A little over two months ago I was lucky enough to meet a girl who was 100% on board with the whole tantric/karreza/sex without release bit. While I’d had these experiences in the past, they were few and far between, and I’d certainly never had a partner who was committed to helping me with this stuff. I figured I’d take some time off from posting and take a deep dive into the world of sex with Semen Retention.
This isn’t so much a guide or how-to style of post – I just wanted to share my experience and thoughts with the fam as well as explain my leave of absence. For any of the guys out there who are booed up and still want to practice Semen Retention – this post should be of great help.
Finding the right woman is PARAMOUNT
This is easily the most important aspect of the whole tantric sex/sex without release game. While you can meet a girl, have sex with her and (hopefully!) just not orgasm, she’s gonna think she’s either ugly, terrible in bed, something is busted with your junk or all of the above. If you explain things to her before doing the deed, at best she’ll think you’re weird, at worst she’ll call things off.
Finding the right woman goes beyond just open communication. My last serious long term relationship was not on board with me not orgasming. She said it made her feel insecure, like she wasn’t good in bed and like I didn’t enjoy myself. It was also very satisfying for her when I got off. Fair enough. No matter how much I tried to explain things to her, she was set in her ways, and honestly if a girl said she was never going to orgasm when we had sex, I’d probably feel like a failure too.
The right woman has to be patient. She has to have an evolved view of sex. Sex can no longer just be about bumpin’ uglies till a huge explosion of body fluids and expletives occurs. It becomes a long-term game, a means of stoking each other’s fires to ever higher and higher heights. Sex is no longer about just getting each other off, but a means of building up more and more energy and friction within the nervous system – with the occasional release, if your hedonic calendaring calls for it.
Communication is JUST as important
Obviously this practice is doomed from the get go if communication is not a top priority. In all likelihood the gal will have never heard of such a practice and be utterly confused. Unless you have a new age-y, hippy dippy granola type on your hands, I’d recommend just showing them the relationship between prolactin and dopamine, explaining how high prolactin and low dopamine turns you into a tame little puppy, not the savage go-getter you truly want to be. That alone should be enough to convince her of the benefits of this practice.
On top of that, she gets to play around with a partner who is looking for e x t e n d e d bouts of sex. Let’s face it fellas – most of us reach climax embarrassingly quickly, which leaves her feeling unsatisfied to say the least. She now has a partner committed to not only lasting a long time in bed, but of putting her sexual needs before his own! Sex without ejaculation is powerful for a man; sex without ejaculation where the woman orgasms is even more powerful.
“For men, frequent intercourse with infrequent ejaculation is the key technique for cultivating sexual essence and energy. Furthermore, retaining semen during intercourse enables a man to not only preserve and reabsorb his own essence, it also enables him to prolong the act sufficiently for his partner to reach full orgasm, thereby releasing her most potent secretions for his benefit. In effect, he ‘kills two birds with one stone’, preserving his own essence while releasing and absorbing hers.” – The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity, Daniel Reid
You WILL mess up
It is to be expected that, especially in the beginning, you will lose your control and come when you didn’t want to. Even with all the tricks up my sleeve there were a few times these past couple of months where I went too far and came when I didn’t want to.
Don’t beat yourself up over it! It’s all part of the learning curve. Get back on the horse, double down on your Jing-boosting herbs and get back at it. It isn’t the end of the world and if you’re using herbs and able to have sex without ejaculation, you’ll bring that sexual energy right back up.
Speaking of which…
The sexual energy gained from prolonged sex without ejaculation is INSANE
The amount of sexual energy you build up and are able to circulate with tantric sex is out of this world. It blows anything else out of the water, even the more powerful herbs which we haven’t discussed yet.
It’s the equivalent of plugging into the well of primordial life energy and just JUICING up. That said – this is why you need to have laid a proper groundwork for these practices. You absolutely can short circuit yourself doing these practices if you aren’t prepared. Remember, we’re learning to build up ecstatic energy within the nervous system, causing a cascade of changes within the hormonal/bioelectric systems of the body – the nervous and endocrine systems. This is nothing short of hacking into ecstatic states of consciousness – it’s not something to be taken lightly.
The foundation remains CRITICAL
Again, we are learning to cultivate a type of energy within the nervous system, an energy that affects hormones and, in fact, extends many feet out from the body. You absolutely must prepare the nervous system for handling higher loads of prana/Qi or the results will range from uncomfortable to psych ward. Just look into kundalini syndromeif you have your doubts.
This is why I espouse the benefits of yoga so much – through its postures, breathing exercises and meditation you strengthen and gain control of the nervous system, allowing it to handle the higher wattage produced from Semen Retention and tantric sex. The postures squeeze and tone the endocrine system, regulating and optimizing hormones. The breathing exercises directly regulate the nervous system, and meditation strengthens and calms the mind. It is the perfect complementary practice to Semen Retention, which is why Brahmacharya is an integral part of higher yoga practices.
This is NOT for beginners
It goes without saying, but this practice is absolutely not for beginners. Those starting on the path need lots of time to get used to building and working with sexual energy, carnal desires, and the biological urge to procreate. You MUST master these urges before you attempt to have sex w/o release.
The ONLY exception to this rule is for those that want to begin Semen Retention while already in a relationship. Practice all the techniques solo, then practice them while edging, and then get your lady on board and try it out during sex. You’ll still need to tamper and modify your sex life, but I can’t paint in broad strokes in regards to people’s individual sex lives – you’ll have to tailor that as you see fit.
Most helpful practices
By far the most beneficial practice for sex without release is kegels. In yoga this is known as vajroli mudra, which means thunderbolt gesture, and which I haven’t touched upon much yet. Besides the yogic theory behind it, vajroli mudra is essentially identical to kegels, which hopefully you sons a bitches have been practicing. Do kegels often, whenever you think to. Quick short holds, medium length holds, longer holds, and don’t forget reverse kegels, where it feels like you’re trying to piss as fast as possible. An easy regimen would be 20 pulsed quick holds, 10 medium length holds (2-3 seconds), 5 long holds (5 seconds), and 10 reverse kegels, held for 3 seconds. Do this routine once or twice a day.
The next would be testicle breathing. This is almost identical to the spinal breathing we’ve been discussing in previous posts, except it involves a few tweaks, namely a coordinated combination of kegels, breathing and contracting the muscles around the perineum/prostate. In its complete form, it also involves bringing that energy down the front channel and storing it in the third chakra – this will be detailed in an upcoming post. While kegels help you to not come too fast, testicle breathing helps you to draw that sexual energy upward and away from your dick, which not only helps prevent orgasm, but recharges the entire body/mind complex with fresh, juicy sexual energy. This is not as difficult to perform during sex as you would think, especially if you have been practicing it during solo masturbation sessions.
Schisandra is a great help in keeping your seed inside. It doesn’t compare to having practiced and mastered kegels or testicle breathing, but in a game where so much is at stake, every little bit helps. Not only does it boost your sexual energy and sperm production, its astringent qualities help to lock both semen and sexual energy inside, so you don’t lose your precious seed during sex.
One factor reigns supreme in all of this though, and is more important than any technique available – a willing and understanding partner. When you’re in the heat of the moment and she’s grinding her hips and pelvis into you, pulling you deeper and deeper inside and asking you to fuck her harder… Good luck, buddy. If you and she aren’t on the same page it’s almost a guarantee you’ll lose your seed.
You have to rethink how you go about having sex in general. The goal is no longer to reach orgasm – no more pounding away like porn has taught you (which isn’t what most women want anyway), no more jackrabbiting, no more sexual bravado. Sex is no longer a race or a battle or a conquest – take your damn time, enjoy yourself. Pull out if you’re getting too close to orgasm and explore the rest of her body, give yourself time to cool off.
And while you’ll be lasting longer, the goal also shouldn’t be for her to orgasm, though this should be much easier and is beneficial for you too. The goal is now to cultivate sexual energy, getting close to orgasm, slowing down and circulating it, and then repeating the process… All the while remembering that your lady needs pleasing too.
For all you SR homies that aren’t as much into the esoteric and more into the down-to-earth, this post is for you.
Motivation
Think back to Post 1. I argued that retaining is a just a means to an end, that end being enhancing a type of energy called Jing. Jing is our vitality, which can be physically described as the sum total of our hormones, neurotransmitters, immune system and DNA integrity.
An interesting thing happens to a man during orgasm. Prolactin explodes onto the scene, and dopamine plummets.
Dopamine is that feel-good, tons of confidence, get shit done neurotransmitter. It’s key to confidence and motivation. We want dopamine, and we want it in abundance.
Prolactin is a necessary hormone even for men, just like estrogen is.. But it’s also the hormone responsible for breast growth and lactation in women. As guys, we want the bare minimum of prolactin floating around.
That sudden depletion of dopamine and surge in prolactin is why guys feel like they “lose their power” after “relapsing”. It’s a sudden diminishing of Jing.
Now the good news is, if you retain for 6 months and then have sex, you don’t go all the way back to square one. It sets you back, but not all the way to the beginning. Even better news, certain techniques can be used as “harm reduction” to prevent the loss of Jing and to quickly replenish it if this does happen. That is beyond the scope of this post, but I’ll get into this as we go deeper down the rabbit hole.
Back to hormones and neurotransmitters –
Low dopamine levels are associated with depression, low energy, lack of ambition, social anxiety, among others (Dailly et al., 2004).
Why does dopamine drop? Well, to make sure we attend to other aspects of our life, our brains come hardwired with a neurochemical mechanism of satiety. Prolactin, another hormone, surges right after orgasm, and is considered a reliable marker of such (Kruger et al., 2003). Prolactin works as a dopamine inhibitor, curtailing our sex drives once we consummate orgasm and providing us with feelings of satiation and sexual gratification. So the happy feelings impulsed by orgasm are carried along by prolactin. These secretions are relatively long-lasting after orgasm (Kruger et al., 2012).
Now prolactin doesn’t just curtail our sex drives, it curtails our drive in general. And studies have shown this dip in dopamine takes about two weeks to recover. That’s a looooong time to have reduced drive, energy and confidence..
When we practice semen retention, we’re trying to “stay hungry” and accomplish goals, but prolactin is a “neruochemical mechanism of satiety”. No bueno.Sweet, Sweet Dopamine
The problem is, jacking off and prolactin isn’t the only thing fucking with our dopamine system. Remember, high dopamine = lots of motivation, drive, desire, and confidence. This is why people love drugs like Adderall and cocaine, and why, if they have nothing better to focus on, they clean the shit out of their apartments. They’re on a dopamine high and gotta do something, anything.
But we live in a world that is beyond oversaturated with things that stimulate dopamine release. They’re massive time-wasters, and they fuck up our dopaminergic systems.
They hack into our brain’s reward system and prevents us actually getting things done.
Neurochemistry 101
I’ll keep this short guys. In the brain you have these chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. They fit into receptors, much like a lock and key. It’s important to remember that the brain and body are always trying to maintain homeostasis.
If the brain detects too much of a certain neurotransmitter, it reacts to maintain this homeostasis. If there is too much dopamine in certain parts of the brain, the brain first ceases to release more dopamine. If that doesn’t fix it, it de-sensitizes dopamine receptors. If that still doesn’t fix it, it starts removing dopamine receptors completely!
This is how addiction comes about. Look at the image below – see how amphetamine looks almost identical to dopamine? It fits right into that receptor, and over time your body down-regulatesdopamine receptors, meaning you need more and more of the drug to get high, and feel worse and worse when you don’t have it.
This is how porn in particular, and modern society in general, have been able to ensnare us in their clutches – they make our brain less and less sensitive to its own neurotransmitters. You need more and more stimulus (more exciting video games, kinkier and kinkier porn) to get the same dopamine release, and things that you once found interesting (books, sports, conversations with friends, whatever), are no longer stimulating enough.
Food is literally engineered by scientists to hack into our reward system. Why eat anything healthy and nutritious when there are Cheetos in the cupboard and Mountain Dew in the fridge? Why eat a nice, big salmon salad when I can just pop in a pizza that floods my brain with dopamine and endorphins and leaves me comatose on the couch afterwards?
Social media, with its fast pace, endless novelty in the never-ending scrolling, and system of intermittent reinforcement is addictive as hell. Why go through the work of actually hanging out with friends and family? God, you gotta sit there, actually listen to what they say, and then formulate a response? Not enough dopamine for me, I’d rather do the scroll of death or post a photo and revel in the brief, short squirts of dopamine I get with each like.
TV shows, immersive video/PC games, constant music playing.. Again, engineered to be addictive and hack into our reward system. Who has the time to learn actual skill sets? To learn how to play a musical instrument? To read a book? How many more pages do I gotta read till I get some damn dopamine?
And of course, our personal favorite.. We can have “virtual sex” at any time with an ever increasing variety of women with bodies that are just rarely found in real life. Why go out and try to meet actual women (and face possible “rejection”), when we can stay at home and get off to our weirdest, kinkiest desires? You know how long it’s gonna take to get my hit of dopamine by actually trying to learn to talk to girls?
I could go on and on here, but the point is that we’re constantly bombarded by things that trap us in this negative hedonic feedback loop. How are you going to accomplish anything when you can’t make it past your fuckin’ cell phone?
Now here’s a caveat – the less you partake in dopamine-depleting acts, the more dopamine your brain has for daily life, and the less you’ll crave these time wasters. This is why after a certain amount of time, you longer no miss porn. It doesn’t even sound appealing.
As time goes on, and your receptors become re-sensitized, they become that much more sensitive to dopamine. Things that are “less exciting”, but probably more beneficial, become more enjoyable. That’s a big win. That said, addictive behavior becomes that much more pleasurable. So you gotta be careful, because it could quickly spiral way out of control.
Our goal then is to re-sensitize our brains to our own natural production of dopamine, and use to it ravage our women and crush our enemies. I mean, uh, to accomplish goals and shit.
The True Meaning of Brahmacharya
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”– Blaise Pascal
I would argue that preserving dopamine is as important as preserving semen. Really.
Semen retention is the doorway to realizing this. Semen retention is step one.
People think Brahmacharya is just celibacy. The word literally means “to live in higher awareness”. What does this mean in relation to semen retention? Yes, retain. But you must also not squander your dopamine, just like you wouldn’t squander your seed.
You are in the market, but not to buy anything.
