Sebastian

Thanks ISQ ..... Maybe ask him about the master from QigongMaster.com next time you see him ? I also always thought it was him, and he's an amazing teacher for sure, very itense person. Cool to hear that his other master is teaching in Berkeley... Sounds like a powerful teacher too

If someone could hook me up... .thanks ! Seb

Another thing to look at imo, is that your approach so far has been mostly online. Why ? Take that as a clue. It was the same for me, I wanted as much material as I could without getting my hands dirty so to speak.

.

I know a lot of people discount him because his stuff is so simple. In particular, I notice these reactions to him. Those with no spiritual experience are quick to say - Of course I know it's important to live in the present moment, it's obvious. Their intellectual mind says : " I already know that, lol", and they drop off at that point. His stuff is easy and logical, a 6 year old would understand it. Master Lin has a similar writing and teaching style. Those with spiritual experience. Because he doesn't mention cultivation, meridians, or advanced topics, they are quick to discount him as well, because it's beginner level to them. There is no complexity to his writings, just profound depth. I don't think Thich Nhat Nan ever mentioned energy work, nor makes it a part of his practice. At first, he was mostly in the shadow of the Dalai Lama, and far less popular. Although, in my opinion, he is a much better teacher, and makes a lot more sense as his approach is almost secular in nature.. He has really powerful guided meditations. The book the Blooming of Lotus is incredible. He is very honest and humble. You won't see his name associated with any scandal. Yet when I came to Asia and trained with another Master here, I mentionned Thich Nhat Hanh to his students and was told - "yeah, he's a great guy maybe, but that's about it. He's not enlightened, just some monk". Certainly he wasn't like their Teacher with all his meridians open through the Doaist and Vadryana path who turned out to be a very poor teacher, and bad person. Let me just say that I have a lot more respect for folks that aren't enlightened, don't have huge energy bodies, and are just nice decent people. They dance in the present moment, sing their song, and make others dance with them. They are always respectful to people. What else is there to wish for ?

Also much respect and love for this kind master. He has a beautiful heart and I hope he will recover soon.

3 hours SFQ today and 30 min running. Big day !

Today One and half hour of Moving of Ying and Yang One and half hour of Small Universe 5 minutes of trying to levitate, but failed yet again ;-) Thanks, Sebby

Hey All, Any favorite visualizations that you use in your practice, to quiet down thoughts, or in times of need ? Here are some of mine. 1) Breathe in colors of rainbow and breate out dark smoke deep into the ground. Colors could be TCM organ colors (green, red, yellow, white, black) or the Tibetan elemental colors which are the same except the last one which is blue instead of black. You can breathe them in sequentially or all at once. 2) The Jar. To dampen down thoughts for a set period of time, imagine you are placing them into a Jar for later use. This makes you relax with the knowledge that you can deal with them later. If you need reassurance, you can take a thought from the jar, look at it for a bit, and place it back in the jar. Make sure to seal the lid. 3) Disappear. I open every session with this to relax. Imagine every body part from top to bottom disappears, becomes air. Do this three times. 4) Moon on Lake. One of the most beautiful visualizations I've come across, apparently they use it in some Chinese hospitals to calm patients. 5) Raccoon chews off central meridian (Edit: I regret, and had to edit this one, as it might be too dangerous for some) 6) Yours ? Thanks, Sebby

2 h 15 of SFQ today after landing back home. Mostly rotating the ball, but I did it with three variations: 1) Imagined the 5 emotions, while turning the ball (happy,joy,peace,appreciation and thankful) 2) Performed 6 healing sounds as per SFQ lineage, while turning the ball 3) Sang Om Mani Padme Om, while turning the ball All the while doing pore reverse breathing, which came naturally during the session. Finished that up with a big closing session, rotational movements, tailbone and kidneys tapping, etc.. Feel awesome.

Bump - Here are a few news ones. 1) Visualize your 9 year old self, or the picture of the healthiest You coming to join you in your meditation, and merge with his body. You can do this part-by-part and imagine the organs healing and rejuvenating. 2) From Thich Nhat Hanh, because he's in the hospital and not doing so well at the moment. I always love these three: * Breathing in I see myself as a flower, breathing out I feel fresh * Breathing in I see myself as a mountain, breathing out I feel solid * Breathing in I see myself as still water, breathing out I reflect all that is

Practiced MCO in airplane today, then 5 emotions then fell asleep. Woke up to visit Japan all day and just did bouncing in hotel room, spinal rotations and holding the taichi, also refered to as rotating the ball for 30 minutes. This form is common to a lot of lineages. I like it, it's easy and makes you feel good.

