Sex and Chi (again)

[Nexus]

By Zheng Younil
Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea

We are born with Qi widespread in the Nature and Universe. Qi is a vital power in the body and mind. Microscopically, we are a small universe. Our body's main energy sources are made up of four elements in the light of holistic medicine. These elements are Semen , Blood , Qi , and Spirit. Generally speaking, the order of formation is as such: Semen > Blood > Qi > Spirit. Of course, these four elements can be interchangeable and inseparable among themselves.

Semen has two sources. One is what we inherited from our parents. The other is what we obtain from foods we eat everyday. Semen can not only be stockpiled in our kidney but also be secreted when our other respective internal organs need it or when we have intercourse with our spouse. Physiologically, semen can be transformed to Blood, Qi , or Spirit through metabolism in our body. Semen and blood are visible. On the contrary, Qi and Spirit are invisible and can only be felt by our sixth sense. Speaking figuratively, Semen and Blood are to red wine what Qi and Spirit are to white wine. White wine is more expensive and higher in calories than red wine. Likewise, Qi and Spirit are more precious and difficult to be made than Semen and Blood.

Why is Qi so important?

Qi is very important for our body metabolism for these reasons;

It heats up our internal organs and makes them function well. For example, it circulates our Blood through our heart and stores Blood in the liver.
It regulates our body fluid's balance and excretes dampness formed by useless fluid in the course of metabolism in the form of feces and urine. So lack of Qi caused by exhaustion of semen by excessive sex accumulates dampness in our body which can lead to obesity.
It also passes through our internal meridians, which control our body's whole network system. It is different from nerves in the western medicine by no means.
In conclusion, excessive sex exhausts our semen and thereby interfering with the formation of Qi. Then the lack of Qi accumulates dampness in our body which can lead to disease. Of course, moderate sex is inevitable for the instinct of preservation of the human species for us. But excessive sex just for pleasure is dangerous to our life. I presume that what I've written above is different from the common concepts of western medicine. So, whether you believe it or not is up to you. But what I am sure of is that this concept of holistic medicine has our korean ancestors' long experience.

Yin Yang Tang For Preventing Disease & A Healthy Life
** How to make Yin-Yang Tang **

First pour hot water in the cup about 2/3 deep. Next, pour cold water the rest 1/3 and drink whenever you want to drink something. It's that simple, just two different temperatures of water.

Why? Our upper body or head should be cool and reversely, our lower body should be warm so that the upper body's cool Qi is able to descend and the lower body's warm Qi can go up thereby circulating the Qi and blood through the entire body. Thus the stomach and spleen in the middle of our body can balance the two Qi's interaction by lukewarm water (Yin-Yang Tang). If this dynamic movement stops, dampness accumulates in our stomach and spleen and interferes with the metabolism of the stomach and spleen and affects our urination and defecation thereby forming fats and dampness in our body. I bet, if we keep this habit of drinking lukewarm water (Yin-Yang Tang), we could lead a healthy life without putting on weight and without getting ill.

This theory was emphasized by our master Gum - ho, a mogul in Korean holistic medicine. He has been teaching Sa-Am acupuncture for 24 years to Korean holistic medical student in our South Korea for free in person and serve the community by doing non-profit Sa-Am Acupuncture Service for the public with us.

[Gabriel]

Hey Nex, what happened to this natter?

"One could say however that the mind is all that really exists and chi is just a manifestation that the mind uses to manipulate meditation. Just as we can say that the 3-energy centers of the body are not real however we can use them for spiritual growth. This is why the debate of the reality of jing being finite or infinite and little qualms over words only complicates our daily lives. "

if you truly believe this, then these texts and treatise should mean nothing to you. Unless you were just trying to be inspiringly provacative? I must say in regards to the above statement that it only serves to dillute focus. At least for me.. I mean the same think could be said in this respect....

"Dude...what if we were all brains in vats..yeah vats! and we are imagining everything around us, and dude guess what, you aren't real! You're just a figment of my imagination, yeah!"

IMHO, this is not constructive thought. (sorry it took me so long to respond, but I forgot I posted here )

Gabriel

[Nexus]

Things will have different meanings to you for different reasons. In regards to the internal arts, my beliefs go as far as one might call 'faith' in practice, however once those practices yield results, often ones that I did not expect nor was I told would occur then you are able to release the need to 'believe'.

The meditation as you progress connects you in such a way that you often ponder why people even have to believe in being connected to all things as you on a daily basis, on a moment to moment basis feel that connection.

With that said, often things that I say I find particularly important in relationship to the situation or confrontation. Notice how I said confrontation, and not conflict.

