The Myth of Semen Retention

[Fu-Pow]

This topic gets a lot of attention in the Taiji and Qigong board but I thought I would bring it up here.

For those not familiar with the theory you might check out Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming's book "Muscle Tendon Changing/Marrow Brain Washing Chi Gung."

Anyways, I think the practice is a bunch of crap.

The concept that you can somehow use your body to turn semen into energy is ridiculous. It takes huges amounts of energy to convert matter to energy (e=mc2 anybody? where c is the speed of light!!!!!). The body is weakly electric but I don't think that this has anything to do with sex.

I think this concept comes from Chinese cultural taboos and feelings of guilt about sex. It has to be legimated some way so it works its way into medical theory.

However, there is definitely a connection between motivation and sex. I think that too much sex can affect your focus and drive. It is a physiological phenomena caused by the release of neurotransmitters after sex. Too put it bluntly sex has a "calming" effect. This can detract from your training and this I believe is one of the reasons that this concept is prevalent in martial arts training.

Mantak Chia.....kiss my ass!!!!

[premier]

So.. you found yourself a girlfriend? =)

[Nexus]

We know that on the average ejaculation a man releases 200-500 million sperm from Western Science research. If we counted each of these sperm as a single unit of energy, keeping in mind that each of these units is capable of forming human life. If a person "houses" their sperm we also know that their body will naturally release it through nocturnal emission.

The inbetween time however between deciding that you are going to "house" your sperm, and the nocturnal emission, you will experience increased energy. This is the case as you yourself clearly stated that releasing it too often has effects on the body hence the reverse is housing it would have effects on the body as well.

All the chinese taoists decided to do was discover a way that the nocturnal emissions could be avoided and that the body could use this excess of energy for enhancing their lives before it was released through the nocturnal emissions.

These studies led to the lesser heavenly circle meditations and the greater heavenly circle meditations. Also from there other meditations came to exist such as Drawing the Nectar to the Golden Flower and so on.

[Royal Dragon]

Testosterone levels RISE after ejaculation. Thus you get stronger.
This means a good love life is good for Kung Fu.

[ewallace]

Well, if having sex is depleting my martial ability due to the release of energy, I will make sure to drink some extra ginseng right after "disneyland" closes for the evening :)

[premier]

Ejaculating often increases production of semen. Producing new cells or semen requires energy. This might have some effect. Keep in mind though that ejaculating often and thus increasing the semen production increases the quality of semen.

[Nexus]

lol@ewallace's analogy. Make sure to get some cotton candy from the carnival before you leave =)

[Nexus]

premier, I actually agree with what you said.

[fa_jing]

Exactly, the more semen your body has to make, the more energy it uses up. Look, I can't hold a horse stance anywhere near as long if I've had sex the night before.

As for directly converting sperm into energy, I haven't experienced that.

-FJ

[ewallace]

If Marty would have just had sex with his mom then the whole tower thing would have been unnecessary.

[Fu-Pow]

If we counted each of these sperm as a single unit of energy, keeping in mind that each of these units is capable of forming human life.

But we can't. Your body makes sperm whether you use them or not. It always on the "ready" so to speak just in case some fertile woman is in the vicinity. The body expends metabolic energy to do this.

My understanding is that if you don't ejaculate your body just reabsorbs the sperm. Meaning it breaks down the unused sperm into it constituent proteins, sugars and nucleic acids to reused by the body. It is a still a net loss of energy in this process. As it would be if you built a building only to tear it down again.

The effects that fajing describes I would attribute to the physiological effects that the body feels after ejaculation, specifically the neurotransmitters in the brain and to the sever muscular contractions of the perineum, back and legs.

But these are quantifiable physiological effects. And I don't dispute their effect on the quality of training.

As to a rise in testerone levels after sex. I've heard that also. But I think that the other physiological effects negate this effect. That is you might be more aggressive from the testerone, but your feeling good so you are not inclined to do anything about it.

