Bearded Dragon

I haven't posted here in years but I was contacted via PM about something, so I thought I'd write a few things. While I was posting here years ago I was mostly interested in the whole enlightenment thing, although I admit my knowledge of such things were and still are quite naive. "Freedom". Such a word sounds great, but if misinterpreted.... well.... I was working in engineering, earning good money and living in a place that was both near the ocean and mountains. A rather nice situation overall apart from the fact that my job basically involved me spending years trying to make sure the things I designed weren't going to fail and send the company bankrupt (which it always was right on the precipice the whole time). Projects piled up and I started taking more and more time off, and when I was at work I would often either just stare blankly at the computer or try to get a minute or 2 of rest with my head on the desk. The very freedom that I so treasured was being used as a reason to keep going in a situation that was basically destroying my body and metality. "Throw yourself in the fire" was a term I liked to use, regarding refining the self in ordinary circumstances. What I was too naive to realise was that my "freedom" was actually more of a strong stoic resolve that did not take into account the physical limitations of the body and mind to handle the circumstances that were being pushed through. It was possibly not just work, but there may have been some sort of virus that triggered what would eventually be diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a term basically used after everything has been tested and the doctors have no idea. I had taken some prototype PCBs home to solder parts onto because it was easy enough, but after a week of it sitting in my car due to excessive anxiety of attempting any task at all I drove to work and quit on the spot. It was a relief, and a lot of weight was lifted, however it was just the start of about 6 months where I'd barely get out of bed. I'd wake up in the morning and it would take all day to gather enough energy to do something easy like grocery shopping (and even that I'd sometimes break out in a sweat). I didn't dare practice and wing chun for years afterwards because any time I intentionally rose energy up my spine I'd feel sick, so I kind of just quit energy practices apart from a bit of yoga one night a week which left me feeling great for the evening and back to square one the next day. A few years on and I'm not as bad. I have an easy job and bought a house, but subconsciously my brain avoids effort. Things like mathematics I can't really do anymore because it feels like my brain just says no and I struggle to see the numbers in my head anymore. Same with things like housework and other things that used to be no issue. It's like there's a defense mechanism that is trying to help me conserve energy in any way that it can. The reason I wrote this is that I feel it's really necessary to be critical of what you're actually doing, and not to put spiritual persuits over the requirements of the body and mind. After all, it is through this body and mind that spiritual persuits are persued. I have actually learnt a lot from this experience, but perhaps it wasn't entirely necessary. Finally, a note on freedom. Freedom is already here. Sometimes you just need to sit for a bit to realise it. It has nothing to do with what you do, how you do it, or how strong your resolve is. The latter is a lesser freedom pertaining to the body and mind, which does not exist in a pure form due to the obvious limitations of the body and mind. Although there is nothing wrong with improving the body and mind I feel that perhaps a spiritual seeker would be better off just taking care of themselves as best they can and jumping straight into the pure freedom that is already here, right now. Perhaps the term "throw yourself in the fire" would be better as "sit in the hot spring" or something a bit less deathly. Take it easy. Be free now. BD. Oh and if anyone is wondering, I'm in a good place so there's no need to worry.

I have responded via PM but I'll re-post my answer in case anyone else needs further clarification. ... I was talking about a physical opening here. When you tilt your head back you can feel a cutting off of both the energy channels and bloodflow. What I was recommending was tilting the head forward very slightly, and maybe tucking in the chin a bit, to create a physical lengthening (not through tension though). The area then feels more spacious, as if it's more of an open conduit. I can physically put my head in that position with a bit of muscle, then think about raising up energy and afterwards it's as if the energy is supporting the posture and I can let go of whatever muscle I was using to hold it there. I was never referring to the occiput as a chakra point or anything, although I have heard others talk about that area as the part of the brain they feel is responsible for the intent power of internal martial arts. Hope that clears it up a bit.

