The nature of practice changes as we age.
When I was younger the practices linked to the power center in the lower abdomen, the lower dantien as espoused in Asian practice, made up the majority of what I did. The results were phenomenal. Emotional feedback muted, physical performance rocketed upwards, the response of the opposite sex reached rock star levels, broken bones healed in a matter of a week or two, etc.
I felt, performed and acted like a demi-god. The reaction of others mirrored this as well. They either really liked me or really hated me. Untrained people who spent more than a few hours locked in a room with me were made very uncomfortable or became unstable.
Yet, the solar plexus/chest centered practices were incredibly uncomfortable. So much so, that while I learned these, I could never consistently practice them.
In middle age the solar plexus, and upwards directed, practices work much better and are far easier to engage in. Transmutation of emotion, and the purely energetic, occurs with ease and has the added benefit of making me much more pleasant to be around.
Lower energy center practices can still be performed, but large amounts of attention placed on this no longer interest me. I also find it easy to overload my body to the point of damaging it if I over do this without a lengthy buildup.
Additionally, a very interesting fusion of past experience, and skills, is taking place that previously eluded me. Learning new skills is still possible, although it requires more time than I previously needed to apply.
My ability to perform the “higher” level practices is definitely linked to the work I did when younger. I do not think I would be able to perform what I currently can without that work even though the techniques involved are, application wise, very different.
Ideally, a practitioner’s life, for men, would look something like this…
16-32 years of age: Kundalini and lower energy enter practice. Tons of fasciae training and robust physical work primarily involving warfighting. Mostly warrior path and building the skills needed to judge others.
33-40 years of age: Heart centric and solar plexus practices. Cleaning up the emotional residue from an active life becomes important as the grounding power of youth starts to dissipate. Here is where your artistic skills find real expression as you now have the resources necessary to express them. This is where entrepreneurs hit their stride for the most part.
40-50 years of age: Throat centric and etheric practice require a physical component that old age precludes, and judgement not normally associated with youth. The study of medicine, and supporting your health, becomes important as mortality starts to creep in.
51-60 years of age: Head centered and up practices. The ability to fuse the moments of your life into something greater simply doesn’t happen in most people prior to this. For this reason, accessing states beyond space/time is tricky as well. Also with youth, unduly transmuting vital force is unhealthy and potentially painful in ways that vital energy softened with age is not.
60-70 years of age: External energy center work begins in earnest lower energy center work to reinforce the physical. The role as a practitioner at this point is to train the next generation and provide judgement of others.
70 years of age and up: Mentoring others and figuring out what you want to do in your next life. Or alternatively, working on not reincarnating in the future. Devotional work becomes personally valuable.
Note, none of this gets into growing up as a man, having a profession and raising a family. All of which seem to be necessary to have a complete life.