And to answer premiers question I've always had a girlfriend....hehehehe

[Nexus]

I have never once said anything about not having sex, only mentioned the advantages of retaining semen. If you are not familiar with the taoist pillow arts, you only have yourself to blame.

[ewallace]

I totally agree with not doing the horizontal hipthrusts before a fight (assuming of course you know you are going to be fighting). I watched a video with Rickson Gracie when he went over to japan (the video with todd hays in the vale tudo match). He also did not have sex for a certain time period (3 days or weeks... i cannot remember). I think this is common knowledge among experienced fighters.

[lightfoot]

i thimk nexus is tallking about the practice of climaxing without ejaculating semen.

What seems to happen is that the semen is redirected into the bladder, where it stays until you pee.

Some people think that they keep the energy of the semen rather than dissipating it into their partner, (or tissue). probably nexus could explain that bit better

It's a neat trick and avoids the dreaded wet sheet syndrome as a teenager

[mantis108]

There are a few ways to tackle the issue.

1) Theoretically speaking, matter is energy that ran out of energy and is still runnig out of enery. In Taoist eyes Yuan Shen (the origin/soul/spirit etc...) is the manifestation of energy or rather energy signature. As this energy running out of energy taking whichever form (ie Human), life unfolded at a predetermined rate. What ever action/activity (ie sex) is going to have an impact on the rate of deminishing form. To achieve the ultimate goal of immortality in Taosit practice, it is prudent then to eliminate actions that would derail the practitioner.

2) Culturally speaking, Buddhist and Taoist practices are rooted in asceticism. So having pleasurable experience don't jive with that type of concept or "ideology".

3) Physically speaking, the diet and activities that the monks have to go through their daily routine, already stress their energy expendenture. Sexual activity isn't just about sperm. Having vigorous sex is like sparring or sprinting. The "lifestyle" of the monks (assuming they are doing MA as well) coupled with sex is highly likely going to exhaust them. In a way, Bruce Lee is an example of overtrained and possibly "having too much fun".

4) Biologically speaking, a lot of the researches seems point to the harmful effects of retention (ie blockage to the ducts). So those type of things need to be taken into consideration before taking up the practice.

The golden rule is use in moderation. A lot of people have problem accepting procreation as recreation. Well we have to remember that once upon a time procreation of primates, like every other animals on the face of God's green earth, is permissable only to the Alpha Male and its choosen receptive females. Thus the guilty feeling in sex as procreation for the average bloke or recreation (even if it is the Alpha Male) for that matter. Thousand of years later, we humans are still carrying that baggage with us. Case and point - ritual arts such as UFC and NHB to prove whose the Alpha Male. ;) Sorry can't help but taking jabs at them. LOL...

Anyway, have fun. :D

Mantis108

[Xebsball]

I dunno bout all those theories you guys disscuss...
Have you tried staying like 3 days without it and then doing qigong.
I surely noticed much stronger energy when i did that.

[Nexus]

Xesball, that is an excellent point, experimentation!

That's how the taoist practices came to exist in the first place. Monks experimenting with their own internal and external alchemy.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

if it's taking longer than 3 hours you may want to re-evaluate your technique whatever it may be.

[Braden]

Fu-Pow
---------

"It takes huges amounts of energy to convert matter to energy (e=mc2)"

Isn't that the formula for how much energy matter becomes when it's converted, and vice versa; rather than how much energy is required to produce the process?

"I think this concept comes from Chinese cultural taboos and feelings of guilt about sex."

I don't think this is a very logical conclusion. While the methods you're alluding to talk about semen retention, they certainly don't shy away from sex and pleasure. In fact, they discuss it quite in depth.

"My understanding is that if you don't ejaculate your body just reabsorbs the sperm."

In normal adult men, the body will ejaculate by all by itself if it has to.

"But these are quantifiable physiological effects."

I'm not sure what your argument is. Would you be happier if you HADN'T found any physiological analogs to what the old taoists were talking about?

Stumblefist:
---------------

Try mixing in some microcosmic style intention/visualization.

Mantis108:
--------------

"Culturally speaking, Buddhist and Taoist practices are rooted in asceticism. So having pleasurable experience don't jive with that type of concept or 'ideology'."

