hello and question

[S01000]

Hello there - I had posted this in another sectio but think maybe it was posted in the wrong area. Thank you. 

 

I recently heard about this site and was hoping to ask for some advice.  I am a qigong beginner - just about brand new to it.

 

I had developed a significant energy imbalance through significant concentration meditation - strong contractions of neck, chest, pelvis which eventually went into significant irritability in daily life along with contractions of body at times and sometimes energy currents coursing up spine. 

 

This has lasted many months even after I decreased my practice significantly and stopped concentration work. 

 

The dis-ease led me to an acupuncturist/Tai Chi master who did some energy work on me (no needles at first) which helped a lot and then eventually acupuncture for several sessions which had a mixed effect. 

 

I recently started learning Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong from the DVD put out by Bruce Frantzis - I have had significant positive effects just by learning the first movement (Dragon and Tiger meet) and practicing for a few minutes per day. I started very slowly because it seems as though I am very sensitive energetically currently (some practices (such as standing meditation) can make me feel good for a day or two and then give me significant insomnia until I stop). 

 

I was told that exercises that store or sink the energy into the dan tian may also be helpful - does any one please have a link to good instructions on how to do this?  I have not as of yet have had much conscious experience of chi movement. 

 

Also would anyone have any recommendations for other breathing practices by Bruce Frantzis or others that may be helpful in such a situation ?

 

Thank you so much. 

[voidisyinyang]

yes the Dragon-Tiger is Daoist alchemy that is ancient shamanism so that is a good practice. You find it as the foundation of Santi Shi of Yi Quan. So you visualize the right hand (yin) connecting energy to the left foot (yang) for males. Then vice versa - the left hand connecting to the right foot. You can read the book Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality for more details on Dragon-Tiger energy channels for storing up or sinking the energy, etc. just search the book title as pdf or archive has a word searchable version.

 

So the deep reverse breathing or Quick Fire method described in that book causes the lung energy to pull DOWN the front yin qi - so that is part of the dragon-tiger dynamic. The dragon is the liver qi that goes out the eyes normally with eyes open. In alchemy the upper body is yang but for meditation as alchemy - there is a yin or female inner part - this is the liver qi that must go down. So with eyes open you lose 2/3rds of the brain qi energy going out the eyes with the shen - from the heart.

 

So you first visualize the fire at the base of the spine - into the Earth and this turns the Water into Air - as Qi. This is the ancient Bronze Age alchemy found across Asia - from Western Asia to China to India.

 

So the LUngs as the tiger - is can "grab" onto the Dragon shen that goes out of the eyes. So you can flex the lower magpie bridge - to connect the front and back channels - to pull the energy back down to the lower body. So this is energetically through the perineum and the sphincter muscle will activate the nerve going to the perineum as well.

 

So this means that the Dragon as the heart is the Red Dragon but you want alchemically the Dragon to be the Green Dragon in the lower tan t'ien - the small intestines - to store up the qi. So this is the wisdom qi as the Yuan Qi - since then the yin qi of the heart helps restore the yang qi of the kidneys - the tiger - and this yang qi originates from the lungs, doing this deep reverse breathing. Then as the qi builds up as inner fire - you stop breathing after exhale. This stores up the energy into the tiger channels.

 

The tiger channel is the "restraining nerve" or vagus nerve of the body. The dragon is the sympathetic nerve - so the Dragon as the Hun soul easily goes up out of the body - called the Cloud Soul for this reason. The tiger then normally goes down and is lost as physical substance of the out lower body and also this is the energy of the bones and it is synchronized with the white full moon via the pineal gland. So this is called the Po Soul as the White soul for this reason.

 

So alchemically you want the tiger energy as the Black Lead - to go up - and this turns the Water Tiger into the White Tiger of the lungs. then you want the White tiger of the Lungs to bring DOWN the red dragon to turn it into the Green Dragon. This process happens with the yin qi going down as cerebrospinal fluid saliva - it goes out of the sinus cavity - by connecting the Upper Magpie Bridge, with the tongue against the roof of the mouth. So this helps to stop the yin qi from going out of the eyes and mouth and instead it needs to cycle down as part of the white tiger energy. So when swallowed, this causes great heat in the stomach and it is absorbed back into the small intestines as stored up qi energy. This is the Small Universe meditation or microcosmic orbit or small heavenly cycle that happens naturally as the functioning of the alchemical dragon-tiger energy.

