Mouth / tongue involvment in energy work.

[2623]

I've been doing energy work pretty regularly for several months now, and have recently noticed a new habit I've started to develop. I'm basically looking for some opinions as to whether this is a habit I need to break or not, and of course any other related info is welcome.

During energy work, I've developed the tendency to press my tongue against either the roof of my mouth or against different teeth, depending on which part of my body I'm working on. The more effort I'm putting into moving my awareness, the harder I seem to press, especially when working through blockages.

I've noticed two effects this has on my energy work.

1 - When I consciously stop myself from doing this, I seem to have weaker "contact" with my energy body. Hard to explain, but it just feels less "tangible", and the force behind my awareness movements seem weaker. I thought I may just be tensing my other muscles at the same time, and was feeling increased sensation due to the resistance the tension was creating, but I don;t think that's the case.

2 - My awareness often splits between the area I'm working on, and some area in my mouth. When I move my awareness, I can feel it in both places. It's like the two areas are the same.

I recall Robert saying that awareness movement should be a purely mental action, which is why I've been trying to break myself of this habit. There are certain cases though, where I find it actually helps my work, as I mentioned in 1 above.

It also seems that many energy pathways end or pass through the mouth (and possibly a separate pathway through each tooth?). Is it possible that by changing the placement of the tongue you can direct more energy to various parts of the body through these pathways?

Is my awareness simply "locking" into my mouth as Robert says can happen with the Groin? I have recently worked through some blockages in my jaw and teeth, so that's a possibility I guess.

So I'm currently trying to re-train myself to rid myself of this habit, but have no better method than more practice. Anybody know any tricks that may help. Any opinions as to whether this is a problem in the first place, or perhaps more importantly, will this impede my progress in the future?

Thanks! :D

[Korpo]

It also seems that many energy pathways end or pass through the mouth (and possibly a separate pathway through each tooth?). Is it possible that by changing the placement of the tongue you can direct more energy to various parts of the body through these pathways?


Hello, 2623.

This should not surprise you. Mouth and tongue play a special role in Small and Large Circulation Qigong, of which Robert borrowed parts and fused them into his own NEW system.

Three major energy lines (called vessels or extraordinary channels) can be involve in the Small Circulation:

1) Up your back from the perineum (center bottom of the pelvis - base chakra?)up your back on the center line, through the back of your throat up your skull to the Bai Hui (center top of head - crown chakra?) and down through your nose-eye bridge into the palate/roof of your mouth runs the Governor Channel. It is in its nature Yang and usually produces heat when energy is drawn upward in it.

2) From your tongue down your center line of the front of body through navel and into the perineum runs the Conception Vessel. It is Yin by nature, and drawing energy down it feels cooling.

3) The spine itself, the center line along its core, up to the top of the head is another upward route, but reserved to advanced practise.

Usually Small Circulation practise involves putting the tongue to your palate/roof of mouth and so closing a circuit with these two vessels (1+2). Then you consciously circulate energy up your back and down your front.

Filling the vessels this way with energy and training the abdominal/kidney/gonads energy production parallel with other techniques will result in an abundant energy in these primary two. This will overflow into the six Yin and six Yang channels and clear up the primary energy system of the major organs.

Now there are several variants of the Small Circulation, and they include different tongue positions. 1+2 with the given direction is the Fire path, and the tongue rests in the front of the mouth. Circulating the Water path is 1+3 with the given direction and tongue rest in the middle, and the Wind path reverses direction for 1+2, and the tongue rests at the back of the mouth, all IIRC.

The tongue works as an electric switch that can close those circuits. This connection is thought to be of the utmost importance and was a small secret in ancient times (but no more).

Pressing firmly, but with relaxed strength (avoid tension) works best.

Recommended reading: "Qigong Meditation: Small Circulation" from Dr Yang.

As for the teeth: From my own energy work experience I can say that each tooth has along its nerves at least one very "feelable" energy line. You can trace them back to the top of head, and other places. In Western medicine there is a connection about teeth health and headaches and other bodily health symptoms. In energy work this connection can be felt as you can trace back from the teeth to other places. But I do not know whether the teeth can serve as a bridge as well.

My personal advice is - keep the tongue/palate connection, as this will benefit energy flow. But do not focus too much on it. If it is irritating you you may have an energy blockage in your tongue, and you should clean up that pathway, and the irritation should go away.

