awarenessrules

No teacher available in my country for Tai chi or Bagua or Qigong. Where did you learn it and who was your teacher? Also if I don't have teacher what if I just do walking meditation? Would it benefit me? The sitting meditation alone is very ungrounding tbh.

I have read that shikantaza is just sitting meditation. But the nature of mind is to always look for something to focus on or wonder about. So when one master's the breath meditation what should be next step rather than moving to insight practice? How can one achieve just sitting state? You are no longer focusing on breath and also not watching thoughts or sensations (insight, Vipassana etc), so what should be the practice then? I am asking this because I recently met a person who was deep into meditation for 20 years and now tells everyone that meditation is not a normal practice and it destroys the mind and body over time. Because it is exactly the opposite of what a normal mind should do. It leads to detachement, lack of empathy, delusions, lack of responsibility towards family etc, . He was deep into breath focus meditation and he achieved several concentration jhanas. He said he was so addicted to pleasurable states that he lost his job, his family, hated responsibility for anything, just meditating 10 hrs per day. It was like heroin or cocaine addiction. Also a few years later he went into dark night of soul and developed several mind And body health issues. He spent lots of money on his chronic health issues but doctors had no idea whats wrong with him. So he left meditation and then more suffering started because he craved those pleasurable states. He said that it took him 4 years to completely quit meditation and he slowly regained health but some health issues became permanent due to extensive damage to organs. We are being told that meditation has lots of health benefits so I am curious what actually went wrong with him. He now tells everyone to stay away from any type of meditation. Is it because he did not switch to insight or just sitting (zen) practice at the right time after achieving breath focus mastery that he endured so much suffering because he lacked wisdom. Also can you kindly recommend books for practicing shikantaza or silent illumination after mastering breath focus? There are tons of books about insight or Vipassana but very few authentic books about shikantaza or silent illumination which are zen practices. Thanks

So you mean zen meditation is the original meditation that Buddha taught? Vipassana or insight was later invented? Also when you reach a certain stage that you are only focusing on breath with no distractions, what should be the next step? Most Buddhists say to switch over to insight practice, what does Zen Buddhism say when you master breath concentration?

@Gerard I have read that bagua has a lot more benefits than Tai chi which is popular in west. Sadly the authentic bagua teachings are not available online as compared to Tai chi. Can you kindly point out some good lineage teachers in west that teach bagua online?

@stirling what's the difference between the traditional Buddhist insight meditation and zazen practice? I am a bit confused because both practices teach "watching your thoughts" Can you kindly clarify the difference?

Hi, is any body here practicing ping shuai gong here? Its also called the swinging hands qigong. I have heard some great things about this qigong especially for healing chronic illnesses including cancer, immunity issues, blood circulation issues etc. It also helps with stuck qi and stagnation. Any experiences? Thanks

Thank you for your suggestions. If someone is mostly in his head or having lots of mental chatter or anxious thoughts or somewhat ungrounded etc, Is it okay to stick with walking meditation only for some months to settle in the body and get grounded before moving on to sitting meditation later at some point? What I have found that doing lots of walking meditation only each day for such a person is highly beneficial as compared to 50:50 approach. It can calm the mental chatter, sink the energy and help in grounding. Once settled and balanced he can move on to 50:50 method that you mentioned above. For some people starting with sitting meditation even if combined with walking meditation can destabilize the mind especially the ones with psychological or traumatic or spiritual issues. Doing walking meditation only for hours during the 24 hr period can be game changing for such cases. You know better than me since you are quite experienced in this stuff. My 2nd question is, what are your thoughts about replacing the Vipassana type sitting meditation with Mantra meditation or chanting using the same 50:50 approach i.e. 50% mantra or chanting while sitting and 50% walking?

You emphasize a lot on walking meditation but most of the meditation books whether Buddhist or Hindu prefer Vipassana meditation only mostly centered around the breath or sometimes mantra. Some Buddhist meditation books do mention walking meditation but do not give it much importance. Is there something special about walking meditation that you mention it a lot. Though I have read on a few meditation forums that connecting to earth or doing walking meditation one can avoid the dangers of long-term sitting meditation or spiritual crises by having a strong base. Also it enhances physical health. What are your thoughts?

What specific Buddhist tradition or sect these days do you think is closest to the original Buddha's teachings? Any authentic books or authors you can recommend which are closest to the true teachings of Buddha on jhannic states, samadhi, nirvana etc?

You said the best time to practice is around 11 PM but most people have a hard time sleeping after doing intensive physical exercise i.e squats etc. What's the best day time to practice? I think morning 5 am to 7 am is also good. Any thoughts?

Thanks for this amazing info. Just wanted to ask does walking meditation also come under grounding exercises category? I have read in several books that you have to combine walking meditation with traditional sitting meditation to avoid burnout or more chi in head. Basically the instruction is 50% sitting meditation plus 50% walking meditation to balance the energies. I think If someone is already ungrounded then he should do only walking meditation and squatting. What are your thoughts?

What is spontaneous gong? Is it both sitting and standing exercises?

How to practice true emptiness?

