Sexual Alchemy I
Hardly any other topic has occupied mankind over the millennia as much as the tension between sexual pleasure and procreation.
More than 3000 years ago, the Chinese discovered that men can have multiple orgasms if they control or even completely avoid ejaculation. In the West, it took until the 1940s for Alfred Kinsey to report similar discoveries. But although his findings have been repeatedly confirmed in laboratory experiments, this knowledge still has no real, social significance.
The retention of seminal fluid during sexual union was a well-kept secret in ancient China. Initially, these practices were practiced exclusively by the emperor and his inner circle. Later, they were passed down from father to a chosen son, but withheld from all female family members. In Semen and Ovary Kungfu, men and women learn how to direct and transform their sexual energy into the path of the Lesser Circulation.
With each ejaculation and menstruation, the body assumes that a new life is to be conceived. According to the Tao, all organs and glands sacrifice their best energy for this purpose, which is called orgastic energy. According to the Kinsey Report, a man ejaculates an average of five thousand times during his lifetime, and some men ejaculate much, much more often.
From the Taoist point of view, a man loses energy mainly through ejaculation, while a woman loses energy through menstruation, not through orgasm. Women can experience about three hundred to five hundred menstrual cycles. Each sperm and egg contains highly effective creative energy.
Taoist sages consider their own energy system as a holistic entity. For example, a young and healthy person obtains one hundred percent of the energy needed for a day from breathing, food, sleep, and exercise, and uses about sixty to seventy percent of it for daily living. One could think of this one hundred percent as a bank balance. As we age, however, this energy balance becomes less favorable. The elderly person takes in less and less energy due to wear and tear, stress, exhaustion, etc., although his body consumes the same amount. So he gradually gets into the minus because he now has to draw the energy he needs from the vital organs - from the kidneys, liver, spleen, lungs, heart and pancreas, then from the endocrine glands and finally from the brain. Ailments of old age take on a whole new dimension from this perspective.
Jing Chi is the most subtle of all energies with which a person is born. All other forms of chi in the body are dependent on jing, or origin chi. Jing Chi is transformed into Chi through interaction with the organs. The preservation and nourishment of jing chi forms the basis of the Taoist way; it is stored primarily in the kidneys, semen, and ova.
Ching Chi is the sexual essence, it is formed in the sexual organs. In women it is the energy of the ovaries, in men it is the energy of the semen. Ching Chi is denser than Chi, moves slower in the body, it nourishes the organs when moving in the body.
Cultivating the ching chi that moves in our "love organs" is one of the few ways to replenish our stock - our chi account, so to speak. Closely connected to the glandular system, our sexual organs can generate large amounts of sexual energy, an extremely fiery energy, powerful, alive - but not lasting. In order to store it, it must be directed to the organs and not remain exclusively in the sexual organs or be "wasted"; i.e., circulated without them; discharged.
Healing Love
The path to outer beauty through inner awareness is one of the expected results of practising Taoist teachings for some time. In addition to increased calm emotional behaviour, one is most likely to notice the effectiveness of Taoist practice in the increased absence of ailments. Less sleep, better digestion, more fulfilling sex, and basically better moods significantly increase our quality of life.
A person can only live a fulfilled life if he or she is in harmony with the basic forces of life. In Taoist understanding, harmony roughly corresponds to all-encompassing love. If he violates the law of the exchange of yin and yang by preventing the sexual union of the yin energy with the yang energy, the chi in the body cannot flow properly, the life force will slowly stop and escape. Life will become dull and monotonous, interrupted only now and then by brief flares of congealed passion.
However, the only way to gain real benefit from Taoist practices is to actually apply them.
The Secret Art of the Jade Chamber
In the classic 'Mysterious Lady', an ancient Taoist text, the Elemental Girl reveals the "Art of the Sleeping Chamber" to the Yellow Emperor.
There it states. that a woman with an abundance of yin and very little yang is more sexually desirable. Today we would say that the sexually desirable woman is well-supplied with female hormones.
Without yin, there is no pleasure for yang, and yin without yang is not aroused. In such cases, the man desires union but the woman is unhappy in the process, or the woman desires union but the man lacks desire. When the hearts are not in harmony, there is no awakening of the essences and consequently no love and desire.
However, when the man courts the woman and the woman courts the man, it leads to the merging of spirit and desire in both of them, and this fills their hearts with great joy.
