Hormones and Chi

There is a forgotten art to the control of the mind and body.
I started like many did in my youth; I read a book about Harry Houdini that documented his ability to control his breathing and tolerance. A little known fact is that Houdini was terrified of water and considered it a personal challenge to publicly conquer his fear.
I had modest talent in that area, no. My expertise was pain and metabolic control.
I can think of a dozen examples when I have performed under extreme pain, oftentimes to my medical detriment, mostly as an oldschool dumb-as-rocks way of trying to prove myself.

Migraines are not pain in the sense I have dealt with in the past. Willpower does not make a migraine go away, meditation and diet change have very minimal results. I can see them coming but I can do nothing to stop them or cure them why then arrive.
So I commited myself to research until I could find some kind of answer.

I searched a variety of medical papers, a few mainstream articles and generally made a nerd of myself in the area. One of the things I noticed was a pronounced connection in many papers to hormones. It appears that migraines are indeed linked to hormonal imbalances (like many neurological problems.).
This reminded me of a paper I read several years back about the connection between the Taoist concept of “chi” and the daily hormonal cycle.

It was interesting but inconclusive, the Taoist “hotpoints” in the day coincided with peaks in hormone levels. Diet, meditation and tai chi also had very visible impacts on hormone levels. The theory of the paper was that the entire concept of “chi” or energy was merely the subtle control of hormones.
I rejected the thesis of the paper, one because it had no proof and two because science cannot proof faith. I have seen and felt energy in ways that it is beyond science to explain. But I admit the meat of the paper was compelling enough to remember all these years later.

Lets say your energy affects your body. Hormone levels would be one affected area. It might be possible with experimentation to control the hormones enough to prevent or even cure the migraines. It even explains the depression and mood swings that follow and precede each migraine attack.

Like many Taoists who practice consistently I have some degree of control over my bodies energy. I can’t snuff out candles with my fingertips or choke snide officers from another galaxy but I can profoundly change my body. I can metabolize faster, I can exceed my physical limits, and I can transcend pain and fatigue. Maybe I can control my hormone levels too.

I cannot with words describe how tired I am of being sick. I am literally completely disgusted by it. I want to sleep 8 hours without horrible mindbreaking nightmares. I want to close my eyes and not have those nightmares haunt my waking sight. I want to go to work and drive my car and go out and have fun like everyone else. Instead I am trapped inside avoiding the sunlight like a bug under a rock. I have changed so much in the last few years. But the core of who I am has stayed the same, my beliefs have been scorched by doubt and insecurity and neglect but they survived. My friendships have endured incredible stress and I have lost many of the things and people I loved.

It is for those last remaining; precious things that I have to commit myself to this.