That certainly is NOT true of many, probably most Taoist sects.

GunnedDownAtrocity:
---------------------------

"if it's taking longer than 3 hours you may want to re-evaluate your technique whatever it may be."

Try it out man.

[mantis108]

Hi Braden,

Although I am aware that certain sects of Taoist (the religion) and even Buddhist alike allow sex and even develope techniques for it, but the bottom line is still about austerity and self-descipline. I have no idea why you would say that many and perhaps most Taoists practice are not rooted in asceticism? I would love to hear your agrument and example.

BTW, may be the word asceticism is misleading since there are different degrees in asceticism. IMHO Buddhism is in essence a moderate form of asectic practice and so is Taoism.

Regards

Mantis108

[TjD]

all i know is i havent had sex in the last 3 weeks, nor have i drank and my body is feeling a million times better than it has in a long time

so before you knock it, try it :)

peace
travis

[Braden]

Mantis108 - Eva Wong's "Taoism" is a good and very readable introduction to the history of taoism.

The root of taoism is in shamanism. The earliest form of taoism centered around ecstatic mysticism. The foundation of philosophical taoism spoke of participating completely with society, in fact governing it. Theological taoism has principle dieties of joy, and depicts sages as smiling and even grinning.

I can see where you'd draw your conclusions about self-discipline; I cannot see where you'd get the idea that taoists look down upon pleasurable experience, nor experience in general.

[FistOfTheNorthSide]

I have bad knees. My tcm doctor told me to either train less and have the same amount of sex or only have sex once a week. He said it was a kidney energy imbalance. When I have sex and then work out I can actually feel my knees hurt more. The more sex and my knees ache like all hell.
There was an HBO real sex episode with an older daoist sex guy who didn't come with his lovers. It was a good one. My sifu said semenal fluid, brian fluid and blood all are consider a kind of chi. To ejeculate releases chi. I know its all true because i can feel the pain in my knees. They don't cum in tantric either.

[prana]

Here is something interesting to read up on :D

http://www.viceland.com/issues/v8n5/htdocs/cum.php

BTW not for minors

[dz]

... but you can't really use the formula for nuclear processes to compare to the biochemical processes in the human bodies when "converting mass to energy". Actually, you convert mass to energy every single day you live; everytime you eat and digest food and breathe air.

But for the reast of the assumptions... I don't believe in semen retention either. Not that I'm qualified enough in terms of competence and knowledge in this area... I believe it has more to do with certain hormonal balances than actual "energy conversion".

[Repulsive Monkey]

This is an oft repeated topic and the majority of perople seem to fall into the same trap over and over again. Its nonsense to use western scientific equations to try to evaluate and hypothesize a methodology that is based upon a completely different set of principles. Taoist semen retention is real and does work, but you're never gonna get a good enough explanation for it in western terms. Unfortunately you ususally with these things need to get the best understanding by changing the perpsective you have and by studying it from a different model of health practices. It makes too complicated and convoluted (not to mention erronious) to quantify Taoist practices with western scientific models of thought, you're just gonna end confused and misdirected.

[fa_jing]

The following reflect my personal experience, this is not a scientific study -

I think for martial purposes, 2-3 days w/out sex should put you at peak performance levels. That's how long I think it takes me to achieve maximum strength in my horse, maximum endurance for running and such. To go longer without, seems to have little direct effect. One might feel more energetic, but there's a trade-off involved, you might be tense, you might be frustrated, you might be un-focused. Depends on the person and their lifestyle, etc, but I'd say there is serious diminishing returns from a martial perspective after 2-3 days.


Now, from a meditation perspective, the opposite is true. Pretty much the longer you go without, the better the meditation gets.
Sexual energy becomes something that you harness internally. Chi is stronger. The most striking thing, however, is that after 10-14 days of retaining, couple with breathing exercise, you reach the saturation point, and feel a back-flow into your perineum (Hui Yin cavity). I assume that this back-flow is sperm. It feels like warmth and energy, and meditation becomes more productive. It is a unique feeling, and helps to put you into another state of mind. Sort of like taking an internal psychoactive drug. One that your body naturally produces. That's as far as I've gotten with the meditation, I haven't been able to draw the energy up my spine or anything like that. I do practice small-circulation, etc.

