Hey again =)
I've been searching up stuff and doing exercies lately. I've been doing some of that chi kung stance postures... kinda painfull when you first start but it aint like that no more =). I read up its real good for your inner energy , like building it up and focusing it at certain points and certain positions send energy in spots. I gotta admit I think its working , its like a meditation. My shoulder pain I dont feel no more =) its suppose to open energy spots and keep from energy blockages. I have a feeling I did this before cuz I was doing stuff like this before I knew about it. And I do it in my sleep sometimes, never realizing it cuz I never knew about it. I usually go out in my back yard and do this stuff early in the morning or late at night when everything is peaceful. I hide in the corner of the house when I do this cuz my folks wiill think something wrong with me LOL. It makes me feel embarassed. Its really helped me a lot , to clear my mind, keep up energy and stuff like that. Do you do or know anything about this stuff? If you dont you should try it out its pretty good for you =0.
The first part of this exercise is a physical stance, a very easy one in most ways and there are not many who cannot do it. If there are physical limitations like injuries that prevent you doing this one, there are others. It's an essence of the posture that is important, not the posture itself. Many postures exist which serve the purpose and to a large degree the choice of which one to use is individual. This one I'll describe is a good one, it's the one I used. One of the names for it is Embracing the Tree. I like that name because it has multiple levels of meaning. In this posture you embrace the concept of the Tree, becoming a spiritual being rooted in the Earth and deriving nourishment from Heaven, entirely naturally and without conscious thought or willful effort.
In this posture you stand with your feet just a little more than shoulder width apart and your toes pointing straight forward, your feet parallel. Both sides of the ball of the foot, all toes, edge of the sole and the heel share the weight and touch the floor. Most of us take what is to the greater society a natural stance when we stand like this. Our knee joints are locked back, our spines have an S curve, our shoulders are held back and our chins are up. We think of that as good posture. It isn't, it is lousy posture.
To correct it, first bend the knees just a little and sink down as though you are sitting on the edge of a high stool. Imagine you have a tail and use that imagery to tuck your tailbone down and forward. That thrusts your groin forward, people get embarrassed doing that and it's nice to practise this in private.
Bend forward in a bow until the S curve is taken out of your spine, and hold that new C curve when you straighten up again. The C curve is very important, in the beginning you have to check yourself constantly for that otherwise you tend to return to the S shape.
Relax and drop your shoulders, let them roll forward a bit like the shoulders of an ox, rounded instead of square. Tuck in your chin and push the back of your head upward slightly, look straight forward. Then, keeping your arms relaxed, raise your hands in front of you to heart level, palms facing in and fingertips shaped as though you are holding a football, the tips aligned and a few inches apart. The shape of your arms is as though you are hugging a tree trunk or a big beach ball. Finally, place the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth and keep it there.
That is the physical posture. A breathing method goes along with it, you breathe with the chest completely relaxed and the lower abdomen expanding and contracting. You do not breathe with the ribs and the upper chest muscles, those stay stationary. There are many fine points which you can discover later, the most important is that if you hold the posture correctly, your butt is completely relaxed and your strength is all in your thighs. Everything that doesn't contribute to holding the posture should be completely relaxed, and even the tension that keeps you standing upright should be as little as possible.
The mental aspect of this exercise is the visualization of a ball of light energy in your lower abdomen, imbedded half inside you just below your navel by two or three inches. It is about three inches in diameter and golden yellow, and is a ball of light, not a Christmas tree ornament, so it doesn't have distinct edges or surface density. It's energy. It feels warm. You keep that image in your mental vision and you focus your attention in the center of that ball of light. This is not easy to do, our minds tend to wander and the attention span of a normal person is about as long as one breath. Not a problem. When your mind wanders from this, as soon as you realize you have wandered just return to the visualization. It has a cumulative effect, concentration does not have to be unbroken.
Focusing the attention is a learned skill, there were many old ways of doing this. It is more than just looking at one spot. In this stance you actually focus your eyes on the space between your fingers, but your mental focus is down there in that energy center. You are aware of that energy center without looking at it directly, in the way that you are aware of the tip of your little toe if someone pinches it, your attention goes to it and suddenly you are intimately aware of your little toe. If you extend your hand and stare at a fingertip and try to feel it without touching anything, the sensation of the fingertip increases until it feels larger and warmer than the others. If you close your eyes or look away, but keep your awareness on your fingertip, the same thing happens. That is what is meant by focusing the attention in the Dantien, the ball of energy in your abdomen.
What happens when you do this is that energy collects at that point. No one really understands why this happens, why Chi follows Mind, but it does. If you place your attention there, energy flows to that point and is held there. Power accumulates little by little and is not lost when you end the exercise.
As you practise these things, very gradually you may begin to see things that you don't imagine. Instead of your visualized sphere you may see a small point of light, or a sphere of a different color, and these images will be different than imagined ones, they will exist at a different level of consciousness. They will be what is really there, and will be an accurate description of your progress. Eventually the image you See will match the image you imagined. These things do not happen overnight, the process takes months at least, usually longer than that, and depends on daily effort and a lot of time spent in the stance. Usually by the time you can stand comfortably in the stance for a hour or more, you have achieved a respectable level of Power.
The third part of the exercise involves modification of human behaviour. The energy which accumulates during this practise is the energy which we usually express through ordinary sexuality or violence. Restraint in those areas of life is absolutely necessary for the accumulation of power. There are sexual practises which are extremely satisfying which do not burn up this energy, and there are physical activities which enhance rather than exhaust this energy. But if you express yourself solely in the ordinary ways which we have learned as ordinary human beings, your practise will be in vain and you will accumulate nothing. You will only drive yourself to extraordinary expenditures of passionate energy, something which many people have considered to be a satisfactory reason for doing this practise. The goal of the practise is to evolve beyond that tendency, to become something more than we were.
Many things happen as a result of this three level effort. It has a powerful effect on physical health, on mental and psychic ability, and on sexuality and Dreaming. It opens a doorway to something most people never experience.
I'm going to make a bold and outrageous statement now, maybe someone will notice it. No matter how accomplished you are, no matter what philosophy you follow or what tradition you have learned, if you have not done this practise and followed it to its natural conclusion you do not understand what I have been talking about.
I copied and pasted that from this interesting forum I was led to, I believe cuz when I went to the site I had a Deja Vu =) thers many there that have same experiences as I do. Like about the elements , sages, and certain dreams with purposes in them. And theres good teachers there. I do other stances right after another, But that stance is only a basic one, its kinda frustrating at first trying to get the spine the way its suppose to be but you'll get it=).
I started with less than 5 mins each time and that was a couple days ago now I can do between 10 and 15 lol kinda big jump it seems. Each time you well I do this I really feel energized thats why I do it early in morning. I don't know why , whenever I'm done doing a stance for about 10 mins I'm doing all this other stuff like kung fu movments LOL . I guess its just a way to expel some extra energy. Or maybe I've done it before =0.
Have you ever heard of a power animals? I've been trying to meet some in my dreams lately, its kinda confusing how to say what they do. Each animal tells you about being a "warrior" in his own way and teaches you things about itself I suppose. They can also be guides. Which leads me to another question , you heard about Nagual? Its a power animal but "your" power animal. Ive been trying to find my nagual and the only way you can do that I suppose to to know yourself, cuz its another part of you. Its the magical animal person of yourself. It's a ancient Indian type of tradition , like shamanism or the like. Im not to clear on this when I say it , but I got a good idea in my mind. Maybe if you know something you can explain to me better =).
I've got much more to say but I gotta go
Nice c'ing you again
Bye