108 Days of Kung Fu Power

We Suck :|

2007-10-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

We made it 27 days. I didn't notice all that much increase in power, but Neil said there was some noticeable improvement.

Neil wasn't actually feeling all that well, too much yang energy was the theory, so we decided to end the project... for now.

Perhaps after the winter holiday season we'll start it up again...

Thanks for reading!

./Aram

Day 22: This project sucks

2007-09-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to point that out, in case anyone was wondering.

We did make it 3 weeks so far, which is neat. I'll leave it at that and ignore the timer on the right telling me how many days remain.

It's just better that way.

./Aram

Day 18 Observations

2007-09-22T20:18:00.001-07:00

So Neil and I were talking, and I was trying to figure out what effect all this was having. I mentioned that it felt easier to 'mobilize' qi in my qigongs and standing post meditation. It may be pure mental imagery, but it was just my observations. Neil mentioned that he was feeling the same way, and he felt 'heavier' as he mentioned a few posts ago. This is encouraging for me, as I really don't know what I'm doing. To have my observations in line with a long-time practitioner of gongfu during this project is a good sign, even though we are obviously at vastly different levels of both internal and external skill.

To be honest, I figured that when we made it through the 108 days, I assumed Neil would have reached his goal, and notice a huge change. I really didn't think I'd honestly feel anything, mostly due to my lack of skill and sensitivity to energetic gongfu stuff. To even feel a tiny bit at this point is great, yet, as many people will point out, purely a personal observation.

Here's the updated chart:

./Aram

Day 15, Spirits are high

2007-09-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

Well, day 15, and a personal record for me! Frustration has been way down too, but that may be a function of less teasing from my wife. I'll make sure that both Neil and I update our chart and I'll put it in my next post. I believe that the chart will auto-update, but this way it stays on the front page...

I hurt my back around day 9 or so, so I've had very little kung fu until about day 13. I've resumed my Qigong and bagua practice. I don't really notice a difference, but perhaps this is so slow a process, I won't even feel it. I hope that maybe Neil will be able to tell a difference in the way my kung fu is now. It's hard to say if I move better/feel 'full' as there has been no practice.. maybe when I iron out the kinks, I'll be shocked at how everything feels!

./Aram

Day 8

2007-09-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

So Day 8 begins....

I have noticed a real spike in the frustration levels in the past few day but they seem to be subsiding. I also though that Arams approach to the 108 is interesting. Not having an intense period of "extra" training so that a real control is placed and results should be felt as to whether or not the 108 days of celibacy make a difference in the production of Jing and Qi or if all the stories are really about 108 days of intense training make you feel better (well duh...).
Anyway I have been practicing some baguazhang each day and some taijiquan on my own aside from the gongfu I am doing while teaching classes. I did start to feel a "fullness" a couple of days ago, but now that feeling has subsided somewhat. I am wondering though if it has to do with the perspective of my own feelings and my closeness to them. Meaning that as the jing grows I feel different but then most likely get used to that feeling. I have noticed however that in qigong and internal practices that my qi is seeming to flow more strongly and smoothly already... Things are looking good with 100 days left to go!

Day 5 and 6 update

2007-09-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

Day 5 Training:

External:
Tornado Fist, 16 Dragon, Praying Buddha

Day 6 (so far) Training:

Internal:
8 Brocade Qigong
Bagua Circle Walking, Palm Change 1

I don't really notice a change in my internal power yet. I was talking about this with a friend earlier today, and he figures that it's the focus on the 'task', and not the 108 days itself, that increases your power. The extra training, diet etc that people usually take on during these times also contribute to the 'feeling powerful". It makes sense, and I mentioned that in the beginning: except for the celibacy, I'm trying to keep all other things as normal as possible during this time. The extra training may make a difference for me, but I'll take that risk in exchange for having something to keep my mind on track!

./Aram

Aram: 4 Day Summary

2007-09-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here's my summary so far:

Day 1-2

Internal:

8 Brocade Qigong
Baguazhang Circle walking (only about 6-7 minutes, the kids were around :))
Bagua Palm Change 1, both sides

External Bayingquan Forms:
Dragon Pole (empty-handed)
Tornado Fist
Regular Thursday Class on Day 2

Day 3

Internal:

8 Brocade Qigong
Baguazhang Circle Walking: 12-13 mins
Palm Change 1 (it's starting to feel better as I practice it more, oddly enough!)
Standing Post Qigong (aka Rice Bowl Qigong)

External Bayingquan:

Tornado Fist
Dragon Pole

Day 4 hasn't happened yet, I'll probably post later tonight about it. I'd really like to start getting up earlier and slide some meditation in, but that would be well, early. We have a demo at the Creston Fall Fair today; I think we're all pretty pumped about it. If the pics turn out, I'll put a few in here.