This is a very important concept, and is the true meaning of Brahmacharya. It means you are immune to the seductions of the world,and those seductions come in the form of enslavement to dopamine.
You have controlled your lust for sensual pleasure, sensual pleasure meaning pleasure derived from any of the senses! One who has command over his mind and its lust for constant stimulation – that is a true Brahmachari.
It goes far beyond celibacy.
If you can’t get through a few pages of a book without going crazy with the itch for dopamine, you need to work on this.
If you can’t go even 20 minutes, never mind an hour, without checking your phone, your Snapchat, your texts.. You need a lot of work here.
Can’t go a couple days without gaming? Need to work on this.
If you can’t eat a home cooked meal without enjoying the flavor, and coming away satisfied, you need to work on this.
Perhaps most terrifying of all.. can you just sit and be still with your thoughts for five minutes? Ten? No phone, just you and yourself? Go to the local park, leave your phone at home, and just watch the world go by for 15 minutes. It will be torturous. Now ask yourself why the hell simply being is such a painful thing? I dare you to try out a float tank some time.
Addicted to Comfort
We’re addicted to the good feelings dopamine provides us, but we’re also addicted to our modern comforts. We’re weak, weak little babies, and the slightest discomfort makes us cry for mommy.
This is where Stoicism and guys like David Goggins and Jocko Willink come in. According to Stoic philosophy, “the path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world”. Stoicism doesn’t mean running from pleasure, but it does mean not mindlessly chasing it or shirking from a little discomfort.
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of laziness, fear and discomfort, and it would do you well to remember this. Conquer those three, and you’ve conquered yourself.
If y’all aren’t familiar with David Goggins yet.. Y’all are missing out. The guy went from a self-proclaimed pussy to probably the toughest guy out there, being the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. Then he went on to break a fuckton of records, including the Guinness World Record for pull-ups, completing 4,030 in 17 hours.
Funny thing is, he started off as a self-proclaimed pussy, clocking in at 300 lbs.
Regaining dopaminergic tone only takes you so far – you’ll only be motivated to do things in order to get that dopamine hit, and that’s powerful, that gets the ball rolling, but it only takes you halfway. You gotta push past discomfort to be truly outstanding, or to be “Uncommon amongst uncommon men“, as Goggins put it. Motivation is what gets you started – discipline is what keeps you going.
Figure out ways to practice and embrace discomfort, and, key to this practice, reframe it as something positive. You gotta heat iron to 2750 degrees and then beat the living shit out of it forge a sword, so use the heat of discomfort to make the mind malleable and then beat the shit out of it with difficult endeavors to forge a mind that isn’t weak, that doesn’t constantly chase after the tiniest empty pleasures and mortal comforts.
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline.. Discipline equals Freedom” – Jocko Willink
“I had to build this callused mind, and I built it through suffering… I wanted to be a man who detested mediocrity.. This motherfucker is gonna keep coming after whatever the fuck is in front of him.” David Goggins on JRE #1080
Tapas – Toughness Training
Each time you say no to a useless urge that pops into your head, you level up. You build up personal power. It’s that simple. Any time you practice something that is good for you, but that is difficult and that you don’t want to do, boom, you level up again. This is callusing the mind. Do this enough times, and one day a Warrior is born.
In yoga there is a concept known as Tapas, or spiritual austerity. Just as heating ice turns it into water, and heating water turns it into vapor, Tapas is the inner heat that sublimates the energy we conserve by retaining into pure, fiery drive. The word tapas literally means “to burn”.
Any time you say no to an urge, or welcome and embrace discomfort in search of growth, you level up. It’s that simple.Thatis what tapas is all about.
Stop chasing empty stimulation.
Embrace discomfort.
Practices
So what is one to do?
Cut out empty, short-lived dopamine highs.
Train your brain to have to work for its dopamine hits.
Practice beneficial discomfort and adversity.
Dopamine “Fasting”
Set a time limit on your phone for your biggest time wasting apps. You have to use some discretion here. I first had mine set for 15 minutes, and I’d only allow scrolling for 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 in the evening, and that was for Instagram, Facebook and Reddit combined. Nowadays I just pop on each app in the morning to check notifications, then log off. I also don’t allow notifications from any apps except for Reddit, and that’s only so I can keep up with you fellas. That way I’m not constantly getting updates on my phone, draining my precious attention and dopamine. Check out the app Forest.
Cut out junk food and eat as much home-prepped, whole foods as possible. A lot of people only find snacks, fast food and restaurant food palatable. Their tastebuds have desensitized and they basically get no dopamine released from actual food. Time to change that.
Practice intermittent fasting – You gotta break the chains to food in general! I have a 8:16 feeding window – all my calories are consumed within 8 hours. This means I don’t eat until 10 am, and wrap up eating at 6 pm. Considering I’m asleep most of the fasting time, this is simple. Tons of other benefits, look it up.
Try occasional 24 hour fasts – Once you’re comfortable with IF, try out the occasional 24 hour fast. Eat a big breakfast, and then a big lunch. Stuff your face up until noon, and then no calories until noon the following day. Your first couple times you can drink some bone broth if you’re really hurting.
Fast for everything else – I highly suggest social media / gaming / Netflix fasts. Do one whole day with no screen time whatsoever. Then do a week. Every year take a whole month off. I can feel y’all cringing – if it makes you cringe thinking about it, then you know you need it. Do the same thing with whatever other addictions you have. You will be amazed at all the stuff you can accomplish when you cut back on social media, gaming and other time-wasters.
Start reducing consumption of booze, nicotine, caffeine, and other drugs. Again, this just floods your brain with dopamine. You’re burning through your Jing each time you drink booze, smoke a cig, pop an Adderall or drink a Redbull. You don’t have to quit, but reduce consumption of these things in general. Keep track and just slowly reduce.
Use nicotine/caffeine/booze for a purpose. Tie your addictions up to useful actions. I’ve whittled my caffeine use down to only before a workout or when writing. It’s become a tool, instead of an addiction. Smoke cigarettes? Start changing your habits so that you mostly smoke while you’re accomplishing some goal, or only as a reward. Love craft beer like me? You gotta earn that shit, son.
Practice “sitting still, doing nothing” – This is one of the ways Taoists refer to meditation. I’m a big fan of meditation, but even most forms of meditation involve doing something, focusing on something, visualizing, etc. Sitting still, doing nothing, and just being should be your litmus test for how well you’re beginning to progress on the dopamine recovery path – if you can just sit and be comfortable for 10 or 15 minutes, you’re well on your way.
Earn Your Dopamine
In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall – My Unbelievably True Life Story, he spoke about how as a child in Austria, his father used to make him do pushups each time he entered the kitchen, earning his meals. This always stuck with me.
A lot of people think that as guys, we have to earn our keep. This needs reframing.
As guys, we GET to earn our keep, and how glorious it is.
Set goals each day – start with 3, make ’em small, and stick the fuck to ’em. You want to achieve that “Winners Effect“, where success begets more success. We want to rewire our brain to meet challenges head on, to live off the highs of accomplishments, not mashing buttons while staring at a screen, endless scrolling of social media black holes, or beating our meat.
Put a price on things – 15 pushups each time you open the fridge. 20 air squats any time you leave the house. 20 burpees before any screen time that isn’t productive.
Easy Peasy or Worst First? A matter of personal preference here – some like accomplishing their biggest/least fun goal first and getting it out of the way. Other’s prefer to ride the high of smaller accomplishments and let that lead into bigger daily goals. Find which one works best for you.
Leverage your addictions – Set it up so that you can only take part in your biggest time wasters afteryou accomplish one of your goals for that day. That said, don’t accomplish one goal and spend the rest of the day lounging on Netflix.
Practice Adversity
Start waking up earlier – “The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win—you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.” – Jocko Willink
Cold showers – Lots of you guys are already doing this, and it has tons of benefits beyond toughness training. Cold exposure increases norepinephrine 200-300%, meaning an instant energy and motivation boost. It’s even been studied for its effects on depression. Start hot and end cold, do contrast showers, cold the whole time, or ice bath style.. However you wanna slice it, this is a great way to get used to being uncomfortable.
Exercise – if you already do it, great. You lift but hate running? Start running. You run only? Start lifting. Don’t exercise at all? Get the fuck on it.
Meditate – If you don’t meditate.. I just don’t have words. Your mind is the medium through which you interact with the world, and therefore shapes your entire existence. The mind is how you
Perceive the environment around you
Perceive your internal environment (emotions)
Get shit done
Meditation is the science of mastering your mind. If you’ve mastered your mind completely, you can get whatever you want done whenever you want it done, and will feel good doing it. There are a million ways to practice meditation. Find one you like and do it every single damn day. Period.
Embrace the Suck – doesn’t matter what that suck is. Hate your math class? Nut up and just do your homework. Hate running? Time to start. When you start to get the feeling of straightUGHjust thinking about it, recognize that as positive thing. That becomes the trigger for success! Befriend that feeling. Just remember, it will help you build that “calloused mind”, and you’ll get some dopamine upon completion, which is exactly what we want.
Feel the fear and do it anyway – This one might not be applicable for every single day, but if something scares you, that’s your cue to go ahead and do it. Don’t think, just act. Reframe it as excitement – in fact, fear and excitement are nearly identical internal states. We don’t run from discomfort, we welcome it. We don’t run from fear, we meet it head on.
In a nutshell, force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy doing, but that is beneficial. And when your mind tells you to quit, keep going until you reach your predetermined goal.
Another long post, fellas. Grab your favorite drink and settle in…
One of our favorite things about SR is suddenly we start to have a magnetic effect on those around us. It starts off as a subtle thing, but like with all things SR, it grows and grows. Like many of the best things in life, if you told the average bloke about it, they’d blow you off. But after retaining for a while, they too would realize that it’s not fantasy, it’s real.
I’m talking about that seemingly unexplainable magnetic aura we develop as we continue to build up our personal power. Girls pick right up on this, and it’s why all of a sudden you’re getting looks daily on the street, and why girls you’ve known for years suddenly make a lot more eye contact than they used to. Men pick up on this as well, though in quite a different way, and animals and especially kids are sensitive to your magnetic aura.
So why the hell would not jacking off cause this big shift in our aura? Pheromones might be playing a role, as they are present in semen. No doubt your body language plays a big role as well, considering the correlation between higher T levels/lower cortisol levels and body language. And I’m sure your palms losing all that hair makes a huuuuge difference.
But the real answer is that you’ve dramatically increased the actual energetic field around your body.
Ojas and the Pranamaya Kosha
Ok, so we know that by retaining semen, we conserve and build up our Jing/Ojas. Jing/Ojas is kind of like the fuel for Qi/Prana, our bioelectric energy. Simply by conserving, we build up Ojas which transforms into Prana.
The term Pranamaya kosha is the name ancient yogis gave this field of energy within and around them. So when we retain semen, that energy field grows larger and stronger, simply by the virtue that Jing transforms into Qi, or Ojas into Prana. But there are many, many ways to increase the strength and size of this field.
The Heart’s (Holographic?) Electromagnetic Field
According to the HeartMath Institute,
“The heart’s electrical field is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the electrical activity generated by the brain. This field, measured in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG), can be detected anywhere on the surface of the body. Furthermore, the magnetic field produced by the heart is more than 100 times greater in strength than the field generated by the brain and can be detected up to 3 feet away from the body, in all directions”.
According to Joseph Chilton Pearce in The Biology of Transcendence, about 80% of the brain’s mass is made up of glial cells, which acts like glue for our neurons, and these glial cells are electromagnetically sensitive. He explains that in the heart’s electromagnetic field, our glial cells pick up on information encoded in that field, and thus the energy our heart radiates affects our brain cells and our perception of the world around us.
“This torus function is apparently holographic, meaning that any point within the torus contains the information of the whole field. That is, at any location within the heart’s field, no matter how infinitesimal, all the frequencies of the heart’s spectrum are present.”
This 2019 study confirms that glial cells are affected by EMFs, concluding, “Elucidating the exact mechanisms of EMF actions upon microglia and astrocytes, and its role in neuro-restoration, could be a key step in further research of the therapeutic potential of EMFs in various neurological disorders.”
That’s all well and dandy, but who cares if my brain’s glial cells are picking up on my own heart-based electromagnetic field? Keep reading my friend.
Heart Rate Variability
Our heart rate variability (HRV) is the term given to the fact that our heart beat changes ever so slightly from moment to moment. This is a good thing – it means our heart is healthy and adapting to the level of stress we’re experiencing each and every time it beats. However, if you’re absolutely stressed out, sick, or unhealthy, you will have a lower HRV as the heart just pumps extremely steadily, almost like a metronome.
Think of it this way – when you first start out on a ten mile run, you’re feeling good, spry, light on your feet. Your brain and feet are quick to adjust to any changes in the terrain in front of you. By mile 9, however, low on energy and filled with stress hormones, you’re just mechanically slugging along, each foot-stroke identical to the last, just barely pushing yourself forward.
Same thing with the heart. If you’re healthy and in good spirits, your heart adapts to each minute change in your body’s environment. If you’re sick or overly stressed however, your heart just makes sure it keeps a steady pace.
Our HRV in any given moment affects the “feel” or “tone” of our electromagnetic field. But so do emotions.
The HeartMath Institute once again –
We have found there is a direct relationship between the heart-rhythm patterns and the spectral information encoded in the frequency spectra of the magnetic field radiated by the heart. Thus, information about a person’s emotional state is encoded in the heart’s magnetic field and is communicated throughout the body and into the external environment.
Most people tend to think of communication solely in terms of overt signals expressed through facial movements, voice qualities, gestures and body movements. However, evidence now supports the perspective that a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or “energetic” communication system operates just below our conscious level of awareness. The following section will discuss data that suggests this energetic system contributes to the “magnetic” attractions or repulsions that occur between individuals.
What I would like to posit is that other people’s electromagnetically sensitive glial cells can pick up on both the STRENGTH and the HEALTH of our own energy fields. A higher HRV correlates to a “healthier” pranic field. Further, our emotions likely affect resonance (positive emotions) or dissonance (negative emotions) of this field. This is why we seem to “radiate energy”, “glow”, and have magnetic auras.
Increasing the Strength and Health of our Magnetic Aura
Now the body is extremely interesting in that it has two large pumps and multiple “positive” and “negative” energy centers/channels within it.