Again, no martial application here, as far as my knowledge goes.

-FJ

[FistOfTheNorthSide]

Whats a knocking shop? What are you talkiong about?

[mantis108]

Braden,

Thanks for the input. Those are very good points. True that it was the Shamen who started Taoism the religion. I believe we can not over look that Shamen themselves had to observe austerity as well self-descipline (at least shortly before ritual rites). It is also believe that once confucious reportedly met with Lao Tze who was in somewhat of a meditative state which suggested he appeared to be involved in a certain degree of ascetic practice. However, there are scholars who doubted such meeting took place. Chong Tze's work also addressed some ascetic issues.

Now I am not saying that Taoists (at least not all) look down on worldly experiences. I think Lao Tze intented to send a clear message that his teaching is universal. Whether it is apply to the secular world or self-growth, the teaching (Tao) remain the same because that's the nature of Tao - the internal route makes you a sage/immortal, external routes make you a king.

Regards

Mantis108

[Fu-Pow]

Let's just look at this logic for a second.

Humans are animals. Animals are a part of nature. Taoism reaffirms that humans are a part of nature. What animals excercise semen retention? See my point. You gotta go with the flow.....no pun intended
.....:D

Braden-

I'm not going to argue with you. Your intellectual prowess is simply too much for me.....hehehehehe

Your right about one thing though...my physics suck.

[NYerRoman]

I have two blood clots in my testicles from not breathing correctly and not letting my Chi to flow. Pressure built up and BANG!

Next week I'm having a spermogram....that means from tomorrow morning no sex and no solo-hanky panky. 5 days of abstinence. Then I get the operation.

But, I was told by an internal practitioner that if you abstain and qigong it, you do more good to your Chi and internal flow. I have and feel less tension down there. Still need the operation though, but it worked for me.

peace

[Nexus]

Here is an article by a physicist.

source: http://emofree.com/articles/physicist.htm


Hi Everyone,

One of our new members, Mike Wright, has a degree in physics and wrote me a well articulated letter after reading my response to one of Ken Barclay's recent questions. He starts his letter with that question and response and develops his well thought out ideas from there. The letter is highly technical in nature and, I suspect, will be of more interest to some than others.

Peace, Gary

LETTER: [Ken Barclay's question] 3. When I was in school, "energy" was defined as the capacity to do work. When people just talk about "energy," they usually are referring to how they feel. As an engineer concerned with feelings, how do you think of "energy"? Is it some kind of physical property of organisms? What does the term "energy system" mean?



GARY'S RESPONSE: [To Ken Barclay's question] In the context of EFT, energy refers to the oriental notion of Qi and doesn't have the same connotation as it does in classical physics. I liken it to subtle amounts of electricity but I don't think anyone has a firm definition for it. In a way, it is like gravity. No one knows exactly the what or why of gravity but we know it is there by its effects. So we study its effects and make great practical use of it. Airplanes and satellites wouldn't exist without our knowledge of gravity's effects. EFT makes great use of these energy meridians and provides observable effects for our scientists of tomorrow.

To me, the term "energy system" is a convenient way of labeling the total system of energy pathways (meridians) that course throughout the body.



MIKE WRIGHT'S COMMENTS: Gary, Your answer to Ken and your use of the term "energy system" without a rigorous definition prompts me to encourage you not to forsake your training as an engineer too quickly. I've studied the oriental systems for almost thirty years. I have a degree in physics and have diligently kept abreast of current events in that field. There is a temptation to label the oriental perspective as "mysterious" and either accept it or reject it as such without seeking Western correlates.

If I asked you, as an engineer, to give an an accurate but non-technical explanation of how a telegraph system, desk-top computer or TV/VCR worked, I'm sure you could do it easily. So, when asked to give a similar explanation of the psycho-biological system, perhaps you haven't seen the correlation: input, process, output.

