What is our biggest obstacle to progress on the path of semen retention? Our unchecked libido. Our overwhelming need for release is what causes us to spill our seed, every time. It’s what drives us to spend so much time seeking sexual pleasure, sometimes through the pursuit of women, but oftentimes it comes in the form of mindless porn-scrolling and masturbation.
If the libido is our biggest enemy, what is our biggest ally towards progress on the path of retention? Paradoxically enough, it’s also our libido!
“How can this be?” I hear you say. As writer on all things stoicism Ryan Holiday puts it, the obstacle is the way. In fact, the libido is the source of all our fuel for self-evolution, and make no mistake, the onlygoal of true retention is conscious, directed self-evolution.
Libido – friend or foe?
It’s often better to simplify, simplify, simplify, but in this case, let’s take the concept of libido and expand upon it a bit. To most of us, the libido simply means our sexual desire. Possibly the most well known of all psychologists, Sigmund Freud, coined the term libido. He defined it as, “the energy, regarded as a quantitative magnitude… of those instincts which have to do with all that may be comprised under the word ‘love’.” According to wikipedia, he “also explained that it is analogous to hunger, the will to power, and so on insisting that it is a fundamental instinct that is innate in all humans.”
Freud’s disciple and world renowned psychologist Carl Jung goes one step further, identifying it as the totality of psychic energy, not limiting it to just sexual desire. “It is the energy that manifests itself in the life process and is perceived subjectively as striving and desire.” In this sense, it can be thought of as the psychic desire to achieve, the psychic desire for better and more. For most of us, this desire for achievement rarely goes beyond sexual desire or the desire for status, power and wealth.
This “totality of psychic energy, striving for and desiring better and more”, is very analogous to the concept of kundaliniwithin Indian yogic schools of thought. This kundalini energy lies dormant at the base of the spine, and no matter what style of yoga you practice, and whether you know it or not, the goal is the same – to rouse and awaken this sleeping energy and move it up the spine, through all the chakras until it connects with and comes to reside in the 7th, highest chakra. This is the end goal of all spiritual pursuits. Your goal may not be spiritual enlightenment but trust me when I say that no matter your goal, you want this psycho-sexual-spiritual energy working for you, not against you.
Alchemical painting of a tamed, libidinal serpent
Most of us are essentially walking around like spiritual zombies. Our kundalini lies dormant and our chakras remain in a sad state, operating at a bare minimum. Look around here in the west – we’re all fat, cranky, stressed, tired, lazy and grumpy, never mind all the needless masturbation. If we can’t keep up our physical bodies, which we all can see and agree exist, how do you think our energetic/spiritual bodies look? Most of us don’t even believe in such things.
And as a quick aside, I’ve said before that if the concepts of chakras and kundalini turn you off, just use them as metaphors. Whether they exist or not is irrelevant, all we care about is learning to tame, control, harness and build up our sexual energy, right? Just do the practices and the results will follow.
Harnessing the Libido
So this libido, this kundalini, this psychic energy that desires “better and more experiences” lies dormant. It actually isn’t completely dormant, it’s just barely operating.. After all, we all do have a libido. That energy, for most of us, never makes it past the second or third chakra. Most of us are stuck operating somewhere in the limbo of the first three chakras. The first chakra is concerned with survival; the second with sense of self/ego and the desire for sex; and the third is concerned with personal power, status, and your place in the world. You can look at the chakras as stages of life or levels of maturity – most of us never make it past wanting more sex, status and power for ourselves.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? Our first concerns are simply to survive. After we’re comfortable on that front, we generally want to go out and make it in the world, and hopefully find a nice lady or two or ten to pair up with. Some of us never want to settle down and just want more and more women. We are obsessed with sex, status, wealth and power – that’s not hard to see is it?
Imagine the central channel and the chakras as a hose with a very powerful stream of water flowing through it. This hose has 7 junctions where water can flow out, and our goal is to get it to flow fully out of all 7 junctions. Unfortunately, most of us never make it past the 2nd, maybe the 3rd junction, and the water isn’t flowing, it’s a mere trickle. See, that channel where the energy is supposed to flow through has blockages. Those junctions are shut, hardly open at all. What energy does flow through this channel is a far cry from the amount that should, and it rarely makes it past the first three chakras because we rarely act from a place of higher consciousness.