Our heart is obviously one of the pumps. We can’t increase its strength/output much, but we canincrease the coherence of its EMF by improving our HRV. The second pump within the body is manytimes greater in size than the heart – our diaphragm. Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. You might think you used your lungs in order to do this.. But the lungs have no muscle tissue! You were using your diaphragm.
By making sure we take deep, controlled breaths (pranayama), we are able to effectively pump and circulate energy through our electromagnetic field. Yoga postures have the same effect as well – not only do the movements and postures massage endocrine glands and enhance Jing/Ojas, but they clear the energetic channels (nadis) through which the prana flows. The exercises of Qi Gong do the exact same thing.
Yoga, by which I mean the postures, breathing exercises, and meditation, is probably the most effective way to reduce stress and improve HRV! Through yoga and Qi Gong, we can dramatically increase the size, strength, and health of our “auras”.
The ability of yoga to influence autonomic function has been the subject of numerous studies that suggest that yoga practices reduce autonomic arousal and assist with a wide range of stress-related disorders… Yoga practices, including meditation, relaxation, yoga postures, breathing, and integrated practices, appear to improve autonomic regulation and enhance vagal dominance as reflected by HRV measures
If some of you don’t like yoga, Qi Gong, breathing exercises and meditation, that’s totally fine. You can just practice SR and still reap some of these benefits. Keep stress low, eat clean foods and get plenty of sleep.
If you want to dramatically enhance your aura, keep reading.
Strengthening The Aura
Improving Auric Shine
This can be in tons of ways. Basically, just be healthy and reduce stress levels. Eat clean, nutritious foods, get good sleep, exercise, get sunlight and practice PMA, that positive mental attitude. Most of y’all are already doing this.
If you really wanna increase your personal magnetism, start getting regular with the routine I gave you back in post two. It’s super easy and takes no time at all.
I’ve been into yoga and meditation for a long time now, ten years to be exact. But I haven’t been a daily practitioner for those ten years, and in fact, while I’ve kept up a very healthy lifestyle, the last few years I’ve barely done it all. Shameful, I know.
4 months ago, however, I started making sure to do it regularly. Here are the results on my HRV –
That’s huge!
So keep up the asanas, and feel free to add more if you like.
Positive, Negative and Neutral Nadis
There are 3 main nadis, or energy channels through which prana flows through (and a 4th one that we will be harnessing later specifically for sublimation purposes). Those three main nadis are sushumna, ida and pingala.
Going into detail of each nadi is enough information to write a book about, so for now I will just say that ida is negatively charged, pingala positively charged, and sushumna is neutral. Ida is sometimes referred to as the chandra, meaning moon, and pingala as surya nadi, the sun channel.
Breathing through the left nostril moves prana through ida, breathing through the right moves prana through pingala. Now, Sushumna is generally closed off in most people. One of the goals in yoga, and specifically in nadi shodhana and spinal breathing pranayamas, is to clear out and awaken this nadi. In fact, if you want sublimation of sexual energy to be most effective, this nadi is key – this is how the sexual energy flows upward.
Positively and Negatively Charged Energy Centers
Within the yogic map of the energy body there are both channels and energy centers. These centers are referred to as chakras, and the 7 main ones are shown in the photo above. Each correlate to certain powers and faculties of mind, psychological concepts, endocrine glands, etc.
Right now we are only interested in two – Mooladhara and Ajna chakras. Mooladhara is often thought of as the chakra at the base of the spine, but it is in fact in the perineum, and is the seat of ida, pingalaand sushumna nadis. Ajna chakra is at the top of the spinal cord and is the last chakra that ida and pingala pierce, before flowing out of the nostrils. Sushumna goes beyond Ajna to the chakra at the crown of the head.
As you can probably guess by now, sublimation is all about moving the sexual energy from the lower chakras up to the higher chakras! More energy to the solar plexus chakra and you increase your personal power. Sublimate to the heart chakra and you have increased capacity for love, compassion, goodwill and you generally feel amazing. More energy to the throat chakra, you become gifted in speech. To Ajna, the third eye, you become an intellectual dynamo, mental faculties are increased 100-fold, and you may even begin to have many Jungian synchronicities and borderline psychic events occuring. If you gentlemen are interested in how to do this, it can be a topic of a later post.
You guys ever seen one of those flashlights that you have to shake in order to make it work? Inside the handle is a tube of magnetic coil and a big magnet that moves back and forth when you shake it, creating electricity. This is the same thing that happens at the pranic level when we practice alternate nostril breathing and spinal breathing, and this generates more and more energy for our aura. We move prana between negatively and positively charged chakras and nadis.
With alternate nostril breathing, we breath in first through the negative channel, and then out of the positively charged channel. Then in through positive, out through negative.
With the spinal breathing practice, we inhale energy from Mooladhara chakra up to Ajna, connecting the two oppositely charged poles. We increase the wattage of our pranic field.
Keep the same simple asana routine as explained in post 2. Then move on to the breathing exercises and meditation. Remember, empty stomach for these things.
Bhastrika – This word translates to “bellows”, and as such is also called the bellows breath. It’s essentially controlled hyperventilation. Just as a bellows fans the flames of a fire, bhastrika pranayamafans your pranic field. It’s classified as an energizing pranayama, so this is a great one to practice any time you need to clear the mental cobwebs.
This pranayama is working to quickly increase the strength, size and shine of your pranic field, of your aura.
It’s incredibly simple as well. Sit down in any comfortable position that keeps the spine straight. Inhale and exhale quickly and somewhat forcefully thirty times, using the belly, not the chest, to breathe in and out. At the end of thirty breaths, exhale completely, squeezing all the air out of the lungs, and then inhale slowly and evenly to about 85% capacity, and hold for 5-10 seconds. This is one round. Complete 1-3 rounds before moving on to the other pranayamas and meditation.
For nadi shodhana, the alternate nostril breathing, start increasing the amount of time on the exhale. The goal is to have the exhale be twice as long as the inhale. So if you inhale through the left for a count of 4, you’d exhale through the right for a count of 8, and reverse the process.
Don’t rush or force anything – we don’t force anything at all with these practices. If 4:6 is comfortable, stick with that and aim for 4:7 in a couple weeks, and then 4:8 in a few more weeks. You might be doing 3:6, or even 5:10. Doesn’t matter the length of time, just practice the ratios and keep increasing when possible.
For spinal breathing, we’re going to add a new technique called ujjayi pranayama. Ujjayi means “to be victorious”. It’s one of the most powerful pranayamas within yoga, but also one of the easiest. You simply contract the glottis within the throat, making a very faint, almost snoring sound. It may also sound somewhat like the ocean.
So for each inhale and exhale, contract the glottis, and move your awareness up and down that thin thread within your spine.
This contraction acts creates a pranic suction, helping to transmit that sexual energy you’ve been building up towards the brain. This is the magnet moving back in forth in the flashlight handle! It also has a ton of benefits of its own, not related to sublimation.
Don’t be fooled by how simple this practice is. Many of the higher sublimation techniques are absolutely dependent upon it, so it would be wise to practice spinal breathing with ujjayi every day. And remember, if you try the higher techniques without mastering the lower ones, that sexual energy won’t be able to make it up to the brain.
Kegels – start practicing these. If you don’t know what they are, google it. It helps retain that sexual energy, sublimates it upwards, is a crucial practice if you ever want to learn tantric sex, and is used in the more advanced sublimation techniques. These can be done at literally any time.
Magnetizing the Aura
Everything up until this point has been about cleansing and strengthening your bioelectrical field. But what about making it truly magnetic?
Well, this goes back to the Taoist idea of the Three Treasures – Jing, Qi and Shen. In Ayurveda, Ojas, Prana and Tejas. Increasing the size and strength of our Aura, that falls under the domain of Qi/Prana. And doing this alone does create some magnetism, there is no doubt whatsoever about it. But to make it truly magnetic, you want to increase your Shen/Tejas. This goes far beyond the scope of this post, but I’ll leave you with a real powerful technique to get you started.
Metta meditation
Some of you may have heard of this meditation. It’s also called loving-kindness meditation. It’s just sending good vibes to people, including yourself, but it has powerful repercussions.
Have you ever met someone and just gotten bad vibes from them? And I don’t mean some creepy dude on the street or at a party. I’ve met more than a handful of people who I just didn’t like, even though they were usually attractive, smart, funny, and other people seemed drawn to them. Later we all found out they were actually terrible people.
My take is that they were naturally charismatic and had a strong pranic field, abundant Jing and Qi. But because they didn’t have good intentions, a small percentage of people sensitive enough were able to pick up on this.
Or you may be familiar with the opposite, meeting someone that you’re just absolutely drawn to, but can’t figure out why. They got that magnetic aura, son!
A practice like metta meditationreally helps to shine up those vibes you’re putting out there, and really make ’em magnetic. Add metta meditation after your breathing practices. It can also be done before bed, upon waking or any time you need a mood boost. Here’s how it’s done.
Metta
You begin by sitting down, closing your eyes, and wishing happiness upon yourself. This is crucial. A lot, and I mean a lot, of people don’t like themselves. If that’s your modus operandi, if that’s your default settings, then THAT’S what you’re projecting out there onto the world. So begin by wishing yourself happiness.
Plant a small smile on your face and picture yourself smiling and truly happy and content. Some people like to repeat phrases, such as “May I have peace and happiness, and be filled with joy.” Some are more visual and imagine sending healing light towards themselves. No matter what you do, make sure you really try to mean it, and to genuinely feel the feeling of wishing yourself well.
Sit with those feelings, the image of yourself smiling and truly happy, and repeat those phrases for 15-20 seconds.
Next, picture the person you already love the most, smiling, carefree, content, and repeat the process for them. For me, this is my niece or nephew. Generate those feelings toward whoever this second person is, and realllly try to seep and saturate yourself with the feeling of wishing them the absolute best out of life.
Choose another person as your object of meditation and repeat the process, picturing them happy as can be, sending good vibes to them and wishing them happiness.
After five minutes or so, wish everyone in the world happiness and peace.
Now some of us aren’t very in touch with our emotions. I legitimately think I’m a robot sometimes, watching people seesaw from one extreme emotion to the next, wondering if I ever experience real emotions myself. If you don’t feel much your first time, that’s ok. Just keep at it.
If you have real bad issues with loving yourself, start with the person you love most. Generate as strong of feelings as possible for them, and then switch to yourself and try to let those feelings carry over.
I guarantee that with some practice, this will begin to generate strong feelings of wellbeing for yourself and others. It’s absolutely one of the best feelings of my day, and that happiness carries over to when I’m not in seated meditation. It’s like training your mind to be happy, and to have happiness on command.
Again, those good feelings get encoded in your energy field, in your aura. Other people pick up on these vibes, and they’re good vibrations in your bioelectric field.
Plus, if you wanna talk Heart Rate Variability, this is what happened during one of my metta meditations – it damn-near TRIPLED my HRV.
Again, a higher HRV means higher heart/body synchronization, and a more coherent electromagnetic/pranic field that you’re emitting. That means you’re radiating health and coherence, and that is magnetic.
To recap, that charge of confidence, that sexual energy that just makes the whole world juicy when you practice Semen Retention.. The Taoist Qi Gong practitioners call that energy Jing. Yogis know it as Ojas.It’s that energy that makes you feel alive and confident, that lets you burn the candle at both ends as a teenager, letting you masturbate and have sex to your little hearts content, party hard all night and then get up and do it again in the morning.
It’s that good good.
Let’s learn how to cultivate even more of it and transmute it, turning us ordinary Joes into the Ubermensch..
Remember that the following terms are interchangeable and I will be bouncing back and forth between them – Jing/Ojas, Qi/Prana, and Shen/Tejas.Some conceptual frameworks to work with
The leaky cup
The first framework we went over in Post 1, that of a cup with holes or leaks in it. We are that cup, and our goal is to fill it up with that sweet, sweet Jing nectar. The way we go about doing this is by avoiding things that create leaks while at the same time*, doing things to further increase Jing/Ojas.*
The biggest leak in our cup comes from squandering our seed – this must be retained and then sublimated. There are many other lesser ways we dissipate our Jing, but these smaller acts do add up, so we should be mindful.
At the same time we go about plugging up these leaks, we do things to actively increase our Jing as well. The big hitters in this field include using the techniques handed down within Taoist Qi Gong and Tantric Yoga – breathing exercises, visualizations, bodily postures, movements and gestures, as well as herbal therapies and sexual practices. These all radically increase our Jing and enhance our Semen Retention practice. This stuff is like adding jet fuel to your Semen Retention fire. The practices ahead amplify that drive, confidence, brain power and magnetism many, many times over.
The mind/body as energetic system
I’m sure most of you are familiar the image below, that of chakras and nadis, the vortices and channels through which Prana/Qi flow. The map below is the one most commonly used within Hatha and Tantra yoga, and the Taoists have a similar map.
The names, functions and significance of the chakras and nadis are not important at this stage. In fact, whether you believe in them at all isn’t important either.
What’s important for us right now is to start thinking of the body as a kind of battery, an energetic system. What we’re going to be doing as we cultivate Jing is to increase the energy within this system. As Jing increases, Qi/Prana does as well. This is why you suddenly have so much energy and drive to get things done after retaining for awhile! This energy can be further sublimated into Shen/Tejas, that cognitive/spiritual power and radiance some people seem to exude. Anyone who has experienced that charismatic magnetism knows just what I’m talking about.
A very important point I forgot to mention in the previous post is that while building Jing increases Qi, which then increases Shen, we can also work from top down and in any order we want. Conserving Shen can increase Qi and Jing, and increasing Qi can be sublimated either into Shen or condensed back down into Jing. Qi/Prana is the easiest to work with, so this energy system is key. This is one of the key things I haven’t really seen mentioned on this sub much.
Viewing the body as energetic system is HUGELY important for three reasons – one, we will be using visualization practices for sublimation based off of these energetic maps.
Two, think of a wire that conducts electricity. If it isn’t clean, if it’s rusted, if it’s covered in gunk and grime, will it be able to conduct electricity? Poorly, if at all. In fact just back in May I had to clean off the terminals of my car battery because they were corroded and my car kept dying. Impurities impede conductivity.
Finally, and most importantly, we have to be careful so as to not blow a fuse in the circuit. Imagine what happens when water starts flowing through a hose, but halfway through the water hits a kink. All that pressure builds and builds, at best preventing the flow of water, at worst causing an explosion somewhere along the line.
