|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Jack
United Kingdom
305 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 05:55:23 AM
|
Hello,
I currently have a weak hara. I feel lots of tension in the abdominal area. This is reflected in my 'nice guy' attitude, low sexual drive, etc.,
While I'm seeking psychotherapy to help me move beyond this, I've also felt that AYP practice, personally, for me, took me away from this powerful center of being. So does anybody have any recommendations for Taoist hara meditation? |
|
|
Christi
United Kingdom
4380 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 08:08:37 AM
|
Hi Jack,
Tension in the abdominal area can happen as energy begins to move in the body, and the manipura chakra begins to open. Typical symptoms include anxiety, stress, feelings of vulnerability. It can also make you feel slightly sick. As the chakra opens more fully and becomes more balanced, you feel open, sensitive and more connected to people on an emotional level.
Spinal breathing pranayama can open this chakra (just as it can open all the chakras) and it is a good sign that the practice is working.
As the second chakra opens it can create strong sexual desire which can feel overpowering at times. This is another symptom of purification happening in the lower chakras.
As things progress, your heart will begin to open and flower and strong feelings of Divine love will pour out of you.
Focusing on the hara may not be the best thing to do at this time, as purification needs to happen throughout the body, without fixating too strongly on any one aspect. It is good to trust the process, even if it feels a bit shakey at times. 
Taoist philosophy, meditations and kriyas are fantastic though, and a beautiful com[lement to yoga. I am sure the folks at Taobums could help you out:
http://www.thetaobums.com/
Good luck
Christi |
 |
|
|
Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 08:33:22 AM
|
Jack,
The book Unwinding the Belly has been recommended to me with good reviews...but I've never checked it out. Although I tend to agree with Christi, that what we think is the problem is often not. The hara is a very tricky area to safely work with, and many Taoists have it wrong in my opinion (by advocating deep belly breathing). That's like saying we should massage a burn.
If you really think AYP is not for you, then the Tao Bums website will be a good resource to find other methods. But if you want to stick with AYP, I think just doing deep meditation (and maybe SBP) every day and self pacing is a good idea. I would recommend doing that for a year until moving on to new things. And in the meantime, see the psychotherapists or whatever you feel you need to do...but don't add on more spiritual practices.
That's just my perspective...take it for what it's worth. |
|
|
|
markern
Norway
171 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 09:08:28 AM
|
| The mantras VAM for sexual center and RAM for Manipura |
|
|
|
yogani
USA
5195 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 12:26:44 PM
|
Hi Jack:
Recently I was asked about this from the standpoint of "storing" energy in the hara (belly) to improve stability in life. Below is what I wrote back. Hope it is helpful.
-----------------
Hello:
Yes, in Taoist systems, Hara (or Dan Tien), is about storing energy in the belly and acting from there. This is central in ancient Chinese and Japanese martial arts, which evolved later toward spiritual paths. Yoga began as spiritual in ancient times and continued as spiritual, with more emphasis on cultivating inner silence and radiance outward, divine ecstatic outflow, etc. Under normal circumstances, divine outflow (natural karma yoga) is preferred over storing energy at the naval (marital arts technique). But everyone is different in purification and opening and it is not always going to be a straight line from practices to divine outpouring. So intermediate methods for managing energy are often needed. Self-pacing and grounding are developed for that in AYP. But, as you say, sometimes more is necessary.
An area of development for AYP in the lessons later this year will be more focus on those who are over-sensitive to yoga practices (excess energy flows, imbalances, blockages, etc.), and also on those who are under-sensitive, who seem not to experience much observable effect from yoga practices. So the lessons will be looking at modifications to the baseline AYP system as needed to address these variations in the experience occurring in some practitioners. It has been going on already in the community, with many things being tried by many people (for right reasons or wrong reasons) and it was addressed somewhat officially by me in several posts in this topic: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=5103
In your case, if you are looking for more stability in the Hara way, then consider Taoist methods. The writings of Mantak Chia are very good for this. His work in Taoism has been similar to what AYP has been doing in Yoga -- bringing to the public over the years many techniques that were not openly presented before. Also see Jim & K's writing on his energy issues and how he has been addressing them by integrating Taoist methods with his yoga practices, here: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=3296
Of course, if you have local support for applying useful methods (of any kind) that can enhance your experience in daily living, go for it. And yes, please do share your experience with the AYP community, so all can benefit.