The concepts that I use are really straightforward. 1) Raise energy up the spine and unify it as a whole. This is the power source, and also you won't have poor posture or technique if the spine remains unified and continually flowing. 2) Relax onto your center. This progressively happens until every single movement is a movement/rotation of perhaps a pea sized sphere (not many are that good, I assure you). By relaxing onto the center you're connecting everything back to it. Since everything is connected to the center you can control every movement from there. When the center gets really small you start to do things with great force and speed. Not only that but it's really simple to apply and it just works amazingly. There's more to it, but that's the basic setup. Then you kind of just have to point your intent either from your spine or center, If you point it through the arms then this will fill them with chi. If your intent stays connected with your opponent then the movements will naturally work. Example: Play around with flailing your arms around by rotating a point at your heart center. Do it until you loosen up. There should be not movement initiated by the arm muscles.... only initiated by the center point. Then add in an intent that there is energy being projected from the heart center to your fists. See what happens. Now project your intent at a point in the air and do the center rotation. Pick a different point and see what happens. You'll notice that as you do the movement your fists will want to track to where your intent is pointed. Don't try and control the technique of the arms. Just control the movement of the center and your intent. Have a play and see for yourself. You may have to at least raise energy up your spine to at least the level of the heart center because I've found that you can't really project your intent from any point above the level that your spine is able to be raised to.

Forget about all the garbage that you mentioned and just start by finding you you are that doesn't change. Awareness/consciousness. This has nothing to do with energy work as it is a process of clearing one's mentality until realisation is made. This is not to be understood by the mind. It is awareness being self-aware, NOT the mind seeing awareness. Some do seated meditation but it's not necessary (although sometimes I sit extremely casually and bask in awareness, but this is spontaneous). Meditation is a convergence on your natural state of being, and as such you can be in your natural state at any time in any circumstances. The only requirement is that you drop everything along the way. It's all got to go. Burn the whole forest down and you'll see it pop back in full abundance. In any case, you have to have the process going all the time such that it eventually self-perpetuates. Otherwise you're just wasting your time. This is why I advocate using every-day circumstances as means for refinement. For me it's exponential. These days I've got so much energy being released all the time that I'm forced to take on some methods of cultivation and energy work just to help deal with it all. This energy work is as a support due to the process taking up maybe 90% of my available energy, not as a means towards realisation. Anyway, finding essence is entry level. How are you meant to take a step when you don't know whose legs to operate?

I'd say so. You could really take it however you want, but in any case there is always the opportunity to look for yourself so it only really matters what you can confirm right away. I've recently become fond of Rupert Spira's "shortcut question" which is "Am I aware?". It instantly turns awareness back on itself and it's somewhat obvious that existence is self-evident but not so obvious how that is the case. I wonder what Descartes would have thought of these inquiries.

You want to have a downward sinking sensation in tai chi. Try to have a point about a foot under the ground suck your energy downwards, OR start from the top of the head and progressively drop any energy/feelings/tension/whatever until it starts to drop by itself. This has the effect of clearing stagnation and allowing your energy to naturally flow where it needs to. I've never noticed anyone have any bad effects if they're taught that from the beginning as the downward flows tend to play nice with the body. Everything is sinking. Even rising actions are initiated through sinking. Very important stuff.

I am

If you relax sufficiently you'll naturally have chi drop to your dantian. I took this as a cheap answer when I was beginning. It really isn't. When people talk about storing chi in the dantian it is in no way regarding the intent to move chi towards the dantian. It is talking about chi filling up in the dantian as a result of relaxation through one means or another. There are numerous methods of making the MCO work also. This changes depending on your ability. I only ever actively turn it on when I'm doing martial arts as it makes things work wonderfully. All other times I open wherever and whenever as a result of continuous relaxation of the mind.

The books are really good. Especially the first one and the Ixtlan one. If you can see what Don Juan was doing it really makes a lot of sense. Whether the hallucinations and "weird stuff" was real or not is not the point. There really is no difference for all practical purposes. The whole journey was a very direct and intense way of breaking Carlos down, destroying who he was, and laying the foundations for an opening into awake being. This is the real benefit of the teachings. It's a testimony for the "throw yourself in the fire" method of purification of the self. The extent that they went to was indeed pretty dangerous though. I wouldn't advocate going that far without a really good teacher.

Healings are like a loosening. It loosens you up so that whatever is on the surface at that time gets dissolved. BUT since you're now looser it's easier for deeper things to bubble up. It will be obvious when perhaps you're in a bad mood for no reason, or something sets you off that wouldn't normally. It's just the deeper energy coming up. Just let it come and ride it out (ie: just let it do its own thing without clinging or rejecting it and it will dissolve by itself). It's a good thing in the long run. I'm actually quite pleased when it happens.

Why ruin all the fun by planning it out? Just wing it. To make another Star Wars reference, "Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think".

I would probably be just as enlightened if I had a chair rising experience.

Is it not happening in the now? Where else could these experiences arise?

Anything that observes the nature of reality as it is will come to the same conclusion if taken all the way. How could it not? They're all the same beast. Same beginning, same end, infinite paths inbetween.