Cant sleep, did I fucked up ?

[Scholar]

Im training qigong every day around 1,5 hour a day, divided in two identical sections, one in the morning and one at night.

 

My training consists in 10 minutes of zhan zhuang and 10 exercises from a style called "tai chi chi kung" or something like that, I dont remember because I learnt it from a teacher 6 years ago but I dont train with him since 2017.

 

After some days, I started to feel energy like I never felt before, some small points of my body started to heat up pretty intensely, and now I can move the energy of my body at a level that I never experienced before. I was pretty happy with those results, since it means that Im evolving. But since july 2 Im experiencing a big difficult to sleep, in july two to three I slept around 4 hours and now, at 5 am in my country, I cant sleep anymore after sleeping for around 45 minutes. I woke up with some strange out of body feeling(I think I saw my back but Im not sure) and my energy was flowing like crazy, I could feel the circulating predominantely around my arms and chest.

 

Can someone help me with this? Did I make an mistake ??

 

Thanks and sorry for my bad english, its not my first language and Im very disoriented right now

 

 

 

[freeform]

@Scholar Do you feel any effects while not practicing? Buzzing, trembling, heat, sweating, heart palpitations etc?

[Scholar]

Just now, freeform said:

@Scholar Do you feel any effects while not practicing? Buzzing, trembling, heat, sweating, heart palpitations etc?

 

Yes,I feel the energy and can move it all day long, feels like an megnetic fluid but I can describe it very well, but it heats where it pass. It gets much stronger after training tho. I dont have none of these effects apart from buzzing sometimes. 

 

Thanks for answering 

[freeform]

It sounds to me like your Qi is rising - meaning you haven’t managed to sink Qi yet.

 

1 hour ago, Scholar said:

I started to feel energy like I never felt before, some small points of my body started to heat up pretty intensely, and now I can move the energy of my body at a level that I never experienced before. I was pretty happy with those results, since it means that Im evolving.

 

Unfortunately in these arts ‘feeling stuff’ is not necessarily a good sign - it’s a lot more complicated than that. I mean it’s good that you’ve managed to mobilise Qi - but you’ve jumped ahead before building the foundation.

 

Learning to sink your Qi should be the foundation of your practice - after which you should be consolidating your Dantien - otherwise ‘you’re just heating the room’ as one of my old teachers would say... and you’re burning up essence to do that.

 

Go back to the wuji posture of your particular style and learn to sink your Qi, otherwise you’re heading for more serious errors down the line.

[Rara]

Yes, in fact, insomnia is my biggest problem as I'm very excitable. Therefore, when I train taiji, it can have the adverse effect that I expect sometimes. A day or two off to just settle might be what you need.

[Scholar]

6 hours ago, freeform said:

It sounds to me like your Qi is rising - meaning you haven’t managed to sink Qi yet.

 

 

Unfortunately in these arts ‘feeling stuff’ is not necessarily a good sign - it’s a lot more complicated than that. I mean it’s good that you’ve managed to mobilise Qi - but you’ve jumped ahead before building the foundation.

 

Learning to sink your Qi should be the foundation of your practice - after which you should be consolidating your Dantien - otherwise ‘you’re just heating the room’ as one of my old teachers would say... and you’re burning up essence to do that.

 

Go back to the wuji posture of your particular style and learn to sink your Qi, otherwise you’re heading for more serious errors down the line.

I actually dont know any sinking exercise, I didnt even know that was a thing. Thanks for clarifying to me. Do you recommend any exercise for that purpose ?

[RiverSnake]

If you drink coffee before trying to sleep....your gonna have trouble sleeping. It's the same situation if you do an hour of chi kung before hitting the sack. You might want to re-orient your schedule. Do most of your Chi kung in the morning and afternoon. See how this affects your sleep rhythms.  

 

All the sensations your feeling are normal. As your sensitivity continues to grow it will only become more visceral. Be careful with moving around chi with the mind in patterns you don't fully understand.....directing chi with the "monkey mind" can cause problems.   

 

If your feeling ungrounded, that may be something that you need to take care of as well.  

[Scholar]

3 hours ago, Rara said:

Yes, in fact, insomnia is my biggest problem as I'm very excitable. Therefore, when I train taiji, it can have the adverse effect that I expect sometimes. A day or two off to just settle might be what you need.

Thanks for the reponse.