 

For example your right hand is yin as the tiger - the hands hang below the waist and so are lower body energy - So the right hand goes up facing the upper body to then activate the dragon channels - and this "restrains" the dragon energy - the yin activates the yang of the upper body that is external. The left hand is yang and so is put facing the lower body which is yin - and so the left hand is Dragon for the left side is yang of the lower body - and the lower body is yin as tiger (for males). This is called "moving of yin and yang" as an external small universe exercise - you can find it on youtube - but you already have your moving standing exercises. I'm just pointing out that the principles of Dragon and Tiger are the foundation of the training and then once you know the principles - they can be applied in various manners. If you study the book Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality - it goes into more details. It is based on a 1615 Daoist alchemy book that also gives more details. Also I have a free pdf for training details.

 links in the description.

So all the above is for males - it is different for females - I don't know about that. haha.

 

 

[S01000]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. 

[Phoenix3]

On 14/06/2018 at 5:39 PM, voidisyinyang said:

deep reverse breathing or Quick Fire method

 

Are they the same then? I thought when you said quick fire, it was just another way of saying the kundalini style breath of fire way of breathing.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Phoenix3

[voidisyinyang]

22 minutes ago, Phoenix3 said:

 

Are they the same then? I thought when you said quick fire, it was just another way of saying the kundalini style breath of fire way of breathing.

Quote

after it has shrunk the practiser should breathe in to drive the generative force into the base of the spine and thence up the backbone to the brain; and out to send it down to the lower tan t’ien centre (under the navel). Quick fire is produced by strong and slow fire by gentle breathing. It is most important that each com¬ plete breath should turn the generative force back to the source

 

Quote

Hence the method of correct breathing to circulate quick fire up and down (in the microcosmic orbit) and so immobilise the generative force causing the genital organ to retract (thus stopping the drain of vitality).

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The Fa Chueh says: ‘To remedy this negative state requires concentration of true inner fire which is done by fixing spirit in the lower tan t’ien, the source of foetal breath, by drawing the pupils of the eyes close to each other in order to bring the cavity of vitality into focus and by using the bellows to bring quick fire into action; as a result of pointed concentration a mass of true inner fire will soar up causing spiritual light in the cauldron to illuminate the whole body the four elements of which (see note 3 on page 41) are thereby sublimated. It will eliminate this malefic negative state and restore the brightness of the elixir in its cavity (under the navel)

Quote

Fire, Quick and slow: Quick fire is produced by in and out breathing to put the vital force into orbit for purification; and slow fire is produced by a meditative method which consists of closing both eyes to develop a mind which, although void, does not cease to work, which, although radiant, does not continue to stay, and which is neither forgotten nor upheld. Quick fire shifts and slow fire calms, as the masters put it, and both transform impurities in the body into tears which are discharged through the eyes.

 

 

Quote

The method consists of using postnatal fire to draw out prenatal fire  so that both unite in order to extract from food and drink the sweet dew (kan lu or pure saliva) which descending in the channel of fimction (jen mo in the front of the body) changes into negative generative force [yin qi] and helps to produce the latter.

 

[Phoenix3]

That sounds just like Mantak Chia’s method of circulating the microcosmic orbit. I thought the controversy with this type of method (as many critics of Mantak Chia have pointed out) is that it takes a lot of time first to unblock various points of the microcosmic orbit (like the wei lu, jia ji and yu zhen gates), and therefore allow qi to circulate freely. 

[voidisyinyang]

10 minutes ago, Phoenix3 said:

That sounds just like Mantak Chia’s method of circulating the microcosmic orbit. I thought the controversy with this type of method (as many critics of Mantak Chia have pointed out) is that it takes a lot of time first to unblock various points of the microcosmic orbit (like the wei lu, jia ji and yu zhen gates), and therefore allow qi to circulate freely. 

This is the book in Chinese -

Quote

it is also true that Zhao Bichen’s text replicates the structure of the received Zhouyi (周易), [or the ‘Book of Change’, – ‘Yijing (易經)], in as much as each of the 16 chapters also contain the essence of the other 15 – meaning that it is possible to follow Zhao’s path in a ‘gradual’ or ‘instantaneous’ fashion – depending upon character, understanding, and natural inclination of the aspirant.  This is not surprising as much of the concepts and processes associated with Daoist self-cultivation are drawn directly from the Yijing, and the sincere seeker of the Dao is advised to study this Chinese classic thoroughly before embarking upon Qianfeng training.

http://www.qianfeng.nl/?page_id=206

So the English version is just a translation of the Chinese version.