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.Will you comment on this?This is not the point of practice, although there are some peoplewho, after having begun training, would rather live away from people.The main purpose is to make yourself stronger and happier andnot to run away from things.The Taoist approach is concernedwith harmony and so we suggest that people marry and lead ahappy family life, so that they can practice more effectively andachieve their goals more quickly.There is no need to run awayfrom the world or from your family.If you can t control your heart inthe city, you will never control yourself in the jungle either.Remem-ber, if you can practice well at home, you can practice anywhere.- 109 -Commonly Asked QuestionsCan Relaxation and Concentration cutdown on the Number of hours you Sleep?Sleep is most important.Through sleep you are able to recoverenergy, allowing the body to refuel and repair itself.So it would bewrong, especially at the start, to substitute meditation for sleep.In the beginning, practice is practice and sleep is sleep.Somepeople think that sitting in meditation is just the same as sleep.It istrue that meditation will calm down your nervous system and brainbut your body still needs the rest and sleep is the best way of pro-viding it.If you sleep less and then tend to fall asleep during prac-tice, that is not good at all.Not being able to concentrate duringpractice you will simply defeat your own purpose.Try to have regular hours of sleep.The average adult needsabout eight hours.It is said, traditionally, that when Chi fills all ofyour organs and you fulfill the rebirth process, your body will needless sleep.Yet, we must recognize that living in these times, sub-jected as we are to different kinds of stress, new rules must apply.How does Practicing the Microcosmic Affectyour Emotions?Should you Practice whenAngry, Sad or Disappointed?All these feelings will affect your practice.Because we live in astressful world, no one is able to live a really happy or satisfactorylife.Try to be content and satisfied with what you have.When youbecome discouraged, do some exercise, take a long walk, or findsome other way to calm down and then have a good sleep and intime you will feel better.There are many methods that are helpful.You can chant or count your breaths or repeat mantras.All of these divert your attention from your trouble and set you atease.But remember always to smile and relax.There are addedbenefits to this practice.You will find that you will become calmerand more stable and may no longer lose your temper as readily.So it is safe to say that as you become healthier you will be lessangry.This has happened to many of my students.No matter howmuch psychology you have studied or theories you have under-stood or lectures you have attended about how to control your an-- 110 -Chapter Xger and your mind, if you do not actually practice, you will make noprogress.Many of my students have told me that they have had philoso-phy up to their necks but that it does not really help them.What weare trying to tell you is that you will find out you have completed theroute and have harmonized the Yin and Yang in your body, you willfeel happier, less angry and will be able to take more stress.Youwill see the world as beautiful and see all people as saints.Bycontrast, if you are sick and frightened as a mouse, when you seepeople, even good, kind people who want to help you, you will be-lieve that they want to harm you.Your main aim now should be to make your body, your nervoussystem, soul, spirit, your whole being healthy, by means of thistraining.Try to remind yourself to smile and do one good thing eachday.That is all you need.You do not have to depend on a highermaster to guide your spirit; your spirit is yours.No one else canguide your spirit.If your spirit has to depend on others for guid-ance, then you are in trouble.Does Rhythmic Breathing or Chanting helpto circulate the Microcosmic Orbit?Generally, it does not.I may advise some students to do it in thevery beginning to help them calm down, but urge them to get alongwithout it as soon as possible.All that is called for is that you con-centrate on the energy center or centers that you are working on.Ifyou pay attention to your breathing, the power or the warm currentwill not concentrate itself at the center but will scatter.I have many students who had been practicing for many years(some for as much as twenty or thirty years) who told me that theyhad never felt any unusual energy in all their years of practice.When they came to me I told them to just concentrate on the pointsand not to pay attention to breathing.Many of them, in their firstsession, often after just a few minutes of concentration, experi-enced bliss and power, and found themselves deep in concentra-tion.All of these students were well prepared and had a lot of en-ergy in reserve, but didn t know how to turn it on and have it flow inthe proper channels.- 111 -Commonly Asked QuestionsThere are countless methods of breathing and they all make itvery hard to feel the warm currents.If you can concentrate on thepoint assigned to you and do not pay attention to the breath.If youcan put everything out of your mind and just concentrate on thatpoint, the power will flow freely.When you concentrate, you casu-ally watch the point.There is no straining, no great act of will power,but just passive watching.In this situation of just watching you willfeel very calm.So don t pay any attention to the breathing, justwatch the energy center.Does Master Chia Pass Energy to his Stu-dents to help open the Routes?When someone first comes to me, I may give them energy.Uponbeing touched some people experience the warm current in a fewminutes.The body may feel as though affected by an electric shockand start to vibrate and go into deep concentration.By merely de-scribing the route of the energy flow to them and without my touch-ing them, they go into deep concentration, feel energy runningthrough their body and have an irregular and sometimes rapid andshallow breathing pattern.Someone came to me just one time andcompleted the route, experiencing great inner beauty, peace, anda deep knowledge of his innermost self.That happens, too.Are there any Side Effectswith your Method?In China, Taoists have been studying, experiencing, passing all oftheir lifetime experiences down to us for 8,000 years.We know theroute and so it is very easy to guide one along.The nature of thewarm current or Chi is that it tends to flow up to the head, which isthe most important part of the nervous system.If it gets stuck there,and you don t know how to bring it down, it can damage the brain.By gradually exposing yourself to increasingly larger amounts ofenergy, however, it is possible to adjust to it.The price for not al-lowing enough time to adjust and of affording enough safeguardsis an overload, which can result in pain, fear, outright injury andinsanity.There are those who succeed quickly by pushing powerinto the head without side effects, but they are the exceptions.- 112 -Chapter XThe Microcosmic is a safe system because once the two mainchannels are open, the energy will circulate automatically in a loop.Energy flowing in a circle will never build up enough energy at anysingle point to cause serious discomfort or pain.But if you try toforce the energy to flow in one direction only, such as to the highercenters in the head, it may burst like a water hose with a kink in it.The water pressure has no where to go but explode.Additional safety routes are available in this Taoist practice
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