Alchemical Taoism

Dynamics of jing (jing-gong)

Jing-cool, rich, unaroused, and nourishing
While jing is the basal energy for the whole body, it has a special homeresonance (per five element theory) with bone marrow. Dense, concentrated,
forceful doses of sexual energy need considerable refinement to
harmoniously integrate with the relative delicacy of most tissues, organs. The
marrow is dense on par with sexual energy; they're a compatible blend as-is.
one must learn to absorb jing into the bones.
Jing's dense nature includes the dangers of accumulation of stuck energybecoming stagnant (in the physical tissues, in the channels, energetically, and
psychologically, behaviorally)
1. Fill and stabilize the lower tan tien.
2. Once the lower is abundant (otherwise one can become
ungrounded,spacy), circulate in the microcosmic orbit.
3. Repeat
If you move jing up through the spine by meditation, it's important to
complement that by some sort of physical spine exercises - in order to
continue the refinement of dense jing that mind-work alone is unlikely to
complete. Sexual energy is dense and powerful, and it needs supple
blockage-free routes in order to flow and transform. One of the best general
things that you can do, to facilitate smooth and easy flow of sexual energy
through your body, is to stretch consistently
Self-Hitting Massage-For some people, a comprehensive hitting routine is
critical for refining the denser energies of cultivation.
NOTE: Since hitting is for disrupting denser stagnant energies and for
awakening channels, it's appropriate during the warm-up phase of a practice
session or perhaps if you've been focusing on lower energetics in general.
Hitting is counter-productive for already-refined energy states: for instance,
after a high meditation.
exercise the hips, at wide angles, with moderate weight. This opens up blood
flow at the hip joint (where each femur meets the pelvis). Blood is produced
in the marrow; the femurs are the major blood factories of the body. The legs
are used as levers into the lower tan tien (and the tan tien expresses power
through the legs), processing the bound up force, and restoring rich blood
flow.

Pulsing the Joints, Bones

This essay assumes that you have some familiarity with pulsing, and that you
can start pulsing in a location by simple awareness and intention. Reference:
Pulsing Overview.
Joints are the Gateways to the Bones
In the standing posture of your choice, simply sustain your attention in the
major joints of the legs, and intend pulsing.
Work your way from the ground up (ankles, knees, femurs-to-pelvis),
a) starting with single joints (ex., both ankles, then both knees, then both
femurs-to-pelvis) and
b) later with paired joints (ex., ankles-and-knees, then knees-and-tops of
femurs, then tops of femurs-to-pelvis). The latter technique tends to activate
the bone-between-the-joints more effectively, but is best employed after
you've got the pulsing really into the joints with the more focused single joints
method.
Sustained Focus
Give this time to develop. The above paragraph covers a lot of ground. Don't
rush. Pulsing plus sustained steady attention is what allows this process to
go deeply into the joints and bones. In any one session, take on only as
much as you can stay focused with. If that's just one joint, that's fine and is
good work. Only as the jing gets deep enough into each joint do they
naturally piece together through the bones, and the bones spontaneously
begin to pulse. Work with joints is the key. Gradual integration.
Stabilizing Earth
Once the feet, legs and pelvis are established, the next section of work is to
the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae. The sacrum is the base of the spine. The
sacrum, and each vertebrae, should be pulsed individually, in the same
specific sustained way as the joints of the legs were. As the spine intimately
connects with the nerve plexuses, you may find that some deep emotional
reconfiguration occurs with vertebrae pulsing.
Pulsing spontaneously and naturally brings jing into the joints, bones,
marrow...

Bone Compression
There are three steps to Bone Compression:
The first is to inhale the Chi in a spiraling motion, drawing it in through the
fingers and
toes to surround the bones of the arms, legs, and body.
The second step is to pack the Chi in between the muscles and bones.
The third step squeezes the muscles, thereby compressing the Chi
into the marrow through the pores of the bones.
The sequence of steps is: inhale, spiral, pack, and squeeze Chi into each part
of the
limbs and body successively.
Thrusting Vessels (Ida & Pingala)
Du, ren, and the thrusting channels are recognizable because they'll all have
the substantive feel of jing. (try in nadi shodana)

Activating the Belt Vessels- FULL SWEEP.