Its pretty hard for me to have a day off, my body seems addicted to it, feels so good

[Scholar]

1 minute ago, RiverSnake said:

If you drink coffee before trying to sleep....your gonna have trouble sleeping. It's the same situation if you do an hour of chi kung before hitting the sack. You might want to re-orient your schedule. Do most of your Chi kung in the morning and afternoon. See how this affects your sleep rhythms.  

 

All the sensations your feeling are normal. As your sensitivity continues to grow it will only become more visceral. Be careful with moving around chi with the mind in patterns you don't fully understand.....directing chi with the "monkey mind" can cause problems.   

 

If your feeling ungrounded, that may be something that you need to take care of as well.  

Its a pretty slow qigong so I always thought it would even help me to sleep, I guess I was wrong.

 

Is my sensitivity thats growing or my chi itself ? I always wondered about that.

Now that you cited the monkey mind, I perceived that sometimes I move my chi even when just thinking about doing it.

 

Can you explain what does ungrounded means ?

 

Thanks for the answer

[RiverSnake]

The chi kung your practicing will dictate your pattern of growth. What channels it emphasizes will be reflected in your results. 

 

Energy follows intent. Learning to wield intent with extreme discipline is key for spiritual maturity. 

 

"My adepts stand upright; there head above the heavens, there feet below the hells."  Aleister Crowley

 

One of Crowley's better quotes.....what he's trying to say is that you need balance on the path. When your too high, too low or simply not sturdy enough to handle some of the tough turns....your gonna get your ass kicked. Developing this balance and sturdiness so that when the path throws a punch (which it will...and potentially be devastating) you can take a lick and not lose your shit. 

 

When your doing intense amounts of energy work, you need to make sure that your simultaneously maintaining internal harmony so that you can open doors to higher levels of awareness and not turn into burnt toast. The "traps" laid on the path are innumerable.....proper preparation of the system disables many of the road blocks. Grounding is a general term to refer to stabilizing or making the system dense. 

[RobB]

Walk, do some weights, get out into nature, exercise, fully inhabit your body. Establish the yin to support the yang. The deeper the roots, the bigger the tree can grow.

[Daniel]

11 hours ago, Scholar said:

After some days, I started to feel energy like I never felt before, some small points of my body started to heat up pretty intensely, and now I can move the energy of my body at a level that I never experienced before. I was pretty happy with those results, since it means that Im evolving. But since july 2 Im experiencing a big difficult to sleep, in july two to three I slept around 4 hours and now, at 5 am in my country, I cant sleep anymore after sleeping for around 45 minutes. I woke up with some strange out of body feeling(I think I saw my back but Im not sure) and my energy was flowing like crazy, I could feel the circulating predominantely around my arms and chest.

 

Can someone help me with this? Did I make an mistake ??

 

Hi Scholar, It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Daniel.  I come from the Jewish tradition of healers taught by the Ba'al Shem Tov.  It's important you know that, because it is not a cultivation path, and my knowledge and understanding of energetics comes from that school, not a Daoist school.

 

But,

 

That doesn't mean that I can't help. 

 

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@Scholar  This advice from @freeform is, imho,  the most important advice in the thread so far.  The advice given was:

 

"Unfortunately in these arts ‘feeling stuff’ is not necessarily a good sign " 

 

Please focus on this, and really let it sink in ( no pun intended ) ( see below ).

 

3 hours ago, Scholar said:

actually dont know any sinking exercise, I didnt even know that was a thing. Thanks for clarifying to me. Do you recommend any exercise for that purpose ?

 

It's very simple, simpler than you think.  Read @RobB's advice.  In all cultivation paths and occult practices that I have learned.  Grounding oneself is the first thing to learn.  Or else... well.... a person leaves themselves exposed to Qi Deviation.  Look it up it's on wikipedia.  It has a fancy name in Chinese i think... but it basically means... "cultivation gone wrong".  That's what it sounds like to me. 

 

What you're describing in this thread .... that sounds like Qi Deviation to me, especially if you do not know how to ground yourself.

 

3 hours ago, Scholar said:

Its a pretty slow qigong so I always thought it would even help me to sleep, I guess I was wrong.

 

Yup.  Something you expected to be relaxing is not relaxing at all, it's the opposite.... QI Deviation.

 

There are a lot of ways to ground oneself.... here's what I do, because, what they heck? I'm in the shower anyway...  but I digress.

