powa and DHQ – spiritual ejaculation

If you are only doing the DVD version, you are only sending your consciousness to the sun or the earth, not a concentrated qi ball (which contains your essence), so in that form, there is absolutely zero concern. It’s really not much different than doing an expanded Inner Smile/Lotus Meditation, where you extend out into the universe.

But let’s say you’ve added in the qi ball bit from the enclosed handout, or you’ve gone even further by learning the more advanced new version (taught only at retreats), then there is still nothing to fear.

In particular, you are only leaving for a very limited time frame, and it is to a very specific location, namely the sun or the earth. One knows these locations very well, as earth is the place you live, and the sun is the place in which souls incarnate through. These aren’t foreign random countries where you could get lost, as is the case where you just shoot into space. You very clearly know where you are, and you also very clearly know your home address. And, you are also standing on the earth, which acts an anchor to your body-mind as well.

Moreover, as an fyi, because the advanced new version (taught only at retreats) does include a qi ball, I do also include an associated toning technique from Michael’s advanced K&L curriculum. This is yet one more insurance policy, as it acts as a planetary/stellar/galactic GPS. [sidebar: I’ll not teach this technique here, as it requires too much explanation, and I don’t wish to deliver a course over the forum]. But even without this, there is not really a problem anyway. In particular, the short answer is that the two locations involved–namely the sun and the earth–your body-mind knows well and is not going to get lost.

This is really the problem with the powa technique. It’s not so much the qi ball is leaving the body: it’s the problem that the qi ball goes into unexplored space, gets too far away from the body, and then subsequently gets lost . . . not knowing how to find its way home. It’s like going to a foreign country without a map, and wandering around. Yes, you might not get lost . . . you might find your way back, BUT you might not either . . . that’s the problem. You should always know where you are–at all times–but if you use the powa technique, the question is: where will you be and where are you going? Who knows. And that’s the problem.

But this is not the case in DHQ. You know where you are, you where you are going, you know how to get home, and they are locations your soul has been before. It’s an entirely different story.

S

Relax.

The reason for the warning about powa was exactly what I said, and it was not about losing qi. It was about your consciousness/essence contained in the qi ball getting lost in the universe. M. Chia used to play with the powa practice many many years ago, and one time he got lost. This is the reason for the warning. Chia’s wife thought he had a stroke, because he couldn’t be revived. He was taken by an ambulance to the hospital. Some time later, half a day or something, he suddenly woke up having returned, and opened his eyes and was confused that everyone was so worried. It had to be explained to him what happened. This is when it was realized what the problem is, namely that not everyone who does the practice will find their way home.

The whole issue is going randomly into the universe to explore without a map.

If you go to a foreign country and just wander around not knowing where you are going, you could get lost. But do you worry and develop all kinds of fear when you go to your neighborhood grocery store? Of course not. You know where you are at all times.

The toning in the enhanced version is hardly essential. It just increases your awareness, amplifies the practice, and makes it more potent. The truth is, the sun and the earth are very familiar locations that you know quite well. Quite honestly, having a fear about going into either of them is an unfounded fear, not unlike being afraid to leave your own apartment to go to the grocery store is an unfounded fear.

I’ve been doing the form regularly now for 9 years, and can tell you that it is completely safe, not just from an intellectual perspective but from actual direct experience. And as you say, the warning about powa came from Michael who developed the DHQ form. So you should trust those two sources.

FYI: the irony here in this discussion is that the sun is the most potent entity around for breaking fear patterns, and that’s what’s been activated within you. The sun is used quite extensively in the Greatest K&L course for working on fear of death.

S