The backward-flowing method is a process with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And like any process, it has to proceed step-by-step in proper order, like a scientific experiment. The first step is to reverse the breath. Reversing the breath triggers step two: drawing the distilled seminal fluid up the correct channel in the spine. It ensures that the process will unfold correctly, without harming or frightening the practitioner.

When you detect the sensation of movement in the lower belly as you breathe (after practicing Golden Flower Meditation for 100 days), you are ready to initiate the backward-flowing method.

What is it that moves? Whatever its composition, it has the properties of movement and direction. You will perceive it as a sensation, something you can feel, but not actually touch, hear, or see. This sensation may be perceived differently by individual practitioners. That's the reason it's difficult to express with everyday language. I perceived it as a current of air in the lower belly, but now I'm convinced after many years of reflection and years of listening to various accounts, that it is not air or breath, but an etherized or distilled form of sexual energy. Where does this energy come from? Is it breath? Is it energy? Is it breath energy? It's the result of the Diaphragmatic Deep Breathing, the catalyst of the sublimation process — the fact that you are starting to harness your energies instead of wasting them.