Bye,
Oliver

[Beekeeper]

This is a very interesting response, Korpo! These forums are getting me more and more interested in Qigong.

[2623]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a complete response Korpo. Lots of good info. Seems I've been coming across a lot of references to Qigong lately, in various places. Would the book you've mentioned be good as an overall intro to Qigong, or are there others you would recommend?

Also, thanks for the advice on keeping the tongue / palette connection. It does seem to help energy flow quite a bit. Definitely have some blockages in my tongue I have to work through though. Can be a bit painful though, especially when I start to unconsciously tighten my jaw and bite the edge of my tongue, lol.

Another interesting thing I've noticed in doing energy work in the mouth, is the very strong attraction / repulsion effects the energy has. When working on say, the teeth on the right side of my mouth, I notice that my tongue, if relaxed, will be pulled towards my upper teeth on the right side. I also notice that the upper and lower teeth seem to repel each other, like they were opposite poles of a magnet. Is this possibly a result of the dominance of either yin or yang in the various channels, and the resultant attaction / repulsion between the two?

Thank again for the info! Take care...

[Korpo]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a complete response Korpo. Lots of good info. Seems I've been coming across a lot of references to Qigong lately, in various places. Would the book you've mentioned be good as an overall intro to Qigong, or are there others you would recommend?


No, I would not say so. Qigong is a pretty wide field that encompasses traditional medicine, martial arts and meditation. So you have to ask what you want to accomplish and put your goals and skills in some kind of order and then can select Qigong exercises to match.

I, for example, do Qigong standing meditation to resolve blocks in my energy body, combined with sinking Chi, which calms the nervous system and enhances the relaxation response. Furthermore I support this with T'ai Chi to enhance my poor health and smooth my nervous system further. And I do breathwork to still the mind. This is one package selected out of the practises I surveyed and from my point of view matches my personality, interests and capabilities. It took some time to assemble and adapt to my needs.

External Elixir Qigong focuses on bodily movements, especially of the limbs, and lets the resulting energy released inside the muscles flow back to the torso and revive the primary energy channels (Wai Dan Qigong). It is easier to learn for types that are drawn to classical physical exercise as here muscle movement can be converted back into superior health.

Internal Elixir Qigong focuses on inner self-awareness and applies this awareness either to let the mind melt blockages inside the energy body and restore the natural flows of the body by removing obstacles - this method is mostly based on internal feeling (Bruce K. Frantzis calls it the "Water Method"). Or the mind is used to increase and direct energy flows, as in Circulation training, like I described in previous posts. This is an India/Buddhist/Tibetan/Tantric mixture of influences that might incorporate heavy use of visualisation. It is more forceful or at least goal-oriented in nature.

Both Internal Elixir main schools (Nei Dan Qigong) focus on schooling the powers of the mind. Both build around energy storage in the bodies energy storage and refinement centers known as Dantians. The energy here is built around the center and will flow outward to the limbs.

The Internal Elixir schools have meditative elements and can be combined into a full meditative practise.

And then come the combinations and extensions of all kinds. T'ai Chi Chuan, the martial art, is a moving Qigong set. It combines martial arts fighting technique with the basic Taoist Yoga exercises of Dao Yin. Doing the movements correctly and with concentration is a Wai Dan exercise. Combining it with internal awareness energy flow perception and direction makes it a Nei Dan exercise. And finally T'ai Chi can even be converted to a full-fledged spiritual moving meditation.

So you see, this is a wide field you can immerse yourself into, and I cannot honestly say there is anything like a good book about Qigong or overall intro.

But here are some ideas:
* The Qigong book I mentioned is a rather dry read (it contains a lot of source material, including translated excerpts, and has some lengths), but excellent in-depth study material for energy circulation. If you want to dig deep, it is a good option, though it offers maybe two or three contradictions.
* A good beginners book for Circulation training is "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao". It is a rather popular book introducing you step by step into doing Microcosmic Orbit/Small Circulation training. It is not really a big surprise for NEW people that read MAP. It's a nice enough training manual.

These are usually the books someone coming from NEW/MAP training would care most about. The 2nd book is referenced in the bibliography of MAP, IIRC.



Also, thanks for the advice on keeping the tongue / palette connection. It does seem to help energy flow quite a bit. Definitely have some blockages in my tongue I have to work through though. Can be a bit painful though, especially when I start to unconsciously tighten my jaw and bite the edge of my tongue, lol.