For the record, for a period of about 10 years during raging kundalini, I used a daily Tai Chi routine in addition to yoga practices with good effect (covered in Lesson 69 and elsewhere). Tai Chi is a Hara/Dan Tien based practice. Later on (about 10 years ago), nearly all the energy went to outward divine flow (divine outpouring) and the Tai Chi became less essential, though I still do practice it occasionally as needed. If the divine outpouring had not ocurred (hara evolving from storage mode to pass-through radiance mode), there likely would be no AYP, and I would have a well-stored energy belly instead, constantly ready for the fight (metaphorically speaking).
So that is the trade-off, which characterizes the main difference between Taoist and Yogic methods.
In both systems, the cultivation of abiding inner silence through meditation is essential. This is generally much better recognized in Yoga than in Taoist systems. So I think both systems have something useful to offer each other.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
|
|
|
|
Jack
United Kingdom
305 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 1:05:40 PM
|
Thank you for the replies.
If I may explain my situation a little better maybe it will help.
I grew up with phimosis, a condition where the foreskin does not retract. My first sexual experiences had no pleasure down there, at all. I learned to not get aroused, hard with women. This kind of killed my confidence with women! Ended up turning to porn for years, and even though I got circumcised a few years ago, its still 50/50 a no-show with girls. I'm still a virgin.
I also grew up with toxic shame, negative viewpoint of my father, etc., I grew up to never accept my anger, my lust, etc., I became ashamed of these emotions. So the emotional repression of my masculine energy coupled with the anxiety of negative past sexual expereince have combined to form some deep rigidty in the abdomen.
I feel a lot of blockage there in regards to women, owning my own power, not being a walkover, feeling sexually comfortable (instead of panicing).
I just don't know what to do. Getting help is one step. I don't know if AYP is really for me, though? I need to feel more grounded in my masculinity.. |
|
|
|
markern
Norway
171 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 4:25:31 PM
|
Hi Jack! I think there are some very good stuff out there that can help you overcome your problems, not just partialy, but completly.
Adressing the Hara directly can be done in many ways. One of the best and safest methods that does not interefere in any way with yogic energy flows is PIlates. Pilates structures your muscle and whole body so that all movements are done from the center/hara and that this and other deep core muscle areas becomes the main muscle groups you use. Even when doing a simple movement with your hand the restructurng of the body through Pilates will ensure that intentionaly your movement will come from the Hara. This is in line with all dance theory after Martha Graham revolutionized dancing by teaching every single movement done from the center and it is in line with all martial arts.
When the body is structured correctly in this way your energy body mostly follow the same structure and overload problems in the head will be rare and you will be emotionaly centered in the Hara/dan tien.
Other methods works great to. Certain types of dance, martial arts of course and many others. However, Pilates goes so directly and precisely into this that the jobb gets done quickly precisely and well. Many martial arts take a lot longer to achieve this because they start out with very broad and crude body movements that makes it difficult for people to develop this sort of centering if it is not there in the begining. Som martial arts, especialy internal ones like tai chi and Ba Gua goes at this much quicker and more precisely.
Because of your masculinity problems I think such a restructuring is the way to go. Many methods can bring you there but pilates is a great place to start. If you do it 3*60 min a week for 6 months you should have achived mostly what you want in terms of restructuring bodywise. From that basis it would be superb to take up a martial art. That will help you develop the confidence and aggressive drive and toughness you feel is lacking. That will help you a lot with women and it will be a huge help in waking you up sexualy as tehse things are interlinked. Once a basis is done through pilates you don`t realy need to keep it up as long as you do a martial art because it will mantain and enhance the efect.
