Well, this is obviously a trap. Nonetheless, if I'm caught it only gives you a chance to express what you think qigong should be accomplishing--I can live with that.
Some of my qigong is warmup and yoga. Slow dance, I'm not so sure about. With 'intention' they are all some kind of 'energy work'...I'm not really into arguing over definitions, though. As far as I know there are different kinds of qigong for different purposes...I practice a few of them, for fairly mundane purposes...but my goals are fairly mundane as well.
One of the oldest texts describing the benefits of moving energy flat out says that once one is natural at it, one can do it while doing anything, and should. I'll look up the name of the text some other time.
Further, the problem isn't sex, it's ejaculation, and there's plenty of practices that promote doing lots of the first, and little of the second, and those practices are qigong.
Most of the original sources for these practices are very pro-lots of sex, very anti-ejaculation. Then the Confucians ruined everything with their silliness, so that you later get qigong and lots of reasons not to have sex.
Do not let those Theori-cian with big mouth BS you.
There are Shen and Qi and Jing.
When one ejaculate one's Jing, one has disrupted one's Shen and chaos one's Qi.
Even with anti-ejaculation, one has disrupted one's shen and chaos one's Qi.
Disrupt of Shen in today's language is disrupt the nervous system. Discrupt the Qi in today's language is the chemical balancing in one's body has been get out of balancing state.
Anyone who really knows Qigong knows the key to cultivate Qi is via settle the Shen. Confucian or not, Dao mimic nature. Cant enter to Stillness cant cultivate Qi properly that is the law of natural.
So, why is it needs 2 hours after practice to have sex? because one needs to let the Shen and Qi get back to usual daily living state so that it doesnt cause sharp draining at sex.
why is it needs 8 hours after sex to practice? because one needs to let the Shen and Qi back to balance state before it could be evoke without causing off balance damage. when one has sex, one's Shen is disrupted sharply and kidney Qi is draining. the body is in an imbalance state after that.
Last edited by Hendrik; 08-11-2011 at 06:06 PM.
Yes, "Northwind" is my internet alias used for years that has lots to do with my main style, as well as other lil cool things - it just works. Wanna know my name? Ask me
http://www.pathsatlanta.org
I'm ready to accept Henrik's "2 hours before, 8 hours after" idea as a pretty good rule of thumb. It makes sense and matches my experience.
Here's my new tattoo, hope it doesn't mean "whitey like KFC": 二前八后
There's whole books on what moves the shen in sex. They seem to agree that it is not sex moving the shen, it's how you're perceiving it.
Some time after is fine, eight hours to settle suggests a practitioner who not only hasn't managed to learn any control, but takes an extreme amount of time to calm themselves.
To put this another way, of those who have done these things, what bad things EVER happened from not waiting eight hours? For me, in fifteen years, nothing, not one thing. Hell, the tradition uses the same general routes during sex, suddenly, because you were using them before, you can't use them during? No.
A lot of things have been written about this stuff, the more arbitrary the claim, the more likely it's BS. Exoticizing the practice isn't doing the practice. It's simple stuff, and that's all it ever will be.
Instant death.
Depends. Because a lot of qigong is dependent on use of the PC muscles, and because, if you ejaculated, your PC has done the most exhausting activity it ever experiences, it will tend to be beating a dead horse; in fitness terms, working an area you already worked to exhaustion. Because it ties in to the kua, the whole region tends to already be a bit worked.What happens if you do your qigong on Wednesday and then Wednesday night your wife comes home early from her business trip and jumps your bones?
Or what happens if you get your freak on and then do qigong later that night?
I think one of the problems discussions of these types face is that they avoid actual discussion of sex. Why is sex, by default, a problem? Frankly, it isn't, except for those groups that take a state that is part of a cycle, celibacy(the natural cycle being availability to celibacy to availability) and making it into something to make long term for immortality or wondrous wisdom or wondrous powers.
So terms get thrown around like it disturbs the shen, arbitrary statements without definition or background.
So, why would sex disturb the shen? It doesn't. How one approaches sex can.
For example, images in fantasy were often refered to as demons. The idea is, if the sensation does not suffice, then there is a problem with functioning going on. Adding a fantasy instead of approaching the problem and solving it leads to continuing the conduct that creates the problem. Same with how one makes love, if one is in another world, they are not responding to who they are with, missing cues that could be more fruitful than the ideas in their head. From a Taoist perspective, they are ignoring the Way.