After the woman's passion is aroused, she caresses the man's jade stem, giving him the strength he needs to explore her jade terrace. This causes an abundance of juices to flow in both of them. The powerfully grown jade stalk soon moves slowly, soon quickly. The jade gate opens to facilitate the entry of the powerful antagonist and to receive his essence, which waters the scarlet chamber.
In her response to the male yang, the woman shows the following reactions:
"Her ears are so hot as if she had drunk heavy wine. Her breasts rise so firmly that they fill his hands. Aroused, her neck writhes and her legs tremble. Though she tries to restrain her lascivious impulses, she suddenly clutches the man's body, pressing her body firmly against his and patting him gently."
The latter describes a basic technique of Chinese massage that targets acupuncture points. This erotic variant of acupressure has a very sexually stimulating effect.
Next, the Yellow Emperor is told why he should wait for the Four Achievements (of the Jade Stem): "If the Jade Stem is not angry, the man's harmonious essence has not yet arrived. If he is stiff but not hot, his spiritual muscular essence has not yet arrived. If he is big. but not yet stiff, his bone essence has not yet arrived. If he is unbending but not hot, his spirit essence has not yet arrived. " To bring about the desired union, all four conditions must be met, even if the man should already have an erection.
Next, the Yellow Emperor inquires about the Nine Essences of the woman. He wants to know what is behind them and how he can determine that they have been awakened. To this the Mysterious Lady replies, "When a woman sighs deeply and swallows, her Lung Essence has been awakened. When she utters little cries and sucks his lips, her heart essence has been awakened. When her yin gate is moist and slippery, her kidney essence has been awakened. When she clutches and holds the man, her spleen essence has been awakened. When she bites him tenderly, her bone essence has been awakened. Finally, when she plays with his jade stick, her blood essence has been awakened."
The Elemental Girl explains the Five Desires, "When a woman holds her breath and restrains her energy, her mind desires sexual union. When her nostrils and mouth open, her yin gate desires union. When she suddenly clutches the man, she desires climax.
When her sweat soaks her clothes, her heart desires fulfilment. When she stretches her body and closes her eyes, she is close to ecstasy." Next, the Five Symptoms in women are mentioned, along with recommendations for appropriate male behavior: "When her face is flushed, you should gradually begin the union. If her breasts are full and beads of sweat appear on her nose, you should insert the jade stick slowly. When her throat is dry and she starts to swallow, you should move the jade stick back and forth leisurely. If her grotto is slippery. you should slowly penetrate her depths. When her juices overflow to her buttocks, you should slowly withdraw the jade stick ." This advice from the Elemental Girl concerns the early stages of the union before it begins to become passionate.
In addition, the Elemental Girl discusses the Ten Movements of the Woman in the Sweet Agonies of Passion. She advises the woman to remain strong: "When she clasps him with her arms, she demands that their bodies press against each other and that their genitals touch. If she opens her thighs, she wants to rub her upper pubis against him. If she pulls in her belly, she desires orgasm. If she shakes her buttocks, she desires to be cut open deeply to the right and to the left. When she lifts her body against his, her pleasure is excessive. When she stretches. her limbs and body are ravished.
Taoist teachings offer neither religion nor marriage as a means to balance, but rather the intimate connection and merging of subtle inner energies called Yin and Yang. Man is encouraged to develop, increase and keep with himself his natural inner life force, Chi.
First, we must become aware of the divine and subtle energies, and then balance them in our bodies. For this purpose, senses that are still dormant in us must be awakened. Purely physical exercises, as well as mental, meditative postures, are to be applied for this 'awakening' in order to master the feeling and moving of the Chi in the body. Since the potential for this lies dormant in every human being, everyone can learn this. All my students were able to feel the Chi as soon as they learned how to look inside and what to pay attention to. Only in the duration of this 'awakening' do individual people differ.
Sexuality is used in Tantra as a means of expanding consciousness, as a particularly powerful method. One way is to use sexuality as a means of awakening.
Central features of sexual tantric practice are long unions, energy channelling, retention of semen, and alternative forms of orgasm. Tantra is much about certain alchemical methods that evolve from the composition of sexual elixirs.
From the Taoist point of view, sexual power is the strongest manifestation of Chi in our body. If we can hold this volatile force, it is an indispensable step towards self-healing. The practices of Healing Love, Five Elements Fusion and Kan & Li are a roadmap for this spiritual path.