QiLearning

@ Harmonious Emptiness. Very well stated, thank you. I'll research the book. I'm sorry that I gave a wrong impression to you about my comment regarding a poem, the "razzle dazzle" part you mentioned is not how I approach my personal meditation practice, though when I was younger in my teens I admit that was a factor, and I wasn't aware at that time of potential adverse reactions (also many writers of neidan do not address this...) that can happen without proper instruction from a teacher/a solid foundation, also the entire text is often not presented in full... Since then I've learned a little more esp about what NOT to do, and hopefully matured more in some ways... (The poem comment was simply a reaction to humor I saw in the other person's statement, as I had never heard of "eating sunlight" before, which was an interesting way of putting words together. I used to write prose/ poetry/ short stories for enjoyment and some things help to get the creative juices going...) I have a tendency to take things in life too seriously... and sometimes worry about stuff too much. Yes, proper attitudes are very important when approaching these practices, and I do need to work on "letting go", "doing-without-doing" and letting the results come, if any... I know that a "razzle dazzle" approach could lead to a lot of disappointment and esp. personal harm... (these things definitely should not be rushed into...) I think continuing with a daily meditation routine will be very helpful. Prior to these sitting meditation lessons that I recently started, I had unfortunately not been practicing my tai chi as a regular habit for a long time... I think adding this neidan/sitting will be great for cultivating tranquility/focus (esp helpful for stressful environments and a tool to help with intense college studies), mental/emotional/ physical relaxation at a deeper level, and as a health exercise which would be good on a day to day basis as well as the long run. I also know from my tai chi practice there are times when it gets very boring to practice on some days, while other days are very enjoyable, and I've been told from some of my friends who are in their 60's that as one gets older it becomes more important to continue practicing regularly for good health and quality of life... Sitting meditation is great for training the mind, and I realize that it will take a little persistence stick with it as a daily habit... Other books I've read have referenced or discussed aspects of the original texts (esp. "Secret/Mystery of the Golden Flower"). I think it's great to read/study translations of the originals, though they can be quite dense/ambiguous to get through so I know that a good translation/ commentary is essential. Thank you very much for your time and consideration in posting a response to this topic, along with the book recommendation...

sounds like a poem forming, lol, maybe throw some synesthesia (medical condition of blended senses) analogies in there... I generally meditate indoors, and occasionally I'll do tai chi outside in a park...

Clarification: the walking helped my blood circulation after deep breathing, but the main Qi blockages at the points along the way were still there of course... I don't think doing tai chi or slow moving qigong would have much of an effect on a very large blockage at this type of energy level though in this case... I think the main thing would be to dissipate or decrease the energy as quickly as possible to reduce the pressure on the meridian cavities, while keeping the tongue at the roof of the mouth to connect the Ren and Du channels to help the Qi circulation along... I wonder if maybe acupuncture would've helped, hmm... By the way, I don't have any health problems resulting from those experiences... in case anyone may have been wondering... and I didnt have any health issues b4 those events either... I'm pretty active in athletics now too.

@ Ish: True, I agree with you. As far as things that help clearing blockages, I found acupressure massage helpful in some ways at that time, but I had to use it multiple times in a day... I don't know about "spontaneous qigong practices" though... I'm not sure what you mean by that, could you elaborate please? (maybe I'm over thinking here) With the blockages back then, I found relaxed belly breathing to temporarily make symptoms worse... I remember that I found taking walks during the day to be helpful... I think that movement based Qigong definitely would not move a Significant amount of Qi like what is involved when you force it into a meridian and create a large blockage(which of course is never supposed to be done in the first place). I don't believe that it is on the same level as getting a normal illness like a cold or flu and having a "blockage?" or energy depletion there. But idk I guess it might be slightly helpful in other ways simply by just doing it since it does help qi circulation and blood flow to some extent, of course having some effect would be much better than doing just nothing lol. I stayed away from meditating during that time for the most part cause I didn't want to aggravate anything. I remember I tried standing post qigong with deep breathing one day, and later on at another time I tried sitting meditation with deep breathing... not a good idea to use deep breathing (Natural Breath) in that situation lol... I probably did some tai chi movements while breathing from the chest... I don't remember doing tai chi at that time (for the moment anyway), it was a long time ago... I also remember that sinking the dan tien just by relaxing while laying down with my back on a couch made it difficult to fall asleep, and I had to start sleeping on my side... My pulse beating would become extremely apparent/ distracting, but mostly I remember that was esp. an issue when the Qi was stuck in the head region like the Jade Pillow/ at base of skull on back of the head, that wasn't very comfortable at all... I found that deep breathing made the stuck points feel painful, esp. when the Qi reached the head area (also throbbing headaches...), and generated way too much internal heat... There were times when I thought my circulation was being affected too (temporarily during a day), which is why I found walking very beneficial/ corrective in that regard after attempting any deep breathing, and ofc blood and qi are connected... The Du meridian on the back was the most difficult to deal with, the Ren meridian on the front didn't give me nearly as much trouble and didn't take as long... that's why they call them the 3 Passes on the back, lol, for good reason... A learning experience... The first few days after the initial blockage (at the area behind the heart on the Du meridian) were the worst, after that it was downhill as far as symptoms go, for the most part. I kept a journal then, but it's somewhere around... Could you elaborate on what you meant by "spontaneous qigong practices"? Thanks for sharing your ideas.

lol, yeah thanks. humor's a great way to let things go sometimes...

Okay, so I'm 23 and just started learning Neidan or inner alchemy one on one with a teacher, finally. However, back when I was 16 I had experimented with reverse breathing and the MCO (microcosmic orbit) from books without a teacher and had bad experiences that took a few months to correct (by itself). I still have anxiety about this event possibly affecting my future training in a negative way, but I realize it's psychological and I'm hoping that by learning to do things properly now with a solid foundation will help me to overcome this via a smooth unfolding of the process. So, I was wondering if anyone else has had bad experiences with advanced Qigong or energy based meditations in general and learned to overcome their fears/anxiety that may have resulted from it, in time... Just a place to share stuff if people want to, I'm sure other people somewhere have had bad experiences with neidan, but they may or may not have chosen to continue with it at a later point in their lives... At 16, I forced my Qi to run up the Du meridian along the back and created an area of qi stagnation behind the heart..., and it took a few months to open up the rest of the orbit (without meditation) as the mass of Qi got stuck at each point (very uncomfortably, along with various other adverse side effects) and gradually progressed to the next one. I see my current anxiety as a protective mechanism that will just take time to overcome with continued training, taking things slow and trying to see this as a new process and valuable opportunity... Since then, I've read more on the topic of daoist alchemy: mostly Mantak Chia, Yang Jwing-Ming, and Jou Tsung- Hwa. Thank you everyone in advance for sharing your experiences and how you overcame any setbacks along the way. For those of you who may have opened the orbit b4 and then stopped practicing for months or years, did you have the same signs of progress and did things seem to happen faster or slower for you? PS: Many people may think this was all psychological, however my personal experience tells me there were definitely physical components to this... And as an aside, just wondering, what kinds of benefits have you personally noticed in your life from practicing the MCO or inner alchemy on a day to day type basis? I'm aware of health studies on meditation, but it's nice to hear other people's stories... I also practice Yang style tai chi, and I see this as a way of improving that too, in time... Thanks in advance everyone. PPS: I don't log on to the tao bums very often...

What a neat place to share info in a community of similar and varied interests...