Most of us are never concerned with anything other than “me, mine, and those people I can fuck or use to further myself.” Sad but true. Chakras or no chakras, this is what the majority of people obsess over.
This is why the libido isn’t actually the enemy. It’s the most powerful tool we all have for self-evolution and for achieving all of our desires. The problem is for most of us, our libidinal energy is stuck. Our libido never makes it past our cock and balls. Our libido is stuck here, and that’s why most of us are obsessed with sex, finding more women to conquer and with hoarding more wealth, status or whatever.
Further, that energy that is flowing is a mere trickle of what it should be. Whereas if the channels were cleared, and the junctions opened, and the energy increased.. Oh boy, it’s a whole different ball game.
Your libido is NOT the reason you can’t stop jacking off – it’s because you haven’t learned to increase and circulate this energy!
While a bad idea in the beginning, as you progress on the path of retention, you actually want to increase your libido, because once you’re able to move it past these lower centers that are only concerned with sex and egoic needs, you’re able to truly make some very satisfying and rewarding progress in life. At the very least, you don’t want to be squandering your sexual energy on porn and frivolous masturbation.
And guess what? If you’re still wanting to make it in the world, gain some status, lose your virginity or find a partner, you still need to harness this libidinal energy! There’s nothing wrong at all with these things in and of themselves, it’s just when people get STUCK there and they never progress past it that it turns into an issue.
Keep that in mind as you practice semen retention – these practices, even ones that seemingly would have no effect on raising this sexual energy up to higher levels, are all intended to awaken your chakras and raise the libidinal kundalini energy up as high as it can go. All the practices are designed for conscious self-evolution, not just to become an enlightened being, but also to be used for you to achieve all your dreams and passions in life.
It’s the greatest asset we all have, so stop draining it into your crusty sock on Pornhub in your dark bedroom.
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
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.
A lot of people wonder what the best diet is for semen retention. One that increases testosterone? One that lowers the libido? Vegetarian? Vegan? Paleo? Carnivore?
Read on, my brothers.
Traditional Recommendations
Yoga and Ayurveda are two traditions that speak about using Brahmacharya, or sexual abstinence/semen retention, as a means for spiritual growth. They recommend a vegetarian diet, especially in the beginning of spiritual practice. The bulk of the diet should come from grains, fresh vegetables and fruit, sometimes eggs, and plenty of dairy products.
It’s important to remember the cultural backdrop of ancient India – most were Hindu or Buddhist, and as such they practiced ahimsa, non-violence towards all creatures, and thus many were vegetarians. They also considered cows to be sacred animals, so they certainly weren’t eating much beef, but they definitely found dairy products to be beneficial. Dairy provided some animal protein as well as healthy fats and Omega 3s, considering the cows were allowed to roam freely and ate their natural diet of grasses, not soy and corn feed. Dairy was considered sattvic, meaning it produced peace and tranquility.
It’s important to note that the dairy they consumed came from healthy, stress-free cows, allowed to roam and eat as they pleased, and the milk products were non-homogenized and un-pasteurized, meaning the fats and proteins within weren’t denatured. Long story short, this was much higher quality dairy than you’d find in the plastic-leaching gallon jugs in the super market, coming from stressed out, sick cows fed an unnatural diet that is high in pro-inflammatory Omega 6 fatty acids, filled with denatured proteins and fats.
A lighter diet, one that is lower in meat intake is actually very beneficial in the starting stages of semen retention, and is exactly what I would recommend when starting out. In the beginning it helps to decrease sexual urges, and lower meat intake will do exactly this. I remember once, despite not being Catholic, I gave up meat for Lent – my girlfriend wasn’t too pleased with the resulting drop in libido.
Less meat means less zinc, and a ton of zinc goes into sperm production. You also aren’t getting all of the stress hormones found in the meat – factory farmed meat comes from animals that are treated horribly, and are killed extremely inhumanely, many hung upside down with their throats slit and left to bleed out. Where do you think all the adrenaline released when the animal gets slaughtered winds up? In the muscle meat. This is also one reason why hunters try to kill an animal swiftly, with one shot, so that there’s no time for adrenaline to be released, tainting the taste.