Whether you believe in chakras or not, you’re surely aware that you have a nervous system, and that this system is very sensitive. Electromagnetic energy (Prana/Qi) travels along this highway of nerves. You also have an endocrine system, which produces all of the hormones (Jing) in your body. The fact that EMF can disrupt the pineal gland’s production of melatonin should tell you just how sensitive this system is.
Yoga and Qi Gong, amongst other things, strengthen and balance the nervous and endocrine systems.Those systems all happen to line up almost perfectly with the chakras and nadis show above.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla
“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” – Nikola Tesla
Basics of Jing Cultivation
Alright guys, I’ve already written quite a bit, so let’s jump to some practical advice. Nothing in this next section is going to be mind blowing, but it’s essential you start chipping away at this stuff now. Remember, you’ve already plugged the biggest leak, and keeping that leak plugged is huge! Later on we’ll discuss learning to orgasm without ejaculation and how you can begin to permit occasional ejaculation, if you so desire.
How Jing is Commonly Wasted
Poor Diet
Lack of sleep/Poor quality sleep
Abuse of drugs, particularly stimulants (including ADHD meds), opiates, binge drinking and smoking cigarettes, etc – These all cause your body to release and burn through hormones and neurotransmitters (Jing), and affect the nervous system (Qi). Even coffee and caffeine cause your body to burn through dopamine, norepinephrine, cortisol and more. The key here is to just not abuse any of these things! Moderation, my friends, and if you are prescribed medications, be smart and don’t just stop taking them!
Excessive ruminating, anxiety, depression… in a word, poor mental hygiene
Excessive exertion – Running multiple marathons a year, working out hard every single day, “burning the candle at both ends”, too much cerebral work and not enough “embodied” work (or the reverse)
Excessive fasting
Erratic mood swings/intense emotions – just have balanced emotions. Think of every embarrassment, failure, and setback you’ve ever faced. Guess what? You’re absolutely fine right now, in this moment. It’s not worth the excessive worry, embarrassment and anger you felt. Think of every toy you ever obsessed over and begged for for Christmas. When you got it, you were elated! And now, you’ve likely thrown it out or it’s collecting dust.
Hedonism – This is gonna be a biggie for us in this age, and this is a constant battle. Hedonism refers to the fact that we live in a MASSIVELY overstimulating world and it’s waaay too easy to overindulge. Our food is literally engineered to be addictively tasty while having almost no nutrition. Everywhere we look there is another screen with flashing lights and pretty colors vying for attention, and apps based off of intermittent reinforcement that suck us back in. We are the mouse in the cage constantly pressing the lever, desperately hoping for that next “hit”. Read, reread and read again u/freeanonsoul‘s post The Spirit of Seeing. This is where NoFap stems from, this is where “dopamine fasting” stems from. This is the true meaning of Brahmacharya, it is not just celibacy but control of the mind and senses!! More on this later.
“A true saying it is, Desire hath no rest, is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill.” – Robert Burton
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau
“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” – Aldous Huxley
How Jing can be Easily Cultivated
Proper rest – Practice good sleep hygiene! If there are any podcast junkies out there, check out Matthew Walker on JRE. This is THE biggest way to maintain Jing outside of SR.
Proper nutrition ~ Nutrient density – It’s pretty simple guys – Jing is the strength and integrity of allllll our hormones, neurotransmitters, immune system, cellular structure, and even DNA. All of this is built out of nutrients we get from our diet! The topic of nutrition alone would take many posts for us, so for now, try to make sure your diet is based off of whole foods, get adequate protein, healthy fat sources (get Omega 3’s, avoid fried foods, vegetable and seed oils), eat plenty of green veggies and berries (or use green powders to start), organic is preferable but not necessary, and use a quality multivitamin and quality fish oil.
Proper nutrition ~ Detoxification – Before you lump me in with all the MLM people you see on your facebook pedaling detox products, understand what I mean. “Detoxing” is a fad, a gimmick, and a way to make money off of gullible people who expect quick fixes without putting in the work. That ain’t us. However, the body absolutely and 100% actively detoxifies itself all day, every day. We need to make sure we are helping it to do so, firstly because it is a huuuge drain on energy levels to be constantly detoxifying surplus chemicals (especially the xenoestrogens that are dragging out testosterone levels down), waste products and end products of basic metabolism. Detoxification also helps us become more sensitive to Prana/Qi, which is absolutely going to come in handy when we start doing Pranayama and visualizations. Finally, and this is a biggie, when it comes to one of the most powerful ways to build the Three Treasures, through herbs, you’ll get very little to no effect from them if your body isn’t able to properly utilize and assimilate them. It’s also extremely easy to do – eat a lot more greens, practice intermittent fasting (I personally do at least 8:16 most days), and make sure you’re eating mostly fresh whole foods and not packaged junk. Daniel Reid talks a lot about this in his book, and within Hatha Yoga they begin with the Shatkarmas, or Six Actions, to hasten the cleansing process.
Proper exercise – nothing new here. Lifting weights help optimize male hormone levels andhelps us in the beginning to manage some of that excess energy/horniness/positive aggressiveness. Cardio helps us build up a sweat and eliminate toxins both through sweating and breathing – yes, toxins are eliminated through the lungs, that’s how breathalyzers work. Exercising 3-5 times a week is a great goal.
Positive Mental Attitude/Compassion/Generosity – Real men, and people coming from places of real power, are almost always givers. They come from a place of surplus, and they want to share that with those around them. There’s a reason the first two of the the 8 limbs of Raja Yoga are based on ethics, why Jesus preached to love thy neighbor, and why the Buddhists are so focused on generosity, compassion, right speech and right living. Generosity, compassion and love are a never-ending source of energy and strength. What you give, you receive back ten-fold, and I feel like most of us on this sub know this. Bunch of helpful and positive fuckers.
Practice Stage 1 – Asana and Pranayama
On to the good stuff! This post is just going to cover some basics, but remember, this is the foundation upon which your castle is built! The goal is to build a strong and supple nervous system that is able to handle higher and higher amounts of Pranic energy.
It is better to practice a small amount every day than it is to do longer sessions every once in a while! Pay attention to how you feel before and after the practice, and to how you feel in your everyday life as time goes on.
Asana
The word asana just means posture. These different postures serve three immediate functions for us – they strengthen and purify the nerves/nadis for higher Pranic loads, they prepare us to sit comfortably when we do Pranayama/meditation, AND they enhance Jing.
Jing is largely about our hormones, remember? Hormones are produced by endocrine glands, and asanas squeeze, massage and tone these glands, enhancing blood-flow to them and their secretion of precious Jing hormones. Chakras line up almost perfectly with all your major endocrine glands.. Hmm..
I’m going to give the most basic set of asanas. This is the backbone I personally use, and if I’m tight on time, this is it verbatim. I’m not trying to sneakily convert a bunch of dudes on Reddit into becoming soccer moms, so we’re going to keep things batshit simple. It includes a dynamic sequence, a forward bend, some back bends, a spinal twist and an inverted posture – other than the fact it’s missing shavasana, that’s a complete asana practice!
Asanas feel pretty damn good and are a transformative practice. Remember, asanas improve endocrine function and therefor directly increase Jing! Feel free to learn more than what I teach here. Hell, take that Big Dick energy to the local yoga club and meet yourself some honey bunnies.
Practice –
2 full rounds of surya namaskara– sun salutations. Note that 1 full round is really two half-rounds – the first half you take your right foot back first, the second half you take your left foot back, and that completes one round
1-2 minutes half-paschimottanasana– this is literally the one-legged sit-and-reach we did in gym class growing up. 30-60 seconds to the right side first, then with the left leg
30 seconds bhujangasana– cobra pose. I like to look over my right shoulder, hold for a few seconds, go down to starting position, then arch the back up again and look over the left shoulder for a few seconds. This gives an enhanced massage to the kidneys and adrenals, which as you’ll learn later, are the “seat of Jing”.
15-30 seconds salamba sarvangasana – shoulder stand. This practice will be crucial for more advanced sublimation!
Time ~ 10-12 minutes
Notes ~ Practice on an empty stomach. Two hours after a meal or half hour prior to a meal. First thing in the morning is great, although you will be noticeably stiffer than if you practiced later in the day, and I don’t meant morning wood. Go straight from asanas into pranayama.
Pranayama
This is the active cultivation and manipulation of Prana, or Qi. In Qi Gong, Yi (the mind), directs Qi. Qi directs Jing. Therefor, by combining the mind (awareness) with the breath, we are able to sublimate our Jing.
The benefits are tremendous, but for us right now, it includes not just increasing our Prana at any given moment, and thus energy, but also sublimating Jing into Qi into Shen. When we increase our Prana during practice it can then be used to enhance meditation (Qi->Shen), or can then be “stored” as Jing.
Each time you sit to do pranayama, you are actively sublimating your Jing!
We can also use pranayama for daily life. Need to boost your energy before you lift a heavy weight? There are multiple pranayamas for that. Need to calm down before a job interview? Got you covered. Need help sleeping? Easy peasy. Need to boost your immune system and warm the body in preparation for an ice plunge? Check out ya boy Wim Hof.
Do one of the following for 5-10 minutes after asanas, preferably alternating which practice you do each session –
Nadi Shodhana– This is alternating the breath through the left and right nostrils. Shodhanameans to purify, so this practice is all about purifying your nadis, the channels through which Prana flows. In Taoism, these are called meridians. If you could only do one pranayama for the rest of your life, this would be the one, and while it seems simple, it has IMMENSE benefits
Sit in lotus, half-lotus, cross-legged, whatever is comfortable and keeps your spine straight.
Curl you pointer and middle finger into the palm of your right hand, so that only your thumb, ring and pinky fingers are still extended
Exhale
Close the right nostril with the thumb, and inhale a full but gentle breath through the left nostril
Close the left nostril and exhale through the right
Keeping left nostril closed, inhale again through the right
Close the right nostril, and exhale through the left
If you’d like to add a visual component, imagine inhaling white light through the left nostril down the left side of the spine to the base, and then exhaling it back up the right side of the spine and out through the right nostril. Reverse the visualization for the next breath
Spinal Breathing – this is a concept used in Taoism, Tantra and Yoga. This is a powerful practice for cultivating the Three Treasures, so get real familiar with it.
Sit in lotus, half-lotus, cross-legged, whatever is comfortable and keeps your spine straight
Close your eyes and exhale
Inhale slowly and evenly, filling your lower belly first, then mid abdomen, and finally the lungs around your clavicle
Exhale slowly and evenly, reversing the order
Inhale again, except this time move your awareness up a very thin channel or thread that starts at the perineum, moves up the center of the spinal cord, up through the brainstem and into the exact center of the head
Repeat the process but in reverse, drawing the the awareness from the center of the brain (Ajna chakra) back down through the center of the spinal cord, and to the perineum at the base of the spine (Mooladhara chakra). Repeat this visualization with each inhale and exhale
For right now, your breathing practice will also be your meditation practice, as it requires a calm, concentrated mind to do the visualizations.
Notes ~ Again, empty stomach is preferred. You may feel tingling or other pleasurable sensations, these are a sign of progress and will only greatly increase with practice.
If you have really congested airways, look into neti pots or a vapor inhaler.
Key Takeaways
Start thinking of yourself as a leaky cup and as an energetic being
Get good sleep, eat well and cleanly, reduce stress, start cutting back on partying, don’t do anything to excess
Start exercising if you haven’t already, and try to do more good in the world
Asanas enhance Jing and allow for easy sublimation
Pranayama is a simple but powerful practice, and the quickest and most powerful way to sublimate Jing
In my last post, we talked about increasing the amount of yang energy within, specifically through certain herbs. These herbs increase sperm production and libido, are anti-aging and many are also cognitive enhancing.
If we want more yang energy, we need to address the most fundamental yin and yang hormones within – estrogen and testosterone.
Prevalence of Xenoestrogens
Xenoestrogens are chemicals found in food and our environment that have estrogenic effects on our bodies, and unfortunately they’re freaking everywhere. They are part of a bigger problem, those of endocrine disruptors – chemicals and compounds that negatively affect our endocrine system and thus our hormone levels – and the practice of semen retention is largely the practice of fine tuning the endocrine system.
Xenoestrogens are ubiquitous – they’re found in plants, foods, pesticides, cosmetics, fragrances, medications, plastics and the liquids and foods contained therein, and even in the drinking water in some places.
Many xenoestrogens come from plants – these are known asphytoestrogens. In a perfect world, these are actually beneficial compounds, but considering all the synthetic chemical xenoestrogens, these are just one more source of estrogen in our environment. The biggest sources of phytoestrogens for most people are from soy products, the hops in beer, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, lavender, licorice, and hummus, if made with tahini. Hops contain one of the most potent phytoestrogens known to man – sorry my beer loving brethren.
As long as you aren’t chugging a ton of soy milk and double dry-hopped IPAs, phytoestrogens would be a moot point, but again, because of the overload of all of the other toxic xenoestrogens in our environment, I would keep these to a bare minimum unless you’ve done a great job of eliminating the other culprits.
The best way to detox excess xenoestrogens is to eliminate their intake, focus on burning up excess body fat, and regular use of a sauna.
Because xenoestrogens are fat-soluble, they get stored in your body fat, and thus burning up any excess fat will help to release them. Be sure to consume plenty of fiber, as the liver binds excess toxins to fiber to aid in their elimination. I’d recommend a monthly 24-48 hour green juice fast, except add a fiber supplement to the juices. I prefer just throwing in some chia seeds, although you could use Metamucil as well. Schisandra, my favorite herb for semen retention, is an amazing liver detoxifier as well, so I’d be sure to throw it in for those fasts.
Sauna use directly releases toxins through the skin, but it can be difficult and pricy finding one near you. If you can, I highly recommend it, as it has a host of other benefits as well. Check your local gyms – you are going to the gym, right?
Check out Dr. Anthony Jay’s page of products he uses, as well as his book Estrogeneration if you’d like to dive deeper into this topic.
Increasing Testosterone
Decreasing the estrogenic load on the body alone will work wonders on correcting hormone levels and boosting testosterone, but we also want to look into how to directly increase T levels.