The telegraph, computer or TV/VCR receives a signal from something outside of the system, something in its environment, usually a human tapping the keys. It processes the signal according to its design and generates a response.

Those who investigated chi and meridians earlier this century had a bias towards classical physics. They assumed they would find separate little wires to propagate the chi just like they had found separate systems to propagate blood and chemical nerve signals. When they didn't find the wiring, they concluded the whole thing was a myth of the mysterious orient rather than considering that maybe their assumptions were erroneous or that their tools were insufficient.

In recent years, much has changed. You've referred to the work of Becker and some of the other work cited by Callahan. Here's more:

If you haven't read the work of Fritz Popp and Walter Kroy in Electromagnetic Bioinformation, get it through interlibrary loan. It lays out the engineering of the biological organism so clearly and the research was done in the 70's. All of the other works in Callahan's bib support the idea that the energy system" IS electro-mechanical, electro-optical, electro-acoustic, electromagnetic AND can be directly engineered just like VCRs and computers.

This does not reduce a human being to a mere machine. The biological system is a machine, but the operator is outside of the system. Thus there is a simple perspective for mind, spirit, soul, reincarnation, all the mysteries. Stanford cellular biologist Bruce Lipton has done outstanding work on describing the system, the operator and the interface.

Thomas Bearden (you'll find his recent work on the internet, search authors in Yahoo!) has also done wonderful work on direct engineering of quantum virtual states and nested hyper-realties. He ties in the relationship of spirit, soul, mind, body and electromagnetics. His books, "AIDS: Biological Warfare" and "Excalibur Briefing" provide excellent syntheses of his work, although they are dated as to the Soviet Union.

The work of Bohm and Pribram provides another piece. In summary, our brains mathematically construct "concrete" reality by interpreting frequencies from another dimension, a realm of meaningful primary reality that transcends time and space. Remember this is from a neurosurgeon and a physicist, not an Eastern mystic. A nice summary of their work can be found in "The Holographic Paradigm," edited by Ken Wilber in 1985. Note that thoughts are frequencies. They aren't necessarily generated by the brain, but the brain can act as a receiver of thought, so once again we are not reduced to being mere machines. Spirit, soul, mind can signal the brain.

"Some experiences are related to what is unconscious in us - to processes for which there is consciousness but no awareness. In quantum theory, these are situations in which the quantum state does not collapse but goes on developing in time according to the dynamics of the situation. The unconscious dynamics, however, may play a role in later conscious events. This aspect allows us to verify the effects of quantum interference in experiments of unconscious perception." - McCarthy, K. and Goswami, A. "CPU or self-reference? Discerning quantum functionalism and cognitive models of mentation" Jnl of Mind and Behaviour. (I don't have the date of publication, it was in 1993 or 1994.)

This could be the technical definition of Callahan's p. Goswami is a physics professor at the University of Oregon. He wrote a book called "The Self-Aware Universe: how consciousness creates the material world" from which I took the above citation.

Let me put it all together briefly: The human body is the most advanced and elegant "machine" system around. It is self-repairing, self-replicating and evolutionary. It can adapt to ambiguities and an ever-changing environment. We (spirit, soul, mind, personality) use it to explore and relate to the physical environment. It is a vehicle, just like the Mars lander. (There is no metal and silicon-based machine ever made that didn't get its start in the mind of a human.) It receives a variety of signals, processes them and generates responses.

Tapping a meridian point delivers mechanical energy to a key. The energy is converted to an electrical signal that is propagated through the cells of the connective tissue (fascia, tendons, ligaments) by way of resonance (Popp et al.) and electron transport in the cell membranes (Lipton) and the microtubules (Penrose and Pribram) within each cell. This signal acts as a carrier wave. The tuning is essential (Callahan) in that it is the modulated information that is nested in the carrier (Bearden). The modulated signal collapses the superposition of quantum states that are causing the interference (McCarthy and Goswami). Thus the rapid change in system output (behavior, expression, affect, etc.). It is no different than adjusting the color, contrast, focus and brightness on the TV in order to get a clear picture.