You also will be avoiding all of the excess inflammatory Omega 6s in the factory-farmed animal fat, as the feed they eat is comprised mostly of corn and soy. Further, one of the ways the body deals with environmental toxin overload is to store it away into fat. That delicious, marbled rib-eye is loaded with chemicals your body then has to deal with – no bueno.
A further consideration to eating less meat in the beginning is that meat is high in the amino acid L-tyrosine, a precursor to dopamine and adrenaline. One of the main side effects of dopaminergic drugs such as amphetamine, cocaine and even dopaminergic anti-parkinsons drugs include a huge increase in libido, as well as risky behavior. We’re trying to make the body relaxed and calm, not revved up and prone to giving in to its every impulse.
Conversely, foods lower in protein and higher in carbs are considered more sattvic than their rajasicmeat and spice alternatives. I suspect a large reason for this is the effect carbs have on increasing serotonin, a calming, contentedness inducing neurotransmitter within the brain.
Ayurveda also recommends a blander diet, one without much black pepper, garlic, onions and other members of the allium family. I haven’t found a ton of information backing these claims up, other than garlic containing allicin, which may increase blood flow to the genitals, and spicy foods “irritating the urogenital tract”. If anyone would like to cut these foods out from their diet and report back, leave a comment below.
So while starting off with semen retention, you should try to make the diet clean, light and calming. Don’t overeat, cut back on meat in general, go organic with all food if possible, and cut back on rajasic or stimulating foods.
The Modern Take
That’s all well and good for the beginner, but what about when we’ve gained some semblance of control over our monstrous libido? This is when we want to start optimizing male hormone levels.
Go organic – Ever heard of xenoestrogens? These are chemicals in our environment and food that act like estrogen within the body, and they are fuckin’ everywhere. Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in food, ingredients in medications, birth control in the water supply, natural and synthetic perfumes, chemicals found in tons of plants like soy, lavender, even our precious hops in beer – these all have estrogen-mimicking properties within the body.
That’s why I have a big issue with people who say the phytoestrogens in soy products pose no harm to modern man. Maybe if that were the only xenoestrogen in our lives, this would be true, but the estrogens within soy products are on top of all of the other xenoestrogens in our environment! There’s a reason testosterone levels and sperm counts have been dropping steadily for decades, and I suspect this is the main reason.
Xenoestrogens are an example of endocrine disruptors, chemicals that fuck with our body’s production of, and receptivity to, hormones – the very things we are trying to optimize. Remember, we’re cultivating our sexual energy, our Jing, and hormones fall under the category of Jing. Common endocrine disruptors include chlorine, fluoride, bromide in baked goods, PCBs, BPA and other plastic chemicals, phthalates, flame-retardants, even electromagnetic fields and blue-light can disrupt our hormone levels! That new car smell we all love so much – you’re basically bathing in toxic endocrine disruptors.
So,if you can afford to, eat organic. Know about the dirty dozen and clean fifteen, and start buying more natural cosmetics, soaps, deodorants and toothpastes. Hitting the sauna is the best way to detox these chemicals out of your body, along with fasting, both intermittent and multi-day fasts.
Reintroduce clean meats – If you’re naturally inclined towards eating meat, start reintroducing it. I can’t recommend enough buying wild-caught fish, pasture-raised farm products or even hunting animals yourself. Animals that live healthy, long, natural lives, eating their natural diets are always higher in nutrition and lower in artificial chemicals and endocrine disruptors. Ever seen the difference in the color of a caged vs pasture-raised egg yolk? The caged one is a pale, runny yellow, while the yolk from the pasture-raised chicken is deep orange with a membrane that is tough to break.
Pasture-raised meats and wild-caught seafood are a good source of amino acids, zinc, taurine, creatine, carnitine, cholesterol and healthy fats, all of which are important for male health. Saturated fat and cholesterol are not the demons you were raised to believe they are, and in fact are crucial elements for the body to create androgens. No cholesterol, no testosterone.
Eat Jing building foods – Foods that enhance Jing and Ojas are always super nutrient dense, foods like egg yolks, liver, heart, oysters, clams, sardines, anchovies, and fish eggs (caviar/roe). These foods are jam packed with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, which are crucial Jing-building substances. Fattier cuts of free-range/pastured/wild-caught animal products fit in here as well.