Lift heavy weights
Get plenty of quality sleep
Eat properly
Destress and lower inflammation
Certain supplements and nutrients
Lift Heavy Weights – this is hands down the easiest and quickest way to raise T levels, both acutely and over the long term. When you begin lifting weights, you send a message to your body that you need to start getting stronger and increase muscle mass, and testosterone is how the body accomplishes these goals.
Not only will lifting weights increase the release of testosterone, but it also increases the sensitivity and expression of androgen receptors throughout the body. See, testosterone is meaningless if it has nothing to bind to in order to exert its effects, and androgen receptors are the binding site. If your receptors aren’t sensitive to androgens, aka testosterone, it doesn’t matter how much testosterone you have floating around – it won’t activate the receptors.
Lifting weights is the one-two punch for increasing androgen levels and sensitizing androgen receptors. The best lifts to increase T levels are heavy, compound lifts, such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses and rows. Check out StrongLifts 5×5 for a guide on how to get started. Make sure to start off with light weight and proper form, or else you’ll get injured and have to take time off. The StrongLifts site has videos to learn proper form.
Hill sprints are another excellent way to increase androgens and androgen sensitivity. Simply find a 30-ish foot hill and sprint full speed up it, 4-7 times. That’s it. Make sure to warm up before hand with a light 5 minute jog and some high knees before hand, and give yourself a few minutes to recover between sprints. You can sprint on flat ground too, but it’s a bit less effective and harder on the joints.
David Goggins
Get Plenty of Sleep – this is just as crucial as lifting weights. Multiple studies show the correlation between a better nights sleep and between higher levels of testosterone. A study of 531 men found that those who only slept 4 hours a night had 60% less testosterone than those who slept a full 8 hours a night.
To improve your sleep, the most important thing is keeping a regular sleep and wake up time. Set a bedtime that is 8-9 hours before you want to be waking up, and stick to it. Keep your room as dark and cool as possible. Avoid caffeine after 3 pm, and limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks max.
Make sure to avoid blue and bright light before bed, and get a hefty dose of bright light first thing upon waking up, either from a bright lite or from just a quick stroll outdoors. Avoiding blue light at night and getting bright light in the morning are key to entraining your circadian rhythm. Blue light blocking glasses can be very helpful for those of us who enjoy watching tv/gaming/have computer work to do before bed. Install f.lux or use the built-in red shift feature on newer phones.
Supplements such as magnesium glycinate (T booster!), glycine, 5-HTP, ashwagandha (T booster and cortisol reducer!), and melatonin can all be helpful in getting a good night’s rest.
Eat properly – quick quiz – what is testosterone made out of? If you answered cholesterol, you were spot on. Cholesterol is converted into pregnenolone, which is the precursor to all steroidal hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. Moreover, cholesterol is a key component of every cell within the body, with the brain taking a whopping 25% of all of the body’s cholesterol.
Cholesterol is not the villain it was once made out to be, either. I’m not saying you should be pounding hamburgers for every meal, but you should absolutely not be avoiding foods like grass-fed beef or eggs from pastured chickens.
Not only are sex hormones made out of cholesterol, but they have a fatty acid backbone. As such, it stands to figure that a low-fat diet would be deleterious to testosterone production, and indeed this is what the research shows. The graph below shows what happens when researchers lowered the fat intake of subjects from 40% of total calories consumed to 25%, and then back up to 40% – we see a clear drop in T levels.
It’s important to note that not all fats are created equally though – saturated and monounsaturated fats are best for testosterone production, while polyunsaturated fats have a negative impact on T levels. This is because extracted polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and therefor likely to be oxidized and rancid upon consumption.
This means fats such as vegetable oils, most seed and nut oils, fried foods and processed foods using these oils are a hard no-no on a T boosting diet. Corn, peanut, soy, canola and other extracted oils are off limits, and should be from just a regular health standpoint as well. Grass-fed butter, olive oil, coconut oil, red palm oil, macadamia nut and avocado oil are your best bets, but make sure they aren’t coming from plastic bottles! Conventional factory-farmed meats, dairy and eggs are higher in polyunsaturated fats as well, because they’re fed cheap soy and corn feed – another reason to try to get as much free-range, organic animal products as possible.
Increasing saturated fat and monounsaturated fats increase T, poly lowers T
As for carbs and protein, as long as you’re getting adequate amounts of both, your testosterone levels shouldn’t be impacted much. Again, the types of foods consumed still have an impact. Gluten may increase prolactin levels, something we on the semen retention train are trying to keep to a minimum. Grains and products coming from grains are doused in estrogenic pesticides, so make sure the grain products you’re buying are organic and low in gluten.
Make sure that the majority of the foods you eat are organic, and try to have the meats and eggs you consume come from free-range animals. We just went over how deleterious pesticides are to your endocrine system. Meat, milk and eggs that come from non-organic, factory farmed animals are laden with these same pesticides, as it’s used on the corn and soy feed that they are forced to consume, never mind the antibiotics that have to be used, growth hormones and even injected estrogens to increase animal growth.
The best diet in my eyes is one that is pretty close to paleo, meaning lots of organic, non-starchy green veggies, grass-fed/free range meats/poultry, eggs, wild caught fish, fresh seasonal fruit, some nuts/seeds/tubers, and plenty of herbs and spices. I can’t recommend a whole foods, nutrient-rich diet enough.
Finally, it’s important to have a balanced caloric intake. Being overweight kills T levels, considering excess body fat is actually estrogenic. On the flip side, consuming too few calories results in lowered testosterone as well. It should be made very clear that this does not apply to those who are restricting calories in order to drop down to a healthy bodyweight, but more in the sense of someone who is constantly under-eating or who is constantly burning the candles at both ends, working out too much and not eating enough.
Speaking of burning the candle at both ends…
Destress and lower inflammation – this is a huuuuge killer of testosterone in today’s world. Basically, testosterone and cortisol, our main stress hormone, have an inverse relationship. More cortisol means less testosterone, simple as that.
The best ways to destress? Get plenty of high quality sleep, make sure you get lots of low intensity movement throughout the day, plenty of fresh air and sunlight, eat anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense foods, and make sure to have a practice designed to lower stress specifically. Yoga, breathing exercises and meditation are obvious choices, especially since they help sublimate sexual energy.
Certain herbs are excellent at lowering stress as well, known as adaptogens– ashwagandha, tulsi, reishi mushroom, and phosphatidylserine are excellent options, but remember, these are secondary to the real heavy hitters listed above.
Stress and inflammation go hand in hand, and the more inflamed you are, the lower your T levels are gonna be. Along with the things suggested in the previous paragraphs, avoid excess Omega 6 fatty acids (which are primarily found in vegetable oils, which you already should be avoiding), and consume plenty of Omega 3s, especially those found in cold water, fatty fish and fish oil. Herbs and spices are great anti-inflammatories, so include plenty of turmeric, ginger, cayenne, rosemary, sage and whatever other herbs you enjoy. Organic dark berries, dark chocolate and organic teas are excellent additions to help lower inflammation.
Target nutrients and supplements – Pivotal here is the fact these should only be bothered with if you’ve got your other T-boosting ducks in a row – nothing is gonna make up for a shitty diet, a stressful life and being overweight and not exercising. That said, there are a couple important supplements to consider when trying to boost T levels.
Zinc, boron and magnesium – this trifecta of minerals are crucially important for T levels – a deficiency in any one of them will lower testosterone and increase estrogen. More does not equal more testosterone, we’re just making sure we aren’t deficient.
Vitamin D – did you know that, like sex hormones, the body makes vitamin D from cholesterol? It is also technically a hormone itself, but is also crucial for optimum testosterone levels – 3332 IUs of the vitamin for a year resulted in a 25% uptick in T levels as compared to a control group. It’s dirt cheap – I recommend 5000 IUs if you aren’t getting enough sunlight, which is pretty much all of us.
Vitamin K2 – a crucial vitamin to be taking if you’re taking Vitamin D, as it helps to make sure that the calcium absorbed gets deposited in the bones and not in arteries. It’s also crucial in the conversion of cholesterol into testosterone, and mice fed the vitamin saw a whopping 70% increase in testosterone levels! Small amounts can be found in some fermented foods like natto, in wheat germ and hard cheeses, and in grass-fed dairy products, but it’s best to supplement.
Iodine – another mineral that, if deficient, lowers T levels. Critical for thyroid health as well, which affects testosterone. I personally don’t take it as an isolated supplement, but make sure to consume plenty of seaweeds, particularly nori wraps and kelp flakes, although you can supplement if you so choose. Shoot for around .5 – 1mg. If you’re on thyroid meds, talk to your doc, or just eat seaweed a couple times a week.
A good multi – this one linked is the best I’ve found for an affordable price. You get more than enough zinc and selenium, a fair amount of D3, a decent chunk of iodine, and all the rest of the vitamins in their bioactive forms. I would definitely get the additional K2/D3, iodine and boron though.
Key Takeaways
As men, we definitely drew the short stick in terms of being born in such a toxic time – xenoestrogens and other toxins abound, porn and sexualized ads and tv shows are everywhere. It’s up to us to make sure we counteract this craziness.
Avoid plastics and synthetic, chemical-laden cosmetics; try to eat as organically as possible, and get your meat from free-range, pastured animals; do monthly 24-48 hour fasts with some fiber thrown in there; destress and consume anti-inflammatory foods; get plenty of deep sleep, and consider some targeted supplementation, and you can see, and FEEL, your testosterone levels start rising in a matter of weeks.
An interesting thing happens when we first start on this semen retention journey – the world becomes juicy. Things go hi-definition, things seem to pop and glow on their own. Music becomes richer, the air feels crisper, emotions are deeper – we feel more alive.
And the women, goddamn.. The best analogy I can give is the difference in the way food tastes when you’re not so hungry vs when you’re starving. It’s the same meal, but tastes so much better. A similar principle is at play for me every time I looked at the female form – same girls but damn do they become more attractive. My whole life, and all of my senses, upgrade by a solid 15-20% when I build up this sexual energy.
The ladies, much to my surprise, seemed to notice this increase in sexual energy as well. I was getting much more attention than usual. Tons of glances from random girls. My female friends were much more cuddly – fine by me. Being a bartender, I got much more attention and tips from the female patrons. You guys are all familiar with this effect – we just exude this sexual charisma.
Now I could rationalize this in all sorts of ways – it was the Baader-Meinhoff effect, or pheromones, or maybe my testosterone had somehow increased leading to me having better posture, confidence and charisma. Maybe. But it didn’t account for girls I hadn’t seen or spoken to in months suddenly sliding into my DMs. It was like I was just broadcasting this sexual energy throughout the cosmos. Life was good, my friends.
The thing is, at this point I wasn’t practicing strict semen retention, I had merely cut back. I was building this powerful sexual energy through consuming certain herbs, and damn were they potent.
The Connection
We know how all of this stuff works. How increasing one’s Jing via semen retention leads to an increase in Qi within the body, creating a magnetic aura. Being in such a high energy state is simply attractive – people want to be around you because you literally radiate energy. And if you practiced meditation and had strong positive vibes, all the more attractive.
Part 3 went into detail on what our auras actually are, on how to strengthen them and how to make them particularly magnetic. This post is about how to make our auras even more magnetic to women.
There are three effects at work when it comes to energetic attraction, the first two of which we’ve already covered –
People with less energy are attracted to those of with ample amounts of energy – this is why people and even animals and puppies get attracted us while retaining – we have a ton of energy, and that feels good for others to be around. This is also the principle behind people following obviously dangerous cult leaders – the cult leaders have strong auras. We on the semen retention path naturally attract others.
People are attracted to those with very high frequency energy. Someone who is genuinely loving, caring, giving and nice is welcome anywhere, and people are sad to see them go. Lift others up, even if with just your presence, and you’ll be in high demand. Someone with lots of Shen is like this – they may not even have abundant sexual energy, so their aura may not be super strong, but the energy they give off is so positive that people love to be around them.
In terms of sexual attraciton,yang attracts yin, and yin attracts yang. We haven’t touched on this yet, but this is the sexual attraction we experience when we retain. This is exactly the same as the negative and positive polarities of a magnet attracting one another. As men, we generally have more yang energy, and women naturally have more yin. So when we retain, not only do we build up the energy of Jing, Qi and Shen, but because we’re men, we also build up yang energy. This naturally, easily and powerfully attracts women.
This is how I was able to build up sexual energy and attract ladies without retaining more than a week or two in the beginning – I was taking potent herbs that boosted these energies within myself.
Yin, Yang and Sexual Attraction
Yin and yang are two opposite but complementary forces within all of us and all of creation. We’ve all seen the yin yang symbol – within the yin is a kernel of yang, and within yang, a kernel of yin. They are two different parts in the same cycle of energy.
Yin energy is naturally cooling, receptive, yielding and contractive. It is the part of the cycle in which energy is assimilated and stored.
Yang energy is naturally warming, dynamic, expressive, expansive. It is the part of the cycle in which energy is used up and expressed for a certain purpose.
Women are generally more yin in nature. They receive sperm, and then assimilate all the energy needed to grow that baby within them. They generally are the ones waiting for the man to come approach them, although this has a societal aspect to it as well. Women are generally more cautious and less likely to take risks. They are more caring and nurturing. In tribal societies, women usually gathered food and stayed in the village, nurturing the young.
Men are generally more yang in nature. We shoot forth our frothy, funky foam into the female. We generally are the ones to approach the woman in a social situation. There’s a reason men are more likely to die young, because we are prone to doing stupid shit – we have more yang energy than we know what to do with. We are generally more aggressive, both in terms of going after what we want and in terms of physical aggression. In tribal societies, we were the ones going out and hunting game.
So why do we seem to magically attract the ladies when we begin a semen retention practice? Why do other guys seem to suddenly respect us so much more? Not only do we have an abundance of high vibration energy, but that energy is extremely yang in nature. And we can enhance this energy even further with the right supplemental herbs.
Yin and Yang Herbs
Remember above how I said yin is the part of cycle where energy is stored and assimilated, and yang is the release and expression of this energy? This means that, especially in the beginning, you want to be focused more on building yin Jing, setting up a solid foundation for when you take more yang herbs.
When we retain semen, we are inherently increasing our yang energy. It increases testosterone and dopamine, two very yang substances, and decreases prolactin, a very yin substance. This naturally makes us feel quite amazing – that’s yang Jing at work. By using yin herbs, we build a bigger foundation or capacity for even more yang energy.