The skills necesary for attracting women can be learnt quite quickly with the right methods. You might have heard of the Game and about pick up artists. THey actualy realy know how to teach these skills. Many of the methods are rather sinister and unhealthy for the man using them in my opinion but there are methods/styles that are very healthy, honest and beneficial for the practioners and the girls he encounters. Juggler method (charismaarts.com) is one such method. It does not realy on changing you, manipulating you or saying rehearsed things but changes your comunicating and how you relate to people in general in a great way. You just have to read about it to understand. For many people it is profoundly life changing. They become very, very extroverted and love meeting and connecting genuinly with people while also becoming able to attract the women they desire regardless of how they look. They become very, very confident, stupid nice guy behaviour disapears but is not interchanged with bad guy behaviour either just good people and women skills and confident masculinity.
Working directly on the Hara with energetic methods from the taoist tradition seems like a good idea also. ASk at thetaobums.com for help in finding the methods for you. Some sort of breathing method and a few qigong excersises should do this well. thetaobums is also a good place to ask for help regrding the sexual issues. The taoist tradition has a lot of excersises for healing that are and sexual issues in general. Genital and testicle massage (done in a loving way) and gentel methods for awakening the sexual energy centers and gentials. Do good research before choosing methods. Be conserned with safety. Don`t go for forcefull or powerfull methods. Don`T overdo, Focus on self acceptance and self loving.
It might also be better for you to practice the microcosmic orbit for a while and either choose that route permanently or to use it for a while and later come beck to spinal breathing. The reason is that the front channel is important to work with for these issues and the orbit can do a lot of good here. Six healing sounds and the inner smile are also very good for dealing with all sorts of psychological issues while being energeticly beneficial. Beyond that fusion of the five elements is profoundly balancing for the emotions and will give a lot of self confidence while clearing out and resolving issues from the past(learn it from Andy Fretwel not from Mantak). A CAREFULL and MODERATE practice of iron shirt chi kung and dan tien chi kung will also build an huge amount of confidence and feeling of power and root that will adress your issues very well but these are practices that are best done on a foundation of the other ones mentioned
I warn you to be extreemly carefull if you deside to aproach any of the taoist seual practices. There are huge holes in Mantaks teachings with regards to this. Thetaobums has a lot of knowledge about this. check out alchemicaltaoism.com for advice on how to aproach this and use doctor Lins not mantaks methods. Please email me if you deceide to do these things and I can communicate to you a lot of the safety protocols developed over trial and error by the webcommunity with these practices so that it can be done safely. Clearing up emotional issues first is an extreemly important part of all this.
If you deceide to use the orbit you should use Michael winns methods not mantaks and winns way of opening it with gentle qigong is better then winns older ways. Also read trunks advice on alchemicaltaoism.com about the orbit. It apears the using the I AM mantra and the orbit is fine but inquire with Jim and his Karma and other people here that do this and people at thetaobums that have experience witht that because that is not thorougly developed teritory but more at a try out stage I think.
The I AM mantra is a much quicker way to develop mindfulness in daily life than Vipassana and breath based methods so it is a good idea to keep it up. However doing a little work on breath based meditation and other work that helps you work with mindfulness of emotions in daily life can be very beneficial for waorking with all of your issues. This book is great for that purpose:
http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-A...46385&sr=8-3
Any sort of bodywork to free up trauma and body armoring could also be helpful rosentherapy for example is good. If you can get chi nei tsang and karzai nei tsang that would be golden in your case.
With regards to being inexperienced sexualy there are ways to deal with that. The most radical apraoch would be to find a formaly trained sexual surrogate. They are not at all common prostitues but trained idealistic people specialising in your issues:
http://www.sexsurrogateofla.com/sex...-brownk.html
I don`t however recomend doing that unless you realy feel any other option and you are completly ok with it.
An other option is phonecaoching with Annie Sprinkle a sexual genius.
