This topic gets a lot of attention in the Taiji and Qigong board but I thought I would bring it up here.
For those not familiar with the theory you might check out Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming’s book “Muscle Tendon Changing/Marrow Brain Washing Chi Gung.”
Anyways, I think the practice is a bunch of crap.
The concept that you can somehow use your body to turn semen into energy is ridiculous. It takes huges amounts of energy to convert matter to energy (e=mc2 anybody? where c is the speed of light!!!). The body is weakly electric but I don’t think that this has anything to do with sex.
I think this concept comes from Chinese cultural taboos and feelings of guilt about sex. It has to be legimated some way so it works its way into medical theory.
However, there is definitely a connection between motivation and sex. I think that too much sex can affect your focus and drive. It is a physiological phenomena caused by the release of neurotransmitters after sex. Too put it bluntly sex has a “calming” effect. This can detract from your training and this I believe is one of the reasons that this concept is prevalent in martial arts training.
We know that on the average ejaculation a man releases 200-500 million sperm from Western Science research. If we counted each of these sperm as a single unit of energy, keeping in mind that each of these units is capable of forming human life. If a person “houses” their sperm we also know that their body will naturally release it through nocturnal emission.
The inbetween time however between deciding that you are going to “house” your sperm, and the nocturnal emission, you will experience increased energy. This is the case as you yourself clearly stated that releasing it too often has effects on the body hence the reverse is housing it would have effects on the body as well.
All the chinese taoists decided to do was discover a way that the nocturnal emissions could be avoided and that the body could use this excess of energy for enhancing their lives before it was released through the nocturnal emissions.
These studies led to the lesser heavenly circle meditations and the greater heavenly circle meditations. Also from there other meditations came to exist such as Drawing the Nectar to the Golden Flower and so on.
Well, if having sex is depleting my martial ability due to the release of energy, I will make sure to drink some extra ginseng right after “disneyland” closes for the evening
Ejaculating often increases production of semen. Producing new cells or semen requires energy. This might have some effect. Keep in mind though that ejaculating often and thus increasing the semen production increases the quality of semen.
Exactly, the more semen your body has to make, the more energy it uses up. Look, I can’t hold a horse stance anywhere near as long if I’ve had sex the night before.
As for directly converting sperm into energy, I haven’t experienced that.
If we counted each of these sperm as a single unit of energy, keeping in mind that each of these units is capable of forming human life.
But we can’t. Your body makes sperm whether you use them or not. It always on the “ready” so to speak just in case some fertile woman is in the vicinity. The body expends metabolic energy to do this.
My understanding is that if you don’t ejaculate your body just reabsorbs the sperm. Meaning it breaks down the unused sperm into it constituent proteins, sugars and nucleic acids to reused by the body. It is a still a net loss of energy in this process. As it would be if you built a building only to tear it down again.
The effects that fajing describes I would attribute to the physiological effects that the body feels after ejaculation, specifically the neurotransmitters in the brain and to the sever muscular contractions of the perineum, back and legs.
But these are quantifiable physiological effects. And I don’t dispute their effect on the quality of training.
As to a rise in testerone levels after sex. I’ve heard that also. But I think that the other physiological effects negate this effect. That is you might be more aggressive from the testerone, but your feeling good so you are not inclined to do anything about it.
And to answer premiers question I’ve always had a girlfriend…hehehehe
I have never once said anything about not having sex, only mentioned the advantages of retaining semen. If you are not familiar with the taoist pillow arts, you only have yourself to blame.
I totally agree with not doing the horizontal hipthrusts before a fight (assuming of course you know you are going to be fighting). I watched a video with Rickson Gracie when he went over to japan (the video with todd hays in the vale tudo match). He also did not have sex for a certain time period (3 days or weeks… i cannot remember). I think this is common knowledge among experienced fighters.
i thimk nexus is tallking about the practice of climaxing without ejaculating semen.
What seems to happen is that the semen is redirected into the bladder, where it stays until you pee.
Some people think that they keep the energy of the semen rather than dissipating it into their partner, (or tissue). probably nexus could explain that bit better
It’s a neat trick and avoids the dreaded wet sheet syndrome as a teenager
Theoretically speaking, matter is energy that ran out of energy and is still runnig out of enery. In Taoist eyes Yuan Shen (the origin/soul/spirit etc…) is the manifestation of energy or rather energy signature. As this energy running out of energy taking whichever form (ie Human), life unfolded at a predetermined rate. What ever action/activity (ie sex) is going to have an impact on the rate of deminishing form. To achieve the ultimate goal of immortality in Taosit practice, it is prudent then to eliminate actions that would derail the practitioner.
Culturally speaking, Buddhist and Taoist practices are rooted in asceticism. So having pleasurable experience don’t jive with that type of concept or “ideology”.
Physically speaking, the diet and activities that the monks have to go through their daily routine, already stress their energy expendenture. Sexual activity isn’t just about sperm. Having vigorous sex is like sparring or sprinting. The “lifestyle” of the monks (assuming they are doing MA as well) coupled with sex is highly likely going to exhaust them. In a way, Bruce Lee is an example of overtrained and possibly “having too much fun”.
Biologically speaking, a lot of the researches seems point to the harmful effects of retention (ie blockage to the ducts). So those type of things need to be taken into consideration before taking up the practice.
The golden rule is use in moderation. A lot of people have problem accepting procreation as recreation. Well we have to remember that once upon a time procreation of primates, like every other animals on the face of God’s green earth, is permissable only to the Alpha Male and its choosen receptive females. Thus the guilty feeling in sex as procreation for the average bloke or recreation (even if it is the Alpha Male) for that matter. Thousand of years later, we humans are still carrying that baggage with us. Case and point - ritual arts such as UFC and NHB to prove whose the Alpha Male. Sorry can’t help but taking jabs at them. LOL…
I dunno bout all those theories you guys disscuss…
Have you tried staying like 3 days without it and then doing qigong.
I surely noticed much stronger energy when i did that.
“It takes huges amounts of energy to convert matter to energy (e=mc2)”
Isn’t that the formula for how much energy matter becomes when it’s converted, and vice versa; rather than how much energy is required to produce the process?
“I think this concept comes from Chinese cultural taboos and feelings of guilt about sex.”
I don’t think this is a very logical conclusion. While the methods you’re alluding to talk about semen retention, they certainly don’t shy away from sex and pleasure. In fact, they discuss it quite in depth.
“My understanding is that if you don’t ejaculate your body just reabsorbs the sperm.”
In normal adult men, the body will ejaculate by all by itself if it has to.
“But these are quantifiable physiological effects.”
I’m not sure what your argument is. Would you be happier if you HADN’T found any physiological analogs to what the old taoists were talking about?
Stumblefist:
Try mixing in some microcosmic style intention/visualization.
Mantis108:
“Culturally speaking, Buddhist and Taoist practices are rooted in asceticism. So having pleasurable experience don’t jive with that type of concept or ‘ideology’.”
That certainly is NOT true of many, probably most Taoist sects.
GunnedDownAtrocity:
“if it’s taking longer than 3 hours you may want to re-evaluate your technique whatever it may be.”
Although I am aware that certain sects of Taoist (the religion) and even Buddhist alike allow sex and even develope techniques for it, but the bottom line is still about austerity and self-descipline. I have no idea why you would say that many and perhaps most Taoists practice are not rooted in asceticism? I would love to hear your agrument and example.
BTW, may be the word asceticism is misleading since there are different degrees in asceticism. IMHO Buddhism is in essence a moderate form of asectic practice and so is Taoism.
Sorry can’t help but taking jabs at them. LOL…