Eating and alchemy

[apdo]

Hi I was wondering if I eat I could go do alchemy training or I have to wait for some time until food absorbed ot what  I am still in foundations level and building Dan Tien and thanks for help guys 

[Apech]

47 minutes ago, apdo said:

Hi I was wondering if I eat I could go do alchemy training or I have to wait for some time until food absorbed ot what  I am still in foundations level and building Dan Tien and thanks for help guys 

 

 

Best to wait about an hour after eating I think.

[exorcist_1699]

On 2021/6/11 at 2:52 PM, apdo said:

Hi I was wondering if I eat I could go do alchemy training or I have to wait for some time until food absorbed ot what  I am still in foundations level and building Dan Tien and thanks for help guys 

 

Doing Taoist alchemy means your cultivating Tao,  which  is something you should not deviate  , even for an  instant  ; that means no matter you go to toilet , sit on bus , have your lunch,   you can do it , say emptying your mind or paying attention to your Dantien .

 

However, if you in fact are doing some medical qigong stuff,  say massaging some acupuncture points on your body ,  then  you should  avoided doing  it  before or after eating your meals.

 

 

[apdo]

On 18/06/2021 at 9:29 AM, exorcist_1699 said:

 

Doing Taoist alchemy means your cultivating Tao,  which  is something you should not deviate  , even for an  instant  ; that means no matter you go to toilet , sit on bus , have your lunch,   you can do it , say emptying your mind or paying attention to your Dantien 

 

 

I understand yeah cultivating the Tao bit as I know body use qi for disgusting food that's why and absorbing qi to back bit of stomach Dan Tien too need kinda empty stomach but thanks 

[exorcist_1699]

It is said that stomach , our digestion ability , is the basis for  our post-natal  energy .  And , kidney ,  jing inside it  is the basis of our   pre-natal energy , which is always symbolized as some kind of  Fire . The ability of  digestion , to the final analysis ,  relies on how strong that  Fire underneath be .    People after their 50s likely understand this easier as they now eat less , easier to have a feeling of stagnation after eating ..etc .  To make thing worse,  eating less means  weakening  the  jing inside  our kidneys and further makes our digestive weaker .. so here is a bad , negative feedback  circulation.

 

How well ( easier to sense those  delicate, subtle  layers of emptiness  , quicker to enter those statuses ..etc )  we  can do the emptied Mind meditation is related to the quality and quantity of the jing we get (  this is crucial to  differentiate the Taoist  way from the Buddhist ) , so to any old -aged practitioner , of course,  he /she has  to pay attention to his  eating and drinking . Seldom  do  Buddhist ways pay enough attention to this   ,   but in TCM and Taoist alchemy materials ,  you get tons of materials  about them.

Edited June 29, 2021 by exorcist_1699

[Taomeow]

My teacher's lecture on nutrition for the cultivator included many valuable tips -- here's some general ideas:

 

When you're going to have a meal, first try giving your current appetite a rating -- say from 1 to 10, from "well, I could eat, if there's nothing better to do" to "hungry as a wolf."  Skip a meal if your current appetite is too low on that scale.

 

Try to never eat to 10.  Stop at 7 or 8.  Stop when you think, "well, that was good, I guess I could eat some more before I'm full."  Don't go here:

 

  

If practitioners always observe the rule of not going past 7 in satisfying their appetite, most of them don't have to worry too much about when exactly they'd eaten before starting the practice.  But we're not all the same, our digestions are not the same, foods eaten at a given meal are not the same -- so self-observation is important.  If you find, experimentally, that your practice benefits from giving yourself some time to digest your meal first, it's a good idea to give yourself that time.  If you find it doesn't suffer or even benefits from your not being distracted by hunger, try the 7 out of 10 approach, see if it works better.    

[apdo]

Thanks guys 

[silent thunder]

Intermittent Fasting is something I have done naturally for decades and is how my body naturally wants to process food.  I didn't impose it on my body as a practice, but discovered it is how I naturally eat when following my body's prompts.

 

IM, if anyone is unfamiliar, is forgoing eating in a 12 hour window each day, which gives the body some time to clear. 

 

My IM schedule is natural not imposed, but I find I usually eat all my food for the day within a 6-8 hour window, leaving 14-18 hours for my body to process, clear out and for blood to go back to ph neutral.

 

My normal waking time is 4am and I never wake hungry.   About 5 hours after waking, usually around 9am I'll get peckish and have a couple eggs and a handful of nuts/seeds or some fruit to get me to mid-day.

 

Main meal is usually right around mid day, with a smaller meal in the evening. 

 

I've also found in recent years that my body will crave emptiness and naturally prompts me to spontaneously not eat on some days.  I usually follow this prompt.

 

 

And on a related side note, on the recommendation of one of my teachers years ago, I will not eat in the hour before or after playing Qi Gong or any energy work.

[exorcist_1699]

All organs ( lung, heart,  stomach..) , their jing and qi rise to our head, enabling  us to think, to see and to hear ;  stomach qi is especially important for the ability of our  thinking ; conversely,  thinking too much  makes our stomach ache , undermines our digestive ability .  Old people  whose ability to  learn as quickly and easily as youth people deteriorates  also  experiencing  a decline process of their digestive  ability .

 

[Desmonddf]

On 11/06/2021 at 3:52 AM, apdo said:

Hi I was wondering if I eat I could go do alchemy training or I have to wait for some time until food absorbed ot what  I am still in foundations level and building Dan Tien and thanks for help guys 

 

Different practices will have different requirements. Look for your teacher.