:)

There is some "small argument" about where to place the tongue normally - some say "make sure to touch the teeth", and some say "do not do this at all", and some are not precise enough to decide. So go with what you think offers least resistance and let's you keep it relaxed.

I worried quite a bit about doing it right in the beginning, only to discover later on that the tongue will sooner or later end up where it belongs on "its own" accord.



Another interesting thing I've noticed in doing energy work in the mouth, is the very strong attraction / repulsion effects the energy has. When working on say, the teeth on the right side of my mouth, I notice that my tongue, if relaxed, will be pulled towards my upper teeth on the right side. I also notice that the upper and lower teeth seem to repel each other, like they were opposite poles of a magnet. Is this possibly a result of the dominance of either yin or yang in the various channels, and the resultant attaction / repulsion between the two?


The two vessels terminating in the top and the bottom of your mouth actually are of complementary natures. The back channel is the source of the body's Yang channels, while the front is the source of the Yin channels. If you build energy levels in both these vessels to a sufficiently high level this could/should show.

It's like with an electric field (maybe it is exactly that - electro-magnetic force :) ). As long as you do not connect, you get two poles of a field. And if you connect, you get a flow and the different potentials begin to balance each other out. The one thing I don't understand here: Opposite poles attract, only same poles repel. :)

Maybe this is a phenomenon of Yang Chi - this denotes not a quality of Chi, but it's quantity. Having abundant Chi is called Yang Chi. As long as you not circulate this Chi off it may account for the repelling factor. In fact circulation in the paths I described should convert abundant Chi into a well-balanced overall system, as it will draw the Chi from those two prominent vessels into the 12 primary channels and from there anywhere where needed. It's called "Circulating Chi off".

While something like the Lower Dantian Chi storage (it's not called "Ocean of Chi" for nothing) is the big biobattery at the center of your physical life, and should be able to store energy to great levels safely, the 12 channels and two vessels are not designed to go beyond certain levels trainable by consistent training. Circulating off and storing within the Dantian should both even out Chi levels in all those energy systems.

The Chinese believe that energy needs to be balanced, so one does not exceed one's capacity, as this will produce heat and agitation and premature aging. Keeping the balance and staying within the safe thresholds will build the energy body to a higher capacity and will allow for more later on. (=the energy body grows in terms of energy storage capacity)

It is mentioned by RB in MAP as well: Premature chakra work will strain the energy body, creating brittle structures for later practise.

My personal hint towards your energy work is the following:

The Chinese know about two "Lower Dantians" - the one at the navel and the one at your Center of Gravity. The first one is called "False Dantian". It resides on the Conception Vessel and can store small amounts of energy, which it will mostly emit again not much later. It plays a role in maintaining a safe energy level in the vessel, but only part of the energy "stored" there goes to the real Dantian.

At the center of your abdomen, within layers of muscle and fat, and within your colon, resides not only your so-called second brain, but the real Dantian as well. It can truely store charge for a long time. If you draw a line from your Crown to your Base Chakra it is on this line, and intersects a line below your navel towards your back at the middle of your body. This is the place to safely store Chi and balance out the major vessel Chi levels. So if you finish your circulation practise or NEW energy 3/4-circulation it may be a good option to draw energy inside you into your lower abdomen to store it there.

Experiment with how this feels. The real Dantian location is a matter of inner feeling. From my experience, which is not too extensive in practise in this regard you can draw energy there from everywhere. This is the central energy storage and distribution framework related to your physical and etheric body. This needs not necessarily directly relate to the Indian systems, as those are different and much less "physical-body-focused" as the Chinese systems.

Just for the protocol: I do not think these practices are better or worse than others. But they can be readily combined with or serve as extensions to NEW/MAP-style energy work. Since they work with the front/back vessels and the Lower Dantian they are very close to what RB suggested. And they are covered very good in literature, if you want to read up on them.

I personally switched away from them because I have very strong blockages in physical and etheric body which IMO called for a more "blockage-centric" approach, which I adopted. But you seem to have a very strong Chi flow and a levels going, and seem more to look at "what to do about it"... ;) ;) ;)

Oh, and about the tongue attracting towards one side: I have honestly no idea what that means. I could only offer really wild guesses, so I don't. ;)



Thank again for the info! Take care...

