szu ko yin yang: The secret of FREEZING the FIRE is Water "over" fire (that goes down the front)

the method of gathering prenatal basic vitality [yuan qi] in order to invigorate spirit  

thereby linking the four positive and negative principles (szu ko 
yin yang) (see page 67) to produce the macrocosmic alchemical agent.

The nectar (or sweet dew, kan lu) is produced long after the intermingling  

of the four symbols (prenatal heaven and earth and postnatal heart and abdo¬ 
men) and the union of the sun with the moon (the positive 
yang and negative yin). He who knows how to gather it 
will obtain the golden nectar but he who does not gets only 
the white one (pure saliva).

Hence the prenatal heaven and earth and postnatal heart 
and the lower tan t’ien or the field of the elixir (under the 
navel) are called the four yin-yang (szu ko yin yang, positive 
and negative principles).

So alchemically (Taoist Yoga archive full text) we have "life-vitality" (jing-qi) and "nature-vitality" (shen-qi). The nature-vitality is the yuan shen as the right eye - it manifests when the yang qi is restored. So this is the "white tiger" (celibacy) - qi with substance of the right eye.
 

When original or prenatal spirit manifests thus, it should 
be driven into the lower tan t’ien centre under the navel to 
fix it there.

So that is why the  Water in this case is "over" the Fire or "Freezing" the Fire.

So the qi is yang but the shen is yin. So it is yin-yang (over the upper body, right eye). Then the Green Dragon is the yin qi but has the yang shen so it is the Positive Principle as the left eye, (the external sun) the yang-yin or Dragon that is now female.

This is how Damo Mitchell explains it (only he doesn't give the Shen secret):

 This will cause the Yin line to sink downwards which is the nature of Yin. In the early stages of the practice this will enable the Fire energy of the Heart to stabilize and stop rising as it is now anchored into the body by the Yin ‘Dragon’ line. In the same way we must stimulate the Yang ‘Tiger’ line of the Kidneys to movement which will cause it to rise. This lifts the Kan ‘Water’ energy preventing it from sinking as before.

In the text ‘prenatal’ denotes the positive or spiritual 
nature..,.The true Tao is prenatal spirit-vitality....‘This [lower tan t'ien] cavity is  

not material  

and is the union of both the 
male (chien) and female (k’un) principles; it is called the 
cavity of spiritual vitality which contains both the elements 
of fire and water in the generative force.

So this "copulation" takes place in the upper cauldron or tan t'ien, energy field. The yang qi and yin qi cross with the yin shen and yang shen. So then you get Heaven as yang qi-yang shen and Earth as yin qi-yin shen. The external Sun (yang shen, prenatal Heaven) and internal lower tan t'ien (yang qi, postnatal abdomen) combine while the external Moon (yuan or yin shen, prenatal Earth) and the internal heart (yin qi, postnatal) combine. This is why the "prenatal positive vitality" or yuan qi is also the yang shen.

5 hours ago, steve said:

Water and fire have layers of meanings in alchemy.
In at least one school, water is generated in the mouth during meditation and is guided downward to the fire in the lower dantian where jing is converted to qi. This is a foundational practice.
This is one meaning of water above fire in a Daoist context.

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Freezing spirit: An alchemical process which ensures the condition of serenity in which the practiser becomes unconscious, his breathing almost ceases and his pulses seem to stop beating for the purpose of gathering prenatal true vitality [yuan qi] in the original cavity of spirit in the centre of the brain and then driving it into the lower tan t’ien under the navel to hold it there to achieve immortal breathing.

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When it mentions terms such as: freezing the fire,

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Answer ‘Freezing the fire’ is freezing and driving spirit into the cavity of vitality (under the navel). ‘All masters taught only the freezing (or fixing) of spirit in the cavity of vitality.*

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To fix spirit consists of concentration which draws the pupils of both eyes as close as possible to each other. This is called ‘freezing the spirit’, ‘looking backward’ and ‘uniting the sun with the moon’ for the purpose of returning to the prenatal state in which, while in the mother’s womb, the two eyes of the foetus are in unison, and nature and life are one.

