Home › Forum Online Discussion › Philosophy › Creating the dan tien in the head – anapana
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March 26, 2011 at 6:03 pm #37076redfogParticipant
Bill Bodri in his article on anapana (www.meditationexpert.com) suggests that all you need for energy cultivation is the white skeleton meditation and anapana, which is watching your breadth with the mind so that they become one, then you can progress to meditating on the third eye.
If your doing mindfulness training where you watch your thoughts (where your attention is focused inside your head)why can’t you make this your chi reservoir instead of the dan tien in the lower belly?
I’ve been doing mindfulness meditation for quite some time. After doing mindfulness training and sitting really still in a half lotus position, I felt a cool energy cloud slowly fall down the front of my body. Later on I had a kundalini experience where my third eye and heart chakra exploded open (I’ve never meditated on the third eye or the heart chakra, just watching my thoughts in my head). This caused an intense sense of love in general for everyone and the room seemed to be made of shimmering light. I could feel the 2 chakras where really powerful.
I didn’t really believe that yin chi when it becomes full flips and becomes yang, but that does seem to be what happened.
So my question is, according to Bill Bodri, you will cook your chi for physical enlightenment with out doing kan and li and other Taoist practices because it will spontaneously happen.
I was wondering what others thought about this and why Taoist methods are better than Buddhist?
March 27, 2011 at 6:19 am #37077wendyParticipantWe can not live constantly in a blissful state. Bliss is a momentum that you can have and that can last for a short or longer time yet we also operate in our physical reality. Our bodies want, need and will operate in that pysical reality.
For that taoist practice is very useful, to deal with ‘reality’ in a spiritual way.
Spiritualized reality yet living that reality in an integrated way, being in the world, with the world, co-creating the world.
Being in a blissful state gives realization, the problem might that we get trapped by it and forget the dirt and anger and the pain around us and in us.
For that taoist practice is useful, to transform and keep transforming the dirt and pain around and in us. Our bodies become transformators, we become conducts.
Many other practices have similar techniques to become transformators and conductors. Taoist is just one of them, yet a very integrated one.
Whatever works for you, all that really matters is that we need to keep focus that we are here to serve the ‘world’ and that we keep being part of it to help transform for the better without bias or religious or philosophical fanatism.Keeping an open mind, an open heart and an open belly, that is the dedicated work we have to do…
As for your question about chi:
The upper dantian is good in receiving chi, that is why we can get bliss through meditation on crown or third eye more easily, the lower dantian is good in storing chi that keeps us centered and integrated in the world.
Just focusing on the upper part is denying this world reality and creates a split in us and in the world.
We have to remember never to deny or mistreat a part of our body, or we will deny a part of the world, creating pain and separation. We are one, also within us.Overfocus on one will take love away from another part…
Enjoy your bliss…
WendyMarch 27, 2011 at 6:20 am #37079wendyParticipantWe can not live constantly in a blissful state. Bliss is a momentum that you can have and that can last for a short or longer time yet we also operate in our physical reality. Our bodies want, need and will operate in that pysical reality.
For that taoist practice is very useful, to deal with ‘reality’ in a spiritual way.
Spiritualized reality yet living that reality in an integrated way, being in the world, with the world, co-creating the world.
Being in a blissful state gives realization, the problem might that we get trapped by it and forget the dirt and anger and the pain around us and in us.
For that taoist practice is useful, to transform and keep transforming the dirt and pain around and in us. Our bodies become transformators, we become conducts.
Many other practices have similar techniques to become transformators and conductors. Taoist is just one of them, yet a very integrated one.
Whatever works for you, all that really matters is that we need to keep focus that we are here to serve the ‘world’ and that we keep being part of it to help transform for the better without bias or religious or philosophical fanatism.Keeping an open mind, an open heart and an open belly, that is the dedicated work we have to do…
As for your question about chi:
The upper dantian is good in receiving chi, that is why we can get bliss through meditation on crown or third eye more easily, the lower dantian is good in storing chi that keeps us centered and integrated in the world.
Just focusing on the upper part is denying this world reality and creates a split in us and in the world.
We have to remember never to deny or mistreat a part of our body, or we will deny a part of the world, creating pain and separation. We are one, also within us.Overfocus on one will take love away from another part…
Enjoy your bliss…
WendyMarch 28, 2011 at 10:47 pm #37081redfogParticipantThanks Wendy for your response.
I had an experience where my consciousness was floating about 2 feet above and about 8 inches behind my head, I still had consciousness in my physical head too, although it was split between the two spots. Maybe a part of the astral body dislodged? Any thoughts on that?
I think it happened because I was always watching my mind in my head, so maybe I wasn’t grounding enough like you suggested with the lower dan tien.
I have done a little bit of lower dan tien training but was discouraged because it seems to dissipate after I’ve stored it there. I was reading a blog by one of Wang Li Ping’s (Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard book)trainers that men tend to have dissipation problems where women don’t because they have a womb that naturally collects it. Any tips on storing energy in the lower dan tien for men?
I haven’t found that mindfulness training has been an escape from the daily aches and pains of life. Most of my mindfulness training is inspired by Eckhart Tolle not Buddhism. What it has done has made me more aware of my reactions to life and to approach it with more clarity and rationality.
I’ve also found that just watching my thoughts causes unexpressed or stuck emotional energy to dislodge. It’s a way to clean the emotional body of stuck thoughts or traumatic events that are still stuck in the body.
March 29, 2011 at 4:08 am #37083wendyParticipantRedfog,
I never took mindfulness trainings myself so I can not speak from experience. Yet my partner Chris and I are into focusing which is very similar, where you go deep inside the body and listen to its voices. The difference is that you express those voices outwardly, so a listener mirrors those voices back. Those voices then feel listened to, like hurt children feeling listened to their stories.
So mindfulness can be very useful in a similar way, the inner voices, the stuck energies are helped into movement by your intentional attention.As for your lower dantian, it takes practice and time, it is like building a house inside yourself. It takes work to build walls. So maybe more focus and patience might be necessary to create your lower dantian.
Use a stopwatch or a beeping watch or a computer clock, let it beep every couple of minutes or half hour or whatever, and focus on your lower dantian, just for a couple of seconds, and move on with your day to day things. But this is the training I suggest to build a house. Your intention and focus will build a storage space. Once it is there it is always there, whenever you put the slightest intention on it the lower dantian responds and fills itself with chi. Very very easy once it is created.As for your floating, hard to say if it was just caused by ungroundedness, could, but don’t worry about it too much.
Just remember to use your whole body in your meditations, do not split yourself.Good luck
Wendy -
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