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My prescription for you if you choose to take it is simple.

 

1)  Cease all cultivation until this is resolved

2)  Take a hot shower when you feel the burning sensation, then slowly, very slowly turn the water from hot to cold.

  *** It's important to go very slowly from hot to cold ***

  *** Be sure to get your whole head immersed in the water periodically ***

  *** then slowly step back out from under the water in the shower so the water hits your belly ***

  *** repeat the steps above:  go slowly from hot to cold ***

  *** take a tiny step back again, and do the same thing with your feet:  slowly from hot to cold ***

3)  dry off, make some herbal ( non-caffeinated ) tea and eat something small, like a cookie or biscuit, not fruit, not veggie, not meat

   *** don't forget to finish the tea completely as well as the little grain based snack ***

 

Please keep us posted, OK?

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by Daniel

[thelerner]

6 hours ago, Rara said:

Yes, in fact, insomnia is my biggest problem as I'm very excitable. Therefore, when I train taiji, it can have the adverse effect that I expect sometimes. A day or two off to just settle might be what you need.

It's been flaring up for me too.  Insomnia is the 'disease' but the problem is too much thinking and computer work at night.  I need to kill the electronics early.  Maybe read, listen to music, meditate.  No news, no websurfing, no writing. 

 

Be in bed by 10:45 or lose my best sleep window. 

Edited July 4, 2020 by thelerner
its not killing I need, its re-reading before hitting return

[Daniel]

3 minutes ago, thelerner said:

[insomnia] been flaring up for me too.  Insomnia is the 'disease' but the problem is too much thinking and computer work at night.  I need to kill to kill the electronics early.  Maybe read, listen to music, meditate.  No news, no websurfing, no writing. 

me too... on all counts...

 

Anyone who suffers from insomnia, you have my deepest sympathies; if you ever want to chat about it let me know.

Edited July 4, 2020 by Daniel

[Scholar]

Thanks for the advice Daniel, I appreaciate it 

 

I will keep you updated

[Daniel]

3 minutes ago, Scholar said:

Thanks for the advice Daniel, I appreaciate it 

 

I will keep you updated

 

You are always welcome, open door policy.

 

Since I know you're having troubles, I'll check back here regularly over the next few days in case something comes up that you want to talk about.

 

Speedy recovery, and Best Wishes to you and yours,

Edited July 4, 2020 by Daniel

[MuadDib]

11 hours ago, Scholar said:

and now, at 5 am in my country, I cant sleep anymore after sleeping for around 45 minutes. I woke up with some strange out of body feeling(I think I saw my back but Im not sure) and my energy was flowing like crazy, I could feel the circulating predominantely around my arms and chest.

 

 

Some traditions acknowledge the time of day just before sunrise, we are energetically very vulnerable/sensitive.

 

I would advise keeping calm, taking the point of view of an observer and try to smile (both on the outside and also inner smile) if you can.

 

Also keep in mind that your body has limits. When your body cannot take it any more, you will sleep, possibly making up for some of the lost hours you had in the past few days.

 

[Rara]

13 hours ago, thelerner said:

It's been flaring up for me too.  Insomnia is the 'disease' but the problem is too much thinking and computer work at night.  I need to kill the electronics early.  Maybe read, listen to music, meditate.  No news, no websurfing, no writing. 

 

Be in bed by 10:45 or lose my best sleep window. 

 

I like that you have a strategy in place. For me, if I read, I often get stimulated too, but listening to music or a podcast tends to work a lot of the time for me.

 

The trouble with meditative practices before bed is because my mind associates it still with "something to do". When on retreat, I could meditate around 8pm and go to sleep around 10/10:30 with some reading before lights out, but any attachment to any sort of responsibility was left at home. Calming down was easier.

 

So how we are naturally wired and our mental habits can also dictate what keeps us up. Whatever distracts me from what's on my mind is what helps switch me off, and I think this is different for most people.

[Rara]

16 hours ago, Scholar said:

Thanks for the reponse.

Its pretty hard for me to have a day off, my body seems addicted to it, feels so good

 

No worries. And yes, "addicted" is the issue and I have a very addictive personality. Initially, I thought this stuff was supposed to calm me down to the point where it elimitates the problem entirely, but high expectations like this still lead to overthinking, and obsessing over it and practicing later at night will be stimulating.

 

Try and think the Daoist way and beware of too much of one thing