Assume any standing posture (for instance, Embracing the Tree).
Spiral energy clockwise down (one to several feet) into the ground. After a
brief pause, the Earth naturally responds by spiraling energy back up,
counter-clockwise. Let that energy spiral up through your legs, torso, head, to
a little ways above your head.
Once the spiral is above your head, pause, and accept the energy of Heaven
as it spirals down, clockwise. Let that energy spiral down through your body
down into the ground.
On the way (both ascending and descending), as the spiral passes each of
the three main centers (power, love, wisdom), spiral in to the light of each
deep-center.
Repeat the process as many times as you like.
CLOSE
To close the meditation, it's traditional to gently gather some of the focus and
energy in your lower tan tien. Be attentive to do this in a way that's
harmonious with the heaven-man-earth spirals that you've generated. There's
no need to entirely close those down; they're beneficial and protective.
Breath
Sacrum Breathing - Simply imagine breathing, inhaling, air in through the
holes of the sacrum towards the front of the body. Relax on the exhale. Often
after a little of this the muscles around the sacrum will start pulsing. This is
easy to do, any time. Once you've become comfortable with basic sacrum
breathing then add a step: wrap the chi-from-air around the lumbar vertebrae
and (using your intent) squeeze it into them. Work your way up to at least
ming men.
Sex

Core Principles
Balance is the key.
Simply saving up a polarity is asking for trouble and frustration.
When alone,
balance fire and water.
When coupled,

balance through exchange.

Note on coupled practice:
Reciprocal exchange is the natural progression of dual cultivation.
Bring the recondite to overflowing,
drink from the spring.
She gets warmed and expanded,
He gets nourished and settled.
Both joy.
Note on solo practice:
In solo practice, unaroused jing balances much easier than aroused.
Aroused jing has changed alchemical qualities (from the original cool &
gentle, to fiery & untameable). Your own heart energy is no longer truly a
complementary alchemical opposite; the other gender's aroused jing is.
Additionally, through arousal, a deep forceful aspect of the psyche (the libido)
is set in motion, that wants the other gender (not sublimation); this aspect
deserves respect. Re-establishing real harmony (alchemically, and in the
deep psyche) on one's own, after solo aroused practice - is genuinely
problematic.
In solo work, emphasize unaroused practices.
First, you are convinced that saving sexual energy is a good thing - and with
that belief you generate some dedication. Next, you learn how to engage in
(one, or several rounds of) sex and yet abstain from ejaculation. So, you
store more male sexual energy, and you grow in polarity as more is saved...
Inevitably, a strong polarity will express, you'll ejaculate, perhaps against your
beliefs and will. And you reap the pleasure of orgasm, the depletion of
ejaculation, and the psychological trauma of uncontrollably doing something
against your will. Then, you follow your spiritually involved beliefs, you work
to improve: you save sexual energy... and the cycle repeats. This sort of cycle
can be frustrating in the short term, and over the course of years can cause
serious harm. Don't obsess on long term retention. Pay much more attention
to balance and harmony. Its not about how much you can save, its about how
much you can harmoniously integrate. you include balance in your practice
and your body is at the point where long term retention is in balance, great.
And if you are at a place where your body really wants to express through
ejaculation at some point, do that. Then use the times between ejaculations
to harmoniously integrate energy through the various practices
the Big Draw During some love-making sessions, you practice the Big
Draw and it kind of works (a good deal of energy gets drawn up), but in the
lower tan tien you still have the desire to ejaculate you try to retain semen,
but eventually you ejaculate. Or you have so much desire built up that you
decide to just "go for it" and have a normal love-making session.
My point, here, is that the Big Draw is a "Re-Location of Energy" method. As
such, the male jing retains its quality of wanting to go off in its own direction
(ejaculation, in search of its primary alchemical opposite: female jing). It

