Thrice Daily

Cool thanks, I just checked this video; I'd like to ask, does anyone have long term experience with this short form? It looks like something you could easily share with your children, gentle and repetitive, good tempo for kids... I wonder if people have practiced it while they have had other practices in their daily routine, wondering about compatibility, it looks safe, just wonder if people had issues mixing practices with this one?

Zhengyi, really like this Character, old school, into the Immortality and Herbs but also got his head screwed on. Ge Hong, I don't know much about him and his works yet but he has popped up quite a bit so far and he seems like a pretty good Taoist role model.

Laughter can be a path in and of it's self. I had a girlfriend a while back and we used to practice it as part of an hour we would spend together. After doing shaking of all the limbs, dancing to drums, some partner dancing, and free movement we would sit down and just stare each other out until rages of laughter began. Laughter yoga, it was a great part of life and best part of our relationship, or a close second at least Be like water Dude.

Totally agree with you here. I'd like to hear about the different physical mechanisms that are used with the will in Yoga to raise Kundalini Shakti mindfully, or i'm wondering is this always automatic and just happens along with Pranayama and good Asana practice. It did with me when I learned Hatha, but I didn't have information on he front channel and bring energy down, lots of it was rising and I had a feeling I should have been doing something with it to connect a circuit or something but I couldnt figure it out through intuition, it just kept rising up and felt like it was leaving via the top of my head. The science of the ida and pingala are also interesting to me and have the experiences and fuctions line up with Taoism, the channels and concept of yin-yang.

Also I remember pondering this, I think I must have read about it a while back, but let me just share the understanding I currently have. All in my opinion ChiDragon, but if you have more to add to this (and anyone reading that has pondered this) it would be cool to read it. Cooking Rice perfectly is very important no? For this to happen you need right amount of rice and right amount of water, also right intensity of fire and correct duration of cooking in the right pot, to make the rice just perfect. So there are these variables For me these variables also exist in Chi Cultivation in a similar fashion; it's no good having too heavy a Qigong practice for current ability (too much rice) its no good having too much emotion in practice time (too much water) its no good having too much intensity for the current time (too much fire) its no good expecting too much from the practice (too big a pot) and its no good practicing for too long for current capacity (too much time cooking) Alternatively, its no good having practice that is too short and scarce (too little rice) it's no good being apathetic or too tired in practice (too little water) it's no good having poor focus / concentration and nonchalant attitude (too little fire) it's no good being unprepared for effects of the practice in the rest of your regular life (too small a pot) and it's no good rushing and doing practice quickly and in little time (too little time cooking) In both these instances you will have a very bad experience with the RICE and same with QIGONG practices. But get just enough, not too much, not too little and you will get perfect rice / qigong... You can also increase all the variables little by little and still cook perfect rice / qigong, just more of it... etc etc,,, Cooking Rice for me is a very good Analogy when thinking about QIGONG, and energy cultivation in these internal and external arts.

Excellent, really enjoyed reading that, thankyou. I like how this post has evolved to include opinions, I'd like to share mine on the four kinds and hopefully ChiDragon can give a Chinese interpretation of it with some traditional Chinese if he has time and patience for it... The four main ways I tend to approach the concept of Chi during moving practices are. 1/. Earth Energy, focusing on an upward , efferent flow 2/. Earth Energy, focusing on a downward grounding flow 3/. Heaven Energy, Focusing on bringing down from the sky, cosmos, galaxies, stars.. Maybe "Universal Force" is better wording 4/. Post Natal Energy, this is where I am learning as there is so much variation that may occur, I will feel different sensations in different parts of my body, Chi, Jing, Shen, mixtures. Sometimes more Yin and sometimes more Yang. I'm really still learning to classify these different forms of sensation that arise. For now I just tend to bask in whatever arises, generally is is warm and expanding around the middle Dan Tien but it varies. My Current theory is that None Contention, Naturalness and Virtue arise from a healthy and relaxed body, environment and lifestyle. and vice versa.(< for me this is absolute basis for good practice to develop or the senses will be leading and the mind to agitated and restless to settle in practice). The more of these Big Three are cultivated with good diet, lifestyle and wellness routine the more the Shen Develops and the stronger the Chi, also the more Jing preserved perhaps. It seems the body has to trust me that I will take care of it (and not put it to excesses), to open up to more powerful realities of Chi. That has just been my experience so far. There are more qualities of Chi but perhaps hard to put to words, so I share the four above, as being most practical and useful for my current attention... Any thoughts or advice from elders on the path or those with varied insights would be gratefully received. Blessings

Is this for when you are practicing stillness meditation or moving meditation like Tai-Chi? In both cases, without a teacher I'd just try to rest your attention there, relax it, but only allow natural breath, so no forcing big exhales or inhales, if anything maybe breathe out a little more than usual relaxedly. The rest will take care of itself. If you are doing a moving practice like a qigong set, a good beginner focus is on the palms of the hands while you complete the movements. Whatever you are doing it's more important that you have consistency in building regular and sustainable practice. Technique can be layered on over time, increasing depth and intensity of breath gradually over time... Final point, if you take up jogging or weight training, and workout to any level of reasonable intensity you are going to notice a deepening of breath and a strengthening of the muscles supporting your LDT and legs. Again the breath will take care of itself mostly, especially after a difficult set.

