energy, prana, chi, vital energy

[Aunt Clair]

My instructor explained that the Dan Tien is about 2 inches below the navel. And from your description, it appears it is over the manipura and anahata chakras (navel and heart center).

You are describing the position of the lower tan tien . This is male in nature and is clairvoyantly viewed as red . I have not heard it called the Dan Tien before . There is an image at this link lableing the locations as lower , middle and upper tan tiens ;
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Taoism/tan_tiens.jpg

Mantak Chia describes the lower tan tien as ;

the "Medicine Field" as well as "the Elixir Field", as it gathers and contains the healing power of the Original Chi or Prenatal Energy. Other names for it are the Ocean of Chi, the Sea of Energy, the cauldron and the navel center. The use of the expressions "Ocean" and "Sea" refer to the wavelike quality of Chi. The cauldron and the navel belong to the lower Tan Tien. The expression "cauldron" refers to the function of the lower Tan Tien as the chief laboratory and center of internal alchemy which transforms energy frequencies.

The Lower Tan Tien serves as the source of the life force or vital force which then as Chi becomes the source of Shen Chi or spirit power/energy.
Thus, throughout all Universal Tao practices including the highest ones, the Lower Tan Tien remains the key to opening the body and the mind for a free uninterrupted energy flow.
http://www.universal-tao.com/ book/

http://www.universal-tao.com/article/three_minds.html
But , there is confusion over the term , you are correct . It is used to denote a specific tan tien and it is also used as a spelling variant .Upon further research I find the upper tan tien and the middle tan tien have both been called the Dan Tien and you indicate your instructor called the lower tan tien the Dan Tien also . And with a bit of googling it is apparent that instructors do call the entire set Dan Tiens as you say . No wonder students get confused , lol .

Here are some links showing the discrepancy which you have pointed out to me , thank you ;

The upper Tan Tien or Dan Tien comes ...
http://www.uechi-ryu-journal.com

The abdominale DAN TIEN.
http://www.taijiqigong.com

The Three Tan TiensThree Dan Tien Balancing. Check the upper, middle and lower tan tiens. Balance each tan tien. Use clockwise circles and pushing/pulling motions directly ...
home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/ The%20Tan%20Tien_Hara%20Line.html

[Celeborn]

But , there is confusion over the term , you are correct . It is used to denote a specific tan tien and it is also used as a spelling variant .Upon further research I find the upper tan tien and the middle tan tien have both been called the Dan Tien and you indicate your instructor called the lower tan tien the Dan Tien also . And with a bit of googling it is apparent that instructors do call the entire set Dan Tiens as you say . No wonder students get confused , lol .

Here are some links showing the discrepancy which you have pointed out to me , thank you ;

The upper Tan Tien or Dan Tien comes ...
http://www.uechi-ryu-journal.com

The abdominale DAN TIEN.
http://www.taijiqigong.com

Haha, yeah. The ever confusing transliteration systems of China. Because Chinse uses ideographs rather then phonetic symbols, it is very difficult to cleanly put it into Roman leters without making it look completly different from how it sounds. There are three primary systems used today to write Chinese words: the Yale system (which isn't used too much anymore), the Wade-Guiles system (which is used in Taiwan and frequently in the U.S.), and Pin-yin (which is used in mainland China and is slowly replacing Wade-Guiles in the West).

The discrepencies in spellings that this creates can be quite confusing. For example, in Wade-Guiles, the ancient religion of China from which chigung comes is spelled Taoism. But under Pin-yin it is Daoism. Same word, same chinese character, same pronunciation, but different english spellings.

And if you look at the link http://www.taijiqigong.com, where Aunt Claire found the spelling of Dan tien, the words Taichi and Chigung are both spelled in Pinyin as well.

I prefer just writing in chinese characters; it removes all the confusion.

[workinprogress]

For example, in Wade-Guiles, the ancient religion of China from which chigung comes is spelled Taoism. But under Pin-yin it is Daoism.

Thanks so much for the info Celeborn! I had seen similar small yet distinct english translations in other words as well but wasn't sure what was going on. This makes a lot of sense.

I prefer just writing in chinese characters; it removes all the confusion.

Yeah -- that would be really nice to be able to do.

No wonder students get confused , lol .

I think some of these people go with the motto "all the better to confuse you with!" And it isn't only in QiGong/TaiChi that I see these differences of opinions. I find that many systems have similar variations, discrepencies, philosophies, teachings, whatever you want to term them. I've found similar instances in Yoga and hermetics as well.

