Below is the second half of our exclusive interview with qigong researcher Drew Hempel. (Here is the first half.)
Through this intensive practice, you progressed rapidly. What experiences and events marked this progress? In what manner was your brain “transformed”?
The first energy transmission I had from Master Chunyi Lin was this flash of light (while my eyes were closed)…very bright, and my whole body filled with this amazing deep bliss. (Chunyi Lin was first healed by Yan Xin and later studied with Yan Xin’s teacher!) When Chunyi Lin walks into the room, you can immediately feel the whole room fill with this magnetic bliss energy.
One day, after a Spring Forest Qigong Level 2 class, Chunyi Lin stared through my body at my right kidney, and I felt this amazing laser bliss right on my kidney. By that point, I knew that Chunyi Lin had profound healing energy.
At the guild meetings, Chunyi Lin would stand in the front of the auditorium and I would see this bright yellow orb of light shooting out of his head.
“I moved 9 times looking for a quiet place, but mundane energy imbalances always intruded…I felt like I had come back from the dead and only consciousness was real.”
As the bliss and electromagnetic energy increased with more and more full-lotus sitting, I realized that there was water flowing from my brain! It was like an electrolysis converting the hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere into water through the electromagnetic fields of my third eye. Water poured into my belly, and I realized that this must be the “ambrosia” [described in neidan training manuals]. The top of my skull got soft, and amazingly it started pulsating with electromagnetic energy.
Does the full-lotus meditation posture have any special significance?
Chunyi Lin states that 20 minutes of full-lotus yoga or padmasana (with the ankles up on the thighs, legs crossed, left leg first and right on top) is worth 4 hours of any other meditation practice—if you want to see whether someone is an energy master, just see how long they can sit in full-lotus.
Through my own research, I discovered that yin and yang were originally music ratios—nonwestern music, which uses complementary opposites. (It’s very abstract reasoning, but something I had discovered from my music training while in high school.) I verified that 2:3, the Perfect 5th is Yang and 3:4, the Perfect 4th is Yin. The specific source is in my master’s thesis, “Epicenters of Justice” (2001) which is readable freely online. In short…
Nonwestern music healing works by transducing sound through natural resonance of frequency, to create ultrasound which ionizes the serotonin in the stomach. The more you listen to the source of sound, which is pure consciousness, the more electromagnetic chi energy is created; finally it turns into shen (spirit light). The full-lotus is a tetrahedron—pyramid power—which is composed of eight 2-3-4 triangles.
“I gave my car away. I began eating meat, and dumpster-diving for food. My focus in life was no longer activism; it was qigong.”
In Western science, the equilateral triangle requires the irrational number for geometric magnitude, but in music ratios of complementary opposites–from Pythagorean harmonics and Taoist yin and yang—the full-lotus pressure creates frequency resonance for turning matter into energy. Since the tetrahedron most efficiently creates the yin-yang ratios, the energy creation is fastest there.
How have these experiences affected your outlook on life, and your relationships with other people?
I started having precognitive visions in my full-lotus meditation, but I also was extremely sensitive to the energy imbalances around me. I desperately wanted a quiet place to meditate. I researched intensely all the monasteries around the world, and various other spiritual gurus and masters. I thought that if only I could find a better environment, then I could deepen my meditation. Amazingly I could not find a teacher who seemed on the level of Chunyi Lin—his ability is truly rare.
I moved 9 times looking for a quiet place, but mundane energy imbalances always intruded. I continued taking classes, but not at the same intensity of practice on my part. I stopped my special diet. I felt like I had come back from the dead and only consciousness was real.
My degree was over, and my funding was gone. I gave my car away. I began eating meat, and dumpster-diving for food. My focus in life was no longer activism; it was qigong.
I had no choice about it, and I still am trying to adjust. My experience was similar to that of Wang Liping, who was told to move back into society after his training (in the book “Opening the Dragon Gate“)…only I didn’t make the transition successfully. Ha ha.
I continued my research intensely, “reverse-engineering reality” by comparing science with my own experiences. I discovered some amazing things about the vagus nerve transducing serotonin and anaerobic bacteria. I discovered, by accident, what I call the “O at a D”: psychic mutual climaxes with females.
When Jim Nance, Chunyi Lin’s qigong master assistant, asked me to help him write a book on his training, Lin stated that the spirits would not like this. It seems controlling, but Jim Nance completely respects this, and even mentioned to me that it’s better to not post on the Internet.
Do you have any advice to offer those who are interested in qigong, but unsure quite where to start?
Chunyi Lin
The exercises that Chunyi Lin teaches are extremely simple and yet very effective. The “Small Universe” Level 1 CD is the same as the “Microcosmic Orbit” that Mantak Chia teaches. That is also the focus of the book “Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality”. Chunyi Lin has stated that the Small Universe is the foundation practice and can take you to the highest level. “Taoist Yoga” explains these steps in detail.
Anyone can practice the small universe—a paralyzed man in England healed himself just after the first session! I wholeheartedly recommend his Spring Forest Qigong meditation practice.
Enjoy the energy is my advice.
I’ve spent a lot of time online answering questions from readers, and I’ve posted on many forums to seek critical feedback, knowing that my peers are my greatest critics. So I’m always happy to learn from any readers, and enjoy learning about their qigong experiences as well.
Drew Hempel’s book, “Trance Songs: How to Make Love to the Universe”, is available at Lulu and Amazon. Drew currently blogs at Natural Resonance Revolution.