For some inspiration you might want to try this; you can of course read it, this is the audio though and has ambient music too. You could even listen while you paint The reason I recommend though is because this is a large collection of Taoist stories from fairly early on in it's history. The stories are packed with imagery and you really would have a huge amount of options. Of course it really depends what type of art you are doing? Is it more life like or more abstract?

Have you guys heard of Chen Pan Ling. I had the opportunity to learn some, I only did a little though. It is a style developed by an engineer who also studied many Martial Arts styles, see here; https://www.plumpub.com/sales/dvd/dvdcoll_chenpanling1.htm It struck me as being highly effective and the way it worked with the motherline I was aware of in my wingchun practice really impressed me at the time. The martial application is excellent, if you get the chance to train it, try it...

Dust

What about the bits of wood sticking out of the blocks of stone though. That was a puzzling feature included in the video. I’m not sure how rafts of wood could have been passed through stone like that, unless it had been a cement job. I guess if it’s been debunked, it’s been debunked, still leaves a lot of unsolved riddles though.

Hi @Lukks I think some of it depends what you use it for and what the practice time consists of, at the moment mine is split 1/ tendon changing 2/ martial arts drills 3/ Taichi 4/meditation and sipping a big cup of green tea - then shower. Example; For winter I’ve decided to work on mobility and as such I’m doing a tendon changing set every day. This takes around 20-30 minutes at the moment as I’m building up the repetitions by 2 each exercise every week. I started on 12 exercises 12 reps and now I’m doing 12 x 16 reps (in line with my tendons and ligaments getting used to the sets again) My teacher recommended doing the tendon changing each day for at least three months … I know from previous experience this will just make me stronger every day and is an excellent warmup for martial arts… the concentration also gradually builds as I’m increasing the reps. When I’m finished I really leave the martial drills part to intuition. I always get a strong kick from within to tell me what to do I stand and wait in silence, then typically I’ll put some drums music on the speakers and pick up a stick, maybe two, maybe empty hand, I always check, wu wei knows best, it’s such a big part of training especially as I gain in years. Typically I never follow a big day by another big day, so if I was really going for it yesterday I may just do a bit of light martial arts flow on that day, or I hit myself all over with a bunch of thin sticks all bound together instead. Next is Tai-Chi again I just follow what my body and mind want, in terms of intensity and quality it is always pretty different, sometimes more martial, sometimes more restorative. There are many attitudes that could flicker in and out of this, then the meditation. Sometimes longer sometimes shorter. Always depends… practices always consistent and same. Duration and intensity often fluctuates. Apart from tendon changing as it is purposeful to aim for incremental gain each week as there is a clear goal in mind. Hope that is some practical food for thought 🙏

Oh God.

Sweet Jesus , thanks for taking time to write that. I did believe it, suckered in to that video I was. Don’t watch the rest of it what ever you do. If it’s incorrect it’s completely outrageous. They talk about the chemical constitution in the stone. And that it shows a quick chemical reaction , not a natural slow formation. The suggestion is made that each stone was created ‘there and then’ in wooden moulds and water passed by workers from the Nile was added to the mixture and set the stone. So it made the huge size and incredible precision totally explainable. I think I must have been hypnotised 😵‍💫 I don’t watch videos like this though no. I read books some 20 years ago when this wasn’t really wide spread on the internet. I seen there are shit loads of videos made these days largely ignored them. Haven’t had time last 8 years been super busy. I treated myself to this video though , bad choice 🤦‍♂️

Do you find sometimes after a qigong session a short nap is required? I find this happens at first if I start back with a practice after a break. Like the system is rebooting and organising the energy from the actual practice session. Sometimes I reduce the qi connection to my practice and stay more ‘in the room’ preferring a body awareness and the weight of the limbs and simple movements, rather than settling on the sensation of warm emanating energies.

I’ve tried this Falun Gong for a short while with a girl who swore by it. It felt quite powerful and something I could continue with. Remembering correctly there were some static holds with arms out in certain positions, some holding hands above head in stillness. I’d certainly avoid China though if you become a practitioner… There are lots of articles about it… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Gong_practitioners_in_China

🧘 In the spirit of a sanity check, with Christianity, moving forwards. 🌳 Which elements would you keep? 🔥 And which elements would you throw away?