There are also ways to build your sexual skills quickly to a very high level quickly, epsecialy once you get an active sex life and can start experimenting but also before you have experience. The book breathing exctasy is probably the most important for you because it teaches you several things about your breathing and movements during masturbation and sex that will profaundly exect your sexual pleasure. It also has a trick to multiply womens pleasure imensly that is extreemly easy to do and that you won`t find anywhere else. learning to know were the g-spot and a-spot will help you get ahead of most guys in a technical way at least. The book she comes first is great for oral sex technique and this book how to train your toungue in a couple of weeks to have great control of it during oral sex. There are also great videos buy joseph kramer about giving sexual massages and the white tiger tantra videos will also teach you powerfull fairly easy and mindblowing techniques. David Shade is superb with regards to the mental aspect of sex particulary with regards to masculnity but beware because he takes that part way to far either because of a personal hang up or for marketing purposes. But the genral direction he takes you in works wonders on women. One of the best parts is what he writes about dirty talk and hypnotising women into orgasms and turning women on mentaly. There are also tantric stuff you could get into eventualy and in general loads you can do that will blow the minds of almost any girl and make you stand out from any guy she has been with.
I would also realy read up on annie sprinkle because she is great with regards to the mental part of sex and with working on your own attitudes towards sex. One of her advice is to make your masturbation into sensual rituals of self loving where you makes love to yourself touching yourself all over just as you would if you had passionate sex with a partner. That revolutionizes masturbation for most people who are very dry and technical when masturbating, it teaches sensuality in your own body and realy develops your lovemaking skills even without experience becuase you start to learn so much about how to touch and how to be sensual
There is huge potential in the techniques in some of these books but the most important part is always mental. How things lead up to the sex, how you interact how you move with your body how much feeling you put into it how much you let go etc. This post from somewhere else has some wisdom and some links that might be beneficial for you even tough it adresses a diferent person and somewhat different circumstances. Especialy the link to videos of real couples having sex and being interviewed about their sex lives can be usefull I think in addition to the genral advice in the post. I aslo highly recomend learning to find the a-spot quickly because almost all women have ita and respond extreemly quickly and powerfully to stimulation there. That alone will compensate for a lot of your lack of experience in the begining. I also think that using the aneros (aneros.com) might be very helpfull for you to open up sexual yourself. It should after some time give you hugely powerful sexual experiences and help open stuff up.
http://doctorg.com/sex_education_film.htm
You absolutly should whatch one ore more of those. Real couples have real sex and talk about it with the filmmakers. You can also whatch the lovers guide series which is instructional or the Emanuelle movies becuase they are more to a womans liking and more like real sex. If you don't know how real sex is supposed to be, taking inspiration from Jenna Jameson movies is going to make you a worse lover. Especially if the girl is inexperienced as well. You should also read a couple of books about having good sex. Hot sex by Tracey cox is probably good for beginners. Lou Pagets books are good. The book She comes first is excellent for oral sex. REALY pay attention to that one.
Most guys thrust all the way in and all the way out repeatedly in a monotonic fashion. What you should do is vary your thrusts. A good basic rythm is once realy deep then 5-9 times not very far in. Only a bit more than the head of your penis. Your dick should stay inside here all the time while doing this particular technique but with other ways of thrusting it might not matter. This thrusting pattern does at least four things. The deep thrust pushes air out of the vagina creating a vacuum. The shallow thrusts reinforces the vacuum and that is very pleasurable for the girl. When you do something repeatedly it looses it's effect and that's also a reason why the variation between shallow and deep is good. The g-spot usually gets more stimulus by shorter than deep thrust's. men also lasts longer with shorter thrusts. It feels good for you as well because of the vacuum and variation. Try all kinds of thrusts. Quick and slow, up down to the sides. Slow in, quick out or the other way around. Lots of deep thrusts then a short one. Tease her with it.
In general u should tease a lot. When you are giving her oral, don't go for the clitoris at once. Stimulate other areas first. Then let her think you are moving towards it but then slightly bypass it. You can do that several times. That kind of teasing can be used during foreplay oral and intercourse. Use it a lot it is powerfull.
Read this:http://www.fastseduction.com/shade/...09-19a.shtml It will help you find the a-spot and you will be greatfull for doing so the rest of your life.
