Thank you for taking the time to reply. This makes sense, I suppose I will just keep practicing on the daily and let things develop as they are intended to. The note on potential dantian discovery following weight loss is interesting, and something I’ll be able to test eventually, as I continue to improve my health. You have an interesting site, I’ll try to stop by when I have time and maybe study with you if I feel the call to do so.

-Derek

Hi Derek. Finding dantian takes a long time. It takes even longer for men for some reason. And it’s not just time, but correct practice that you need. If you can feel qi, then you’re already on the right track. You need to circulate it, clear blockages, and then actively consolidate it at dantian.

As for belly size, dantian will still sit in roughly the same spot relative to your organs and spine. The belly itself is mostly adipose tissue and will simply create layers on top of that. I have heard students say that it’s easier to connect with dantian after losing some of that belly fat, but I can’t confirm that.

Hi Mardi,

I’m sorry to hear that you were raped. It’s awful. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.

Rape is an important topic, and one that I have addressed in the past in both word and action. If you haven’t read it, you might want to know the backstory about how I stood up for sexual abuse victims in my former teacher’s school: https://flowingzen.com/14351/why-i-left-sifu-wong-after-17-years

Here is my opinion on the state of your qi (energy). Keep in mind that all I know of you is what you’ve written here.

Nevertheless, what you’ve written is so scattered and so liberally mixes vocabulary and ideas from different traditions that I suspect you might have what we call a Qigong Deviation. I could be wrong. I’ve written an entire post on the subject, and you can see if it resonates with you: https://flowingzen.com/20598/qigong-deviation-vs-qigong-cleansing/

Whether you have a deviation or not, my opinion is that you need to commit to one method and one teacher for a reasonable period of time. This must be someone you trust, and someone who has experience helping people like you.

In my teaching, I do not talk about chakras or Kundalini (unless I’m specifically referring to Kundalini yoga, which I do not teach), Auras, “earthsuits”, or Nadis. I use either traditional qigong terminology like meridians, or I use modern Western terminology, like lymph and fascia.

I also do not teach the Microcosmic Orbit (aka The Small Universe) to beginners because of the risks. I’ve written about that at length here: https://flowingzen.com/1461/the-small-universe/

I’d like to talk about something very important: rape.
And metaphysical damage.
You mention women feel Dantian sooner, and with many students, I am sure you have faced this quandary before.

In 2006, my Kundalini Awoke, and changed much of my structure; from opening up the Sushumna Nadi, unblocking meridians, and widening chakras (to name a few; the words are different, but the energy is the same).
Past-Lives and things revealed things about my Immortal Soul (e.g.: memories of Tai Chi, Tantra, Chinese Medicine etc)

Some years later, I found some practises and had begun to “try to become bullet-proof” – like I remembered I once was; used to be; or could be.

It was a mix of Tantra, Qigong, Kung-Fu and many mystical arts, descending into my body, or rising from my soul.
I did the micro-cosmic orbit for years, and ceased my period.
I was on path to reclaim what I remembered about my true nature.

I’d suffered years of sexual abuse and rape before the awakening, and unfortunately, I was raped again, after Kundalini, and cultivating Qi.

Some metaphysical damage occurred that I have not been able to recover from, or comprehend, that seems located in the Solar-Plexus Chakra, where I lost the will to restore my full radiance and continue practising. I have been sick and out of balance, since (I do have C-PTSD as it’s a much longer story).
For me, it is not safe to become too radiant, or I become a target; I could not become bullet-proof in time.

Another source of Intel came from Dolores Cannon lectures, where she mentioned certain people (like myself), incarnated with a “sheath” that protected them from the energies of this world: I have felt the difference, before and after.
Rape shattered that sheath – perhaps it goes by another name in Qigong?
It’s not the Aura… but more like a vehicle.
An “earthsuit”, as opposed to a space suit.

And what do you know… here I am, again, in the Tao of Now.
Spending this life trying to reclaim what I once lost, amid horrific interference and metaphysical damage.

Have you heard of other cases with similar tribulation?
What shall I do next?

Thank you sir!

I’ve practiced daily meditation and tai chi since 1973, obtaining a fair sense of internal energy flow from that experience. Several years ago I spontaneously settled on the vagus nerve as a physiological proximity for the downward functional path of exhalation described in the ‘Secret of the Golden Flower’. This is the first time I’ve seen a comparable reference to the vagus nerve and while it is a bit more complex than what I’ve been contemplating it is nice to see the affirmation of a similar thought. And a nice website, Sifu.

Hi Aaron. Unfortunately, the answer is probably not. Most people practice tai chi just on a form level with every little actual energy work. If you’re not doing zhan zhuang, if you’re not doing qigong, if you don’t feel qi accumulating at dantian month after month — then you won’t get there even in another 10 years. I say this having taught many students who had far more than just 7 years of tai chi under their belt before coming to me. Some of them had 27 years!

On the other hand, the work that you’ve done will prime your system and you will move faster once you start actively cultivating dantian.