If we want to cultivate insane amounts of sexual energy, we need to focus on cultivating yin Jing first. Yin is the ground out of which yang energy can do its thing. Yin herbs aren’t estrogenic, they don’t increase prolactin or oxytocin, and they won’t make you girly. They simply build up sexual fluids and deep, restorative energy – yang herbs get all that energy heated up and moving around, so we can more easily express it.
These herbs are the fastest way to cultivate sexual energy, other than having tantric sex, which most of us just aren’t ready for. Going back to the leaky bucket analogy, semen retention increases our sexual energy, our Jing, by plugging up our biggest leak; yoga, breathing exercises and visualizations, herbs and tantric sex directly increase this energy, turning the faucet all the way up.
The Easiest Sexual Energy Hack
Jing-boosting herbs help bolster our hormone and neurotransmitter levels, improve our fertility, increase sperm health and sperm count, enhance blood flow and circulation, and are great for the immune system. They’re anti-aging, and many are powerful cognitive enhancers.
For all those that doubt that these herbs can have any effect on this practice, reread that last paragraph – they increase sperm health and sperm count. Pretty key considering this whole sub is based off of retaining semen.
The more powerful yangherbs are also extremely potent aphrodisiacs, so if you’re already struggling everyday with temptation, leave these for later.
To get the most out of these herbs, you need to have a strong digestive system and balanced endocrine system. If your digestive system is weak, you won’t be able to absorb some of these compounds. In fact, Daniel Reid devotes a whole chapter in The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevityto improving the digestive system. So step one is to make sure your digestive system is cleaned out and working in tip top shape.
Next, if your hormones and neurotransmitters are all out of whack, these herbs won’t be able to work their magic, because they work directly with the endocrine system, with your hormones and neurotransmitters. It will take forever to see results if you’re constantly in fight or flight mode, your body dumping out loads of adrenaline and cortisol every day.
It’s important to note that because they work with your endocrine system, they also take time to fully kick in. These aren’t extracted synthetic chemicals, they are tonic in nature – they need some time to build up in the system. Some of them you may notice in a few days, but many take a few weeks.
The best way to purify the digestive tract is simply by doing a few fasts – a couple 2-3 day green juice fasts would be sufficient. If fasting just won’t work in your schedule, I suggest eating lots of fiber and tons of greens for a week or two. Things that heal the digestive tract, such as homemade bone broth, collagen, marshmallow root or colostrum (which is a potent Jing-boosting substance!) are of great help here too.
The best way to get your nervous and endocrine systems in good order is to just practice de-stressing. If you’ve cut back on stimulants, social media and gaming, and have been doing yoga and meditation like advised, and get ample, high-quality sleep, you should be good to go.
Quick Warning
Some of these yang herbs are insanely potent. Those of us with months, even years of retention under our belts gotta be careful, cuz these things increase our sexual energy to insane heights. There is a high likelihood of you spilling your seed if you try to start off with the more potent tonics.
Remember being a teenager and sporting a chub all day long, ogling over every pubescent pair of tits you saw? It’s this, and then some. I have tried more than a few formulas that started off with me feeling great and getting all sorts of attention from the ladies, but that quickly left me surrounded by empty bottles of Jergens, dick chafed, utterly defeated.
Some of these herbs you’re going to learn about will kick your ass if you’re not careful, but they can also be a boon if you slip up – you’ll be able to gain your sexual energy back much faster. I have a very potent damage control formula just in case this does happen, or in case you plan on a special occasion to release.
In all things, we seek balance, and especially so here. Yang herbs are a ton of fun, but they must be preceded by and balanced with yin herbs.
On to the good stuff, boys.
Getting Started
Keep in mind that you get what you pay for with these herbs. Cheap herbs are absolute crap and since the majority of this stuff comes from China, you run the risk of getting contaminated product. Luckily I’ve been at this for a long time and know which companies put out quality products. These herbs also must be taken on an empty stomach – first thing waking up or a couple hours after meals.
Schisandra – builds Jing, increases sperm count, and has the special property of “locking in” Jing
This herb should be the cornerstone of your Jing-building protocol. It actually increases all Three Treasures, Jing, Qi and Shen, and is one of only a handful of herbs to do so. It is slightly yin, but most importantly for us, it has an astringent quality that “locks in” Jing. Its astringent quality helps conserve fluids, and in the case of schisandra, this means it helps conserve semen, combating wet dreams and other leakages. When/if you start practicing tantric sex, this herb will be an essential part of that practice.
Schisandra is said to vastly increase the “Water Qi in the sexual organs.” Increasing “water Qi in the sexual organs” means exactly what you think – itincreases sperm productionin men and vaginal secretions in women. More than one study points to this fact, with another summarizing that schisandra “promotes spermatogenesis by upregulating abnormal sex hormones and decreasing proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6; TNF-α).”
It has a bevy of other benefits as well, helping improve deep sleep, detoxifying the liver, improving skin quality, and because it is an adaptogen, it helps reduce fatigue and keep it at bay. This is the cornerstone of my Jing-building routine, and in fact, many Qi Gong practitioners start with taking 10 grams of this herb for 100 consecutive days to build a strong base of Jing and Qi. Why stop at 100 days?
Ashwagandha – builds Jing, is mildly yang, and lowers levels of cortisol, a major Jing-leaking hormone
Ashwagandha actually comes to us from Ayurveda, India’s traditional system of healing. Within Ayurveda, it is considered an Ojas rasayana – rasayana meaning a rejuvenative. It’s sometimes called Indian ginseng.
Ashwagandha improves thyroid and testosterone levels, making it slightly yang in nature. Many people notice a slight increase in sex drive, but not anything overpowering. Very suitable for us in the beginning stages of semen retention.
Like most Jing-building herbs, it increases spermatogenesis, improves hormone levels and boosts cognition. Its best attribute for us on the semen retention path? It’s one of the few proven herbs to lower cortisol, a stress hormone that is a huge leak of Jing.
Most of us are chronically stressed out and it shows. We try to make up for our lack of energy (which is caused by stress) by overusing stimulants, further draining our bodies – we in this sub are well aware of this vicious cycle. Ashwagandha is so powerful for us because it helps bring cortisol, our primary stress hormone, back into a normal range. This would give anyone an advantage in today’s world, but for the gang on the retain train? Stress is the biggest waste of Jing other than emission, and this herb shuts stress right down. Now we’re not only retaining semen, but cutting down on stress with ashwagandha and then further locking in our sexual energy with schisandra. Amazing.
Ashwagandha also boosts levels of the calming neurotransmitter GABA so it’s great for anxiety, as well as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps to heal damaged neurons and help us to grow new connections within the brain. Ashwa has a ton of other benefits too, as listed in the previous study linked.
Cistanche – improves male hormones, increases dopamine, steroids for the brain, may enlarge the male appendage
This is possibly my favorite yang herb. Cistanche is a flowering herb found in the desert plateaus of Mongolia – in fact it’s said that cistanche was consumed daily by Genghis Khan, who, as we all know, did a whole lotta fuckin.
It’s commonly referred to as “the stalk enlarger” (hint, hint) in China, and in The Essence of Medical Prescriptions, a tenth century medical text, cistanche was found in 80% of the formulas used to help male impotence and infertility. It improves blood flow and enhances erection quality.
One study found that cistanche increased sperm count and sperm motility, nearly tripling sperm count! It concluded “serum level of progesterone and testosterone in rats was also increased by CTE administration… Our results suggest that the increase in sex hormone levels could be mediated by the induction of testicular steroidogenic enzymes.”
Multiple studies show it enhances cognition via increases in BDNF, glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), and nerve growth factor. It’s basically steroids for your brain.
Two companies joined forces with Peking University to study Cistanche, with many interesting results. They found that cistanche increases the body’s production of SOD (one of our most powerful endogenous antioxidants), improves the plumpness and appearance of the skin, increases amounts of neurotransmitters (like dopamine), improves learning and memory, and (shocker!) is a potent aphrodisiac.
Cistanche Tubulosa
Polygala – anti-depressant, increases will power, directly transmutes sexual energy
Now this herb actually doesn’t help increase Jing at all, but it’s a powerful tool in our toolbox all the same.
Polygala is one of the most powerful Shen tonics available, and is known as the “will strengthener” within Traditional Chinese Medicine. Ancient Taoists said that if there was a fourth treasure, it was will power, or Zhi. Polygala is said to directly increase one’s will power, a very crucial thing for us on the semen retention path.
Polygala opens up the Penetrating Vessel, the energy channel in the body that runs up the spine, from the base chakra and sexual organs up to the crown of the head and the brain. This is the very channel that sexual energy gets sublimated into, and is why we practice alternate nostril and spinal breathing.
Polygala also directly connects the energy of the lower chakras to that of the heart chakra, or connects the “Kidney” to the “Heart”. Within TCM, the Kidney is the seat of Jing, of sexual energy, with the Heart being the seat of Shen. So polygala directly sublimates Jing into Shen, sexual energy into its higher form – love – and that frequency of love saturates our auras.
Polygala is also a potent anti-depressant, with the constituent Yuanzhi-1 increasing dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrinetwice as effectively as the prescription anti-depressant Cymbalta. It increases neuroplasticity, increasing both BDNF and nerve growth factor within the brain.
A 2014 study comments on its effectiveness as an anti-depressant herb and on its ability to abolish anhedonia, aka our utter lack of motivation to get anything done.It’s also one of the few herbal remedies that most people notice almost instantly, providing a nice mood lift and a smooth supply of energy.
Summed Up
We in this community are well aware of the enormous potential just waiting to be tapped into by every man, if he could just learn to retain his seed. This is the beginning of reclaiming our manhood, and these herbs help build even more of that deep, sexual energy.
This post is yoga and Qi Gong heavy, and provides a context and background for how sublimating sexual energy works. If you aren’t a fan of these frameworks, feel free to skip this, as it’s purely informational. However, it will go a loooong way in explaining how this sexual energy we cultivate gets sublimated for higher purposes.
Why do we retain semen? Do we want big, fluffy balls that ache for sweet, sweet release? Maybe some of you degenerates do, but what we really want is to cultivate our sexual energy, our Jing, and to harness and sublimate it so that we can accomplish our every wish, goal, and desire.
Western science has no term for this “sexual energy”. The libido exists, we know that much, but how does one harness and sublimate the libido in order to, say, start a business? To get in shape? To accomplish one’s goals? This isn’t something Western science has an answer for.
So we must acknowledge that this energy does in fact exist, and that it can be increased, harnessed and then transmuted for higher purposes – whether or not Western reductionist science has discovered or been able to measure it. This is why we turn to Qi Gong and yoga, practices aimed at developing and sublimating this energy, practices that have stood the test of time.
The mind exists, but there is no one, single physical correlation of the mind. You can’t reduce memory, thought, feeling, visualizations, desires, emotions to neurons and neurotransmitters. We must admit that, while likely connected and related, they aren’t one and the same.
Likewise, our sexual energy, our Jing, is related to hormone levels, neurotransmitters and more, but it is not just these things. And then there is the issue of what are we sublimating this energy into? Something physical? Something spiritual? Drive, charisma, intelligence, wisdom and ambition, these aren’t things that you can reduce to single, physical components.
So let’s turn attention away from the reductionistic view of the body/brain/mind complex, and look at a more holistic, energetic approach.
The art of cultivating and transmuting Sexual Energy
Taoism
Within Taoist Qi Gong, which literally means “energy cultivation”, there is what is known as the Three Treasures, that of Jing, Qi and Shen. Jing is the basis for Qi, which is likewise the basis for Shen. Jing is the essence out of which Qi, energy, arises, and which in turn can further be sublimated into Shen, or spirit.
Rest assured, all the benefits you’ve noticed and heard about while practicing semen retention fit within the paradigm of the Three Treasures. You feel strong-willed and have a lot of drive? That’s cuz you’ve increased your Jing. You seem to have some sort of aura and much more energy? You’ve got more Qi, baby! And people seem magnetically attracted to you? That’s Shen at work, son.
From a Qi Gong perspective, we want to cultivate our sexual energy, or our Jing, so that we then have a surplus of energy, or Qi, to work with. We then use this Qi to cultivate different aspects of Shen for personal evolution.
Jing is our deep sexual energy; if we cultivate Jing but don’t sublimate it, we become robust, strong, immune to disease. We can take a beating and keep on ticking. Someone with deep Jing has strong passions and drive.
To look at it materialistically, we start by increasing Jing by retaining semen. This positively alters our hormone levels, giving testosterone a boost and increasing dopamine, due to the decrease in prolactin. The increased testosterone and dopamine help increase our drive and determination to get things done.
Qi is our bioelectric, ionic energy, related to our mitochondrial health, ATP, and moment-to-moment energy. This field of Qi is what your aura is. Cultivate enough Qi and fatigue just doesn’t exist. You’ll need less sleep, can physically and mentally do a lot more work, and you will have a strong aura and energetic presence. You walk into a room and the room notices.
Through Qi Gong, yoga and pranayama, we improve our mitochondrial health, and purify and regulate our endocrine and nervous systems. This is the domain of Qi/Prana. By controlled breathing exercises, we improve the oxygen flow to the cells and therefor improve their energy output. We also increase the mitochondria’s tolerance to carbon monoxide, which increases mitochondrial antioxidants and even helps us grow new, stronger mitochondria. The yoga postures help squeeze, tone and regulate the various endocrine glands, such as the adrenals and their release of adrenaline and testosterone, and even the pituitary gland, the “master gland” of the endocrine system.
As I stated back in my third post on Reddit, our Qi/Prana is what makes up our aura. The heart puts out an electromagnetic field that is detectable up to fifteen feet away, and this is what gets strengthened when you start retaining, and especially when you start doing energy practices.
Shen is the mental/spiritual aspect of Qi. When Shen is properly cultivated, one is naturally happy and content, kind and compassionate, and full of wisdom. Someone with developed Shen can apply their minds to any task and accomplish it with ease, seeing as they are so bright and intuitive. Life becomes a breeze, both easy and joyful, for those who have properly developed their Shen.
This same process of sublimation happens within yoga, only it isn’t spelled out quite the same way. Within yoga and Ayurveda, Jing is known as Ojas and Qi is known as Prana. Shen doesn’t have an exact correlate in yoga, but we could use the terms tejas, inner radiance, sattva, meaning pure, and prajna, meaning wisdom, as rough translations.