Essentially, I did not write the above article, however parts of it are interesting and perhaps will provide some clarity to someone here. We are each entitled to taking what we wish to as our own facts and 'beliefs' as you call it, and also discarding what we consider nonsense, unsatisfactory or useless to us at our current place.

These ideas and concepts are excellent material for contemplation meditation as they have been for many meditators for thousands of years. I invite you to take such an opportunity yourself and become more familiar and adept with them so that you can share with us your personal insights.

- Nexus

[Fu-Pow]

In conclusion, excessive sex exhausts our semen and thereby interfering with the formation of Qi.

I think the most ridiculous aspect of this whole theory is that matter and energy are "convertible" in the human body. It takes huge amounts of energy for matter to become energy (e=mc2 afterall, where c = the speed of light). How do you propose that semen is somehow "sublimated" up into the brain as energy? The equations just don't add up.

My theory is just like many Catholic priests as we are finding out, many Chinese monks were probably gay and had guilty feeling about sex. They constructed this nonsense to make their celibacy seem more legitimate. Just my theory.

It think too much sex is bad for other reasons. Mainly a lack of motivation. It makes you more lazy, less focused and less aggressive, physiological aspects of neurotransmitters released after orgasm. This detracts from training and makes you less responsive in a fighting situation.

My theory is that ejaculation every couple of days is O.K. to maintain your drive and baseline agressiveness. If you are wanking your willy everyday 3 times a day your just not gonna be focused.

[prana]

My theory is that ejaculation every couple of days is O.K. to maintain your drive and baseline agressiveness. If you are wanking your willy everyday 3 times a day your just not gonna be focused.

Fu-Pow, I did not mean to single out your quotes here, but merely as a encapsulation reference so please do not take any of what I said personally...

I think the topic of semen retention should not b discussed so much in public. I am beginning to see the fruition of discussing these sorts of things in a public forum. There will forever be debate, especially when it is based on intellectual vs. experiential.

Its like a debate between Muslim's and Hindu's, the end result is civil war.

So to those whose karmic forces has led to such principles, then so be it and to whos karmic forces have not let those towards this principle, then so be it. Because this is sounding like a vegetarian versus meat eating debate. Sadly

With all due respect to everyone here, I can see a lot of u r sharing with positive intentions of good will but perhaps the recipients aren't quite ready for this sort of commitment, especially when the knowledge is still based on intellectual/derived understanding.

Then again, I am a moron, ignore me if you are going to get upset.

[Repulsive Monkey]

well played, with that I'm going to bow out of this subject as it eternally returns as a thread and never evolves but then isn't that the case with all experiential versus intellectual debates?

[Gabriel]

Well Prana, ideally you are right. We shouldn't tirelessly argue about the same thing over and over again. Neither side will be diverted off their path by what they read here. Yes, you are right about that, I suppose. But, this entire forum is based around the presentation of different opinions and views. And once a whole group of people are congregated or networked, through this forum for example, people are bound to disagree. So, does this mean we should all not present new viewpoints to each other, and present our opinions be they right, wrong, or indifferent? I don't know...

Nex - Well, through my practice in Tai Chi, I haven't really learned how to meditate in a formal setting yet. However, through the controlled breathing I have acquired doing Tai Chi, I can apply some Qi Gong concepts and meditate on my own. Especially helpful to me has been the concepts of xin and yi. This allowed me to separate my mind into two camps. Once I gave my reckless/lazy/sensory side a name, it is much easier to suppress. I have experienced an increase of will when practicing abdominal breathing, even in a normal setting. Also, I have "felt" chi and moved it to a degree. I do not want to mess around with it too much though, because I read and have been told that one can overbalance/underbalance some of the organs in the body, and that one should seek a good teacher before attempting to direct chi. In conclusion, forgetting all the "rules" and concepts might be beneficial for you, but I still need a rigid mind and lots of self discipline, suppressing of the xin with the yi, ect. In other words, don't throw that thought but no thought, mind but no mind, belief but no belief hokum at me. Im not ready for it yet.

Fu Pow- I know I was told not to argue above, but....I gotta throw this one out. I am familiar with with several scientific theories on chi. The electromagnetic angle being one of them..also, there have been studies on the affects of magnets on the human body, and how a foreign magnet affects the human magnetic field, blah.

I suppose Ill outline some of the key concepts.

