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Hi,
I read on Mantak Chia’s books that one should concentrate on a spot below and behind the navel. Yet, by knowing little of myself, my center is between the hips. Aikido says the same, if someone tries to push you, and you’re focused on your center, you won’t fall.
And, concentrating between the hips, I feel centered without effort (behind the navel I have to force instead). Any suggestion or validation from advanced practitioners?thank you very much
s.The lower dantien is an area that can be experienced in different ways at different times. You sound like you have a feel for it and you should trust that and develop it by communicating with it. But understand that the words “dantien” mean “elixir field,” or, “place where the chi completes itself,” implying that it is a cauldron. Spirit concentrates itself as us here on earth in the lower dantien.
I do not practice aikido but I have heard them refer to the idea of pinpointing a tiny particle of energy that is very dense, like a dwarf star, and using that as the center of gravity and concentrated power. In my own experience, feeling it as a connection to the earth is essential. It is your earth center. However that reads for you is what’s important.-Alexander
Sly, it took me a long time before I had a real grip on the lower center.
14 years ago we had not much of explanation other than ‘condensing the chi into a pearl in the triangle between navel, mingmen and sexual center’…. was it something substantial we were suppost looking for or what is all in the mind, as imaging something? Little was offered to come to understanding.
I joggled a long time with condensing ‘mind-will’ all over my lower belly somewhere between the navel and uterus (in my case) and found a spot that felt comfortable to be in, just below my navel slightly inwardly. That is MY lower dantian (tantien). Look for your own spot that feels comfortable.
The feeling is all about awareness and indeed condensing chi, it feels like substance but it is energy which you can increase and condense by will and you can use elements, energies, that can improve, feed and strengthen your own chi.
My lower dantian feels like a pingpong ball or tennis ball, depending on my will it becomes more substantial, if not focused too much it feels like a condensed energy field.
It is said to circulate that condensed chi in the orbit, well my condensed chi is not very willing to move anywhere other than my belly. It likes to be where it is born. It has no intention to move, it has a strong intention to stay!
But that is another story…
When I was practicing Ki Aikido I was taught to focus on a point four fingers bellow the navel. However since stopping Aikido, and learning more, I used the tan tien as the area in the triangle, in the center of which I gathered the energy.
For me it was easier to conctrate on the navel than four fingers down. But with training you can do anything.I have also seen a different version of this triangle, the points it connects are navel, ming men and perineum. Any ideas on why this is different with Chia?
Because that is how it worked for him and for his first adepts probably. Every advanced teacher will have his/her modifications, and every teacher needs an overall model to work with.
When you find a practice you feel connection with, you apply the pathways given to you, when you are supported by your teacher, you start to be more confident, start to feel better and you modify for yourself. The teacher is a major factor in helping the adept to feel confidence and adjusting the practice for that particular adept. Unfortunately in the transmissions of today we have books, cd, video but no direct corrections and adjustments and fortunately we have internet and forums 🙂 so we work with what we have.
the lower dan tien is covered in healing dao fusion classes which are intro level and is “behind” the belly button..
in reality there is an entire enteric nervous network based in the intestines, a definite nerve plexus extending towards it from the spine, and a well identified connection to the vagus and sacral “systems”.. there are specific receptor sites including cannibinol 1 and 2 receptor sites which are naturally produced versions of THC from cannabis..
the real action appears to occur where the nerve plexus extends fromn the spine towrds the belly which is exactly where most practitioners locate the lower dan tien..
it’s specific and replicable via neurotransmitter mapping
Dantian is a daoist term, not a biological-scientific term, so you have to use their context, not a modern overlap, to define it.
I think it is useful to use overlays to intensify one’s awareness, but don’t try to replace the original meaning.
I teach the enteric brain – the gut brain referred to – as a physical overlap of a multi-dimensional portal.
The enteric brain is not limited to space between the spine and navel – it consists of brain cells that migrate in the embryonic state of unfoldment into the large intestines, and function as the baby’s brain controlling sucking and digestion of milk fromt he mother until much later, when head brain functions begin to develop.Dan = Pearl, or Elixir, or Cinnabar.
Tian = field (sometimes translated as field of heaven)
This is an alchemical term that denotes something forming within a particular space of the body-mind.
Most have NO dan until they learn to crystallize their essence. Their field is empty, i.e. an open space or portal for the chi field until something is crystallized within it.
It is linked to one’s center of gravity, more than one’s biology, IMHO.
michael
body as emanation of ching
auras as emanations of chi, shenyou focus on manifestation, not its source
a yogi wrote like concentrating on temperature when the concentration should be on the owenyuan holds all
yet your battery has only one pole
the ching
in alchemical vision it is the tension between shen and ching that births the flow of lifebattery with only one pole is not a battery
i> in reality there is an entire enteric nervous network based in the intestines, a definite nerve plexus extending towards it from the spine,.. >
Also, the concentrated energy of jing has a lot to do with energizing, nourishing, creating sensation within the nerve plexuses (as well as subtle goings-on), and this comes not just from the testicles. There is the stack of interior glands: cowper’s, prostate, seminal vesicles, and on up the endocrine ladder. 60-70 % of semen is produced by the seminal vesicles, most of the rest by the prostate.
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