Within yoga, the goal is to awaken the kundalini, the libidinal psycho-spiritual energy at the base of the spine, and to raise it up through the chakras on the way to enlightenment. Kundalini is itself a type of Prana or Qi, but has its differences. This could be the topic of numerous posts, so for now, just realize it is the grandaddy Prana and it does have a libidinal aspect to it, meaning it is affected by semen retention.
The role of Ojas actually plays a rather minor one in yoga. It isn’t discussed much, because the focus is more on kundalini itself. But remember, the real goal for these practices is spiritual enlightenment, but we are more focused on sexual energy, on Jing and Ojas. Regardless, whether you practice Qi Gong or yoga, the same thing is happening – you’re increasing your Jing/Ojas, your Qi/Prana, and your Shen/Prajna.
There is also much more importance given to chakras and nadis. You can think of chakras as both storehouses and transformers for Prana, and each chakra has different attributes and powers, and relates to different aspects of the mind. This is crucial, because you want to learn how to awaken certain chakras based on what goals you want to accomplish. Same goes for nadis, the channels through which Prana and kundalini flow.
This is how sublimation works in yoga – you build up this sexual energy, this Ojas, and use it to increase Prana. You use this Prana to then start awakening the chakras and opening up the energy channels, to allow the kundalini energy to flow upward, both to the brain and to the different chakras. The chakras are related to different aspects of the mind, so by activating different chakras, you increase different capacities of mind. You sublimate Ojas into Prana, and then use that Prana to activate certain chakras and their corresponding mental attributes.
If you want more charisma and personal power, focus on the third chakra. More peace, compassion and feelings of love, do heart chakra practices. If you want to have great powers of speech and persuasion, focus on the 5th chakra, the throat chakra. This is how you sublimate sexual energy for higher purposes.
As a side note, within Qi Gong, nadis are known as meridians, and chakras are very similar to dantians, or “elixir fields”. Pragmatically speaking, they are the same.
So if we approach things from a strictly Taoist perspective, we want to increase all Three Treasures, and as Jing sublimates into Qi and then again into Shen, we start evolving. From a yogic point of view, we want to learn to increase Ojas and prana and gain control of kundalini and awaken chakras – again, personal evolution. Two different maps and methods leading to the same goal.
The Tao of Yin and Yang
We’ve all seen the yin yang symbol. Yin represents “feminine” energy, yang “masculine” energy. Yin is receptive, contractive, cooling, calming. Yang is expansive, warming, opening, invigorating. A very important thing to remember is that yin entails the accumulation and assimilation of energy, while yang is the use and expression of that energymade manifest.
The implications here should be very clear – as men, we are more yang, females are more yin. We are naturally attracted to yin energy, and as we retain and cultivate our Jing and yang energy, we naturally attract yin energy in the form of females. It’s that simple.
As we go about the process of semen retention, our aura, our pranic field, grows bigger, stronger, and more yang in nature. This in itself makes us more attractive, on a vibratory level. Because this Jing that we’re cultivating is very yang in nature, it means that women, filled with yin energy, are even more drawn to us. Just like a positive electromagnetic field attracts a negative one and vice versa, we too, with our strong yang energy, attract females with their abundance of yin.
Have you ever met a woman who is just so mysteriously attractive, but you can’t put your finger on it? She’s cute, sure, but there’s something else going on.. That something else is her abundant yin energy. You have cultivated the same type of energy, except obviously it’s yang in nature. This is the reason women start to seem magically drawn to you.
Sushumna, Ida and Pingala
Within yoga there are three main nadis or channels through which prana flows. Sushumna is the most important channel, and it goes right up the middle of the spine, going from the base chakra all the way up to the 7th and highest chakra. This channel is closed and dormant in almost everyone, but it is crucial that you purify and awaken this channel, so that you can begin moving Prana and kundalini through it to the chakras.
Ida and Pingala are two channels that crisscross up the spine, intersecting the chakras in an opposite, intertwining fashion. They end at the sixth chakra, the third eye.
Ida is yin in nature, associated with lunar energy, and is cool and feminine. It starts at the left side of the base chakra, rises up the spine crisscrossing the other chakras, and terminates out the left nostril.
Pingala is yang and is Ida’s opposite – it is associated with solar energy, is warm and energizing, and is more masculine in energy. It follows a mirror imaged course as Ida, starting from the right side of the base chakra, crisscrossing each ascending chakra, and ending out the right nostril.
Just as Qi Gong seeks to balance yin energy with yang, yoga seeks to balance Ida and Pingala. When it does so, Sushumna opens up and allows prana and kundalini to flow upward to higher chakras.
This is why I’ve stressed the importance of spinal breathing and nadi shodhana, alternate nostril breathing. These practices balance Ida and Pingala, balance and energize the chakras, and open up all the nadis, allowing prana/qi to flow freely, and for us to direct it as we see fit.
The Takeaway
So in Qi Gong, we seek to cultivate all Three Treasures, Jing, Qi and Shen, and to balance both Yin and Yang energies. In yoga, the goal is to build up Ojas and Prana, purify and open the 3 main energy channels, as well as to awaken all 7 chakras, so that we can raise Prana and kundalini energy upwards.
When we retain semen, we immediately start increasing testosterone and dopamine, and reduce prolactin. When we start doing yoga, pranayama and/or Qi Gong, we begin increasing our pranic field (aura), improve our energetic output via the mitochondria, and begin to tone and regulate our endocrine system. Finally, all of these practices, especially meditation, help to increase our Shen through increasing neurotransmitters such as GABA and serotonin.
We can further enhance this process by working with specific chakras and their corresponding faculties of mind – a topic for a later post.
Alright friends, time to let you in on a little secret. Semen retention is nothing new. This isn’t a fad that grew out of NoFap. This is a hardcore practice that has been studied and honed, passed on from teacher to disciple across the ages.
Like all powerful and transformative practices, it has usually been kept somewhat secret. Celibacy is no secret. The concept of Brahmacharya within Hindu and yogic thought is well known. Solo and “dual-cultivation” within Taoism and “tantric sex” are also well-known, if misunderstood.
All of these things have but one goal – the cultivation of sexual energy, and its sublimation for self-evolution. This was what my first post on r/semenretention was all about.
However, the art of cultivating and transmuting this sexual energy – that knowledge has almost always been handed down from guru to disciple.
What exactly is this sexual energy? The closest you’ll find to a definition within Western science might be the libido, but you sure won’t hear about Freudian psychologists telling you to abstain from masturbation in order to transmute the energy that builds up towards accomplishing your goals.
In yoga and Ayurveda, however, we hear about how Brahmacharya, or purity in thought and action via celibacy, increases an energy called Ojas. Within Taoism and Qi Gong, that energy is referred to as Jing. You can find equivalents in almost all spiritual traditions.
The goal, then, is not semen retention for the sake of semen retention, but the cultivation of sexual energy, of Jing, of Ojas.
Western science has found very little benefits to abstaining from ejaculation other than a quick and light increase in testosterone, and preventing the release of prolactin during orgasm from dampening our dopaminergic tone. If you tell almost anyone what you’re doing, that you’re abstaining from jacking off to increase your energy, build charisma, accomplish your goals, you’ll swiftly be laughed at.
If you say the same to a yogi, a Qi Gong practitioner, probably even a martial artist, they’ll say “Welcome to the club”.
Most importantly, the traditions of yoga, Qi Gong and more have perfected the art of cultivation and sublimation of this energy beyond just semen retention! This is huge. This means that there are multiple modalities to further enhance this sexual energy in addition to just retention. That’s why I’ve created this site, to share this knowledge.
So what actually is this sexual energy, this Jing?
First off, Jing is less of an actual “thing” we can extract from the body, and more of a collection of factors – it is known not by its parts, but by its conceptual whole. Can you go up to someone and pull out their “toughness”? Can you point to something within the body that is a persons “drive”? No! Both are complex, ever-evolving and interwoven systems of smaller components, some physical, some mental.
So…. what are the components making up Jing? It can best be summed up as one’s “robustness/vitality”, but it really can’t be pinned down so simply.
Physically speaking, Jing encompasses ones immunity to disease, hormone and neurotransmitter levels, the integrity of one’s DNA, one’s virility, one’s youthful appearance and one’s longevity. An 18 or 19 year old teenager who can do two-a-day workouts for football, masturbate multiple times a day, stay up late partying and wake up early the next day, ready to go without so much as a coffee or Red Bull – that is someone with a lot of Jing.
Jing goes beyond the physical, however. Jing encompasses ones drive, motivation, physical and mental endurance and fortitude.. Someone with a lot of Jing is able to accomplish a lot, and also take a beating and keep on ticking.
This is part of why we start feeling so great when we start on this path of retention. We build strength from within. It’s like we’re finally getting a nutrient we’ve been starved of for a long time.
Jing is also the basis for our Qi and Shen, our energy and spirit – and these collectively make up what the Taoists refer to as the Three Treasures. The other two treasures come into play when we talk about other aspects of semen retention – for example, the reasons your aura starts to increase in strength and attractiveness is because the increased Jing starts to spill over, increasing your Qi and Shen.
Again, you don’t have to use these terms. You can just say that your sexual energy creates magnetism and makes your aura big and strong. Same stuff, different words.
Daily life drains Jing, and when it has fully burnt out, you die. Anything to excess damages Jing, especially masturbation for men. Any wise person who knows about the concept of Jing does all they can to preserve it and to increase it.
And that’s where the good news comes in, my friends. You may have needlessly spilt a lot of seed over your years, and that’s a waste, to be sure. But you’ve since given up the cycle of urge -> frivolous and spasmodic masturbation -> self-pity and shame. You’ve plugged what’s likely your biggest leak of Jing.
And you’ve found this site, which is dedicated to increasing Jing – something that isn’t talked about much elsewhere online. You’ll learn about so many other methods to rapidly and potently increase your Jing, your sexual energy, your motivation and drive.
This is for everyone that stopped masturbating, did some cold showers, felt the benefits, and they wanted more. Don’t be scared off by a little yoga or some foreign terms and concepts – these practices are non-denominational and freaking powerful.
And remember, X-rays weren’t formally discovered until 1895, the double-helix shape of DNA wasn’t discovered until 1952 – but all these things and more have existed for millions of years. Modern science is a beautiful, beautiful thing, but just because you can’t easily extract a “Jing” and test it in peer-reviewed, double-blind studies doesn’t mean it isn’t something we can’t cultivate right now. We can’t prove that the mind exists, but we all agree that it does, and we use meditation, therapy and many other modalities to strengthen and control it. Instead of wasting our seed, let’s start retaining it, cultivating this energy, and putting it to good use.
What is your end goal here? It might look different for everyone, but one thing is for certain – we do it for self improvement.
We abstain and we retain, so that we one day may gain, blessed be thy retention.
Most likely you realized that all the porn, masturbation, maybe even all the sex wasn’t really that fulfilling. In fact, it may have been noticeably contributing to your depression. So you picked up semen retention and lo and behold, it was just what you were looking for. A boost in energy, charisma, confidence and more. But we don’t stop there. We want to transmute this energy we build up. Cold showers, working out, projects, breathing exercises, meditation. Time to dig deep into your most valuable asset to the semen retention game, and also your biggest enemy – the mind.
It is my belief that our key to success in this world is the mind – it is the Alpha and the Omega, it is the beginning and the end. Every single thing in this world, be it internal, such as thoughts, feelings, memories, desires and fears; or external, like your friends, your family, your enemies, the environment – you interact with EVERYTHING through the mind. And everything in turn affects the quality of your mind, your energy levels, your emotional state.
Why, then, are we not spending as much time as possible to strengthen and cultivate our minds?
We think we have control over our minds, but we don’t, not fully at least. Try to sit calmly for just ten minutes, no phone, no distractions.. It’s maddening. Why? Your mind is weak, my friend.
Someone says something that you don’t like and suddenly your world plummets into darkness, rage, despair.. Or the converse happens. Something good happens and suddenly you’re elated and thrilled. This is a poorly developed mind, this is a mind that is at the mercy of the external world. A weak mind.
How about the internal world? When something upsets you, are you able to transform that anger into compassion, or to at least to neutralize it? Are you able to enjoy something pleasant, be it a relationship or even simply the high of an orgasm, and not be attached to it, knowing that it won’t last forever? No? Your weak mind is to blame.
We think we’re in control of our minds, but as anyone who has ever meditated will quickly tell you, those thoughts just keep on coming, and distraction abounds within your own mind, even when you ask it kindly focus on just the object of your meditation.
Your mind is weak, my friend. It’s time you start strengthening it.
You have some goal in mind, something you want to accomplish, but you’re afraid. Guess what? Emotions are part of the mind, and if your mind is weak, you’re at the mercy of your emotions.
You have some goal in mind, something you want to accomplish, but it will take a lot of work, an overwhelming amount of work. Guess what? Motivation comes from within, from the mind.
You have some goal in mind, something you want to accomplish, but you don’t know how, you don’t know where to start. Guess what? A powerful mind is able to sit with and chew on problems until they begin to break down, and the mind eventually wins.
The mind is the Alpha and the Omega. It all starts and it all ends in the mind. It’s the most powerful tool you have and yet, it can be your worst enemy, if you don’t train it.
The Body/Breath/Mind Connection
If the mind is so goddamn important, why didn’t I start all these posts with it? Well, quite simply, while it is the most important facet here, it’s also, for most people, the most difficult to train. That’s why we start with the body and the breath. If I tell you to raise your right hand, you can do that easily. You can change your breathing patterns easily as well. If I tell you to not think of a green dragon, well, you just failed. If I tell you to sit and focus on the sensations of the breath to the exclusion of all other thoughts, you’ll fail. If you’re pissed off and I tell you to just be happy, good luck.
Here is a little secret – the body and the mind are not separate, the mind is just a more subtle aspect of the body. I actually prefer to think of the body as a more gross, physical extension of the mind. But the point is, they are different aspects of the same thing and they influence each other.
When an emotion such as anger affects your mind, what happens to the body? You clench up, blood pressure raises, you get hot and bothered, your face may even get red. The reverse is true as well – you can change your mental state and emotions via changing your posture.
A bit more subtle than the effects of emotions on the body is their effect on the breath. If you’re afraid, your respiration increases. If you’re relaxed, it is slow and deep. Wim Hof style breathing amps you up – box breathing calms you down.
