Prince...

I just thought I would share an email I recieved from Dr. Littlejohn who teaches courses on Taoism at Belmont University here in Nashville, TN. I am not sure if you are looking for just a Qigong teacher, but you may be in the perfect place to find a teacher if you are interested in Taoism.

Well, I don't believe in empty force, so that's a moot point. What I have seen, is my friend who teaches me Tai Chi (I say this because he's not a teacher) can barely twist an uproot me when we do push hands. Of course he has 8 years experience and I have like 2 months experience. He says when his teacher does push hands with him, his teacher doesn't even flinch, and uproots him. Of course I am aware that this is all body mechanics, control over the internals from long hours of stance training and practice, but this stance training is Qigong/standing meditation or whatever you want to call it. In my first post, I'm not sure if I've given the impression that I'm after some Dragonball type stuff. Cultivation, to me, is for enlightenment/immortality/union with the wholly other. If psychic powers/siddhis or what have you are real and come as a result of spiritual maturity, that is fine and dandy...but the world is a bad place. A woman got shot in Atlanta at the bus stop picking her daughter up from Red Lobster. I see drug dealers and junkies everyday that I go to the park for Tai Chi. I would like to live long enough to experience some of the things I've read about, but in the world I live in, I may just have to kick someone's ass on the path to Enlightenment and it's gonna take hands and feet to do that. But back to my original question... So I guess as long as nobody goes in there with the intentions of hurting people, it's okay to learn his system . Thanks, I hope I didn't come off the wrong way, all of your response did not show when I replied, but I'm not into all the showy magic stuff. I am studying Yang style Taiji with a friend in the park. He competes in tournaments, so he's looking more or less for a practice dummy and teaching me in between ass beatings. We're going to start Xing Yi in the fall, and I'll be doing a little Gao Bagua once or twice a month with another friend as well. I'm in the process of moving in about a year, but I want to stick with Tai Chi and Bagua.

I enjoy reading books on martial arts and wuxia novels (which I guess are about martial arts, too!). I really enjoy action movies, mostly with martial arts or superheroes. uhhh...I also love martial arts! Something else I'm interested in? Well, I am trying to study for the LSAT so I can go to law school, become a lawyer, and make a decent living so that I can afford to travel and study different styles of martial arts one day!

Thank you for sharing this, Mantis. Does anyone know where I can find this music? It is very soothing to me.

LoL...I dont feel so bad now, I just heard of Qigong last year. I am 28 and still trynna get started.

I got this book off Amazon back in the Spring so that I could get free shipping. I wish that I had just paid for shipping.

At my old kungfu school about a month ago, the teacher told me that the way the light was hitting me, he could see my aura. He said,"I can see that your heart chakra is opened. This means that you are basically a good person, but when I look at your crown, I see something towering over you, like someone is protecting you. Did someone in your family die when you were young?" I said nobody that I remember other than my Grandmother's brother, who people say I resemble, when I was 5. I left it at that...I have not really looked into what he said to me because I assumed chakras dealt with kundalini practices. I'm interested in Taoism where they talk about the tantiens and chi. It is two roads to the same path, but as a beginner, I don't want to get too confused and too frustrated. I thought I would seek a few opinions. If anyone asks, I've never done any Qigong or any other sort of energy work. I was raised in the Church and nearly became a pastor before I started asking questions that most people in my church could not answer. So if this is some common trait in spiritual people, well, It would make sense...but any explanation other than that...well, I guess that's why I'm asking now.

What are you guys doing? Had I known that it was gonna cause an arguement, I would have kept my question to myself. ::sheesh:: Anyway, I have always been a bit sensitive, and always have empathized with other folks. I always thought that was just the way I was born or something. Anyway, when I was told that my heart chakra was opened, I thought, oh well...maybe that explains why I am the way I am. I just wondered how, when I have never done any type of energy work...none that I know about, at least. It is okay to have a difference of opinion, but when you've been practicing for a long time and someone new comes along with lots of questions, you shouldn't show out in front of them. It's like the kungfu school I had been attending. I love kungfu. I have not studied long, but I take it seriously. A lot of the senior guys were learning things that I had to wait to learn and they did not take it seriously...they were sloppy in a lot of the basics that we were supposed to practice everyday...so when they came to give me advice, well, I did not want to listen...and well, I lost interest in that particuliar school...why should I bust my ass for something that is gonna be handed out just for attending? Oh well, sorry for my rant!