We retain sperm to increase Jing, this sexual energy, right? Well, females have Jing too, and much of it is found in their eggs. So anytime you consume eggs, which have all the nutrients needed to create a baby bird, you’re consuming Jing-building nutrients. Even better is roe, as it contains a plethora of Omega 3s, especially DHA in phospholipid form.
Consume plenty of greens – Greens are not only very nutrient dense, they are crucial to the body’s detoxification pathways. If you just can’t manage to get in the habit of eating greens, add spinach or wheatgrass powder to your fruit smoothies, or take a concentrated greens supplement such as VitaMineral Green or Green Vibrance. Better yet, micro-algae such as spirulinaand chlorellaare both cleansing and help build Jing.
Keep it anti-inflammatory – Most scientists agree that we should be consuming Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats in a 4:1, or less, ratio. The Standard American Diet unfortunately has most of us at a 10:1 or even 50:1 ratio. Though they are both necessary, the problem here is that Omega 6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, while Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory. The source of all the extra omega 6 fatty acids? Extracted vegetable oils, which are already rancid. The best source of Omega 3 fats? Cold water fatty fish, such as tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, caviar, roe, etc. We should consume other anti-inflammatory foods as well – spices (especially turmeric), herbs, polyphenolic-rich berries, green tea, dark leafy greens, dark cacao, etc.
Extracted fats – If you are using extracted fats to cook with or to use as dressings, you have to be very selective. You want to make sure they are either saturated fats like butter, ghee or coconut oil, or monounsaturated fats like olive oil, macadamia nut oil, avocado oil, etc. What we don’t want are extracted polyunsaturated fats. Because there are many links in the fatty acid where a carbon molecule isn’t saturated with hydrogen, there are multiple points in the chain where light, oxygen and heat can oxidize the fatty acid, turning it rancid. This means extracted vegetable oil that you buy in the store is already rancid. Don’t even get me started on deep fried foods.
Bottom Line
In the beginning, it’s good to lighten up on the diet, cutting back on meat or eliminating it completely, making sure to not overeat, and cutting back on stimulating herbs and spices.
After you’ve reigned in your passions and urges, reintroduce clean meats. At all times, strive to consume organic, nutrient dense foods, with lots of greens, phyto-nutrient rich foods, and staying away from endocrine disruptors as much as possible.
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.
New to the art of Semen Retention? First step is.. Drum roll please…….
Stop watching porn and masturbating! If you’re currently booed up, you should talk to your lady and explain that by not coming, you can focus more exclusively on her wants and needs. It will be very difficult for the novice to have penetrative sex without orgasm at first, but keep at it.
After that, you’ll want to stabilize your mind so as to prevent overwhelming urges and “relapses”. Many guys aren’t prepared for how powerful these urges can become – our boy Josh Hartnett knows.
Then, you’ll want to start sublimating this sexual energy so it isn’t locked in your cock and you’re able to use it for kicking ass in life. This is JUST as important as not succumbing to coming – no sense building up this sexual energy if it just stays in your balls.
Finally, you’ll want to start further building and enhancing this energy to use it for higher purposes, but that will be a topic for later posts.
Calming the Mind to Prevent Relapse
Get off of tempting platforms – If you’re going to keep social media platforms, make sure you aren’t following users who post a lot of tantalizing photos.
Exhaust yourself each day – I can think of no better way to get your mind off of getting off than to just be exhausted. Long ass runs, heavy sessions in the gym, tons of work/school work; no matter how you slice it, if you’re too beat to beat it, it’s a win.
Modify your diet – Make it light and a little bland. Cut back on meats, especially red meat and shellfish. They’re high in zinc and carni-nutrients, loads of which go into your loads. Cut back on the allium family (garlic, onions, leaks, etc) and spicy foods, as these are traditionally said to increase libido and “irritate the uro-genital tract”. This only needs to be done in the beginning, when you’re beginning to find your strength. Despite not being Catholic, I gave up meat once for Lent. This meant I unknowingly also gave up my sex drive.
Practice fasting – This goes hand in hand with point three. Look into intermittent fasting, where you only eat your food in a 16 hour window. Try out the occasional 24 hour juice or bone broth fast. Fasting can really help to reel in the libido in the beginning.