Blessings...Mike Wright

[Braden]

Mantis - Like I said, there's certainly self-discipline pervasive in taoist practice. My problem was specifically with your statement that pleasure was looked down upon. Things like fasting and meditation are not necessatily (and in the taoist tradition, usually are not) indicative of self-denial. For instance, you reference the 'austerity' of shamans. This sort of austerity, while it might involve abstinence from certain kinds of food and worldly discourse; also includes emphasis on dancing, music, costume, and generally building up of emotional energy. It would be incorrect to describe shamanic practice as 'austere' in the sense of having a deficit of emotion (indeed, one of the requisites for shamanic practice is 'ecstatic' emotional states), but would be correct to say simply that the focus of a person's emotions in this practice is changed. These ideas directly evolved into taoist ideas of meditation, the earliest forms of which were again defined in terms of 'ecstatic' content. And these mystical ideas continued to evolve to influence theistic and philosophical concepts. It's important to remember that chinese meditation and longevity practice in general are not distinctly taoist, and in fact developed independantly of taoism for centuries. There are famous taoist commentaries on a self-denial approach to longevity, remaking upon the absurd futility of living longer just for the sake of living longer, or indeed at the expense of what should be the fruits of living longer.

Fu-Pow - Be nice. ;)

[[Censored]]

Humans are animals. Animals are a part of nature. Taoism reaffirms that humans are a part of nature. What animals excercise semen retention?

LOTS of them. You've heard of "spring fever", but never "winter fever"; so do the math, kid. :rolleyes:

[The Willow Sword]

when you get through all of the mumbo jumbo of wild theory and conjecture we come up with this synopsis;

warriors before they went into battle or when they were training for battle were trained on how to retain thier sexual urges through meditation. they were given specifics and were forbidden to egage in any sexual activity where ejaculation occured. the reason being that when you DID "issue". it weakened your energy and dropped your center into your toes and when you went out in to battle your head got cut off rather quickly. thats why warrior circles(TRUE WARRIOR CIRCLES) never had any women around.

so you see the deduction that I make through all of this is that when you retain your sexual urges you are also retaining a good amount of your energy or chi and therefore increasing strength. but this process of retention while having sex is to me a crock. you can retain the urge to have orgasm so that you can engage in longers drives of intercourse but there HAS to be a time when you NEED to issue.
lets make a joke and support it with fact: CAtholic priests become celabate never (at least from outside appearances do not engage in sex there fore no ejacualtion occurs)
catholic priests have been cited over the years of engaging in sexual molestation of alter boys.
you do the math fellas.

Many Respects , The Willow Sword

[NYerRoman]

Willow,

Your reply was interesting until the Catholic thing. The reason why priests are supposed to be celibate is to embrace on a higher level life and its spiritual essense. Climaxing was to be spiritual as well. I, though, don't believe this to be a reality for many priests.

But don't throw out stupid comments like "catholic priests have been cited over the years of engaging in sexual molestation of alter boys." That's simplistic, generic, and a cheap shot. Stop being such a sheep for sensationalist US news. Yes, there are cases. Yes it is a horrible thing.

But being celibate does not mean you go molesting little boys. One is not a result of the other. They are called pedophiles.

You math equation therefore sucks.
Don't make stupid comments like that. Thank you.

[The Willow Sword]

WOW you really seemed upset and i can emphathise with you.
have you ,by any chance, been reading the news lately?

i wish it were a perfect world where celabacy paved the way for higher spiritual gain, yes its a cheap shot but i do not give any sympathy to the patriarchy for its wheeling and dealings. its obvious that "RETENTION" in any form CAN,not always, lead to behavior unbefitting those in spiritual and internal practices.
thats the point i was making. so i apologize if i offended you. it was not meant to. i respect ALL forms of spirituality.

MAny Respects, The Willow Sword

[mantis108]

Braden,

Very interesting. I believe we are coming from 2 different school of thoughts in this matter. I agree with your points. I also have the following thoughts.

