LDT Woes

[TowardTheosis]

On 10/1/2023 at 2:12 AM, Pak_Satrio said:

Ok first of all stop doing this.

 

Don’t mix meditation and physical exercise or other of your daily activities.

 

You should focus on your lower dantien during meditation (use the dhyana mudra to help) and the lower dantien is located around 2-3 inches below your navel, and inside your body, not at your navel.

 

Thank you for your counsel. 

 

I can certainly refrain from mixing my meditation practice with any other activity, but I'll admit a little bit of confusion on this point. I was under the impression that centering the mind in the LDT while engaged in physical activity was ideal in that it allowed one to keep the mind stable even while the body was in motion. Is this not the basis of how practitioners are taught to move in Karate and in other martial arts with a spiritual component? 

 

On the other hand, it's more than probable that I'm not focusing at the correct center since my practice is almost exclusively a product of self study. I remain open to correction in all things. 

 

 

[TowardTheosis]

On 10/1/2023 at 4:36 AM, diggorydogood said:

 

I’m not understanding what you’re doing exactly so I need to take a step back and ask some follow up questions.

To understand:

1. At some point in the day you are performing what is considered stillness (for some period of time). How long are you doing stillness

2. You go to the gym to support your physical body and that you are feeling fatigued quicker.

3. You then place focus on the LDT because hey you felt heat and such and assert mentally hey if I focus here I won’t feel as tired

4. You finish a set and then an hour later you feel fatigued again

 

Is that correct?

Also

 

What is your diet consisting of? Sleeping pattern? Stress? Sexual health? Sensations you feel during meditation? Physical sickness (e.g. cold, flu,) and etc. All of this and then some affect on your practice especially in the beginning of your practice.

 

Generally, you’re not necessarily supposed to feel heat radiating over your body during stillness per se. It’s supposed to ideally stay in the lower dan tian so the location of the heat should be minimal and at that area (amongst a few other sensations I won’t really get into). But it sounds like you have some deviation. Have you gone to an acupuncturist locally so they can inform you which organs are out of balance?

 

Are you over concentrating during stillness? Because it sounds like to me you’re not entering stillness you may be entering the void which again it happens to everyone in the beginning. It also seems like you don’t have a proper anchor to the area either and you may be assuming what the area is supposed to feel like and what it anchors to (just from reading a bit of the book you referenced for the actual practice itself).

 

My suggestion here is to find an acupuncturist and potentially get some herbs. I think for most starting out what you’re feeling is health related with knowing the proper practice and proper breathing method. But also, I think you need to understand how to properly focus on the LDT and what sensation should be your anchor.

 

 

These are also not excellent results nor what success of the LDT practice looks like at all. Again I refer to any Daoist texts which actually describe what happens with proper meditation and what should occur:

 

 

Perhaps you should read a few of them and come back. For your own education.

 

Yes, that is an accurate summary of the fatigue incident following my weightlifting practice. The fatigue always follows my practice of centering in the LDT regardless of whether or not I've been involved in any strenuous physical practice beforehand, but I do think that this specific incident highlights some useful pain points. 

 

1. My diet is not well regulated. I do ensure that I get adequate amounts of protein for muscle growth and other macronutrients to support recovery following my workout, but I also have a penchant for sweets and junk foods. I've read that successful meditation rests on what we choose to consume. If so, then I am positive that I'm not giving my body optimal fuel for these practices. 

 

2. Sleep has become something of a source of stress. I am recently married, and my wife and I have had to adjust to our very different sleeping patterns now that we share the same home. Before, I'd wake up like clockwork at the same time every morning and go to sleep with the same precision. Now, that's not the case. 

 

3. Did I mention that I was newly married and cohabitating? Stress levels are a little bit elevated lol. 

 

4. I am inclined to believe your diagnosis of qi deviation. Prior to converting to Orthodoxy and renouncing elements of my past, I was involved in a wide array of disjointed energetic/spiritual practices with absolutely no consistency or input from an instructor. I would not be in any way surprised if I caused harm to myself with the deviation in this practice being the latest symptom of having done so. 

 

I'll seek out the help of a qualified acupuncturist to try to address imbalances. 