Any time! Keep good care as well. :)

[2623]

Thanks again Korpo for another great response.


Both Internal Elixir main schools (Nei Dan Qigong) focus on schooling the powers of the mind. Both build around energy storage in the bodies energy storage and refinement centers known as Dantians. The energy here is built around the center and will flow outward to the limbs.

The Internal Elixir schools have meditative elements and can be combined into a full meditative practise.

I'm interested in learning more on these aspects of Qigong. Would the book you mentioned, "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" cover these topics?


The Chinese believe that energy needs to be balanced, so one does not exceed one's capacity, as this will produce heat and agitation and premature aging. Keeping the balance and staying within the safe thresholds will build the energy body to a higher capacity and will allow for more later on. (=the energy body grows in terms of energy storage capacity)

Sounds like I need to focus more on balancing my energy levels. I've been concentrating mainly on removing blockages and cleaning up my energy body that I've neglected this important aspect. The attraction phenomenon and the occasional agitation I feel are probably good indicators of this. I'll give the circulation methods a try. Does this circulation accomplish basically the same as what some call grounding?

Thanks again for the time and info.

[Korpo]

I'm interested in learning more on these aspects of Qigong. Would the book you mentioned, "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" cover these topics?


Sadly, no. This is a very basic work that still covers the techniques of Small and Grand Circulation. It contains much technique but little on the attitude of the practitioner or the developing of the mind.



Sounds like I need to focus more on balancing my energy levels. I've been concentrating mainly on removing blockages and cleaning up my energy body that I've neglected this important aspect. The attraction phenomenon and the occasional agitation I feel are probably good indicators of this. I'll give the circulation methods a try. Does this circulation accomplish basically the same as what some call grounding?


No, I don't think so. Rooting and grounding are separate from this. These techniques of circulation deal with putting Qi to use and cleaning up the channels. It's like instead hoarding a big fortune (like I assume you did) it is investing it into something that will benefit you in the long run - an unblocked etheric body and a healthy physical body.

Many Taoist practices deal with the body first, and buy an advantage by this: A healthy - not only without sickness, but operating at an optimal balance within his body - practitioner can more persistently focus on development. A healthy body includes a healthy nervous system. And a healthy nervous system is more stable and able to deal with stress and anything dealt to it, which can happen during emotional release in meditation.

I must tell you again, these techniques I am sharing with you are not the ones I have adopted for myself in the long term. Mine have a different focus, different from NEW and circulation training. Nevertheless I'm trying to give you information that may interest and benefit you instead of telling you about the different techniques I pursue, as not all techniques fit all people, and I want to help you, not take from you what seems to have worked for you - you have stuck with it persistently, unlike I, who went off looking for other things. It seems to a certain degree resonate with you - more than it did for me.

So, the information I give to you should help you enhance your practise, not take you off your own path.

The circulation practise I described to you is fairly complete, but I have to warn you of the "Three Gates". Along the back there are three bottlenecks of energy transmission which can put hazard to a practitioner, if not handled with great care. This is especially true for practitioners with abundant Qi.

The first gate is at the base of the spine or the meeting point between spine and perineum. As the basic Small Circulation along the Fire path is along, but not through the spinal column, muscle and their associated nerve tissue are the prime conductors of energy. At the end of the spine there is a bottleneck where there is less conductive tissue because of the bone/muscle mixture residing there. The practitioner must take care to clear blockages carefully and direct energy clearly along this path and not let it be diverted. Else it can enter the legs and possibly lead to nerve damage and paralysation in the most extreme cases. To decrease this risk strongly Dr Yang recommends the full Lotus seat to block the legs more fully of from the Small Circulation circuit.

When I speak of nerve damage, this is a precaution. In more ancient modes of practise the practitioner did build energy in the Lower Dantian for years under the direction of his master, and only when that was full to the hilt was taught how to circulate it off. These were closely guarded secrets. Today practise has changed to allow circulating off early, where smaller energy flows allow for cleaning up the Gates first and minimising risk. I tell you the risks so can assess this for yourself, and since I do not how much Qi you have stored.

The second gate is located in the upper back in the region behind the heart. The risk here is deviating from the path and leading Qi inadvertently into the heart. The heart muscle can react to increased Qi influx with rapid beating, which can promote panic and again focus on the heart and again increase in Qi flow - this can escalate into a heart attack. This risk is most pronounced at midday, when most Qi is in this region through natural circulation.

