Mudfoot

Do you ever read posts, or do you go for the strawman argument by default? ☹️

It feels nice to be noted. Follow this logical chain: Just because beginners are told to focus on the full lotus doesn't mean that later on you might find the half lotus more useful for specific purposes, especially with that mudra.

Isn't it interesting that a person capable of sitting in full lotus chooses not to? Almost like there is more to practice than that, when you progress beyond level zero😁 The mudra is common enough; JAJ and Mitchell both mention it and buddhist traditions use it as well.

Yes, striking similarities, isn't it. Add white moon... and cross-reference them, and I bet those who like the Mo Pai books have a ball. I wrote a little about it in my ppd.

This is actually a very good example of something that might go well with psychotherapy. You can regulate your breath, regulate your body, and regulate your mind. These are principles in autonomic and emotional regulation, which forms the basis for therapeutic work. The combination of the weight shift and the breathing enables you to work on the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches simultaneously, and the combination of proper breathing and proper focus will activate pro-social and de-activate stress-preparatory parts of your mind/brain.

There is always boxning or something more modern and street-related, if your purpose is to reality test yourself. Nothing like a whack on the head to stay real 🤪 With the meditational and energetic practices you have described, why learn more systems when you can deepen the methods you already have?

Yes.

And the Nuts.

Same here. I practice before the family is up in the morning, and after the kids have fallen asleep in the evening. IMA in the morning, standing in the evening. Works fine.

(Ok, the font changed in my phone, that was unintentional.) The pictures are good. Chia has good illustrators and is good at using visual imagery. And these are classic images, copied from old works. That doesn't say that the sexualised language, implying post heaven practices, refers to practice methods where you will reach the desired result. I haven't read his later books, but his earlier work treats the subject of reversal, yuan jing, yuan qi and yuan shen differently from (my understanding of how) the few other texts I have gotten anything useful from speak about it. I am aware I am biased here, locked in the box of my own experiences (which, btw, most are), but I do not believe I would turn to Universal Tao for this kind of training. Yes. But in my experience, not spinning at the speed of light.

98 posts, and with the exception of @SpotlessI would say we have shared....

Or pick another method?

I had to look that up... 😁

Fuxi is in the Garden, on this forum. I am one of the arrogant bastards here that already have a method, so I am content with that.

Have you gone through the threads about this, in Fuxi? They are a delight, and some of them are classic Nei Dan threads.

It is very full with examples of techniques. Confusingly full.

That's ok, you'll get used to it. Most already have the books, many also have methods, quite a few have methods learned from teachers. Some will claim that you don't need a teacher if you have the right book, others will claim that without the proper transmission you will fail. Quite a mess actually 😁

That will not happen. Look back at all previous nei dan threads on TDB. Insults shared. Plattitudes shared. Methods? Nah.

True, does that mean Chia's material originated with the Celestial Masters?

SOTG likes the koncept of reverse engineering; if you understand the process you can also alter it and streamline it.

Sympathetic nervous system gets tricky when you think too much, and plan too much. Among other things.

You will not like the answer. It is in the line of "find a teacher". Sorry.

It is good to read that the attainment of this level comes spontaneously to the practitioner who has practiced properly. Few will disagree with that. And the notion that the practitioner is a factor in the equation, not only the method: Few will disagree with that. When it comes to willpower and imagination, there is more debate. In some traditions, this is important. In others, it is actively discouraged. I am biased, coming from the second camp. I am not up to date on the Chia publications, but if you compare with other material, his earlier work would be classified as preparatory exercises, not even coming to laying the Foundations as I understand Wang Mu or as I understand my own non-daoist non-neidan tradition. But these are the last levels? In that case I am sure he has come to the core of the subject. Hard to tell by the description, even harder when you are biased by a tradition that uses a different terminology.

It is supposed to help you to draw more energy from Earth. You create a counter-twist in your legs, which would result in the above and more. Done proper, it helps open up stuff. Done improper, bye bye knees. 😁

A Chia thread. This can get ugly! Shields up. 😁