Here's a few other good links that can teach you things on different levels:
http://nl.ifeelmyself.com/public/main.php whatch how girls genuinly masturbate and have real orgasms.
http://www.sexuality.org read a lot here. It has almost all you need
http://www.illustrated-lovemaking-posit ... tions.html
http://www.holisticwisdom.com/oral-sex- ... lingus.htm
http://www.pleasure-toyz.co.uk/plea...-*****.shtml
These different types of masturbation is probably a good training for intercourse
http://advancedmasturbation.com/35.html
When you jerk off, some times you should slow down, realy take your time and experiment with light and different strokes. Explore all parts of your body. Start with all other parts while staying away from the penis at first. Relax into the feelings. Fantazise about slow passionate sex like you can see in the emanuelle movies. Try to feel and move sensually when you masturbate. Remember sex is about feeling, being aware and losing control. Take slow deep breaths for a few minutes while you're jerking of and see how that makes you feel. Tease yourself with your strokes like I told you to tease your girl. Vary a lot.
It is essential that you figure out what she likes. All woman respond differently and might also react different on different days. You must talk to her about it and let her show you what to do. When actually having sex you need to learn to pay attention to her reactions through movement, breath, sound and eyes so you can tell what is working and not right at that moment. That is one of the things that will make you a realy great lover.
The first time, too much info will be bad for you. Learn a very basic way of fingering and oral and use my simple thrusting advice and go with what feels good for you and appears to be working for her. It is more important that you let go of your thoughts and just feel and let go, and it's more important than trying to do it right that she notices that you care about her and making it good for her. Have a realy long foreplay (read up on foreplay) and cuddle a lot afterwards. Expect to last only a minute or two, go back to foreplayish stuff after you cum and start over when you are ready. If she is a virgin as well expect it to hurt for her and not be very good. Be gentle. The emotional connection and everything besides the actual intercourse will probably be better for her the first time than intercourse it self.
In time you can integrate more small chunks of what you read while still managing to be in your body and not your head when you have sex. A bit at a time.
Talk to girls about sex and what makes it good for them!!!!
Good luck
|
|
|
|
YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 4:31:08 PM
|
Hi Yogani,
Thank you for sharing that.
A question came to my mind while reading your post - you said you had about 10 years of a kundalini ride and then the energy accumulated transmutated outwards into outpouring divine love (that is great by the way!). My question is whether all the while, as I suppose you had been meditating for many years prior to all that, you were awake, i.e., had abiding inner silence and was aware of the essence of what you are.
I guess it may correlate with the 3 phases of enlightenment that you identify:
- abiding inner silence (witnessing) cultivated by daily deep meditation
- the rise of ecstatic conductivity
- the merging of the two (=outpouring divine love)
Is this correct?
Do you think one that has only the witnessing state (1st phase) is enlightened? Maybe so, but not "outpouring"?
Thanks!
YIL
P.S.: MAybe I'm being too technical here... |
|
|
|
yogani
USA
5195 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 5:40:21 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by YogaIsLife
Hi Yogani,
Thank you for sharing that.
A question came to my mind while reading your post - you said you had about 10 years of a kundalini ride and then the energy accumulated transmutated outwards into outpouring divine love (that is great by the way!). My question is whether all the while, as I suppose you had been meditating for many years prior to all that, you were awake, i.e., had abiding inner silence and was aware of the essence of what you are.
I guess it may correlate with the 3 phases of enlightenment that you identify:
- abiding inner silence (witnessing) cultivated by daily deep meditation
- the rise of ecstatic conductivity
- the merging of the two (=outpouring divine love)
Is this correct?
Do you think one that has only the witnessing state (1st phase) is enlightened? Maybe so, but not "outpouring"?
Thanks!
YIL
P.S.: MAybe I'm being too technical here...
Hi YIL:
Yes, that is correct. I was fortunate to have many years of deep meditation before going through the kundalini stage. On the other hand, I did not have many of the tools we have available today for navigating the kundalini stage, so a lot of "R&D" occurred during those years. Many of the things that are routine now in AYP were ferreted out during those years. The Secrets of Wilder story provides a facsimile for some of those experiences -- a process of learning by trial and error.