I'd like to say I feel a difference, but I don't...yet. Considering we're only 3.7% of the way into the project, I'm not too worried. Some people have asked why we don't do a full lifestyle change with this, eat right, quit drinking (which we are, actually), etc. I think it would be a great idea, however, I think it would interfere in nailing down the relationship of Jing retention and Kung Fu Power. We're off the sauce (not heavy drinkers at all anyway) just because it really isn't all that good for you, but cutting other things out may be too much, both in trying to personally determine if this 108 day thing works, and for sanity purposes. If I can't substitute candy for sex, I think I'd crack up. :)

./Aram

2007-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

105 left to go.....

Nothing too new today although I did feel a bit more "full" when practicing my qigong....

Day 3
Yang Taijiquan 24
Chen Taijiquan Yilu
San Lao Zhang Baguazhang
Iron Shirt qiqong

Day 2

2007-09-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well spirits are high I would say here on Day 2 of the longest 108 days of my life.....
Practice schedule today is:
Day 2 - Neil
Chen Taijiquan Yilu
Iron Shirt qigong
External gongfu practice:
Double daggers, shi liu long, qi xing quan.... the of course class tonight.....

No real difference yet in qigong feelings but only time will tell...

The Game is Afoot

2007-09-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, so this is Neil on our first day of the 108 Days of Kung Fu Power. Now this topic got a lot of attention the other night on our radio show the "Red Jade Philosophy Hour" including call-ins and of course some new votes on the poll as to whether or not we even have a hope in hell of succeeding in 108 days of celibacy...

The idea behind this entire experiment is the refinement and production of Jing. Now in Chinese medicine and martial arts the energy of life Qi (chi) is created through a refinement of another energy in the body known as jing (essence). Now Jing is, in men, physically manifested as semen and only when you are somewhat celibate and practice qigong and martial techniques designed to build jing does it slowly become refined and converted to qi. Now since Qi is the vital energy of life and is used for martial arts, energetic healing, meditation practices and so on one really is looking to have a good deal of qi in order to proceed towards the goal is UNSTOPPABLE KUNG FU POWER.... er, or enlightenment, whichever comes first....

Now the energy of enlightenment is known as Shen (spirit) and Shen is produced through a refining of qi. But in order for this to happen ones qi must be robust and healthy, thus filling the Dantien (storehouse for Qi). So to sum it all up jing when gathered for a period of time (like 108 days) will be refined into Qi and continue to gather in Dantien which is then refined into Shen and helps to continue one on their path to enlightenment.
The 108 days comes from an old Chinese saying "100 days to build a foundation." Which means that for one to have a foundation to build upon in any skill one must practice that skill for a least 100 uninterrupted days. Of course the practice continues after this time but 100 days is said to be enough to really get somewhere. My taijiquan teacher Chen Zhonghua was an adamant supporter of the 100 days of celibacy to create a foundation of jing upon which your qigong practice is formed and based and it was when I was training under him that I started to look seriously for references to this practice and what exactly it was supposed to do for you. ('Cause to be honest 100 days without sex is not exactly my idea of a good time)... Upon further research I found the information on Taoist alchemy about this practice of celibacy and what it did. The Taoist text referred to "resetting" the male jing supply to before one ever lost their virginity... or at least started to release... er, jing. After which tie if one were to stick to the Taoist sexual practice schedule one would always be training the jing to refine into qi into shen etc, on the ladder up to immortality.
Well I have been planning to give it a real try for years now and with the support of my wife LeAnne (who is so pleased I will be leaving her alone for 3 WHOLE months) we are going for it. 108 days of intense kung fu practice, qigong and internal alchemy to build a true foundation. It gonna be interesting to see what actually comes of it as we go along and how things change in our practice. I once did 26 days of this practice and found a real difference starting at about 16 days in my energy level and ability in various internal alchemical practices so I think there really is something to the practice... at least I sure hope so... I sure hope so......

We will keep you posted...

Day 1 Practice - Neil
Chen Taijiquan Yilu
Taijiquan Iron Shirt practice
Macrocosmic orbit

felt pretty normal so far.....

Fancy Chart Time

2007-09-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

I thought that, for fun, I'd put up a graphic representation of our observations on the build-up of power, and offset it with our frustration. Nobody likes data, everybody likes graphs!

It should update as we go, providing we keep plunking in the numbers. I put us at estimated starting points for now, I'll get Neil to put in his numbers to start later on. I may add this to the side eventually too...

./Aram

Game On!

