RichieRich

​Thanks for the reply.

You are getting too mental with this.

I don’t believe so. Rather, I’m seeking clarification of issues I find confusing. Within our exchange, I think some of that confusion comes from the fact that words are easily misunderstandable.

Rotation of the qi ball brings qi from outside into your energy field. Why would you…

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​​So you refuse to compose a response longer than Homer’s Odyssey. And you won’t speculate on what MW may or may not have meant in a teaching from more than ten years ago. You’re not much fun these days, are you!!

That said, the additional explanation of how you do Primordial makes things clearer.

The qi that you are collecting is simply the…

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Hi Steven

to adequately answer your 3 posts would amount to writing an epic longer than Homer’s Odyssey.

Well…if you insist 🙂

Cauldron is just a metaphor for any defined “space” in which alchemical transformation can occur and qi “yet to be transformed” is collected…”Cauldron” does not have such a limitation. In particular, any concentrated…

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In the Heaven Cycle, the penultimate move consists of stirring the cauldron, and the final move involves embracing the cauldron and scooping the elixir. Now, on the face of it, the cauldron that is stirred is somewhat different to the cauldron that is embraced. The former consists of the lower and middle dan tiens (within the body) whilst the…[Read more]

In the Earth Cycle there are two moves Michael calls “top to bottom” (Moves 8 and 10) and two he calls “side to side” (Moves 9 and 11).

Re top to bottom, Michael mentions frequently both on the DVD and audio that this involves a chi ball.

Side to side also involves a chi ball, though Michael mentions this less frequently. (I’m not sure he…[Read more]

I’m very sympathetic to Steven’s post and have, on occasion, been tempted to write something similar.

Most of your posts strike me as, at best, tangentially related to the subject under discussion. Further, they come across as pretty incoherent – usually a string of quotes, often about Hinduism and/or Buddhism.

If Hinduism, Buddhism, maths…[Read more]

Laozi
Zhuangzi
Neo-Daoism

Sam Harris’s responses to Eben Alexander (here and here) are worth a look.

Steven

Entirely understand.

Furthermore, let me say that your contribution to the forum has been stellar. You happily answer a wide variety of questions fully and precisely. Generous and impressive.

Of course, when word gets out, this leads to more people asking more questions. And I can quite see why answering them all has become…[Read more]

Thanks. I currently only have the DVD. Perhaps I’ll make it to your summer course!

At one point in the bathing section of the DVD, Michael talks about emptying the “whole contents of your body/mind” into the sun.

Can you clarify exactly what’s being emptied. Is it only one’s mind and energy body or also one’s physical body.

If it’s also the physical body, how does it reach the sun? And if the mind, the energy body and…[Read more]

Thanks, Steven.

Glad to know there’s a good reason for my confusion.

For the purposes of discussion, let’s divide bathing into 2 parts: (a) Body Bathing – hands move down from crown to feet, and from feet to waist (b) Reaching – reach from waist to sun, dissolve and return to crown; reach from feet to centre of the earth, dissolve and return…[Read more]

Hi Steven

I’ve found this thread very interesting as I’ve long felt my kidneys are pretty weak. And more recently I’ve begun to think that my symptoms include those of kidney yang deficiency (low energy, cold extremities, aversion to cold, pale complexion, aversion to drinking when thirsty etc).

Would your recommendation for supplements to…[Read more]

Steven

Many thanks for providing patient and detailed answers to the various questions thrown your way in 2014. I, for one, have learned a great deal from them. Here’s hoping you’ll remain willing and able to answer questions thru 2015!

Richard

Thanks. Really helpful to understand that qi from the Earth contains all five elements and to understand the relationship between qi from the Earth, bone marrow and the kidneys.

Re yiquan, are the heels the sole route (just spotted the pun!) by which Earth qi enters the body – or are they the main route, with a smaller amount of qi also…[Read more]

Everything is good for everything…

Nice!

…but standing is selectively better for the kidneys.

Got it!

When you stand, you press Kidney-1 (Bubbling Well) source point directly against the earth which not only activates the point but allows the qi from the Earth (which is water-dominated) to rise up into your body through this point.

In the Yi…[Read more]

The absolute best practices, bar-none, for building the kidneys are exactly what you are already doing, namely doing some standing meditation, ala Iron Shirt 1 or Yiquan (the 3 standing-in-stillness postures are an Yiquan set).

Does standing benefit all organs equally or is it particularly good for the kidneys? If particularly good for the…[Read more]

Many thanks for your thoughts. Very helpful.

Having read what you and Steven wrote and having contemplated further, I take the view that it’s not helpful to regard “kidney yin” and “kidney yang” as substances. I’ve set out my musings in my reply to Steven.

Steven

A very helpful reply. Many thanks. It’s taken a while for me to get my thoughts together in response.

I should perhaps have explained in more detail the source of my frustration re kidney yin, kidney yang – and the yin and yang of organs generally. And that is that TCM books happily list the names and symptoms of disease patterns…[Read more]

Here’s an example: “This sentence is false.”

(Echoes of) the Liar Paradox, me thinks.