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

1 hour ago, TowardTheosis said:

 

Thank you for your counsel. 

 

I can certainly refrain from mixing my meditation practice with any other activity, but I'll admit a little bit of confusion on this point. I was under the impression that centering the mind in the LDT while engaged in physical activity was ideal in that it allowed one to keep the mind stable even while the body was in motion. Is this not the basis of how practitioners are taught to move in Karate and in other martial arts with a spiritual component? 

 

On the other hand, it's more than probable that I'm not focusing at the correct center since my practice is almost exclusively a product of self study. I remain open to correction in all things. 

 

 

Qi will follow where you place your focus, so if you are doing exercise or even qigong you don’t want to direct it to the LDT. Let it do it’s thing and go where it needs to go.

 

AFTER your exercise or qigong you can then do a meditation do direct the qi back down to your LDT. Just don’t mix the two and do it at the same time. 
 

1 hour ago, TowardTheosis said:

4. I am inclined to believe your diagnosis of qi deviation. Prior to converting to Orthodoxy and renouncing elements of my past, I was involved in a wide array of disjointed energetic/spiritual practices with absolutely no consistency or input from an instructor. I would not be in any way surprised if I caused harm to myself with the deviation in this practice being the latest symptom of having done so. 

Out of curiosity, which Eastern Orthodox tradition do you follow? My wife is Romanian Orthodox

[diggorydogood]

On 02/10/2023 at 3:29 PM, TowardTheosis said:

 

Yes, that is an accurate summary of the fatigue incident following my weightlifting practice. The fatigue always follows my practice of centering in the LDT regardless of whether or not I've been involved in any strenuous physical practice beforehand, but I do think that this specific incident highlights some useful pain points. 

 

1. My diet is not well regulated. I do ensure that I get adequate amounts of protein for muscle growth and other macronutrients to support recovery following my workout, but I also have a penchant for sweets and junk foods. I've read that successful meditation rests on what we choose to consume. If so, then I am positive that I'm not giving my body optimal fuel for these practices. 

 

2. Sleep has become something of a source of stress. I am recently married, and my wife and I have had to adjust to our very different sleeping patterns now that we share the same home. Before, I'd wake up like clockwork at the same time every morning and go to sleep with the same precision. Now, that's not the case. 

 

3. Did I mention that I was newly married and cohabitating? Stress levels are a little bit elevated lol. 

 

4. I am inclined to believe your diagnosis of qi deviation. Prior to converting to Orthodoxy and renouncing elements of my past, I was involved in a wide array of disjointed energetic/spiritual practices with absolutely no consistency or input from an instructor. I would not be in any way surprised if I caused harm to myself with the deviation in this practice being the latest symptom of having done so. 

 

I'll seek out the help of a qualified acupuncturist to try to address imbalances. 

 

Yeah this is actually helpful. First off congratulations on your marriage (love is always nice even if it is an initial change of sorts).

 

Obviously acupuncturist will be able to better narrow which organs and channels are out of balance but I can provide a bit of advice here (coming 3 years into a marriage myself while doing nei gong practice / Buddhist practices in between):

 

Diet is so important here. Bad diet probably deviation to stomach or other channels. This directly affects the practices you’re doing and the fatigue. In addition as we know sleep is critical. We are constantly told at least 6 hours in China (but optimum sleep is 7-8 hours if you’re doing any sort of meditation based practices). Less sleep will affect meditation and well anything else you do in your waking life (including the stress of shared space - I know that struggle but it isn’t so bad once you get a rhythm).

 

As for the qi deviation, it can happen in a multitude of ways honestly. Improper diet, improper sleep, improper practice, myriads of things actually. Understand that the initial foundation practices that we have to do focuses on getting qi to flow evenly to the organs in a free and unobstructed path (among other things). Once it is blocked, you still generate qi but at a much less state.

 

I think the acupuncturist can help with the sleep. But you have to amend diet and stress from the new marriage. This does take time but it’s much better investing in the time (or going to a retreat where a healer can clear simple blocks) so you can maximize your practice.

 

But again just my 0.02 on the matter.