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‘Freezing the fire’ means that both eyes in unison look down into the cavity of vitality (the lower tan t’ien under the navel) which is called the gate to life (ming men) which is below and behind the navel and below and before the kidneys, the distance between it and the front and rear of the abdomen being in the proportion of seven to three. It hangs under and between the kidneys below and is linked with the ni wan or brain above and the soles of the feet below, being the source of prenatal Tao (immortality). Hence it is said: ‘This cavity is not material and is the union of both the male (chien) and female (k’un) principles; it is called the cavity of spiritual vitality which contains both the elements of fire and water in the generative force.

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It is the consolidating method which consists of turning back the seeing and hearing to empty the heart (of sense data) so as to freeze spirit and so gather vitality which will then stop draining away. Only by daily practice of holding on to the centre of vitality (under the navel) to realise the oneness (of all things) can the union of heart and lower abdomen be achieved in the state of (mental) stillness. This can never be done by worldly men in their sleep.

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the method of freezing 
spirit which is so called because it consists of first gathering 
prenatal true vitality in the original cavity of spirit (tsu 
ch’iao in the centre of the brain) and then driving it into 
the lower tan t’ien (under the navel). When doing it the 
eyes should turn inward to look into the latter centre until 
the heart and intellect are disengaged from the duality of the 
self and others and unite in the state of indistinctness until 
exhalation becomes subtle while inhalation continues 
unbroken, harmonic and restful. In time the lower tan 
t’ien centre (under the navel) vibrates extending its field 
of activity from the heart to the lower belly. After a long 
time this vibration will stop and be replaced by stillness, 
with the result that all inner (vital) breaths stop leaving the 
body whereas all outer ones continue to enter it; this reveals 
the restoration of foetal breath (see below) and the return 
(of prenatal vitality) to its source which is ‘a cavity within 
a cavity’; thus the state of profound serenity is attained. 

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By stoppage of respiration is meant the condition of serenity in which the practiser becomes unconscious, his breathing (almost) ceases and his pulses (all but) stop beating. This is called freezing spirit.

9 hours ago, whitesilk said:

So my interpretation is that yin and yang (the children in the water) represent the lower legs of the human body (the water element). Our energy may drain to water and is wasted if not caught by the of the three barriers or sanguan.

One further note is that our hands as humans do respond to heat quicker than our feet. Take a warm bath with an even temperature of water and feel the difference between your hands and feet. In my experience, my hands felt warmer even though my feet were closer to the hot water.

the boy and girl? That's the Cowherder and the Maiden:

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If the outer sun and moon do not mingle their lights the inner water and fire do not ‘copulate’ and prenatal true vitality cannot manifest. If they are left to themselves to follow their postnatal course the element of fire will remain dry and that of water will continue wet, with the former soaring up and the latter going down, both running in opposite directions. If water is not scorched by fire it will not evaporate to become steam that soars up. This is the unstable state of water and fire as shown by the story of the cowherd and weaving maiden in the Nei Ching. 1

So again the "outer sun" is the left eye as the yang shen (yin qi) - as the outer moon is the right eye as the yin shen (yang qi).
So the "girl" is actually the MOON of the "outer sun" as the Heart - and so the outer sun must go DOWN internally but also must go "right" so that the yin qi is turned from Red Dragon (outer sun) into  Green Dragon (copulating with the white tiger) to create Yuan Qi.

So for the lower body - the right hand is the yin qi while the upper body is yang (as external yang shen via the left eye). So you put the right hand facing the upper body.

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Fire is hot and soars up; it is symbolised by the maiden who weaves hard day and night, is likened to the heart (the seat of fire) which is impermanent, refuses to relinquish worldly attachments and is subject to the endless round of birth and death.