seems to me that when you draw energy from the testicles to the sacrum and
up the spine it is just drawing chi up, which is easy enough. But it seems to
me that the physical seminal fluids and sperm still remain. Store enough
unbalanced jing and it will come out (or potentially create imbalances within
the body); that is its nature. This is in contrast to balancing the male jing with
an opposite and complementary energy, which neutralizes its interest in
seeking its opposite: it is stabilized and so is in a state that is conducive to
long term storage (Elixir methods in the lower tan tien):
connected breathing?????????
Exchange
One of the facts about working with alchemical opposites, is that they get
stimulated towards each other when they are proximate, but when they
actually mix they unify into something stable (the "elixir"). This leads to
important insights about exchanging sexual energy.
When you're stimulated by your partner's energy, their energy has come into
your perceptual field. The natural predominant response, especially for a
man, is for your attention (and sexual energy) to go out to seek mixing. If a
man just follows that impulse, he'll only be on a cycle of building, exciting, and
expelling male sexual energy, never really attaining the nurturance, power,
stability, and love that comes from deeply receiving feminine energy.
One of the keys to successful exchange is to receive your partner's energy all
the way into your core; close is not sufficient. Bring it inside of you
No-technique
The first technique that I want to acknowledge, briefly, is no-technique. Lots
of healthy exchange of sexual energy happens spontaneously, any time, with
no special effort, especially when things are "feeling just right" between the
two of you. I just want to acknowledge that, and pay reverence to it.
Upper Gate Exchange
The "upper gate", here, refers to the mouth and eyes.
Sharing through the gaze, the eyes, is obvious and natural - so I won't but just
mention it. ..And say that sometimes the eyes close during passionate
moments and it can be fun to experiment with sharing through the eyes during
that time. (Thanks, VO.)
The mouth. The conception vessel (the part of the microcosmic orbit that runs
down the front) jumps the gap, in the mouth, from the upper palate to the
lower palate. There are a couple of easy ways to tap a tingle with this:
The first is to run your tongue under your partner's upper lip. A bit of an odd
gesture, but the zing is worth at least a brief experiment.
The second is to simply put your attention a ways back on the upper palate of
your partner. This would be, approximately, back to the soft palate; the
conception vessel flows strongly there. This simple gesture of attention

connects your partner's conception vessel with your own. The conception
vessel will be re-visited at a corresponding place within the lower gate: the
g-spot.
Sharing breath is another way to share through the upper gate. During
intercourse, sexual energy floods your entire system, as well as your breath.
Try this simple way of sharing:
Have your partner inhale, all the way down to the sexual center. Then put
your mouth over your partner's, and receive your partner's exhale with your
inhale. Inhale all the way down to your sexual center, and hold your breath for
a little while - in a very relaxed way, letting your sexual energy mix with the
energy that your partner has given you, through the breath.
Swallowing your partner's saliva is something that is commonly recommended
in classic Taoist texts. You can get a feel for gently swallowing - then guiding
the feeling of - the saliva all the way into your lower tan tien. This skill is
especially produced by the practice of Yi Swallows Chi.
Over-emphasis on the topic of 'conservation' often leaves 'exchange' by the
wayside, a reversal of the healthy learning sequence: retention generally gets
far more emphasis, sometimes to the point that one energetically retreats
from one's partner, in the lower tan tien... which is rather silly. That's what you
came there to share, and that's what your best hope is for attaining balance.
Not to say that there aren't times for retreating, but you need to be able to do
both in a healthy way: retreat, consolidate inwardly, open, share.) Once you
learn to balance and harmonize, conservation is joyful. Conserve without
balance, and you'll only hurt yourself.
Bring the woman's essence into the man's cauldron, to mix the two.
During love-making, draw small "sips" of her essence up through your penis,
up the spine, to just above the focal point that youve established in the
"Preparing the Body" technique. Draw your own aroused essence straight up
the middle to meet the womans essence that has been drawn into your
cauldron. The masculine and feminine meet and mix.
In this way the mans essence is attracted to and gets what it wants, and what
will balance it: the womans essence. But this occurs inside the body of the
man, instead of through ejaculation.
This is to be done in small doses, at various times during intercourse. You get
to keep your masculine energy in the lower tan tien, and you also get balance.
Then, at the woman's orgasm take a bit of a bigger sip - up the spine all the
way to the heart. Mixing in the lower cauldron, at that time, is too intense: the
man'd loose it. So, move both energies up in a similar pattern, but mix higher
- at the upper center (heart). Then you'd get to experience her orgasm with
her in a heart opening way (probably vocal) that'd likely promote a communal
orgasm. A communal, heart-opening and upward orgasm.

