how do i get it to work in daily life?

To this, I would ask, “what do you mean by effort?”

If you have your hands out from your body, ala Iron Shirt,
and keeping them in one position for a good length of time
creates physical discomfort, then there is nothing wrong
with altering hand positions. In fact, a sequence of
differing positions is typically how one does an I-Chuan
standing meditation set, for example. So if what I describe
is the case, then that part seems fine to me. The only
thing I would caution here is that if any active meditations
you do are done somewhat quickly due to physical discomfort,
that you also as a separate practice do some sitting (or
comfortable standing) so you can practice slowing down the
restlessness of the mind without the distraction of
discomfort/pain.

If you don’t have your hands/arms away from your body, and
they are “against” your body, resting comfortably . . . and
in this case, there is no physical discomfort, then if
by effort, you mean psychological difficulty, then my
advice would be different . . . because in some sense,
psychological/mental challenges are precisely the place
we want to go and stay. It is through facing difficulty
that we learn.

S

>>>as for what you said about mental difficulty.
>>>if i have a difficulty establishing connection
>>>with the organs during the inner smile. your
>>>recommendation would be spending more time
>>>focusing on them instead of moving on to other
>>>practices such as microcosmic orbit and iron shirt?

In short, yes.

It is not uncommon for one particular organ to feel reluctant to
come out and participate, but if several/all of them do, then
really that’s just a form of internal resistance. If you just
move on to something else, the five shen quickly learn that you
aren’t really serious about connecting with them, and they learn
that if they hide for a long enough time, you’ll “just go away”.

When facing such difficulty, it is not a matter of forcing your
will and using effort to establish a connection, but rather it is
sitting in the empty space patiently and openly with warmth. This
is akin to being alone in a room with a troubled friend who
clearly has something on his/her mind. If you are annoyed by their
reluctance to share and try to force them to, they are likely to
be even more closed off; however, if you just respond with warmth
and openness and just present a feeling of “it’s ok” and patience
to the situation, then the friend will oftentimes open up on
their own. This is basically the same attitude to take when
doing the Inner Smile for instance. If you are having trouble
making a connection, rather than moving on or trying to force
a connection or being annoyed; instead, just sit patiently in
the open space with warmth and acceptance . . . maybe occasionally
cast a “mentally verbal” message of “it’s ok; I’m here; however
you are feeling, it’s ok; I accept you anyway”. Then oftentimes,
provided you are patient and not annoyed, you will get some
connection/response. If/when you do get a response, no matter
how slight or how negative or etc. you get, it is important
to acknowledge it and response with a feeling of “I still
accept you anyway. Thanks for sharing.” If after 5-10 mins
or so, you still can’t connect with a particular organ, you
can patiently say (in its direction), “I still accept you.
I’ll come back”, and then move on to another organ; then make
sure to return to the organ you said you’d come back to before
you end the meditation.

If you take this attitude enough times, over time (as a general
rule) you will be able to establish a connection easier, as
the organs feel like they can trust communicating with you.

Steven

Personally, I find it too artificial and forced to
coordinate the orbit with my breathing; in particular,
there are usually some parts of the orbit where the
energy seems to be more stuck & slower moving and
other parts where it is flowing faster. So I tend
to coordinate the speed of the orbit flow with the
natural flow speed of the energy in the region. If
energy gets bottlenecked in a certain area, I slow
down in that area in response; when in an area where
energy is moving with a faster, heavier flow, I speed
up and gain some momentum. Then, in direct analogy
with Newton’s 1st law of motion from physics, the
upcoming bottleneck which causes a change in momentum
translates to an applied force to the blocked area. This
means that by the very nature by which I run the orbit,
the orbit itself tends to dislodge blockages. My overall
orbit speed tends to vary between 10 full breaths per cycle
to an absolute max speed of 1 full breath per cycle (i.e.
inhale up, exhale down) as a result.

If the blockage is so severe that motion is completely
impeded and/or I can’t feel the area, I’ll spend a little
bit of time there, but after a little bit, I just move on . . .
knowing full well that I’ll hit the same area again in short order.

In the event I’m still having trouble with a particular area
after say at least a 15 minute orbit meditation, I’ll resort
to other techniques . . . such as Inner Smile to the area, or
apply Wire Hitters to break up stagnation.

S

I don’t think it’s good to coordinate breath with qi. You can to open up the channels if they are blocked and it’s a forceful way of doing it. One may think that this will do it faster, to force open the blockage will open it up but forcing is tensing and is the absolute opposite of what you are wanting to acheive. I find qigong is very active meditation and can be forceful and you can use your force. It has advantages, especially forcing open blockages in others for immediate relief. But for long term life-living advantages the ability to not care about a blockage and move along anyway and let it open its self up is the way to go i feel. To try not to do anything is the goal… but sometimes by trying to open a blockage afterwards it can be easier to get into the state where you are not trying to do anything. Thats the weird thing about qigong i think. Thats the fire and water. It can you into the state faster. But you want to not be trying to get into the state. It’s best to be there all the time.

Using the fire can help but it can be addictive too. It is for me.

I think it is because i am naturally, due to the planets, too wood orientated.

I wouldn’t. It will balance you. Substance abuse will unbalance you. It’s a way out from substance abuse. An easier path to follow. Something to believe in from concrete personal experience for the person involved.

Yes definately. Things wax and wane. You need to concentrate on the medium level of your experiences. Sweedish dragon i have read many of your posts on here and tao bums and i have heard of some health problems you have and i would like to attract your attention to something that is probably more of direct benefit to your actual problem. Something i read that was of immediate benefit to my problem which also had some resembalance to your problem. I read a book on the Alexander Technique and all this qigong will finally enlighten you to the facts that appear in the alexander technique. It’s not an easy road ahead and what he proposes is actually much easier than total enlightenment. However it is a way to fix any physical tireness or most physical problems anyone may feel. His technique is a lower level of what you will achieve through qigong but i feel you (as i did) want a more immediate solution to your problem as you further your spiritual potentialality. I don’t have the book any more i sent it back to the library but if you message me on here or taobums (z00se) and indicate your desire to know more i will find further information for you.

Cheers,

Louis!