Dear Rudi, I have sent you an email 2 days ago regarding the level 1 workshop held on coming 9-10 April. I would really appreciate if you can read my email. I used the email ID on your website for sending the email. Thanks

Do you teach full Neigong system? Can you teach online? And what lineage do you teach? Thanks,

So which one is Authentic Buddhism, There are also others like Theravada, Hinayana, Mahayana, esoteric Buddhism etc. Any Teachers recommendations from both west and east that teach the authentic practice would be really appreciated.

I have tried white skeleton meditation and It was boring as hell. It's more like a type of visualization rather than meditation. Can you point out some resources about this specific type of skeletal meditation that you do i.e. Meditation on bones?

Thanks, Can you kindly mention any Youtube video or video course which teaches this specific shaking technique?

Thanks for suggestions, I can't do abdominal breathing due to extremely stiff abdominal muscles. It hurts a lot. Thats the reason I am more interested in this Qigong shaking mentioned in OP to loosen my body and build immunity but the only issue is the trauma inside my body and I don't want to trigger it. So if it has different effects than TRE ( very adverse effects for me) then it would be really helpful for my immunity without adverse effects. Also OP mentions to shake just like a ping pong ball is moving up and down at a faster rate in belly area. This means shaking at a really faster rate. What's the effective shaking rate in this technique? Can one shake at a slower rate to get the same immunity benefits?

I am a Trauma survivor and have tried TRE 2 times only and it made me so sick for 2 months. It was horrible. I will never try TRE again. So will this type of Qigong shaking mentioned in OP trigger the same effects? I want to be extra cautious this time. On the other hand my immunity is very weak and read in OP that it helps with immunity. Any suggestions for me?

I read somewhere that shaking is dangerous for most people because it can trigger deep traumas stored in body and make one even more sick. Same goes for spontaneous qigong systems. Is this true?

Yes the same one. But I do think he is at least level 4 practitioner because he took a live retreat with Master Lin. And said that his 3rd eye fully opened which usually happens at level 4 along with the fasting thing. I think he is not active anymore otherwise he would have replied to my threads on sfq. @Vajra Fist

Does Spring forest qigong involve working with spirit guides or entities ? I am asking this because chunyi lin uses the word Masters energy very frequently. I think its a transmission based system and you cant master this qigong system from a video or book unless you take a class with a teacher whether live or online. Also they practice MCO in level 1 while in other systems MCO is a very advanced meditation. In MCO chunyi Lin uses Masters energy to open the pathways. Thats the reason it is practiced at such a beginning level without side effects. It uses some type of external energy like that of Reiki etc. I do not know much about this system though but have heard only good things about it. Is it okay for people with religious background? As far as i know nearly all monotheistic religions warn against working or seeking help from spirits or these so called spritual entities. Any thoughts? some months ago i read a story by Guy who was deep into some type of transmission based Qigong system and later it led to spirit possesion. Is there any truth to this?

I Read a lot about this system in past few days and i am quite sure now that its a deep spiritual system and needs loyalty to the Grand Master Chunyi Lin and the lineage itself. I am not talking about the home study course. But Once you take any Level with a teacher whether in person or online, you are connected to the lineage. Regarding calling the Masters energy, On their website they say that the Master can be anybody, your father, mother or your pet But i think in reality during live classes the students are encouraged to call on their Qigong Master energy or simply Chunyi Lin energy and its an important part of the system, i would say 50%. Level 1 Class is basically an initiation into the system. In fact during the live class the teacher transfers Yuan shen into his students to help with their energy cultivation and healing. Thats what i read read here by a senior SFQ practitioner. The system totally relies on energy transmissions to get results. Now with home study course, the story is entirely different, you are on your own just like any other Qigong dvd course or books. It can help you with healing from any illness if you practice it for long enough but you do not have the energetic help from teachers or lineage. I think The level 1 movements are deeply healing even if you learn it from home study course. But if someone wants to go beyond health, then the best route is taking all levels in person or online with a certified teacher. And you are right the system does have new agey vibe unlike classical neigong systems. But it does look interesting. Did you take level 1 in person or home study course? @Vajra Fist

Thanks for all the suggestions. Another thing that i noticed is that Master Lin says in video to imagine energy moving in central column when doing the Moving of Yin yang exercise. How can we coordinate the energy movement with hands? I mean 1 hand is moving up and other one is moving down at the same time so how do you imagine the energy movement? I cant imagine energy moving up and down at the same time while moving 1 hand up and 1 hand down. Do you coordinate it with right hand when it goes up the energy goes up and when it goes down the energy goes down or left hand? I use visulaization extensively because it has really accelerated my results. i was able to feel the energy ball within 3 days when i started visualizing the energy ball. For the time being what i do is that in 1 movement when the right hand is moving up i imagine energy moving up in central channel, i complete the movement and in the next movement when the left hand is moving up i dont do anything but when the left hand is moving down i imagine energy moving down the central channel but i feel this is not the corrent way. One technique is when the right hand is moving up the energy moves up and when it moves down the energy moves down, in next movement when the left hand is moving up the energy moves up and when it moves down the energy moves down. Which one is the correct way? @JohnC @voidisyinyang