Dating Qi Gong
Sometimes we all have casual interactions that carry some sexual energy.
Perhaps, it is with a casual date. Maybe it is a smile that is exchanged with
someone you pass in the market, or anywhere. My observation is that I (used
to) receive that sexual energy just partially into my body and it stimulated
my sexual energies. A longing (perhaps just very mild) starts and my energies
start to reach out of my body in search of satisfaction. This leaves me offcenter and with stimulated, unbalanced sexual energy. This can have
unfortunate repercussions on my alchemy down the line.
Solution: Essentially, this is a problem of having the medicines near each
other, but not directly mixing them. Stimulation, attraction, but no
consummation. When the sexual energy is received (in the form of a glance,
smile, or presence of a woman) you can smile that energy down into your
organs, mixing it with your own energies in the proper alchemical location:
inside of your body. You can also smile the energy all the way down to your
genitals, or down to your cauldron, and mix it with your sexual energy there.
(The practice of yi swallows chi is especially helpful in developing this
ability.) The energies get deliberately and directly mixed inside of you. This
way you stay centered, and your energies get nourished & balanced. Notice
the hardening of the emotional body and relax it (adopt the same bodily
gesture as when crossing a busy road- the body is completely relaxed and
receptive) and allow the body to receive the sexual energies without
hardening.

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Yi Swallows Chi Step-by-Step Technique
1) Yi Swallows Chi is best done:
- in a standing posture. This practice tends to prompt deep vertical
integration, which standing postures facilitate.
- when the air is cool, preferably in the early morning, ideally before sunrise.
The cool morning air provides a contrast to the warm bodily interior: cool air is
easier to feel. Also, there is something special about that early morning
time... The cool yin from the night is most concentrated in the air, before the
sunrise disperses it.

2) Inhale, through your mouth, a comfortable amount of air into the chest /
thorax area (not below the thoracic diaphragm, as you'll use yi to move the chi
down through the mid-torso and into the lower abdomen).
3) Gently hold your breath, and form the sphere of gentle open space,
containing some of the (cool) chi-from-air that you inhaled. You needn't be
strict about the size of the sphere. I generally create a sphere that is
somewhat larger than a ping-pong ball, but smaller than a baseball.
Generally you'll want to continue holding your breath, gently, at least until
you've moved the chi to its lower-most acupoint (see step #4 for choice of
acupoints). This provides a more stable inner environment, so that the chi
sphere will be less likely to dissipate during the time that you are guiding it.
(Never hold your breath so long that you feel that you are forcing the holding
of breath.) Once the sphere gets to where its going, and starts to deeply
interact with the energies there, feel more free to breathe (or not breathe) as
you feel so moved.
4) Guide that sphere down (as described above, in the "Yi" section) through
the center of your body, towards an acupoint in your lower abdomen. You'll
find that being steadily attentive to the chi ball is what keeps it intact, and is
what makes this whole process work. Yi.
Reference the little orbit for major acupoints in the lower abdomen. This
method needs very few repetitions to have a sufficient effect for a practice
session, so I suggest that you swallow to each acupoint once, in cyclical
succession, or just pick one or two acupoints to work on for a session. Allow
the chi ball to interact with an acupoint by simple proximity and focused
attention, or gently and briefly pull inward at the acupoint - as if the
acupoint were being gently pulled by a string from the inside. This is
especially easily done at hui yin (the acupoint at the center of the perineum)
but with practice you'll find that it can be done with all of the major acupoints
of the little orbit.
Genital Compression for
Men and Women Step By Step
The Genital Compression Exercise dynamically builds sexual power
by packing electromagnetically charged energy into the testicles
or the ovaries. As an expanding sensation fills the genitals, sexual
energy increases, eventually reaching into higher centers of the
body through the Microcosmic Orbit, as it is needed. This practice
is particularly important to use after the Sexual Energy Massage or
Chi Weight Lifting to replenish the energy extracted from the
genitals.
(1) Loosen your pants or take them off. Sit on the edge of a
chair. Men should allow the testicles to hang loose over the edge.
(2) Inhale slowly but deeply through your nostrils into the lungs,
expanding the solar plexus. Simultaneously contract the anus, and
pull Chi into the upper abdomen.
(3) Feel the energy of each breath culminate at a point behind

the solar plexus. Use your mind and some abdominal muscles to
compress the energy into a sphere at the solar plexus point. Imagine
this as a ball of Chi which you will roll down the front of your body
by contracting the upper abdominal muscles.
(4) Let the Chi Ball fortify itself with each breath, and then roll it
downward from the solar plexus, through the lower abdomen, to
the sexual center near the pelvis. Keep your chest relaxed to prevent
any congestion of energy there. Use your mind to guide the Chi
flow to the sexual center and genitals. (Fig. 3.10)
Fig. 3.10 Genital Compression

