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Probably as a result of the surgery weakening my diaphragm I developed a hiatal hernia and with it more or less lost the ability to do any sort of energy manipulation. My guess is it's due to vagus nerve entrapment.
Anyway, all I can advise is for you to avoid stressing your abdomen too much. Avoid heavy weights and don't let yourself get constipated. I've been almost cut off from the spiritual for two years now and it sucks.
It never really occurred to me prior to the surgery that this was even a possibility. One of my Qigong teachers was really down on gallbladder removal, but even he admitted that with the gallbladder out the energy meridian was still present and could be worked with.
I use Qigong-based energy work extensively in my ceremonial practices and if that were to quit working I'm not sure what I would be able to come up with as a workaround. I'd probably have to see about doing more traditional grimoire evocation and summoning up more spirits rather than relying on my own power for simple stuff, but that could become a hassle pretty fast given that in my day-to-day life I use magick all the time. The whole point of just willing simple stuff to happen is that it's more convenient than going through the whole temple setup and ritual procedure.
I've been back at work for two weeks now but my recovery has been a little slower than usual, probably due to the internal bleeding from the original surgery. Nonetheless, I am happy to report that I've been running through my Qigong sets and all of my energy work techniques still seem to produce the same effects and my diaphragm breathing is mostly unaffected by the remaining suture sites. So it seems that I've dodged a bullet there, and I offer my thanks to everyone who sent some healing my way. Every little bit helps.
I hope to be back up to full speed shortly get back to more interesting blogging. Lately I haven't had the energy for much writing besides some short pieces for my new author website, but I expect that to change soon.
Thanks for your patience!
4 comments:
In theory, the limbs and organs you do or don't have shouldn't have any effect on energy work. You should be able to channel everything through the astral body if need be (like if you were just one of those Futurama heads).
If a person has problems, I'd suggest looking at other issues that might cause the problems that would be related to the surgery.
The number one culprit to me would be medications. Drugs can have all sorts of unintended affects on abilities. Everything from increasing them, to completely killing them, to making sixth senses completely unreliable.
Secondly the surgery itself could have been the problem. The medications, the stress of the surgery, other related stresses, the surgery itself, and the recovery period are all things that could contribute to a restriction in the flow of energy that can make energy work difficult to impossible.
If that's the case, you can start with easy solutions like meditation, getting laid, and relaxation. If that doesn't work, it's probably best to just pay a good Reiki master to put everything back in order. You can also try communing with the gods (since this requires lots of energy manipulation and can not be restricted) and going to one of the big energy spots if you happen to live near one.
Lastly it could just be attitude, especially if it's been over a very long period of time. There may have been an actual issue following the surgery which has caused a person to believe that they are now incapable of energy work. Under normal circumstances the problem would have eventually corrected itself. But once you get an idea that you can't do something into your head (magically speaking, and usually most other ways too), it makes it impossible to do it.
Anyways I'm glad to hear your surgery went fine. Hope you have a speedy recovery and are back to life as usual soon.
In theory, the limbs and organs you do or don't have shouldn't have any effect on energy work.
That's how I was taught as well, which is why I was so surprised by the comment. I also know a number of other magicians who have had the same surgery, and none of them had any problems with energy work afterwards.
The medications, the stress of the surgery, other related stresses, the surgery itself, and the recovery period are all things that could contribute to a restriction in the flow of energy that can make energy work difficult to impossible.
That's certainly possible. It seems to me that after two years anyone would have made a full recovery from this surgery, even with complications, so my guess would be that a problem with medications that were started after the surgery would be the most likely culprit.
But I'm still very glad to find out that at least for me, the energy work stuff is indeed working fine.
Anyways I'm glad to hear your surgery went fine. Hope you have a speedy recovery and are back to life as usual soon.
Thanks! I'm getting there...
I guess I should clarify. I had no energy issues after my gallbladder removal. If anything my abilities were improved until a couple of years later when I developed the hernia, which may have been brought about by a diaphragm weakened by the laparoscopic surgery.
I can still get things down by petitioning gods and other entities, but it's like communicating with morse code on a ham radio when you're used to broadband internet. I'm glad it's there, but I miss the tactility and nuance of energy work.
If anything my abilities were improved until a couple of years later when I developed the hernia, which may have been brought about by a diaphragm weakened by the laparoscopic surgery.
Keep in mind I'm not doubting your experience here - if anything it's a good cautionary tale about how things can go wrong. I checked out wikipedia on hiatial hernia and discovered the following:
Incidence of hiatal hernias increases with age; approximately 60% of individuals aged 50 or older have a hiatal hernia.[5] Of these, 9% are symptomatic, depending on the competence of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). 95% of these are "sliding" hiatus hernias, in which the LES protrudes above the diaphragm along with the stomach, and only 5% are the "rolling" type (paraesophageal), in which the LES remains stationary but the stomach protrudes above the diaphragm. People of all ages can get this condition, but it is more common in older people.
I'm assuming that if 60% of older people develop this condition and it always interferes with energy work there would be some mention of it in the literature on Qigong. However, the folklore is full of stories about old masters being incredibly powerful, so my guess is that only a small subset of the various possible types are problematic. Is the version that you have the sort of thing that could be fixed, surgically or otherwise?
The idea about vagus nerve entrapment that you mentioned earlier is interesting to me as well with my background in neuroscience - that's got me thinking if there might be some sort of scientific research that we could undertake comparing the firing rates of the various cranial nerves to the sensations produced when working with Qi.
I think those results might prove fascinating if we could get any real scientists to try out the necessary series of experiments. Unfortunately, monitoring the firing rates of specific nerves takes serious tech that you can't just whip together in your garage.
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