Hey Astral Monk, Pore breathing is decribed in the level 1 book, for the breathing of the universe move. There isnt much to it though. You do just that. So you inhale and see energy entering every pore of the body and going to Dantian and accumulating there. Then when you breathe out, again all the energy shoots out from every pore of the body, except this time it's black smoke. As chi said this excercise will take 10 years off from you, so remember, and this is a key point, you need to be older than 10 to try this. Otherwise you risk living with negative age, and other uncharted dangers. Jk.

At an all day meeting and typing from phone, but managed to do 5 emotions meditation today from SFQ. Felt happy in liver which became joy in heart, peace in stomach, appreciation in lungs and gratefulness in kidneys. This is the most powerful meditation I've currently experienced from SfQ. According to the Master every emotion as an energetic signature and can set or reset a body's energetic flow. Basically pick a story that makes you happy and go from there, turn the wuxing wheel. Did this today incognito because of many folks around and massaged a few acupuncture points.

To answer your earlier question, RE:SFQ results, i think improved health, emotional balance and it seems I can enter the stilness quicker as well as the lineage energetics. Even if I have the masters voice in the background while working, Ill often slow down completly and enter a meditative state, during a live show or the like. Especially when he is guiding you to open the meridians body part by body part. Just typing about it gets me buzzed a little. Nothing flashy though, Ill be a level 1 student for a long time. I feel strong pressure on nose and third eye, but have yet to see light in the energy centerd or any kinds of color, not that I am looking for them though. So overall effect from SFQ is balance, physical and mental, nothing flashy. This is the lineage I found to be most linear in terms of health benefits.

Just did my usual SFQ routine, which is currently: 10 minutes bouncing in place, 5 minutes with arms floating above shoulders. 2 minutes tapping taibone 10 minutes rotational movements 2 minutes SFQ basic daoyin 25 minutes posting, holding the tree 25 minutes moving of Yin and Yang 5 minutes closing At night, 30 minutes Small universe

You shooting fireballs yet ? Congrats on all the practice ! I I also practice SFQ everyday. Good job buddy.

If you want to delve into the theory more you can read my raccoon thread here. I think the imagery may be highly helpful.

That's already really solid ! Good job !

Hi TheLearner, Thanks for the reference. I can't find this though, is it lesson 1 at the bottom of this page http://abardoncompanion.com/MP3-Links.html ? Basically the first one under Rawn's Self-Healing Archaeous ? Thanks, Seb

Hey All, Obviously I'm not a doctor or practitioner of TCM, as I wouldn't be asking this (dumb ?) question here, but I'm asking this is a random Qigong dude. This kind of boggles my mind actually. So far, I know all the 12 meridians paths (internally, externally) and understand the meridian clock, so the flow from one meridian to another. No one seems to explain how qi transitions from one meridian to the next. For example Gallbladder Channel connects to Liver Channel as per meridian clock 1) Gallbladder channel. I understand it ends in the second little toe. 2) Liver channel. I understand it starts at the big toe. Of course, little toe ≠ big toe, unless you're Bigfoot, so where is the connection ?... Here's my current theory. There are collateral channels in the foot that connect from one meridian to the next, from the second little toe to the big toe. Is this right ? Thanks Buddies

You bet. It's a good idea to warm up / open the body before ZZ, and these exercises should open up the spine pretty well. Now with that said.

Hey Do what works best for you, if you're happy with your arrangement, that's great ! Personally I like doing ZZ in the morning, it's one hell of a wake-up exercise and I find I can hold the pose longer in the morning then after one day at the office. Just 10 minutes a day is already great and can build some serious energy if you stick with it everyday. Bring it up to 20-30 when you are comfortable. When you can hold one standing posture like the tree for 1 hour or more, then you've got some serious kung-fu in my book. I'd be afraid you start shooting fireballs at me from the Philippines. I am in Taiwan, but I'd have to erect a giant force field to block your energy. Yes, the high level becomes very much like Dragon Ball Z ;-0

Hi Judo-Boy, A lot of good advice here. Personally I am very happy with Zhang Zuang (holding the tree or ball position) and then Spring Forest Qigong, which has a lot of moving exercises. That way you can mix stillness and movement. From SFQ, moving of Ying and Yang which was linked is a great exercise for health, but to feel chi in your hands very quickly, I recommend the joining of Ying and Yang. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhhYrGqfQxo My Masters always told me to start by relaxing yourself, which can make the exercises up to ten times more efficient. And finish them by a closing exercise when you are done, for example focusing on your Dan-Tian under the naval, which is our main energetic center. Zhang Zuang tree position is the toughest excercice, it can be super tough the first few times, so don't be discouraged by that one.

The Luo channels do seem to be secondary branches that Kevin is referring too. The main meridians connect to each other via these Luo channels at specific points called Luo points. This article was pretty clear about it. taoism.about.com/od/themeridiansystem/a/Luo.htm