As for enlightenment, I do not see it as a fixed absolute thing. The three stages are signature experiences we may notice emerging along the way, and are for general confirmation of progress as we keep moving forward. As many here know, these experiences are real. Yet, there is no end destination where we can say, "I have arrived!" (Be leery of anyone who proclaims that.) When we are there, we will not be exclaiming anything. The greatest enlightenment is the one that does not speak much of itself. It only does for others, continuing the purification and opening in everyone. And that too is an ongoing journey. Where does it end? Let's keep going and find out.
Along the way, what we might be inclined to call "enlightenment" is always going to be relative to what came before and what is to come later. If we feel better than last year, we are relatively more enlightened compared to last year, right? And we will see what it will be next year as we continue to practice. Of course, it is what it is in the now, and that is most important. The rest of it is about keeping up our motivation (bhakti) for continuing on our path. What we think about it doesn't matter all that much. What we do consistently over the long term makes all the difference.
In the AYP Self-Inquiry book, one of the "pitfalls of the mind" that is discussed is the "illusion of attainment," or thinking we have "arrived." Because of the rise of the witness in so many quarters these days, there are quite a few people around who may be inclined to reside in this pitfall. It's time to move on!
While the witness stage is often presented as "enlightenment," it is only the beginning. It is the starting point for illuminating all of the human race, and beyond. This can only happen as we, as the witness, become ecstatically energized and continue to act in the world. That is the divine outpouring, which we also call stillness in action. It is no longer about whether any one person (or few persons) is enlightened or not. It is about everyone becoming enlightened. It is the ongoing evolution of our species.
The guru is in you.
|
|
|
|
YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 5:56:39 PM
|
Yes Yogani, thank you. I totally agree.
The witness state, in particular, and as you say, is seen more and more these days. This is a good thing but probably only the beggining. I see it gradually happening in my own life, which I find interesting and surprising, a proof that the practices do work.
Thanks for the continuing help in all our paths. May we always more forward to more and more openings.
Meanwhile, sorry for the disgression in the thread! |
|
|
|
Christi
United Kingdom
4380 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 03:28:37 AM
|
Hi Yogani,
Thanks for writing about your Taoist experiences. Before the energy was transformed totally into outpouring divine love, did you experience a large build up of energy in your hara/ dan tien? If you did, how many years did that last for? Hope you don't mind me asking.
Christi |
|
|
|
yogani
USA
5195 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 12:01:47 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Christi
Hi Yogani,
Thanks for writing about your Taoist experiences. Before the energy was transformed totally into outpouring divine love, did you experience a large build up of energy in your hara/ dan tien? If you did, how many years did that last for? Hope you don't mind me asking.
Christi
Hi Christi:
No, the Tai Chi was used here to help ground and stabilize the energies for use in daily life, and this was an ongoing process without a pronounced shift from inner energy storage to natural ecstatic outflow.
In my case, the priority was never for storing energy, though the stabilization of flow that Tai Chi assisted with was much appreciated. After consideration, I decided not to go for more in-depth marital arts training (I had a little), which would have put more emphasis on the "energy storage in hara" aspect. It was clear early on that natural outpouring was the way it would go for me, and nurturing and stabilizing that was always the focus. So I did not become deeply involved in "controlling" inner energies, rather, letting them go their natural route toward ecstatic radiance instead. This is reflected in the AYP writings, with focus more on cultivating inner silence and enabling natural ecstatic conductivity and radiance than on personal regulation of the inner energies from either the Yogic (chakras) or Taoist (hara) side. Hence the phrase, "Under the hood."
The resulting experience has been that stillness moving into natural ecstatic outflow becomes increasing service to all according to divine need (karma yoga). We become a channel for that. The more we let go, the more powerful the divine outflow becomes.
I am not suggesting that everyone must go the way I did. The philosophy in AYP is for assisting the natural unfoldment within everyone, however that may occur. It is a process that is bigger than any of us, and bigger than any particular approach for enabling it. Therefore, AYP is a resource where individual choice always comes first, for one's chosen ideal, and for the methods that are applied.