I've been reading the boards here since January, but honestly, I have no idea what a Tao Bum is or how to "be a Taoist." I am starting to wonder if I'm missing something or just completely nuking the entire process. Anyway, I am learning Yang style Taiji. I do a Qigong set at least once a day, the 8 standing poses of Yiquan once a day, and practice the Grasp Sparrow's Tail set from the Yang style long form while trying to use reverse breathing until I get bored multiple times throughout the day. My friend says if I do some sitting meditation that it should be more than enough for any system's level 1. I guess my biggest problem is, I don't really know what sitting meditation is. I dont understand what the focus should be...am I just sitting there, breathing and letting whatever is going to happen take place? I used to do this and had no problems until I started reading all sorts of nonsense saying close this, squeeze this muscle, breathe this way...sit that way. So for all the people like me who have no teacher, but have way too many toys to play with...can someone help me trim the fat so that I can get started with my practice?

hmmm...I use a Gym Boss timer for when I do my Yiquan standing. I'm only up to 1:30 on each posture...long way to go before that 5 minutes in each posture thing. But I'm making progress...I remember when 1 minute used to hurt! Now I'm like,"dang, that went fast!" Anyway, when my timer went off at 15 minutes for my sitting meditation, I was kinda like "awwww man!" I started to feel a calming effect coming over me...I just thought about where my hands were placed, the open spot between the thumbs and palms...I dunno...I felt really good, like I could sit there forever...and then BEEP BEEP! Oh well, guess I'll see what happens tomorrow night!

Thanks Steve. I didn't mention it, but I have a degree in Religion, so much of the reading is just from a research/interest perspective. I've always had an interest in mysticism. For now, I am content with Tai Chi, the little bit of Qigong I've been taught, and the sitting meditation that I started doing on my own. I don't know of any teachers here in Nashville, but I had the chance to study with a teacher when I was in San Diego. I'm considering moving back to California in a few years, but I have some unfinished business to attend to here.

Thanks for all the posts, everyone. I'm a bit afraid that I'm still at the same point when I first posted, though. I have 2 copies of the Dao de Jing as well as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I have not read either, yet (but I will!). I've been busy with Bruce Frantzis The Power of Internal Martial Arts and Chi. I'm not much interested in fighting, but I love martial arts, so somehow I will start reading one book,and drop it for something that deals with martial arts. I have been more consistant with my sitting meditation. I don't know how to focus on the Dan Tien or anything like that...I don't focus on anything at this point. The guy that taught me Yiquan, he told me work on the body first and the mind will follow. I've taken that approach with everything right now. Haha, I can only sit in sitting meditation for 15 minutes before I get sore and feel like my brain is gonna scream! I'm glad that everyone is willing to give me advice, but I think we will all agree for now that I just need to jump in the water...if I sink or swim won't matter until I get in the water first, right?

Thanks for your reply, Tony. I have since left that school of kungfu. I don't want to say anything bad about the teacher or the school, so I will just say that perhaps it is not meant for me to study that style. I have been hanging out with some people learning Tai Chi, but no one is a teacher and it's not a school--just people hanging out. I enjoy it. Unfortunately there is not much to choose from with regard to any Chinese Martial Arts in Nashville.

This makes me sad. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to focus on my studies to get a good job and help the poor rather than work on all this inner cultivation stuff.

I only use reverse breathing on the stuff that I get instructed when to do it. Only certain parts like Grasp Sparrow's Tail or the Qigong set. When I do the form, I don't because I'm still learning the form. Of course, my teacher said at his teacher's school, you aren't taught Reverse Breathing until after the 1st year. He only showed it to me and one other guy, he says he is gonna wait on everyone else to see how serious they want to learn taiji. As for my questions concerning meditation...I was self taught, initially, I just sat down, crossed my legs, and did deep breathing...it helped alleviate an illness that I have periodically. I guess I will just do what I was doing before I confused myself, although I'll keep reading just because it's something I enjoy doing. I can't imagine I'd be doing anything wrong sitting and breathing until I find a teacher, right?

post removed at the request of a friend.

I stumbled onto this forum back in January, but just now made it back; so I figured that I would make a profile and not be a guest reading postings. Not really sure what to say...my first experience with Taoism came in an Asian Religions class I took back in college. I was a religion major, but most of the stuff I learned outside of the traditions that I grew up around made little to no sense, at the time. Since then I've been in and out of the Navy, been around the world, seen some things up close, and now I guess I'm trynna see how deep the rabbit hole really goes. My first up close and personal encounter with Taoism came when I was studying Wingchun kungfu in San Diego. My senior brother suggested I read The Magus of Java, just to kinda clue me in on all this "Neigung" stuff that he'd been talking about all that time. Ha, like most people, I tried to find out everything I could about the Mo Pai school, via the internet, but I kinda realized that the purpose of the books were to get people meditating...so that's what I did. Well, now I am back home in Tennessee. I'm studying Southern Praying Mantis kungfu and enjoying it. I'm working on my small library of books on meditation. I have a few books on Taoist Yoga and such, but I don't know if it's just trash to scam ignorant people out of their money or the real deal. I just thought I'd join this community to talk with other people with a similiar interest, but I think more than anything, I probably need to find a teacher. (not sure how to go about that, exactly)

I studied Wingchun at the Jing Institute of Chinese Martial Arts. It is mostly a school for Tai Chi & Wushu competition, but they offered a few other arts there. Since my original post I have stopped studying Southern Mantis. I've been learning Yang style Taiji and Yiquan with a friend. I enjoy the calming aspects even though I know it will take much longer to develop the martial side.