The breath is the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious mind – you breathe roughly 20,000 times a day without consciously trying to, but it is always there for you to consciously take control over. Through the breath, we can access deeper layers of the mind. This is part of why pranayama is such a crucial tool for us.
This is also why in yoga they start with the physical postures, then the breathing exercises, and then finally they move on to meditation. The goal of yoga is just to master the mind. We start with the most easily controlled aspect of this triune, the body. Then the breath. Then the mind.
So yes, the physical postures and breathing exercises of yoga or of Qi Gong help to cultivate our sexual energy, our Jing, but they also help us start to control our mind. That’s what we all really want, right? All of your success in life comes from having this powerful mind that helps you to accomplish your goals, and if you train your mind well, you’ll have access to positive emotions all along the way. This is the natural next step of semen retention.
Facets of Mind Training
When we start mind training, we want to focus on two areas in particular –
Concentrative power
Taming and transforming emotions
We want a mind that is pliable, strong, and most importantly under our control. We want it to do what we say when we say it, and we want it to be strong and not easily swayed by our emotions. This is where concentration meditation come in.
How is David Goggins able to put himself through tortuous 100+ mile runs, again and again and again? How was Einstein able to sit with a particular problem and just mull it over for days, weeks, years on end, until the universe relented and gave up its secrets? They built up strong minds, minds that had great endurance, did what they wanted them to do, and weren’t easily distracted.
Along with developing a strong mind, a mind that is obedient, we want to reel in our emotions, our cravings, our urges. We don’t want them to overpower us, and we want less of the negative emotions, more of the positive ones.
By starting our retention journey, we’ve already begun to shift the dynamic towards more positive emotions and experiences, and less negative ones. Now we’re going to add on to that and speed up that process.
And remember, because you’ve built up this energy and you’re starting to increase the power and magnetism of your aura, your emotional state is constantly being projected, and loudly. Make sure it’s a state of positivity.
Concentration
The goal here is to build a powerful mind that does what you want it to, when you want it to. One of the best ways to do this is through concentration meditation practices.
In concentration meditation we narrow the field of awareness down to a very limited area, usually with the goal to exclude other thoughts and sensations. It makes no difference what we pay attention to – a candle flame, a cross, a mantra repeated mentally, a visualization, a sensation of the breath or within the body – it can literally be anything.
We focus on that one thing, say the sensation of the breath at the tip of the nose. Then a thought or sensation pops up – the goal is to recognize this and bring the mind back to the sensation of the breath. Then a thought pops up again, but this one was juicier, and it takes us off into a daydream. Eventually we realize this and bring the mind back to the sensations of the breath at the tip of the nose. We bring the mind back again, and again, and again.
A lot of people think they can’t meditate because they keep getting distracted, thoughts just keep popping up. Well, that’s half the point. You thought you were in control of the mind, but those damn thoughts just keep coming at ya. As long as you bring your awareness back to the object of meditation, over and over again, you aresucceedingin meditation!
Each time you notice that your concentration has lapsed and you bring it back to the object of meditation, that’s like a rep. Each millisecond you stay with the object, boom, that’s a ton more reps. This is how you make the mind strong, give it the ability to focus on what you want for as long as you want it to.
Another thing that this meditation does it creates calmness. This calmness is a respite from the constant planning, thinking, daydreaming, worrying, craving modalities of the mind. If you stick with this process, you’ll not only create a very strong and obedient mind, but you’ll generate contentedness within. This is why in Buddhist traditions it is called śamatha meditation – it means “calm-abiding”.
Emotions and the Nature of the Mind
When we begin learning about how to tame our emotional mind, it helps to understand a little bit of how our minds work in the first place. We’re going to focus on two aspects of the mind, that of unsatisfactoriness, as well as craving/attachment and aversion. We also need to realize a fundamental truth about all mental phenomena, be it emotions, thoughts, images, feelings, bodily sensations, any and everything – they are impermanent.
Later in the series we will discover how to straight up transform our emotions, turning things like lust for women into fuel for our own personal evolution.
Unsatisfactoriness
The mind is naturally inclined to seek out pleasant emotions and sensations, and run from negative ones. This is the basis of what drives human behavior. But why does the mind do this? Why does just sitting still cause us such torment and misery? It’s the most natural thing possible, to just be… Yet it’s excruciating for us. Why is this?
The untrained mind is always unsatisfied. Why do we turn to porn and masturbation every time we’re bored or need a hit of dopamine? Evolutionarily speaking, this is good news – if we were content from the get-go, we never would have made it past just another species of great ape. Taking this to the extreme, if we never felt displeasure and were always perfectly content, there’d be no drive to reproduce, even to forage for food. Our discontent with the present and drive to have things be even better are what allowed us to progress so much as a species.
Problem is, now we can’t turn it off. Discontent has become our default mode. The goal in all spiritual sciences is to learn how to flip the switch, so that no matter our external circumstances, on the inside, it’s alllll good, baby. This doesn’t mean we get so high on our own supply that we give up on life, but that we’ve trained the mind to be content with what it has.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man that craves more, who is poor. – Seneca
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. – Epictetus
Take a page out of Stoics’ books and start developing contentedness. Sublimate that sexual energy up to the mind and develop concentrative calm-abiding.
Impermanence
All mental phenomena is, by its very nature, fleeting and intangible. Purely mental aspects, such as thought, memory, visualizations, these all arise in the mind for a brief time and then fade away.
Emotional phenomena are the same – how many cycles of emotions do you go through in a day? Frustration while stuck in traffic, joy while playing with your dog, anger, sadness, lust – these all arise from a given circumstance, abide for a bit and then fade away.
Even physical sensations are the same – you may have chronic back pain but if you really pay attention, you’ll notice certain times when it isn’t present, until you move at least. The high of an orgasm, we know that one is over real quick.
The point is, every single aspect as perceived by your awareness is impermanent – it arises due to certain conditions, abides for a short time, and fades away. If you get your mind very strong from concentration practices, you’ll notice that even very persistent sensations flicker in and out of existence. But we don’t need that strong of minds to realize that the good feelings, these are fleeting. The bad feelings as well.
Craving/Attachment and Aversion
Now because we haven’t cultivated contentedness, because we start out with a mind that is never satisfied, our mind has these two modes of being – craving/attachment and aversion.
We naturally crave “good” experiences, be it good thoughts, good emotions, good bodily sensations, whatever. When these arise, we naturally become attached to them. We get a girlfriend and she makes us sooooo happy – until she dumps us. Because we were attached to her, or more specifically the good feelings she gave us, we suffer because we no longer get those feelings.
We also naturally have aversion towards “bad” experiences, be it emotions, thoughts, bodily sensations, whatever. We’re on the way to work and encounter traffic – it might not even make us late but it’s frustrating. Or we ask a girl out and she says no – we experience a sense of suffering because it wasn’t what we wanted.
Contrast this with a mind that knows everything is temporary. Your mind will still enjoy your relationship with that girl, but if she decides to end it, it isn’t so bad anymore. You knew the relationship would end one day, today is that day. You might still be bummed but it isn’t a crushing loss.
And why do we go out and seek whatever is pleasurable, and run from what isn’t pleasant? Because we’re starting out from a mind that is untrained and, by default, discontent.Freedom from the Cycle
How do we break free from this cycle of discontent -> craving/attachment -> aversion?
First off, we learn to still and focus the mind through concentration-type meditations. As the turbulent mind calms down, it finally experiences some peace. That peace builds and builds, and carries over into our daily life.
Next we keep in mind that all mental phenomena are impermanent. Experiencing something good right now? Great, enjoy it, but realize thoroughly that it won’t last – that will help lessen your attachment to it, so that when it does end, you don’t suffer so much.
When you encounter something displeasing, remember that it won’t last! Think of every bad event that has ever happened to you. 90% of them likely have zero effect on you right now, in this current instant. Whatever the nightmare, it ended, and here you are, still standing.
Think back to every Christmas you’ve ever had as a kid – how badly you wanted that Playstation 2, lego set, whatever. You wrote letters to an imaginary fat man, hoping you’d get it. Maybe you even prayed to your creator for it, thinking how happy it would make you. And then, the big day came.. and you got it! Your prayers were answered! And now it’s probably in the trash somewhere, or stored away in the attic. You slowly lost interest in every Christmas gift you’ve ever wanted because your mind constantly needs more, it’s never satisfied. Much easier to just build contentment from within.
Every girl you’ve ever crushed on and wanted so desperately to date, and then when you finally did, it eventually ended.. Now you’ve broken up, and she no longer is a source of happiness, she’s probably even a source of unhappiness. Or maybe you’re still together, maybe you’ve even managed to keep up a happy-ish relationship – but there are still occasional fights, she still occasionally annoys you, and you’d damn well be lying if you claimed you never thought of another girl, even if briefly. No matter how great the relationship, it is never 100% pure joy.
Remember this – happiness, pleasure, pain, sadness, they don’t exist “out there”, they exist within the mind. You run from girl to girl, experience to experience, drug to drug, toy to toy, job to job, video game to video game, and you can never quench the thirst of the mind, it never is satisfied. Celebs who “have it all”, the money, the women, the parties, the status – many are depressed, commit suicide, become addicted to drugs, because their minds are the same as ours.
The untrained mind isnever satisfied. Whenever it gets what it wants, the joy it experiences peaks and then slowly, surely begins to fade. This is the nature of an untrained mind.
Putting it all into Practice
Calm-abiding meditation
In some traditions, concentration meditations are called “calm-abiding” meditation. This is because as the mind slowly calms down and distractions start dropping to the side, as it becomes one-pointed and starts generating energy, joy naturally arises.
Imagine the relief a kindergarten teacher feels when they finally get home after a long day of teaching. All those annoying brats no longer bugging them, they can just sit back and relax. That’s how the mind feels when it’s no longer bombarded by thoughts, cravings, fears, emotions, worrying about the future or dredging up the past.
The untrained mind is unsatisfied – but the trained mind.. Ahh, thetrainedmind is naturally satisfied.
The joy and calmness you build in meditation seeps over into daily life as well. So while you build a strong, powerful and obedient mind, you also make your aura that much more attractive, you’ve increased your Shen that much more, you’re that much more magnetic.
The instructions are very simple – pick something as your meditation object, set the intention to focus on just that object, and if the mind gets distracted, gently bring it back to said object. Repeat this formula again and again and again.
Your stretches of concentration on the object will slowly increase, and the day dreams will become less and less. You’ll start to wonder why just paying attention to your breath can create such pleasant feelings. You’ll also notice a sense of calm and contentedness in your day to day life if you keep up with this practice, as well as a mind that is focused and obedient.
This simply involves remaining detachedly aware of thoughts as they pop up into your head. You can be seated for this, eyes open, eyes closed, walking, hiking, whatever. Just be aware how a thought will arise on its own, stay for a short while, and then fade on its own. It may have a feeling attached to it, it might not. It might have an image or usually a vocalization along with it, though possibly not.
Your goal is to identify as the passive witness to all these thoughts/images/feelings as they arise. They are like clouds, coming about on their own, evolving and changing on their own, and fading away.
Try not to get attached to any thought without retaining a sense of being a detached observer.
Mindfulness of emotions
In your day to day life, notice how any given external event elicits a feeling and/or emotional response internally. Stub your toe, anger and pain arise. See pretty girl, lust arises. Pretty girl smiles at you, giddiness arises. You realize she was actually smiling at the guy behind you, giddiness fades and disappointment arises. So step one is being mindful and noticing how any given event elicits an emotion or feeling within you.
The second step is really paying attention to how that feeling or emotion feels. What’s its flavor? Does it have a color? Does it arise somewhere in the body specifically? You want to recognize this feeling and then take a big, deep dive into it and reeeallly get to know it. Label it, experience it fully, completely, let it saturate your whole mental bandwidth.
Finally, pay attention to how long it lasts. It might hit you like a ton of bricks, and then slowly fade away. It might start as just a tiny note, and then get louder and louder. It might come in waves, intense for a bit, fading away, becoming intense again. Most of the time, no matter the feeling or sensation, it sticks around for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes and then starts fading away.
This is how we can take meditation off of the cushion and into the real world. We no longer confine meditation to just sitting at home in our dark room – if we maintain mindfulness, our whole day becomes a meditation.
I’ve found it helpful to reframe emotions as just flavors of energy that come into my field of consciousness, stick around for a quick sec, and then start fading away. They’re impermanent and only hold as much weight as you give them.Acceptations vs Expectations,
One last bit – it is much easier to go through life accepting reality as it is, rather than to have expectations of reality. The world doesn’t owe you anything. More importantly, people don’t owe you a damn thing either.
If you set your expectations high, you’re bound to be let down most days. Just accept reality plainly, as it is. Your day went well? Great. Your day was shit? Well, that’s life.
You do all you can to improve your life, to improve yourself – that much is in your control. The weather, the news, current events, traffic, your boss being a dick, a girl not texting back – none of that is in your control, so don’t place your expectations on any of it.
Accept more, expect less.
Obviously, hold some expectations for people. If you’re in a relationship, you should expect that she is faithful. Obviously don’t just let her go out on dates with other men. You should expect to be respected by your boss, but first you’ve got to have earned that respect, and sometimes your boss may be a bit of a prick.
Finally, when negative feelings arise, don’t resist them. When a negative feeling arises, we tend to shirk from it, to try to escape it. This resistance makes it that much worse, because we can’t just make it go away, not yet at least.
Negative emotions and sensations are kind of like a Chinese finger trap – the more you try to pull away and resist, the stronger they latch on.
The next time you feel bummed, don’t try to run from it, dive deep into that feeling. Pull it in close and get to know it intimately. Analyze it and break it down as much as possible, noticing exactly where you feel it, how it feels, how long it lasts. You’ll notice that, by and large, it is just another sensation, just like hunger is a sensation, pain a sensation, heat a sensation.
We make things a thousand times worse when we resist whatever we are experiencing.
Suffering = Pain x Resistance – Shinzen Young
Pain is inevitable. Shit will happen. Suffering is largely optional.
Don’t chase after and become attached to what is “good” or pleasurable – it won’t last.
Don’t resist what is “bad” or uncomfortable – it won’t last.
Develop inner contentment – this is your secret. People will wonder why you’re so cool, calm, collected, content, and happy. That is true magnetism.