So the Shen as Fire - the Red Dragon - is the yin qi power as the Girl, the Maiden - who must be reversed internally - to go downward via the right brain.

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According to Chinese mythology, to the east of the heavenly river lived a maiden who worked hard to weave heavenly robes. The heav¬ enly king took pity on her loneliness and allowed her to marry a cow¬ herd living to the west of the river. After being married, she stopped working and the king was angry and ordered her to return to the east, permitting her to cross the river to meet her husband only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month.

So this 7th day of the 7th month refers to the Pole Star that is able to transcend the Solar-Lunar energy via time. So that the Lunar energy harmonizes with the solar - via the Pole Star cycle based on this reversal of time - just as the Pole Star is based on the "backwards wobble" of Earth - the precessional equinox cycle.

https://archive.org/stream/TaoistYogaAlchemyAndImmortalityLuKuanYCharlesLuk/Taoist%20Yoga%20Alchemy%20and%20Immortality%20Lu%20K%E2%80%99uan%20Y%C3%BC%20%28Charles%20Luk%29_djvu.txt

good point. So the Eyes are based on the cerebrum - meaning they are reversed, just like the hands. So your left eye is controlled by the right side of the cerebrum, just like your left hand is controlled by the right side of the cerebrum.

But the CEREBELLUM is like a 2nd brain inside us - the so-called "reptilian" brain - and this is what the vagus nerve connects to as the processing of emotions and motions. So this has a DIRECT correlation with that side of the body. And this is why the EARS are reversed in comparison to the EYES. So the left ear is the Tiger (yang qi) while the left eye is the dragon as yin qi.

So the key to realize is that there is a transformation that is a constant change - eternal. So the yin jing (Black Tiger) turns to yang jing (yin qi as Green Dragon) and the yin qi turns to White Tiger yang qi (yin shen) and the yin shen turns to Golden Dragon yang shen (yin jing). But this process has to rely on reversals at the same time - so up and down are reversed, left and right and forward and backwards.

So then with our eyes closed as right brain dominant the actually our left ear becomes dominant as white tiger. What does this mean? The right side vagus nerve of the brain connects to the left side of the brain but the left side vagus nerve does NOT connect to the right side of the brain. So with listening - there is frequency which is right brain dominant (just as vision is right brain dominant) but there is also TIMING which is left brain dominant (via the vagus nerve). So the Yuan Qi energy is this subharmonic as timing - the wavelength - as microsecond (the wavelength of ultrasound that resonates the WHOLE brain via the microtubules as quantum coherence). This ultrasound in turn has an ELF subharmonic - so when the body shakes and pulsates at 5 to 9 times per second - this creates a standing energy wave with the Earth's Schumann resonance (the Yuan Qi).

So what literally happens is that the jing as yang jing (yin qi) then fills up the right side of the brain (via the right side vagus nerve connected to the reproductive organs) - and then this cerebrospinal fluid transfers over to the left side of the brain and clears out the "Monkey Mind" - the conceptual blockages. THEN it overflows out of the Sinus Cavity - as the ambrosia. Only it's been charged by the Yuan Qi of the pineal Gland as the "copulation of dragon and tiger" - the yang and yin qi. So the pineal gland changes blood to cerebrospinal fluid. The blood has the yin qi in it. So this increases the yang qi. But also the Pineal Gland is a photoreceptor that receives light signals from the eye. So as the yang qi increases - this reactivates the lost  pineal gland function. The increased melatonin levels converts the pinealocytes back into their photoreceptor role (which is what the pineal gland was in more "ancient" times in our life evolution).

So in other words - to CREATE the yuan qi - you are taking in Ether energy that is the source of light. But to take it in - there has to be a superluminal medium created by two different wavelengths of light - the right and left eyes - that then cross (by rotating the eyes or by visualizing light as it rotates around the body). So this process then combines with the right to left process and the back to front process of the yang and yin qi. And that is how the Yuan Qi is then "FREEZING" the FIRE (the Jnana or Ether-knowledge) of reality.