Yeah @Nungali, I looked into that Baha'i religion, looked pretty sweet, a force for good. @Sanity Check, In modern times people are much more likely to encounter Christ themselves and then seek church and community later, once they make that choice. It certainly seems to be the case. Much more about choice and personal experience than coercion of a Church and societal pressure like it once was. There seems to be a resurgence happening at least in terms of folk wanting to return to Christian values. Not just family type folk either, but youngsters too. The next generation will always ebb in and out of morality. Things always seem to come full circle. As dark as things get there is always a return to the light. [so dust off the nunchucks and get back in the fight]

Totally, we were invited to a chaps house when we first arrived on Green Island. He immediately shown us Color books with him when he was younger fighting against the tramplement of his island, he was a well known activist who stood up to the invaders. Such a pity, he explained how toxic waste had been buried there, with a promise that the barrels would never corrode and the concrete case would never crack. The island would be fine and it would never get in the water.. They were lied to and decades on they now have to eat poisoned fish.Fish was the first meal we ate on the Island after having heard this story. Very sad. We got use of a motorbike there and me and my girlfriend went down there to check it out. Sure enough there is was surrounded by metal fencing , a toxic waste dump. Proud tribal heritage and fathers teaching sons to build boats, really tarnished that for them.

You’re absolutely right. Making the sounds vocally can help. Truly though they will be made sub-vocally and quite naturally with each muscle tendon stretch.

Ok, that’s a little too much to answer too. I’ve got to try to reduce the replies to one or two points max. it’s a pity you can’t watch the video, there are some nice riddles near the beginning on it that drew me in. One being at 11:50 minutes. Exactly how did they remove the carbon dioxide? (so they could breathe while chiselling perfect tiny passages) in these perfectly built underground shafts. That was the riddle that drew me in and kept me watching it and how they physically fit in there to carve any of it, it’s well illustrated in the video at that point. I found it very enriching. Anyway if it doesn’t draw you in a that point, it’s probably not for you.. 3:02:40 seconds is the time in the video that covers the visit to Australia. That may be of interest, so please accept the shortcut. The main reason I brought all of this up is due to the relevance of plato influence in Jewish mysticism, and not only do I believe this, but I believe Egypt is primitive by comparison of where it’s origins truly lie. I do believe ancient Khem to have been active 10,000 years ago, or at least 7,000 years ago. The sphinx though is much older (as it’s been proofed with so much water erosion). I believe this to be the earliest roots and as far back as we can see (in the region relevant to Judaism), In human history and the largest influences on Jewish thought, being so closely tied to Egypt. Am I wrong? As I’m expressing these as opinions, that is just what they are. I’m not asserting them as facts.

@Nungali I love your response. I do have to be more coherent in my writing. I shouldn’t assume people know information already and should unpack it more with quotes and references if I’m going to bring it up… Ill also try to stick to one point at a time and try to keep things relevant to the thread. However, long and painful as the video I added may seem. Please do watch it, it’s worth the hassle. Now much of the video seeks to explain and validate the building skills of the Egyptians and also accredit them for the ongoing structural “work” around the world both back up to 10,000 years and more close to our times, with huge structures like Cathedrals associated with the secret building methods of the master builders. (The giant and fantastic structures modern builders can’t seem to build today) We would have lovely examples of this in Chicago for example , had the buildings not all be blown up with dynamite after hosting the world fair . It may add some juice to this Jewish conversation if people watch that long video, as believe it or not it’s all very much related to the thread and what is ongoing even in present day. Turtle Shells and other two systems another time. I’ll do some digging for that…

Newborn star rises As other stars switching off Dark deep space again

I’m more aligned with China though and would love to know how far back that REALLY goes. It’s got to be much further than old Lao … And those other turtle shells that have fragments of the other systems along with I-Ching you never know those two other systems may be uncovered in some underground chamber. oh quick side fact while I’m on. Did you know there are Hieroglyphics found in Australia (accurately lining up with Egyptian history, details of pharaohs at time etc)? Are you aware? There is an excellent French Documentary on the pyramids that mentions this. It’s a fairly modern one, did you see it? It’s here; long but good. Where did Hebrew actually come from, and why is it referred to as “the language of the Gods?”

It was nice and refreshing after all the God tug of war stuff I’ll say that much. I go way back in my flirtation with existence, I’m willing to embrace other Star Systems too. I hear over 80% of the Universe now has the lights switched off and will eventually retract into one super condensed galaxy, eventually… Right now there are less Stars being born that ever before as as I say 4/5 of the physical universe is cold deep space. Hermetic , yep it’s all in the smelting pot.