For the hand full of Taoist students who work in the esoteric tradition who might wander though here, I will post these epiphanies. First, your dantien and yellow court (roughly equivocal to the solar plexus chakra) are not simple spots that hold energy. They are in fact gates that open to the wuji (infinite). Energy can be stored here, but to do so requires force of will. This is perfectly fine in many other systems but becomes limiting as you progress in Taoist sorcery. By opening the gates and drawing the energy in to the wuji though/in the dantien you may access that energy as simply as you do with working it in to your system by circulations, force of will, or chi gong. The difference is in the effort needed to cultivate the dantien. Water will pour in to emptiness far more simply than it will be compressed. The energy is always there; known to you, and can be summoned it will. This is not an easy way, indeed it is much harder and other ways I know to use the dantien. It is a very hard thing for you must cultivate stillness before the gate can be opened – when you think you’re sitting still, you’re not still enough.

This leads me to the second epiphany. The breathing methods you may or may not run across (“two minute breath technique”, “belly breathing”, “reverse breathing”, and “turtle breathing”) seem very odd, poorly described, unlike the Indian ones and much less useful. This is because they where intended for use in stillness while the Indian system was not. You will get no use of any –except for reverse breathing being that chi gong uses it – until you have sufficiently master meditation skills of Nei Gong. The old books have many skills you can learn. It does not matter at all which one you start with as they all lead to each other and growth in one is growth in all. The import part is to gain effortless concentration. You should not have to bring you thoughts back to some task, nor deal with unrelated mental images. Rest your mind on the task like putting your feet up, relax into it, use no force and stir no emotion. A lot of esoteric Taoism and more particularly the associated sorcery has methods for this.

I however, recommend a Japanese off-shoot of esoteric Buddhism (Shingon) and Kunji-In to start. This is a meditative exercise that is both quick to learn and see (or rather feel) results in, as well as being based on Taoist transformational yoga, sometimes known as Karma Transmutation, which the Indians also have but, again, not suited for our uses. It takes about two weeks to make it thought the “initiation” wherein you will develop energy centers of both Indian and Taoist conception and start to transmute your karma. Transmute your karma involves openness and assimilation of parts of yourself and past, emotions, and more besides into a more integrated soul. This dislodges blockages that are caused by not accepting things for what they are. The result being your acuteness increases and you can feel chi as something separate from the physical sensations by which most know it. Like guessing at brail when you should be reading, having direct access to chi makes things easier.

This post has been edited by fatherjhon: Jan 31 2011, 06:58 PM