The last gate resides at the meeting of spine and head, near the Atlas vertebra. At this region resides the most primal region of the human brain, its animal roots if you may say so. The Chinese call the place the Jade Pillow. Here again is a bottleneck where Qi can enter the brain accidentally, possibly causing brain damage and mental problems.

The problems here depend on several conditions as does risk-free practise:
* The more stable your concentration is, the more surely and safely you can lead Qi along the designated path.
* When you start practising with a smaller level of Qi you can establish a safer practise more easily than later on.
* Freedom of blockages along the paths aids the process, though given sufficient Qi levels a flush of blockages should accompany the practise.
* It is of great importance to stick with the chosen energy path and not divert, an error the Chinese call "Fire to the Devil", if Qi is lead astray and can cause damage on less prepared channels of lesser capacity.

My emphasis of risk should not deter you. The risky scenario comes from a collection of practises. Here Embryonic Breathing plays a role - a Qi capacity building practise with is involved with the later conception of a "spiritual embryo", the early stage of an evolved being within you, your spiritual, future self if you may think so.

Taoist practices of this kind involve drawing energy from all the bodies important energy and hormone production centers - the kidneys and testicles/ovaries provide pre-birth Qi, your essence inherited from your parents. This touches on the practice of sexual Qigong, which is deemed necessary in this context to build truely abundant Qi. Furthermore the glands of the brain get integrated into practise. Hormones play a major role here. All these techniques combined yield a massive Qi buildup which is then used for Muscle/Tendon Changing (building of a body of superior health as basis for future practise, also a prime supplier of Essence -> Qi conversion), which starts with Small Circulation. And separately there is Bone Marrow/Brain Cleansing, which starts off with Embryonic Breathing. Both these converge into tuning the brain to optimal performance for enlightenment training. This Qigong was originally a Buddhist secret. Now its techniques are a mixture of concepts unique to the Chinese schools, be they Buddhist or Neo-Taoist.

Without this enhanced energy super-machine of collected practises it should actually be much less risky. Not everyone practising an energy practise or circulation practise wants to turn him- or herself into turbo, super-charged Jing-Chi-Shen converter at great expense and possible risk. And without all these measures to super-charge the body the Circulation practise should be beneficial without very much risk. I tell you since so you can assess for yourself.

The basic circulation practise fills the two major vessels, which have a certain Qi storage characteristic on themselves. These overflow into the 12 primary organ channels, cleaning up blockages and producing superior health. The three gates have to be minded. This about wraps it up. :)

if you want to look into this in great detail, "Qigong Meditation: Small Circulation" by Dr Yang is the definitive book, though lacking somewhat in the department of proof-reading. It is big, it is somewhat dry, but if you need to know everything about the aforementioned techniques and processes - look no further.

The balancing of organ energies is a different topic, and among the ways I stumbled upon is a beginning practise of Inner Alchemy as described by Mantak Chia. I refer here to the "Fusion of the Five Elements" meditation, which I personally tried to a certain extent, and which I find very powerful, maybe a bit too powerful for my level of energy body development at that time. It builds on the basis of Small Circulation practise (known among Chia readers as "Microcosmic Orbit").

It builds, ritually spoken, the Lower Dantian into a cauldron for concentrating energy into a ball of concentrating, refined Qi. This "pearl" is then used in techniques to clean up the main vessel, to open up the main channels further, and finally to balance the energies of the main organs. In China organs are associated with emotions and elements, therefore the name of the practise.

While I cannot say much about the balancing aspect, the technique for refining the pearls is truely powerful, resulting for me in a massive energy buildup and massive third-eye strobing. I quit the practise as I had the feeling it worked too well... ;)

Inner Alchemy is truely powerful, and concerns itself with the transformation of man. I leave the decision up to you whether you want to know more about it - the book is from Mantak Chia, named after the technique. The technique seems to be shrouded a bit in ritual, but if you experiment a bit you will see it concerns itself at first with learning to control the four energy vortices that culminate in the Lower Dantian from the four directions, making the spin faster and in unison, and using this to focus energy in a small, spherical "shape" - the pearl. The rest is circulation training and then builds on that.

Enough "lecture", I guess we wrap it up at that point. Hope I didn't scare or bore you, but I find it difficult to simplify this information without sacrificing too much context, and then misleading people because of bad explanations.

Take good care,
Oliver