book of tan tien chi kung

I picked that book up and I found the animal postures to be quite useful in strengthening all directions of the dantian. It is quite useful for taiji because it can make movement from the dantian more efficient. I sometimes practice the animal postures as a good warm-up for taiji. I would say that it is better for martial arts than inner alchemy.

Fajin

Hello Coach Silvano,

Qi pressure refers to how much qi is accumulated in the dantian. It is like a tire inflated with air, the more air the stronger the air pressure in the tire. The “Tan Tien Chi Kung” animal postures are good movements for increasing the qi pressure in all parts of the dantian, front, back, sides, etc.

So, I would say that they are good for taiji practice but not really a very big help to inner alchemy because there are more efficient ways of condensing qi in your dantian in ine point rather than all sides/directions, which is more useful for martial arts.

Fajin

(Note: the vehemence in the following post is not directed at you, Fajin. Its my take on the book.)

f> Qi pressure refers to how much qi is accumulated in the dantian. It is like a tire inflated with air, the more air the stronger the air pressure in the tire. >

“Iron Shirt”, “qi pressure”, “tire inflated with air” … Those are the worst metaphors. The ideas of increasing hardness and pressure are antithetical to correct qi gong practice, especially in the beginning. Those sorts of ideals, applied in practice by beginners, lead to injury. Its just spreading confusion and destruction. Butchering what is actually a profound subject and potentially healing practice.

Especially in the beginning, it is the working out of tension, in balance .. promoting smooth lower tan tien breathing, that leads to being well blended .. that leads to health. A Metaphor that I’ve seen that addresses this is “silk breathing” (meaning that there are no rough spots in the full inhale through full exhale, smooth all the way).

Only as things become very smooth, all the way through, do things stabalize so that substances accumulate and restore. Softness, smoothness, is the foundation that produces profound health that much later manifests so robustly as to be a true “iron shirt”. But to say “iron shirt” and “pressure” to beginners puts them on the totally wrong path of practice!

Then there’s the deeper material of how a tan tien functions for spiritual development, which Chia’s book doesn’t even touch upon.

There is actual profound, sacred, value to humanity to be communicated about these subjects. Putting out such shallow, poor material is counter-productive.

Trunk,

Beginners need to first open the orbit before they begin working on building the qi in the dantian. I think that Mantak was assuming that the practitioner already has gotten through the blockages in his orbit before he even THINKS of accumulating qi.

I remember when I was a beginner a long time ago, when I first began to accumulate qi in my dantian, it soon after went to fill my intestines and it felt very warm, breaking through all the blockages in the abdominal area. After than it went back to normal and I had much smoother flow in the dantian area. One must first practice some kind of abdominal breathing and open the orbit, than he/she can begin accumulating is what I think.

The qi pressure metaphor is not a bad analogy. Let me exaplain my theory on the dantian. The dantian is the small intestines. They have neurons like the head brain allowing them to think, so does the heart.

This means that the 3 dantians are 3 brains as well, the head brain, heart brain, and gut brain as Mantak likes to call them. When you use abdominal breathing to help increase the qi in the dantian, ie. intestines, by inflating it with air like a balloon, or tire, you accumulate more qi in the dantian.

I believe that science says the intestines can be stretched so much that they can practically stretch the entire globe! This would mean that the intestines are capable of holding an incredibly vast amount of qi, making it seem quite infinite.

As I have once told you that I practiced lung-gom-pa, I filled my intestines by taking huge breaths of air and leaping cross-legged with the breath held. It’s like plavini pranayama, where you can float on water because you become like a balloon.

Of course, I do agree with you that in the higher spiritual levels, the dantian becomes as what you would say a portal to another dimension. But, still at this level, prior to inner alchemy, I mean qigong-wise, the qi pressure metaphor is good.

Regards,
Fajin

Trunk,

You are right. In a culture like this with people wjo stubbornly want to try things ahead without knowing what they are doing, they get themselves injured. I don’t think the book was bad in presenting the theory and application, but another book after people injured themselves in Iron shirt I was a mistake on Chia’s part.

Smiles out,
Fajin

Fajin,
Thank you for the open conversation.
(And thanks to Michael & James for providing this space where we can all openly share views.)
kind regards,
Trunk