingly has a hollow washed out tone about it.

 

Nietzsche's post-God metaphysics was one of a brutal and blunt will-to-power. So what happened after Nietzsche declared God is dead? Rather than a rich life-affirming metaphysics full of rich cultural forms all we had was a godless materialistic will-to-power -- two world wars concerning competing utopian ideologies, atheism, consumerism, advertising, UFO cults, rising mental health issues, conspiracy theories galore, pop concerts, porn and best of all truth given by the sciences which pretends it can know the world objectively! (all the problems I mentioned go on behind Science's back while it's not watching lol).

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

Anyway, listen to the podcast if you're interested. The guy giving the commentary is one of the best philosophers alive engaging academic texts. I think so anyway.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

The world is NOT objective in the sense science's unthought presuppositions might have one believe. It changes with time and that's what he's talking about in the podcast -- the changing of the world through time!

 

In any case the world can be reshaped just through creative imagination itself, never mind the material warping abilities of a true qigong master. If I didn't know that for a fact I would never have been able to help my friend with her bad leg!

 

I just don't think people understand what they're got or who they really are and that's a shame really.

 

 

 

Science doesn't think

 

-- Martin Heidegger

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NM5PqgKd2dsC&dq=Science+doesn%27t+think+%22zizek%22+plague+of+fantasies&q=Science+doesn%27t+think+

 

Zizek's response. He doesn't see it because he's caught up in the language of the patriarchy while simultaneously trying to point the finger elsewhere!

 

 

EDIT: This is where Drew comes into the picture because he worked out what was going on in the San trance dance and its historical significance too. But it's funny how he's introduced the metaphysical vulva in the video.

 

Anyway, I really don't want to derail this thread. It wasn't my intention and I really am grateful for all the help.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

Ebert is feeling around in the dark, he knows what he's looking for because he's trying to counter the Freudian patriarchy. What he's actually trying to find is the San tribe way back in history.

 

"THE WOMEN CONTROL EVERYTHING" AKA the metaphysical vulva

 

Anyway, thanks Drew I read your post and I feel like there's a big dent forming in the middle of my forehead. So maybe I'll be seeing ghosts soon!