First allow me to clarify that I don't think that Taoist look down pleasure and emotions. However before the "show" there usually,as required by Taoist custom, observations of austerity (fasting and all) and self-discipline (may be meditation or some other private rituals). This is evident in the Maui Shang sect which practices invoking the spirits (devine or demonic). Maui Shang sect would be the closest to the shamanism that you mentioned. Note that I am not using the term ascetic since it caused you to think that I am thinking self-denial which is what the extreme form of asceticism is about. May be in the earliest form of this type of Shaman-ish practice there was "emotions" (conciously performed since the "techniques" or protocol weren't fully developed). The state of low blood sugar couple with hyperventilations can make people "high". If your point is that the Shamanic based Taoism, which is really what the Taoism religion used to be mostly about, works with the "high", then I don't think I can argue that with you since in Chinese and Taoist history(they are quite intervined), there are ample of cases of the looking for the "high" and tragic deaths. One way or the other austerity and self-discipline are involved or rather supposed to be. I believe it is the Ying/Yang of the practice. Ying can't not look down on Yang or Vise Versa. BTW, those who took the external exilirs were supposed to observe certain ritual piror to the ingestion. Personally, I detest substance abuse but that's other folks business. So... Just some thoughts to share with you. Thanks

Regards

Mantis108

[NYerRoman]

Willow,

You assumed one lead to another. I have read the news. It is not an epidemic. It's sensationalized like everything else in the news. There have been many cases that have come out. It is horrible. But don't make generic remarks like that.

peace

[jun_erh]

I find I have more energy, and am less susebtable to sickness when I hold off for a few days. But if you are doing like an atkins diet or something, you still won't have the energy you usually have. Plus, mentally I think you're at a big disadvantage. It's comparable to a nic fit, the lack of control and increased irritablitiy. So you'd have more power but less mental control and could be tricked by an experienced fighter. Plus, you're an ******* to everyone.

[popsider]

I'd drop him for David James, he's been a good servant but we've got to look to Euro 2004.

[Souljah]

You all know the term c0cky refers to arrogance , usually brought on by high testosterone levels, in other words no ejaculation in a while or large build up of semen. Arrogance can be caused by a number o things - superiority, but also because of a build up of energy in the body, and the need to compete come from this

Is it not reasonable to suggest then that an increase in testosterone leads to an increase in anxiety and if channeled correctly the build up of energy in the body.

Most people i've talked to about the matter of long periods without ejaculation say they can participate in sports at a higher more competetive level, which i believe is due to these high testosterone levels.

There is also belief that the build up of testosterone and semen, without release can help the general appearance of the body and face..... which may account for the youthful look of many tantric practitioners.
Shaolin monks often look much younger than they are, which could be due to a number of things - they are very efficient at channelling their energy, they maintain a healthy diet,
and perhaps if you take this belief they have not 'released'/ ejaculated fully in perhaps all of their lives, if not their shaolin lives.
This could account for their unbelivable athletic feats and high levels of energy no matter what age they are.

I believe there is a strong link between testosterone levels and energy.....

If you have read this far tell me what you think.:D

[Fu-Pow]

I thought testosterone levels actually went up after ejaculation. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

As to an increase in tension or anxiety from not ejaculating, definitely.

[Souljah]

this is from something i read on the net, could some1 please explain to me the biology behind the release of testosterone hormone its significance in the prodution of semen

[IronFist]

I only have one problem with the whole discussion. When you don't "issue" for a while, eventually you will blow at night. That's just how our bodies are designed. I would imagine the frequency of this diminishes as we age (ie. a 16 year old trying to hold his nutt in would probably have more nocturnal emissions than a 40 year old trying to hold it in), but still.

So, those priests who swear off sex either a) service themselves or b) wake up with wet sheets.

Yup.

IronFist

[Serpent]

In Toaist philosophy one nocturnal emission is as bad as 100 regular emissions. They advocate roughly one emission per month, varying depending on the season, to be the optimum actual release to prevent nocturnal emission, with retention used the rest of the time....