Take calming herbs and supplements, and avoid stimulatingones – Herbs such asreishi mushroom, polygala and lion’s manereally help to calm the mind and curb desires. Avoid libido boosters and stimulants, such as ginseng, maca, coffee and adderall. Alcohol should be strictly off limits for the first couple months.
Start meditating – While desires do have a physical (hormonal) component, you interact with them via the mind. The stronger and more pure your mind is, the less lust rears its ugly head. Start with 10 minutes of calm-abiding or metta meditation each day.
Cultivate the Yin within – To put things in to Taoist parlance, masculine energy is yang, female energy yin. We’ve all seen the Yin Yang symbol. By practicing semen retention, we start cultivating yang energy – we increase our drive, and women take note of this masculine energy. Because we become much more yang, we need to balance it out by cultivating yin within ourselves. We can do this with yin herbs, things like goji berries, dendrobium or peony. We can also spend time in nature, preferably the forest or ocean, or working with our emotions, either through music, metta and compassion meditations, and by practicing generosity.
Great, so now you’ve calmed your mind a bit. What about starting to transmute that energy? Sublimation is just the act of turning one substance into a higher, more valuable substance. So we sublimate this sexual energy into drive, motivation, accomplishment – in short, we channel this sexual energy towards achieving our goals.
Transmutation Basics
Do kegels – Do em while driving. Do em while at work. Do em while making intense eye contact with your boss so he knows who’s really in charge. This will help prevent wet dreams, it helps prevent that sexual energy from leaking out, and kegels build a base should you ever want to have sex without emission.
Start a mental discipline – I personally think meditation should be a part of every mans semen retention protocol. Journaling, reading, thought exercises, and even playing chess are good additions as well – basically anything that is “heady”. The point is to keep the mind engaged and not thinking about the female form, and then building up mental power and discipline.
Read elevating texts – David Goggin’s Can’t Hurt Me,Jocko Willink’s Discipline Equals Freedom,Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Seneca’s Letters From a Stoic are all great choices. If you wanna throw a little spirit in there, check out Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, The Bhagavad Gita, The Bible, Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, or Ram Dass’ Be Here Now.
Work out – You’re going to start having a surplus of energy from retaining – put it to good use by building up your physical body. Working out is as much a mental discipline as a physical one, so you’re really killing two birds with one stone here. Doesn’t matter what you do, but it must be sufficiently challenging, which means as you get better at x, y, or z, you’re going to have to keep upping the intensity or switching to other types of working out.
Cold showers – A lot of guys are fans of the cold showers/baths in the semen retention community, and I’m one of them. Most people don’t realize the immense benefits of cold immersion, how it increases epinephrine by up to 300% (fat loss, energy, drive and motivation), decreases inflammation in the body and brain, releases cold shock proteins which actually help to repair the brain/blood brain barrier, boosts immunity and more. Cold immersion also helps to lock in jing, as the body shunts blood and jing towards the organs and brain and away from the extremities.
Journal – Keep track of how you feel and the progress you make. As the old adage goes, “What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get managed.”
Yoga – What do you think of when you think of yoga? Soccer moms and new-age women practicing their sun salutations, or maybe some honey bunnies in skin-tight yoga pants? I can’t blame you at all, for that’s how far yoga has been bastardized in the West. As for me, I think of ash-covered sadhakas who have been up all night in the cemetery, meditating on death. I think of sages and seers who’ve reached the pinnacle of human evolution. I think of people who have mastered the art of semen retention and with it, perfected self-evolution…
The physical side of yoga, all the asanas, or postures, help to massage and tone the endocrine glands, those glands in your body that secrete hormones like testosterone and that produce sperm and semen. Breathing practices helps to further calm the nervous system and are probably the single best way to transmute sexual energy for higher purposes, and meditation brings it all home – when you have a powerful mind under your control, there’s just no stopping you.
Now certainly, you don’t need to become an ash-covered yogi. I’m just trying to point out that abstaining from masturbation, cold showers and lifting weights will only take you so far. If you want to stop there, by all means, please do.
If you’re interested in taking Semen Retention and, by extension your whole life, to the next level, to beyond anything you thought was possible.. You’ve come to the right place.
Just make sure you’re ready, because beyond a certain point, there’s no turning back.
