Can anyone suggest the best way to get relief from TMJ pain with Spring Forest Qigong, either quickly or soon?

Comment: I woke up this morning to TMJ pain on chewing my food. While I've had TMJ for years, until now I've been pretty symptom-free for a long time.

As difficult as something like TMJ can be...it's not that much different that anything else, you've worked with so far. I'd say, Self Concentration/Small Universe right off the bat, however TMJ's intensity can make S.U. seem less effective or the problem seems to "get worse' when you get close to the head area...and you don't want to continue doing it... Yet, Small Universe is "typically" going to be what will help you the most. What can we do about this?

Rather than resisting or trying to 'get rid of' the energy, start by relaxing into it...relax it away...it's "just energy" after all. ...it's that simple. By being fully relaxed, your tension or pain should diminish, greatly. When you are tense and not fully relaxed--consciously or unconsciously the channels aren't fully open all the way.

Also, mind is 100% transparent. Energy can be directed by the mind and express "itself" in 'solidified' or 'blocked' forms such as TMJ or other 'symptoms'. Mind experiences this as "solid" as your resistance 'pushes against the pain' "not wanting it there", but mind itself is still smooth and transparent. You can think into the pain or against it, or want it gone...but we already know that these don't accomplish long lasting results--because these can add energy to the problem. "what you resist, persists"

So...I'll probably tell you what you've heard from me already, that's okay. It's review time. Learning is a cyclic process and that can be to one's benefit. In hearing the same concepts in different 'forms' you get a good grasp of the whole picture and find out it was actually much simpler than previously or originally thought. Qi Gong is no different from this, in being one of the 'hardest, most mysterious arts to learn on the planet' we are starting the realize it's actually of the simplest. It was our energy labeled as "this is complex/too hard to learn/etc" that made it seem otherwise. One of the old sayings, one of my favorite. "Have a beginner's perspective." or something like that. This is one of those sayings, 'that to leap forwards, you have to take a few steps back.' Pretend for a moment that you don't know anything about the world, anything about anything--other than the fact that everything is energy. Look at it that way, for a minute or two. How can there be any problems since everything is pure energy?

Look at the energy labeled as 'pain' notice it you have labeled it as 'pain', what kind "label of pain" is it? It might be Stuffy blocked kind of feeling, or sharp and pokey, or whatever... The "label" is not a 'word-label' such as pain...when I say 'the energy labeled as pain' I'm talking the FEELing labeled as pain, it's a non-verbal label that your subconscious has given it. It's the part of your mind, that tells you "this is pain" (find that state)

Take a moment and allow yourself to just take a break and watch your pain from mind, without really thinking anything about it--just look at it. Notice how you are looking at your pain(energy) with your mind(space). What is your mind looking at? What is it's shape, what 'color' is it? As you examine it's properties, you are going beyond resistance, because you are not trying to fight it or get rid of it.

Now that you are visualizing it as energy, gently let it disappear 'as smoke' or shine itself away...

~Z

Dear Zakyrus,
Thanks so much. Your detailed message was much appreciated. In fact, just reading it, I was more confident that SFQ could help. Before I got your message, it seems I was thinking, well, Spring Forest Qigong can help all those other things, but it can't help TMJ. And your rephrasing of what you had told me before was helpful.

I'm glad to report that after several short sessions of Small Universe, the TMJ pain disappeared. I did catch it early before it worsened. Thanks again for a very helpful message.

Glad to help.

In regards to that, TMJ is addressed in Level 2, as well as why opening points help with certain aspects. You may want to look into acquiring that at some point in the near future, even as you are still working with Level 1. Keep at it, like anything in life, it is a learning process.

Sometimes, we are given the means to correct certain energy flows because we'll need them later on. You may have dealt with a taste of TMJ now, partly because that point was slightly out of synch, but so that now, you also know how to correct it. ...and who knows, you might come across someone else later, who doesn't know how to correct it, and by experiencing it firsthand, you'll know what to do to help them.

Don't want to cause concern here, I'm not saying you have to "go through every ailment" to know how to correct "each specific energy type or blockage". In fact you really shouldn't, yet simultaneously, we choose our lessons--sometimes by forgetting, and something will come up to remind us "hey, get back on track!!" The lesson to watch out for the most is "I've been doing QiGong for a while, so I feel great" then you stop doing it and slowly get out of synch and wonder what went wrong "I am QiGong student, this shouldn't happen to ME...oh wait...I forgot to practice" ...and then we start again. I think the attitude to watch out for even more is the 'ugh, I don't want to do that right now' which if 'translated' what the 'feeling was saying' it would be more like "I know I should, but I'm comfortable with my pain." There's some SFQ paraliminals released a few years back "Faith & Confidence" and "Consistent Practice" check em out if you haven't already, they might help you undo some unconscious resistance to practice. (No, I'm not a 'secret spokes-person' for SFQ, I don't try to sell this stuff to anybody. This is merely the chosen forum I've ended up on.)

I tell you this to hopefully save yourself much time from many lessons. I make every moment 'thought that arises' a meditation, a sort of "constant meditation" so to speak. (and you don't have to do this--if you try to watch all of your thoughts, you might get a little nutty) However, as much as you can meditate with everything that arises, if you still don't practice, you get out of synch. 'Practice, practice, practice' If you don't have time, don't skip a day. Make 5 minutes your practice time, then at least you maintain. I'd say 15 or more is the minimum to do if you want to "build" each day.

If you only have a short time to do meditation, do a few moments of relaxing your body (like in the start of Self Concentration) and then do at least 3 cycles of Small Universe (3 times all the way around) and do a closing ("tucking away your energy") do more cycles around if you can.


~Z