Male / Female Qi Power Level

[stephenbuck415]

Do females possess more Qi than males?

Recently I experienced a new age chakra meditation. We were instructed that if male, open a certain chakra (i.e. Qi Gate) to a certain percentage and if female to a much greater percentage. The reason given was that females possess more Qi than males and males get "all crazy" when those gates are opened to the same degree as females. We were also told that this is true in Qigong practice as well.

Is this true?

[beggarsu]

Hi Stephen,

In my opinion, no this is not true. On the average, women, children, old people, etc will generally be able to feel their energy more easily because sick people can often feel qi energy more easily and these people's bodies are usually going through more drastic than other's changes so the energy in their energy network is more easily discernable and easier to feel.

Aaron Gabriel

[jfraser]

As far as I know, so called Chakra meditations and Chinese Taoist meditations have different foundations. I don't trust New Age mixtures.

A Taoist monk told me recently that the self-cultivation training of a women and a man are different. He also said the Tao is simple, and don't get caught up in words or theories. Stillness and detachment from all desires are where "it is at". He implied the rest is "fluff".

I suspect males and females are different, not more or less, energetically. More or less depends upon the individual, perhaps long term training, and practice with an expert teacher.

James

[Dvivid]

This topic is discussed at length by Dr Yang in this lecture:

http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/dvd/qigong_DVD/understanding_qigong_DVD2

[joeblast]

interesting...I still havent picked up any of those DVDs yet...are you guys going to have specials on the set of them any time? there are too many I want anyway...

[stephenbuck415]

Ah. I've only watched the first DVD at this point.

Thank you.

[stephenbuck415]

Actually it's DVD 3 that discusses this in depth although DVD 2 provides essential foundations leading up to the topics discussed in DVD 3.

[jfraser]

The reference sited previously by Dvivid regarding this topic has only a review of Dr. Yang's DVD 2 on Qigong, and I do not see any discussion of energy differences between males and females.

In this review I extracted a quote, which is as follows:

"In the regulation of Body, Breath, Mind, Qi and Spirit, he explains that Regulating the Body is relatively easy, where Regulating the Breath and Mind are difficult, but once they are mastered then Regulating the Qi becomes easy."

Would someone care to clarify what regulating the body means? What I understand this means is to "regulate" sensory input, and bodily aches and pains. I get body aches and pains with no prior cognitive stimulation or thinking associations. And these aches and pains, when present in my awareness, do effect the quality of my breathing. My breath becomes more shallow. These sensations come and go, as if having a "mind of their own". Perhaps some people like me are more sensory orientated, vs visual, thinking or auditory in the way they know daily reality. Sensory types may be more aware of body sensations than visual types, or thinking types, for example. My understanding could be wrong.

Thanks.
James

[SunTzu]

The reference sited previously by Dvivid regarding this topic has only a review of Dr. Yang's DVD 2 on Qigong, and I do not see any discussion of energy differences between males and females.

In this review I extracted a quote, which is as follows:

"In the regulation of Body, Breath, Mind, Qi and Spirit, he explains that Regulating the Body is relatively easy, where Regulating the Breath and Mind are difficult, but once they are mastered then Regulating the Qi becomes easy."

Would someone care to clarify what regulating the body means? What I understand this means is to "regulate" sensory input, and bodily aches and pains. I get body aches and pains with no prior cognitive stimulation or thinking associations. And these aches and pains, when present in my awareness, do effect the quality of my breathing. My breath becomes more shallow. These sensations come and go, as if having a "mind of their own". Perhaps some people like me are more sensory orientated, vs visual, thinking or auditory in the way they know daily reality. Sensory types may be more aware of body sensations than visual types, or thinking types, for example. My understanding could be wrong.

Thanks.
James

This issue seems more like regulating the mind to me. Regulating the body means that one can automatically adopt the correct posture, when this is so, the mind doesn't get scattered due to pain from an incorrect posture, because there isn't an incorrect posture.

cheers James

[jfraser]

While you have a valid point regarding incorrect posture, my intermittent physical aches and pains, do not seem to be due to posture issues. I certainly do not claim to have perfect postures, but these aches and pains come whether my postures are correct or not. Maybe they are what an Internet friend calls "Orphaned Traces" or what i understand, years ago, the Russians referred to as "muscle memory". There are other Western terms.