The guru is in you.
|
|
|
|
Bill
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 12:10:02 PM
|
Jack,
You could also get a job as a construction worker and eat lots of meat, I wouldn't suggest the beet route though. I am only partially kidding.
I did become a construction worker which was my original grounding path. Only later did I discover tai chi. I still do construction after all these yeas. But I do suggest physical work and I think the pilates idea is great. There is a pilates correlate in the tai chi world at www.classicaltaichi.com . It goes directly to the core muscles and because it works with a physical method on the dan tien is much safer than jumping right into types of qi gong that work on mentally or breathing wise stimulating the dan tien. That doesn't mean that it doesn't progress to a qi level of stimulation but it starts off in strengthening the inner core muscles.
Bill |
|
|
|
Christi
United Kingdom
4380 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 12:37:51 PM
|
Hi Yogani,
Thanks for the reply.
Whenever you write a post to me these days, you always use the word "service"... have you noticed that? I'm starting to think it's some kind of subtle hint. 
* laughing *
Christi |
|
|
|
yogani
USA
5195 Posts |
Posted - Mar 16 2009 : 12:57:03 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Christi
Hi Yogani,
Thanks for the reply.
Whenever you write a post to me these days, you always use the word "service"... have you noticed that? I'm starting to think it's some kind of subtle hint.
* laughing *
Christi
Hi Christi:
Well, service happens to be one of the effects of yoga, and an elixir for the excesses and attachments associated with energy experiences, whether positive or negative. No need to rush it though. Just do whatever comes naturally. You already are. Thank you! 
The guru is in you.
|
|
|
|
atena
113 Posts |
Posted - Mar 17 2009 : 07:47:10 AM
|
Hi Jack, I've found that ocean breathing with other practices I've been doing from michael winn's chi kung fundamentals 1 has helped me to relax on many levels, to empty my cup a bit from internalized pressures, expectations etc. very soothing practices
It might help you with your problem, but I don't know to what extent.
Winn says the ocean breathing activates the sea of chi/navel but I'm not sure if it is the same as hara...
is AYP for you? I don't want to participate that discussion
Anyways, I hope you find your answers, Jack. |
Edited by - atena on Mar 17 2009 08:49:32 AM |
|
|
|
markern
Norway
171 Posts |
Posted - Mar 17 2009 : 09:01:58 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by atena
Hi Jack, I've found that ocean breathing with other practices I've been doing from michael winn's chi kung fundamentals 1 has helped me to relax on many levels, to empty my cup a bit from internalized pressures, expectations etc. very soothing practices
It might help you with your problem, but I don't know to what extent.
Winn says the ocean breathing activates the sea of chi/navel but I'm not sure if it is the same as hara...
Yesss!! Ocean Breathing is perfect. It brings your awareness to the dan tien, strengthenes it, disolves tension in the area (many dan tien practices can create more tension if it is not deeply relaxed and cleansed first), frees the breath, builds mindfullness etc. Great foundational practice for you. I think Micahel Winns whole faoundational series is great for you actualy. Five animals doing six healing sounds for example would also be great because it cleanses out unhealthy emotions. Wuji qigong/primordial qigong could also be realy helpfull because it balances yin and yang/heaven and earth energy very well wich should help a good deal with your tendencies for obsessiveness. In addition it realy does a lot of other wonderfull stuff like profound work in the dan tien and it gets superb reviews by most who try. It is very subtle in its effect though so some people expecting to feel very powerfull stuff get disapointed. It is not som much powerfull as profound. The other fundamental stuff from winn is also great at harmonzing and building a balanced foundation. |
|
|
|
Jack
United Kingdom
305 Posts |
Posted - Mar 20 2009 : 2:34:56 PM
|
Thanks everyone..
Thanks Markern.
Have signed up to the taobums and made an intro post.
I feel like death today.. stress, anxiety, depression, fear, borderline crazy, totally burned out.... |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
|
|
|
|
Recomendations of Hara/Taoist meditation?