My personal thoughts on this are that these variations are not necessarily a 'bad' thing to have happen. While it would be much easier if everything was straight forward, usually anything worth while is rarely every easy and straightforward.

It would also seem in these cases that the budding student must learn right from the beginning not to trust everything they see/hear/read. But rather begin utilizing their intuition to help guide their practices. I think this is a positive aspect since reading and performing rote actions of practice are purely mental/logical steps. And while these are needed to a point, they shouldn't be relied on exclusively for some of the reasons we have mentioned above.

Personally I read quite a bit and compare what I've read with other things I've read and my personal experiences. I then drop what doesn't 'feel' right to me and keep/add what does. Doing this I think helps keep the intellect sharp, but not at the expense of feeling/intuition. Its a way to work with both the feminine and masculine parts of yourself -- something that people rarely do unless out of necessity. And when focusing on any type of spiritual path/work, this certainly is an added benefit. It all goes towards balance.

Of course, that could simply be my typical way of always seeing "the glass half full!"

Thanks for the replies to everything. I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one that sometimes gets confused by all of the different terms and practices.

[Tom]

In yoga, the energy raised in pranayama is stored by the bandhas (locks). Mulabandha, the root lock, is particularly known for raising Kundalini. It is also applied by some reiki teachers such as Diane Stein in the attunement process. The risk involved in storing increasing amounts of energy is that if you are not also making changes to avoid losing energy then the energy will dissipate even faster. It is like putting water into a bucket with holes in it. The more water you put through the bucket, the more strain it puts on the areas of the bucket where the holes are.

[workinprogress]

The risk involved in storing increasing amounts of energy is that if you are not also making changes to avoid losing energy then the energy will dissipate even faster.

Actually Tom you raised another question I had forgotten to answer in all of this. How exactly does energy 'leak' out? Once you raise it and store it somewhere, like RB's sub-navel storage, do you need to 'do' anything else to keep it there? I just re-read these chapters in Astral Dynamics and I don't remember reading anything about sealing or closing or anything else related to energy leaking. I also have only read one book on QiGong in which it states that at the end of a practice, you hold your hands over your dan tien (same place as the sub-navel storage area in this book) for about 5 minutes. But my instructor and the 4 other Taichi/QiGong books I never mentioned anything about this even possibly occurring, let alone explaining how to prevent it.

Have you experienced energy 'leaking' out? If so, how can you tell? Do you feel it as it is leaking or is this something that you feel after it leaks to a certain point and you feel it in loss of energy/vitality? And how do you prevent this from happening?

[Tom]

One of the biggest ways to lose energy is through your eyes and ears. These sense organs are intended to passively receive light and sound and to then interpret the results. Instead of letting them do their job, most people tense the muscles around their eyes and ears and strain to focus on what they are looking at or listening to. This chronic tension is a terrible waste of energy.

[Matthew]

Workinprogress,
Energy dissipates from the chakras in many ways. A good example is mental chatter or "internal dialogue." Aimless thoughts not only use up energy from the third-eye chakra, they also contribute to blockages in the energy body.
Is this really leaking? Actually, mental chatter provides a useful buffer for the immature ego. Confronting reality can be a very deflating experience for the ego. Until it reaches a certain level of development, it needs some buffering. However, there comes a time when this buffer is not necessary and the individual should more directly confront reality. Then, the energy loss should be stopped through mindfullness exercises. When the time is right, a quiet mind will give your energy body a noticable boost.

I believe this goes to show that the "leakage" phenomena is a complex event depending on your level of development.

The other chakras also have compulsive actions which dissipate energy.

-Matthew

[Tom]

I'd like to disagree that uncontrolled mental chatter can be a protection. Robert Bruce wrote that disciplined mental silence is a buffer against the influence of negs, while uncontrolled chatter can easily mask the beginnings of a neg's activities. Negs aside, uncontrolled mental chatter is like being dragged around on the end of a rope.

[Matthew]

Tom,
I totally agree with you. Mental chatter provides easy access for Negs. That, however, does not change the purpose for which the unconscious is using it. An ineffective natural defense is still a defense. In this case, the unconscious is hiding from how passive it feels in the face of this whole, really tremendous universe. The ignorance foisted on us as conscious mental chatter may buffer us from one problem, but it opens us up to another.

-Matthew

[Celeborn]

It is usually recomended that you spiral the energy down and into the lower tan dien for at least nine rotations, but up to 36.

You will always get some spill over, in that every drop of energy that you try to put in one place will not stay there, but instead spread out into the surounding area and dissipate. I wouldn't worry too much about it though.