The wife of my wife's brother, recently had a bad headache, and I offered to press a couple of point at the base of her skull, and she accepted. I did so and asked her to breath deeply, which she did. After a couple of minutes, I took my hand away, and she said the pain was gone. Then, she began to cry, and left the room. The headache was gone, but the strong emotion from a fight she had with her husband, that morning, was released and the feelings "behind the headache" came out.

This also reminds me of a kind of bodywork, developed years ago in Oakland, CA, called Rosen Work. Rosen started out as a physical therapist. The
practitioner, who gently touched a place on a clients body with one of these aches or pains, until it "yielded", and allowed further penetration, on 'its own". And this progression of penetration gradually went on, until there was not pain anymore.

Often what emerges spontaneously, in this process, is emotional memories of early childhood trauma or pain. When the pain is faced, the muscle pain is gone and the sensitive area, allows deep penetration, without further pain. The monkey mind certainly can be involved here, but often the thought and feeling associated with the physical pain, are not conscious.

This is hard to do for myself.

Massage here in China, or "amoi", is NOT gentle, It often is itself, very painful and penetrating. It goes deep, but not gradually, and the aches and pains go away, but return a few hours later. Or, that is my experience, anyway.

Thanks for the "Cheers", and the same to you.

James

[SunTzu]

While you have a valid point regarding incorrect posture, my intermittent physical aches and pains, do not seem to be due to posture issues. I certainly do not claim to have perfect postures, but these aches and pains come whether my postures are correct or not.

Like I mentioned in the past, I suffer from tendon aches and stiff/hard/painful shoulders up to the atlas which connects the head to the spine. I strongly suspect that these pains etc. come from emotional stress, maybe in combination with training too hard in the past while neglecting the injuries I might have had at the time.
This I see as a Xin (mind) problem ie. not regulated mind and thus body over time because of the effect of the problems on my body.

The way I see it, my pains may go away when I can control my Xin (emotions), that way I can handle with the problems/issues at hand and makes me able to relax my body to a deeper level.
I use Buddhism and Taoism for that. Trying to detach myself from earthly distractions, and make my Xin calm. There's too much anger inside of me nowadays which prevents me to disregard certain things that shouldn't bother me in the first place. We all know about the things one gets p*ssed off over when stressed out, while the real issue is something else.

Of course I cannot speak on your behalf, I don't know you. But maybe my view on this can help you in some way.

note: I still have these aches.

[jfraser]

Sun Tzu,

Thanks for your generous openness, I appreciate you well thought out responses and experiences that you share.

Whether to regulate my xin, or detach from it is a question that I don't have an answer to at this point.

I too have used Buddhist and Taoist practices to calm my xin and aches and pains. The Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hahn's book, Breath, You Are Alive, has been useful here.
His books are usually available used on line for 2 or 3 dollars or so.

I wonder if some Taoist practices and theories, may take me in divergent directions. Clear Reality Taoism teaches sitting comfortably and very STILL and motionless no matter what happens, and letting go of each thought as soon as you are aware of it, towards STILLNESS IN THE MIND, I have also been taught to not pay attention to anything in the body or elsewhere, and focus only on stillness.

Mindfulness in certain Buddhist practices teaches "looking deeply" at emotional pain, physical discomfort or pain, and continuing to breath into the dan tien, naturally, and staying with the pain to its "source", with no agendas to get rid of it or block it out.

Trying to practice both can be confusing. And in Clear Reality Taoism, after sitting still for a while, a certain healing Qi will emerge in one's body, that they call real Yang Qi. It is important to stay with the Stillness and not focus or direct this Yang Qi, as it has a "mind of its own", and by trying to direct it or even focusing on it as it moves within, you can cause damage to yourself.

With both, detachment seems to be a key, But the methods mentioned above
seem to go in opposite directions. Just thinking out loud.

A practice that I find useful is talked about by Pema Chodron, a Tibetan nun's 2 CD set,
from Fear to Fearlessness.

She says that Loving Kindness (aka unconditional friendliness) and Compassion towards others needs to begin towards the self, and gradually expand outwards toward another we love and eventually to someone we don't like or hate. When we can generate this feeling towards ourselves and really feel it, then we can move to the next level and so on. For example, "May I have happiness, the root of happiness, and be free from suffering", is the beginning level to meditate on. Makes sense to me.

In daily life in this chaotic world, regulating and or detaching form xin is the issue for me. I can sometimes "do it"meditating. And keeping the breath relaxed and going is a challenge in daily life. I keep working on it.

May you be free from suffering, have happiness, and the root of happiness .

James

[SunTzu]

Thanks mate, same same !!