(5) Men: Compress Chi into the scrotum for as long as you can.
Squeeze the anus, and gently tighten the perineum to prevent
energy loss. Eventually only the power of the mind will be necessary
to contract these areas. The muscles of the lower abdomen should
also be used as you force the scrotum to expand with energy.
(6) Women: Compress the energy into the lower abdomen and

the pelvic region while contracting the perineum, the anus, and the
vagina. Locate the ovaries as they are shown in Fig. 3.11. Direct
the energy into both ovaries, and feel them expand with warmth.
Note for Women: In the beginning it is helpful to locate the ovaries
by placing both thumbs, tip facing tip, on the navel with the fingers
extending downward, outlining a triangle over the lower abdomen.
Where the index fingertips meet is the Ovarian Palace. Next, spread
all of the fingers out from that point while maintaining the position of
the index fingers. Where the tips of the pinky fingers fall on the
abdomen is the approximate location of the ovaries.
(7) While still in the compression process, keep your tongue
pressed against the roof of your mouth to maintain the flow of energy
through the Microcosmic Orbit. Move it around to stimulate the saliva
flow. Swallow deeply into the sexual center to enhance the
compression. With practice, you should be able to hold the
compression for as long as 30 seconds.
(8) Exhale. Take a few, quick, short breaths by pulling your lower
abdomen in and pushing it out (Energizer Breathing) until you are
able to breathe normally. Relax completely.
(9) Repeat the exercise from three to nine times until you feel
the testicles or ovaries become warm.
Remember to keep the tongue against the palate, and breathe
only through the nose. When you perform Genital Compressions,
especially after having practiced Bone Marrow Nei Kung for about
a month, you will feel more Chi being guided to the sexual organs.
It is important to practice these compressions in the morning or
afternoon, but not before you go to sleep.
Turtle Breathing:
Draw in the breath (from the penis or the sacrum), You'll find that as the air-chi
passes the testicles that a natural interaction will occur (and cascade up
through the vas deferens etc) without the need for any direction on your part.
In fact this activates coolness like a kind of super testicle breathing, but it's not
where you should place your focus during the exercise. then wrap the chi
around the lumbar vertebrae then squeeze that wrap into the vertebrae.
You should have the goal to be able to do this up to at least ming men and
your kidneys should pick up on this energy and join in pulsing. It's basic bone
breathing applied to the lumbar region. Super important to get the chi into the
marrow of the vertebrae, not simply rushing up the spine willy-nilly. Once this is
done up through ming men a pulsing occurs that includes ming men, the kidneys,
sexual essence, the external chi from air... That pulsing propels the sexual energy
through the marrow of not only the spine but through the whole skeletal system. In
my opinion, if you were to take up bone breathing in no other area, this would be it.
For those that go into sexual addiction, it takes over their lives. In the long
run, this moves towards a condition of all heat and no substance. The
incessant excessive yang (stimulation of lower energy and nerve plexus)
depletes yin (substance) and leads to exhaustion of yin and collapse of yang.

the dangers of retention are stagnation (stuck energy) and heat. Trapped
heat just keeps things stirred up, keeps sexual desire chronically active.
what is challenging, yet accessible and healthy to work on for most is:
1. How "not-to-start when it's-not-the-right-time". That is, how to harmoniously
subdue the energy so that you're cool & restored by it (the refinement of
unaroused/cool jing), and so that you can get on with other things.
2. How to "cool off afterwards". Resolving residual heat and tension so that
sexual activity doesn't go on for too long, excessively, to allow the yin part of
the cycle.