In Ancient China, people had very little knowledge of electricity. They only knew from acupuncture that when a needle was inserted into the acupuncture cavities, some kind of energy other than heat was produced which often caused a shock or a tickling sensation. It was not until the last few decades, when the chinese people were more acquainted with electromagnetic science, that they began to recognize that this energy circulating in the body, which they called Qi, might be the same thing as what today's science calls bioelectricity.
It is understood now that the human body is constructed of many different electrically conductive materials, and that it forms a living electromagnetic feild and circuit. Electromagnetic energy is continuously being generated in the human body through the biochemical reaction in food and air assimilation, and circulated by the electromotive forces generated within the body.
In addition, you are constantly being affected by external electromagnetic fields such as that of the earth, or the electrical fields generated by the clouds.

Assuming you accept the above principles, I can now give an example.

If you look at an electrical circuit, you will see that..

1. The qi channels are like the wires which carry electric current.
2. The internal organs are like the electrical components such as resistors and solenoids.
3. The Qi vessels are like capacitors, which regulate the current in the circuit.

To keep the electrical circuit functioning most efficiently, the first concern is the resistance of the wire which carries the current. In a machine, you want to use a wire which has a high level of conductivity and low resistance, otherwise the current may melt the wire. Therefore, the wire should be copper, or even gold. In a human body, one wants to keep the current flowing smoothly. This means the the first task is to remove anything which interferes with the flow and causes stagnation. Fat has low conductivity, so one should use diet and exercise to remove excess fat from the body. Relaxation also helps, because it opens all the qi channels.

Theres lots more where that comes from, but I don't want to type all day and night. My advice to you is before discounting it, find some books about the scientific angle first, since you seem to like science's findings better than the traditional chinese explanation. There are more and more good scientists making bioelectricity their life's work. And if you look, you can find lots of stuff. Oh, a bachelor, masters, or doctorate in bio-(insert word here), imo doesn't justify you to discount the concept of chi wholesale. Discount it for yourself personally, but not to the many that have already benefitted and experienced from it.

Whew..well thats it from me guys..I gotta go boil my hands, feet and forehead in axle grease. I always feel tainted when I dip my paws into science's murky depths...

Gabriel

[prana]

Well Prana, ideally you are right. We shouldn't tirelessly argue about the same thing over and over again. Neither side will be diverted off their path by what they read here. Yes, you are right about that, I suppose. But, this entire forum is based around the presentation of different opinions and views. And once a whole group of people are congregated or networked, through this forum for example, people are bound to disagree. So, does this mean we should all not present new viewpoints to each other, and present our opinions be they right, wrong, or indifferent? I don't know...

Of course not, people should always be allowed to point their views. I totally agree with you. I was once a non-believer and a good science student many years ago. And I came to discover qi by a great teacher, and later on myself, again. So I am in wish that everyone here will one day be able to feel, see or be. (Actually we are technically or course), but here I see two parties, one who has experienced it and one who hasnt, and the choices of words are deteriorating, becoming personal insults rather than on the topic of discussion. Like I said before, its sad to see people with good intentions and people with a genuine will to understand and discover qi for themselves lose ground based on western science.


So now I will practise my free speech , if you dont mind (Dont take me seriously please I like to joke too )

Did the Chinese discover qi or did the Brahmans ? I like the bioelectricity concept of qi,it does fit quite well but I offer some discussional comparisons, I hope they dont come across as challenges....

I like your theory, let me suggest slight tid bits here & there
1. Capacitors store energy, so I wont equate in your analogy of capacitors = chakras instead of meridians
2. Meridians carry electricity but are not impedance or resistance based, so I equate meridians to signal repeaters
3. Possibly fat are non-polar, hence distorts the flow of propagating signals

Some odd questions here n there,
1. Almost the entire body is a continuous conductor. How does the body (& parts) differentiate the electric pulses and its detinations ?
2. If the meridians are bipolar in nature, qi should be measurable by law of induction.
3. How does your intent accompany the movement of qi ?
4. If the body is bipolar, readio waves in the air would confuse the person as much as in 1
5. Where is the source of this electrical pulse ?

Anyway just some food for more discussions....

Repulsive Monkey and all on this board, as above, I didnt imply to not discuss, but am trying to say, trying to explain qi without dropping science is like trying to step into two kayaks.

I didnt mean to rip into this thread this way... sorry guys. My apologies... hopefully one or more of you will understand what I am trying to say...

[Repulsive Monkey]

Thanks for the notion but I'm gonna just observe this thread once in a while, and not get too involved with it. I can't anymore on it....how ever don't hold your breaths!???

[origenx]

But haven't they shown that those with moderate health lives (~3 ejaculations per week) tend to live the longest?

Also, I think sometimes people over-mystify sex, a hard workout or overtraining can use up your energy just as well.

I dunno, I think the jury is still out on this whole topic..