question for michael and others – kundalini in the taoist tradition

Very interesting that you followed his system. I dont know much about it other than the dance of shiva which is a very cool practice and a good qi gong type of thing…fixing the chi is something that takes a lifetime and even then nobody is able to do it. It means to return to the Wu Chi — the emptiness that Andrey is TALKing about, wherefrom spontanious action and stillness arise naturaly and perfectly on all dimensions. Fixing the chi means universal balance between heaven/earth, man/woman and future/past. Thus we transcend life and death.

To acheive this I could recommend to you my favorite qi gongs and tell you to continue to study this here sytem with the Healing Dao USA…another awesome qi gong set I found recently is the dvds and meditation by Lee Holden, senior HT instructor. Master Chia is the best. Michael Frost is awesome, Li Jun Feng, Hua Ching Ni is cool, Dumai.org, and Scott sonnon is awesome, you will want his “Be Breathed” and “Warrior Wellness” tapes at least.

Send me an email if you have further questions: matrix999@gmail.com

Every1, keep up!
Om blessings!
Namaste!
Shalom!
Peace out!

The force… Well, in daoist, or in general Asian, methods, it is about cultivating energy in the sense of a healthy vitalizing force that can be directed however one desires once one has developed the ability to generate it to a sufficient degree at will–it can be used then for healing, defense, vanity, magic, sexual prowess, etc. There is more of a practical worldly emphasis (by far) when compared to Indian systems.
But there is a definite and elegant spiritual dimension that takes divergent forms that all follow the same general themes; one form is outlined by Michael Winn in his teachings which I consider to be excellent. Michale Winn is a student of alchemy in general and takes this to his presentation of daoism.

There are different schools with regard to developing the energy body, but in my experience the most reliable way is to just practice steadily, which develops the energy body with complete and real objective assurance, integrating it with your Jo Blow identity, without rushing into potentially unbalanced states. You do not need to hoard sexual energy. Many go for the staggered approach–not ejactualting every time you have sex, which is what I have opted for, though I have gone for long periods without. Perhaps my body-mind is the exception. : ) (controversial subject…). It can yeild benefits, but it very often seems to prove more trouble than it’s worth. Turtle and the hare…

I think an error can be–and you appear to have taken a huge gulp of this universally encountered error (I’ve been there)–to aim for a radical point of freedom. You are setting up a polarity then. In daoism they speak of wei wu wei–‘doing not-doing’. This is a balancing act. The ‘not’ in this equation is a very loaded not, being the source of all being, of the logos, the universal instructions, the in-forming well of all process, but it’s also as simple as the most intimate strata of your own personal presence–it is not a foreign thing out there. But if you try to identify only with it, you are trying to do something which is actually impossible; emptiness and form are inextricable.
The problem with buddhism is that too often the aspect of the intuitive intelligence that in-forms life is forgotten and a dry ’emptiness logic’ takes its place as a meditation object one trys to annihalate oneself with (not the original intent of buddhism…); this is instead of getting in synch with, tuning in to, the life force, the deepest layer of your presence, as a work in progress, like listening to your conscience, surfing the wave rather than trying to boss the wave around (which is very tempting).

Daoism’s earthy practicality and emphasis on health makes such errors (aiming for the point of ultimate final freedom, bossing the wave around) difficult to fall into. Daoism’s errors are more along the line of becoming a really healthy person with literal jedi-like powers with tons of personal magnetism and then neglecting the more subtle, difficult to understand, ego-whittling aspects of spirituality. In my opinion though, this is the better order to things, if you see what I mean; first fix the hull of your ship and learn to sail before you hit the high seas.
Good book: ‘The Inner Teachings of Taoism’ by Chang Po-Tuan, translated by Thomas Cleary.

In there, if you read it, you will encounter a seeming bias against ‘mundane energy practices’. This is contextual in that in the culture then such things were as common as pushups and situps, and he was introducing a counter emphasis to say ‘hey look, there is a deeper way with greater fruit’, but practicing qigong was likely like breathing for him, taken for granted, whereas to us in the modern west it’s all new.

From a western alchemical point of view, they would say that you used ‘too much fire too soon’, resulting in the threat of the ‘solution’ (your individual conscious focus which had been loosened-expanded through concentration practices) escaping (meaning becoming gaseous) or dissociating, whereas what you want to do is ‘fixate’ your individual focus in a more expanded (more ‘gaseous’) state. This is ‘ascending and then descending’ or ‘spiritualizing the body and giving the spirit a body’ instead of just ascending and blissing out and/or losing your marbles. If this sounds cryptic, it is!
If you’re interested in that, the best book I’ve come across so far is ‘The Hermetic Tradition’, by Julius Evola.
And if you want daoist alchemy I would say you have arrived.

Simon

DB,

Kundalini awakening, as such, is not fully addressed in the HT system – in my opinion. People say that the microcosmic orbit and so on help to integrate kundalini, but they are generally talking about gradual energetic cultivation, not the violent sudden awakening.

I went through an opening similar to yours in 1988. This was like a fire hydrant fully open. Its a strenuous change. 😉

Much of what your are doing is in the right general direction. Much of which is basically to slow the energetic process down, as the real danger at this point is that things easily go too fast. (So fast that it puts wear, strain, on the psyche and energetics.)

1. Back off from practice.
Maybe a little rooting practice, maybe.

2. Stay nourished.
This whole process takes real work for your body to adjust to. Eat healthy, nourishing food. If you’re a vegetarian, you might consider eating some meat occasionally.

3. > got myself back involved in the world, friends, relations… cooking for people, playing music, gardening >
Really good.

4. Continue some form of exercise. Whatever feels good to you. Needn’t be ‘spiritual’.

The fact is that what you’ve gone through can’t be undone. Its a process that will continue within you, in various ways, the rest of your life. However, smoother integration does occur, over time – and a fair part of it is just time. Your body will naturally do what it does, on all levels, to integrate this energy. It gets a lot smoother.

Many of the Taoist ideas of cultivation that’ve already been mentioned in this thread do apply, but later. Right now you’re in the middle of it, its huge and fast, and really the advice is the above: slow down, stay nourished, integrate with your life in a way that works for you, simply steady your pace. That’ll allow your body and psyche to adjust, at sort of an organic level.

regards,
Trunk

Thankyou for your kind words Matt.

If you are ever in the Vancouver BC Canada area, please let me know.

bceltd@telus.net

peace and smiles