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Serpent
In Toaist philosophy one nocturnal emission is as bad as 100 regular emissions.

Whoa! Where did that number come from? Is it just something that was made up or is there some reasoning behind it?

IronFist

[FERAL INSTINCCT]

It seems that different cultures have different views on this subject.

Here is a view from a Mexican Philosopher named Carlos Castaneda.

"Sexual intercourse is always a bestowal of awareness even though the bestowal may not be consolidated."

"There is nothing wrong with man's sensuality. It's man's ignorance of and disregard for his magical nature that is wrong. It's a mistake to waste recklessly the life-bestowing force of sex and not have children, but, it's also a mistake not to know that in having children one taxes the glow of awareness."

I believe what he means is: The ***** doesn't know sex to be fun. Procreating or recreation it's the same energy being used. The use of that energy taxes ones awareness. In other words one looses there edge. Which could effect alot of things speed, focus maybe even motivation.

My thought on this is if this is true why would we practice something that takes away from what we are trying to achieve from practice in the first place. We can't get smooth crisp movement if we don't have our sharpness about ourselfs.

All in all it's the dislodgement and re-establishment of internal energy. If that internal energy isn't properly handled it could be lost which will tax our awareness.

The conservation of energy is food for awareness. Awareness is what gives us perception. A stonger perception will give us stronger movements. A better unstanding of what we are trying to accomplish as martial artists.

[Gabriel]

You dirty dirty man! :D

Visiting them geisha girls eh? :o


LMAO

;)

[Leto]

Hasn't anyone ever seen 'Lord of Wudang', also called 'Kung Fu Cult Master' ? *lol* Jet li (I forget his character's name) asks his teacher (Zheng San Fang) how he keeps his martial power into old age. He says something like "My power comes from staying away from women, never had sex! And even in my old age, erect every morning!" Ha! Of course, at the end of the movie, the girl gives Jet Li 'that look', he's unsure, and is about to tell her that he can't, so he can keep his kung fu power...then old teacher interrupts him "hey! If you have a chance to have sex, go for it! The only reason I don't is because I'm old and no one likes me!" -so there we have it...Taoist secrets of 'kung fu power'? Just old guys who can't get any! Your kung fu will be good regardless! (If you have learned the 'invincible solar stance' from a monk embedded in a boulder)

[fa_jing]

Normally I advocate moderation with the sexual activity, but
my urologist tells me that busting nuts can be good for clearing congestion in the tubes that can arise under certain conditions.

-FJ

[guohuen]

There seems to be a correlation between lack of sexual activity and prostate cancer in older men.

[Ford Prefect]

lol @ this thread. I like training and everything, but I like having sex with my girlfriend more. I vote for sex.

[The Willow Sword]

Does He Treat you good?:p

MAny Respects,,The Willow Sword

[ewallace]

my urologist tells me that busting nuts can be good for clearing congestion in the tubes that can arise under certain conditions.
Hense the term "clearing the pipes". Also good to do before a date with a hot chick when the horizontal hokey pokey may be on the horizon.

[fa_jing]

Sorry man that's just wierd. I would think she could sense weather or not you had a full tank, women are naturally attracted to the man that is giving off heat from his nether regions, not the guy with the hairy palms.

[The Willow Sword]

have sex in the hot tub with your girlfriend and you jizz in the hot water? MAN! it cogeals and coagulates.:D

[Ford Prefect]

Haha! Clearing the pipes most definately works to get that first nut out of the way before getting hitting it with a hot girl. Was a favorite practice of mine in high school and college.

That hot tub thing works in all water. I banged a girl in her family's pool, so my kids were floating by. I used to joke that her mom got my kids in her hair!

[ewallace]

women are naturally attracted to the man that is giving off heat from his nether regions, not the guy with the hairy palms
All attention to the hands are lost when Pedro comes out to play. And as long as the baby batter goes into the love glove it's all good in the hood, no matter if it's for half a recipe or a full one.