The main use I can see for celibacy is at the beginning phase of qigong, before one has learned what they are working with. What this does is focus them on the practice, keep the PC muscles ready for more qigong, and give them a sort of reset, like a fast allows for diet, where they have a break from past habits that might not be conducive to either qigong or sex(which is, as one can see from the view of alarmists, intrinsically a qigong).
However, as soon as possible, this forced celibacy will end. If how one engages in sexual activity is a problem, avoiding solutions is not a practice. To engage in qigong and not work on the same concepts in approaches to sex is not a good practice. Since sex is the single most quantifiable way to measure skill in qigong(by way of improvements in endurance based around subtle PC usage, by way of being more aware of what is and so not being forced to resort to added stimulus that deadens sensitivity, etc), it should be of great importance.
When I first learned the main practices I use, I had a month span of celibacy, followed by six months of sexual practice regarding the qigong as central. The celibate state did allow me a break from my previous approaches to sex, and the practice enforced new habits.
The point of qigong isn't supposed to be distinct from one's life. To calm the shen in qigong and not be able to keep a reasonably calm shen in sex is missing a major point of the practice, imo, but some people do things to be seen as an expert at doing them, so c'est la vie.
Because avoidance of ejaculation requires a subtle refocus of the hard rise of the PC that tends to represent the point of no return, circling down subtly and using the force of the rise to cause the downward movement of the PC at the moment before the point of no return actually is upon one, to do a lot of PC work before can mean an exhausted PC that cannot do this well enough, and, as I said earlier, qigong afterwords is beating a dead horse. Further, hard rises in the PC that are not efficiently moved to the downphase in a timely manner in either qigong or sex can lead to exhausting the PC and giving the sensation of "blue balls," which is never good.
The problem with celibacy is that it also reduces sexual function, which is not good energy work. The idea is to be always hungry but never starving. Avoiding ejaculation is one way this state is achieved, but if one isn't taking part in any sexual activity after they already know the pathways involved, they are not using an important pathway the way it is supposed to be used, and it's functioning will be weak compared to if they were more consistently practiced in its use.
Have a lot of sex, just don't finish, and keep the PC contractions moderate. If you make sex qigong, its hard for it to interfere with your qigong practice.
I'm sure there are further practices I'm not familiar with, this is just an answer from my practice.
Last edited by Taixuquan99; 08-12-2011 at 10:18 AM.
It relates to how you manage PC muscle contractions. I think one of the problems that could lead to that is how one interprets what some call the big draw. If you're talking about the not ejaculating part.
Additionally, that's not "never ejaculate". For young people, it's still gonna be every three or four days.
There's a lot of detail work that's difficult to cover in text. The extreme upswing of the PC is where a lot of people get in trouble, it produces a lot of heat if one stays in it to "feel good", usually holding their breath at the same time.
I should specify that I'm not saying to force yourself not to ejaculate, nothing should be forced, but that there is a moment before the point of no return where the upswing can, in a smooth and relaxed manner, be turned to a downswing, to avoid through continuous circulation that disperses tension, not fight tension with tension.
Or are you talking about something else?
Anecdotal, I know, but I've never had problems from the practice.
Last edited by Taixuquan99; 08-12-2011 at 11:02 AM.
The above statement show that one doesnt know what is Shen and what is perceiving.
When one doesnt know what are these elements, one will not be able to know how these elements work. Thus, one will not be able to cultivate Qigong effectively.
Some time after is fine, eight hours to settle suggests a practitioner who not only hasn't managed to learn any control, but takes an extreme amount of time to calm themselves.
In the cultivate of Qi, as it is said Dao mimic the natural or Wu Wei Wu Pu Wei or non doing. Control is opposite of Dao mimic the natural and Wu Wei.
To put this another way, of those who have done these things, what bad things EVER happened from not waiting eight hours?
For me, in fifteen years, nothing, not one thing.
Hell, the tradition uses the same general routes during sex, suddenly, because you were using them before, you can't use them during? No.
What state has your Qigong reaches?
A lot of things have been written about this stuff, the more arbitrary the claim, the more likely it's BS. Exoticizing the practice isn't doing the practice. It's simple stuff, and that's all it ever will be.
If one doesnt know what is Shen, Perception, Qi, and Jing.
Then what does one practice?