Again to emphasize, I'm talking about 1&2 as appropriate to a natural yin

time, not as repression of yang. Clearly should be pre-requisite to the more
advanced and more dangerous semen retention attempts
Dual Cultivation
Turtle Breathing has rather obvious application for dual cultivation: the
absorption of female sexual energy by the male during intercourse, with the
intent of balance, and within the context of mutual exchange.
The method is essentially the same as when practicing the solo method...
Except, of course, this is done in an aroused state, during intercourse. It's
only necessary to absorb small amounts of female essence, all done in a
relaxed, gentle manner. Experience has shown that a rich bliss results in the
whole lower abdomen... very healing. (However, it's possible that the
exchange will temporarily neutralize the male~female polarity such that your
erection subsides.)
The other obvious aspect of this is giving energy, emanating masculine heat
from the penis. I leave it to your explorations.

The front lower abdomen, sometimes called "the dantian", is one of the
primary areas that tends to bind up from semen retention misadventures
Repeat the cycle of testicle-massage-then-ice-water-soak as many times as
you like. This can be especially helpful following sexual activity, or when
hitting practices have stirred up excess heat.
Other

The lower tan tien needs to be conscious, and act - as itself. Not like, "I,
up here", am shifting the energy around "down there". Its "I, the lower tan
tien", consciously, am doing such & such ("having the chakras spin with their
own energy"). Part of this is assisting in the alchemy that ignites
consciousness, and part of this is finding what the ltt (lower tan tien) can do,
what it does naturally, what it likes to do (Squats, leg work, & so on. . One
other thing that the ltt can do is breathe. Most of the time, its the upper
consciousness that controls breathing through volition - even when we
breathe deeply: its sort of "breathing down into there". Breathing through the
soles helps to reverse that. Sure, you start out "up here", but then you just
engage the lower tan tien and use that to breathe in from your soles... almost
feels as if your soles were nostrils, drawing in qi. Ok, so this opens up the
core channel, ignites the consciousness of the lower tan tien, and the lower
tan tien learns to grasp, or swallow, stuff from above - be it from within the
body (like heart energy, various other upper energies, or i-consciousness at
least to some extent) or from outside of the body (star, moon energies,
"swallowing heaven", like that). Yi Swallows Qi
Yin & Yang and the Microcosmic Orbit
The back vessel is the culmination of yin and the expression of yang: It
originates from the bottom as substance that expands upward as part of selfexpression.
The front vessel is the culmination of yang and the expression of yin: It's
action starts from the top and flows down, as a function of open space and
receptivity.
Often the receptivity and openness that is needed to get the most out of the
front vessel is missed. For most people, it's a more familiar sensation to let
the substantial yang flow of the back vessel simply continue on to run over the
top and down the front; the front vessel gets run by the momentum of the
back vessel. Big mistake. You'll get next to nothing out of the microcosmic
orbit this way.
The front vessel has it's own force: receptivity and openness, yin.
Gentle Openness:
"Openness" refers to a sensation of gentle open space generated by
attention. In this technique, there's no need to do anything physical, except to
relax. So, when running the front vessel, simply start by gently creating a
sensation of gentle open space at each one of the centers indicated, one by
one, from the top down. The crown will naturally draw in some heavenly
energy, which - in a moderate dose - is important for the mix. You'll find that
the sensation of open space in the center creates a mild vacuum, so that
energy just falls down the front vessel in successive steps... or, more
accurately, is drawn down by the next open space ahead of it.
Do a double mental spiral at each point, one clockwise and one counterclockwise spiral,

Elixir -Usually, without esoteric training, the energies express through the
senses of the human body and seek their opposites outside of the body.

So, a person following desires in an outward manner expends a lot of energy

following external desires, doesnt conserve much, and so produces little of
anything with much power or purity within themselves. (Though, to a degree,
people do learn to stay centered just by living life and wisening up; Im
simplifying things to make a point.)
A basic idea of Taoist alchemy is to mix the opposite and complementary
energies inside the human body, as a way of stepping back towards the One
Energy. When the opposite energies mix, several things happen. They
adhere to each other; their draw towards each other and back towards the
One energy is strong. Also, each energys tendency to go off on its own
pattern of activity is neutralized by the energy of its opposite; the new energy
is stable. Last, the resulting new energy has a purity and nurturance that is
quite profound. The mixed energies have transmuted into a single "elixir"
There is a deep-center where the energies mix to form the elixir. This deepcenter gets called by a number of symbolic names, "the cauldron" The
practice of stable focused attention is part of what makes a cauldron, and the
quality of attention / intention makes a difference: aligned steadied clear
awareness. At its heart this central place is established by one thing:
sincerity.