2007-09-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

I took too much time writing that last post (which you should read) and we're now 11 minutes into the project. Holding fast, spirits are high. Neil is smarter, and probably has gone to bed. I shall do the same.

./Aram

Final thoughts before launch

2007-09-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

OK, finally added our actual accounts, so we can post as each other. The start of the project is imminent, and we're excited about it. If one can be excited about sexual suicide, we're there. Oh yes.

We had kung fu class tonight, an extended 3.5 hour session. I'm worn out, but I did get a chance to talk to Neil about what we should train, to keep our mind off of our self-inflicted condition.

I should make a quick aside here: Neil is my Sifu, he is my Kung Fu teacher, and a very good one at that. We are also friends, and I asked him, as is proper, what I should be calling him outside of class; thus the first name action here. I wanted to clear up our dual friend and student-teacher interaction, as well point out that I did follow tradition on this, in case any other Kung Fu Folks are out there, shocked at my audacity to call Neil... well, Neil. I really make all the best effort to switch mindsets when I enter the school, and I think that's important in a Chinese family style like Bayingquan. Very different from the Japanese and Korean arts I dabbled with previously!

Ok, enough of that. I think that it's going to be hard to fill out all 108 days with talk of our increasing frustration, so I'm sure we'll return to the topic of Kung Fu many times. In fact, that's what I wanted to note here: my training ideas for keeping my mind focussed.

I'm going to work on several Kung Fu-ish things:

Meditation. I'm going to use various eastern meditation techniques and develop my awareness of Dantian, develop my powers of concentration and relaxation techniques.
Qigong. 8 Brocade, Standing Post (Rice Bowl) and Bagua Circle Walking will fit here. I'll post more on the techniques I'll be working on, as well as my progress and observations.
Baguazhang. Not just circle walking here, but I'm going to work on all 8 Palm Changes from Cheng Style, and work them so I really get them down. It's a start, at least.

Funny enough, it was a great article on Bagua that got me onto this 108 days...thing. Here is the article, about Mr. Ma Chuanxu, a VERY accomplished Bagua Master. He goes way farther than we are doing, and states that one must have very good neigong (internal skill) before even starting basic Bagua training. 3 years of celibacy is required, and 10 years to master the internal energies. I know I can't go that far. I'll probably be dying at day 5.

Only a few minutes left!

./Aram

Intro, and thanks to the Red Jade Philosophy Hour

2007-09-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

It was great to have this blog mentioned on the radio show, CIDO 97.7FM, Creston Community Radio. Many thanks to Neil and Jase! The Red Jade Philosophy Hour airs Mondays at 21:00, and Thursdays at 10:00. If you're in the Creston area, tune in; many very heavy topics are discussed, and they've started to do live call-in shows too! I'll link to their podcast or whatever they have as soon as it's operational.

This blog is, indeed, the chronicles of our journey to achieve Real Kung Fu Power. Thank you for stopping by.

The idea is that Neil and I will abstain from sexual intercourse with our beautiful and understanding wives, thus halting the release of our vital essence (jing), for 108 days: starting Wednesday, September 5th. This should take us right up to the Winter Solstice. No particular reason for this date; it just sounded very auspicious. We do this for several reasons:

First, to try and increase our martial abilities. We want to be super-sweet Kung Fu Guys, and any edge you can get (especially for me, a 6-month-old student) is obviously beneficial.

Second, this process of jing conservation has been talked about, joked about, and wondered about for several months. We want to know the truth of this old legend/training practice. It's a form of martial science, however rudimentary: we want to discover the truth. If it works for us, at least maybe our personal journey (read: suffering) will be of some benefit to martial artists everywhere.

Third, this, in addition to the martial advantages, may be a way to improve health, energy, qi (chi) and, with regular Qigong practice during the experiment, make us more energetically inclined. I'll leave it to Neil to add his bit to this; I assume that we have different reasons for doing this. I'd like to turn this into a bit of an education on the topic, as well as surrounding topics such as neigong (internal skill), kung fu itself (sometimes referred to as gongfu here) and some of the terms and ideas involved in this project. If you don't ever want to do your 108 days, at least you'll come away, hopefully, on some important martial arts concepts.

This blog will chronicle our progress. I'm hoping to have some sort of count-down, and maybe a graph detailing our perception of, er, frustration, as well as some sort of way to record our real and/or perceived Kung Fu Power.

I quite enjoy Jase's idea for a graph: the seX Axis and the Y Am I Doing This Axis.

More to come on this, I'll fill out details of the 108 Days of Kung Fu Power project on the main page, and our hopes and dreams for this insanity as we go.

Feel free to email us: days108@gmail.com

./Aram