Oneironaut

I've been keeping an eye on this specific form of qigong. When it is said to be spontaneous what exactly is meant by that? Is it like seiki jutsu in that regard? Secondly does the style open up and utilize the macro/microcosmic orbit? Lastly, for those who practice it, what are your experiences like?

Yoga nidra (also known as yogic sleep or sleep yoga, and not to be confused with dream yoga) is a state of conscious deep sleep. Through yoga nidra one can sleep 30 minutes to an hour and that would equate to 3 or 4 hours of regular sleep. Yoga nidra was not designed to replace regular sleep but since one can stay conscious through sleep onset this means that hypnagogic imagery can be experienced which in turn can lead to lucid dreaming and astral projection. Dream yoga on the other hand is a Tibetan practice with some of the goals being to awaken the consciousness within the dream state or astral travel. Dream yoga and yoga nidra are where the dream practices that sprung up in the west, otherwise known as lucid dreaming, have their roots. My question here is (as asked in the topic title) does the tao contain it's own practice of yoga nidra and dream yoga?

What is the difference between the two and can Kuji-Kiri lead to the opening of the 8 extraordinary meridians?

So with Kuji-Kiri and Usui Reiki Ryoho one can have a MORE complete system. It reminds me of Kunlun in its simplistic, practical approach. Others have said that the shaking from Reiki Undo gives off the exact same feeling that all the shaking from kunlun does. I’ll have to check it out. Jox, does the person in the link you provided teach Kuji-Kiri in person? Also, what’s the difference between Kuji-Kiri and Kuji-In? They both seem very similar.

My right brain visualization abilities are weak. I seek to improve it and don't know where to begin. The Tibetan visualizations can be rather intimidating and I'm also very skeptical of Image Streaming (I have yet to try it). Can anyone recommend techniques where one can learn to visualize vividly in all 5 senses? For those that have tried Image Streaming, does it even work?

May I ask where these practices can be found? Sounds very practical and effective. I would like to learn more about it.

I hear of people getting all blissed out through MCO practice alone. They compare it to the blissed out experience of MDMA (ecstasy) except it’s far more intense and doesn’t come with the drawback of making someone a physical and psychological shipwreck. I never opened the MCO and I hate drugs so I can’t really comment as to the validity of that. I also heard of people using yogic breathing exercises that enhances their 5 senses comparable to that of the experience of marijuana. Again, all of the benefits and none of the side effects. I don’t have any experience in either so I cannot comment. Can someone with experience in one or both verify the validity of these claims?

In Vipassana it's encouraged to keep your eyes closed as anything in the outside world is considered a distraction. Imagery of any kind isn't exactly forced away but it's encouraged to acknowledge it for what it is and allow it to gently pass like clouds in the sky. Same goes for mental noise or emotions of any kind. In Soto Zen posture is heavily emphasized and shikantaza is done with your eyes opened. Half opened eyes is also okay. Like in the Theravada tradition Zen places zero importance on visualization skills. I could also be wrong in my generalizations but this seems very consistent with my limited experiences in both.

How is it that vipassana/samatha or zazen of any kind help in the development of such clarity of mental imagery in all 5 senses?

I want to take my Neidan practices serious yet at the same time I'm being pulled in another direction towards the martial arts. Boxing & judo to be more specific. The issue I'm taking with these martial arts pertains to my long term health. It's obvious that repetitive blunt trauma to the head and body or being put through ridiculously brutal throws (and that's an understatement) isn't the best way to approach optimal health in the long term. The human body can take a beating but it's far from unbreakable. With that in mind it seems as if those martial arts run contrary to what practitioners of neidan aim to achieve in terms of a healthy mind, body and longevity in order to complete the ultimate goal of developing a spirit body which will survive past the time of one's passing. I haven't bumped into anything condemning these hard martial arts but it seems to me like all neidan practitioners are into tai-chi. The thing is I don't trust tai chi AT ALL in terms of effectiveness. So my questions are: 1) Can neidan practitioners engage in martial arts such as boxing & judo and not hamper their spiritual progress? 2) Why does anyone do tai chi in the first place? It seems to me like it will get their practitioners killed. I don't mean to sound snide or obnoxious but does tai chi actually WORK? I'm obviously confused at this point in my life and could use some help in gathering my thoughts.

Without seeming disrespectful why bother trying to cultivate it?

My questions relating to this topic: 1) How rare is it for Taoist cultivators to reach immortality? 2) Is immortality and achieving the golden dragon body of light the same thing? excuse my ignorance. I’m much more familiar with Buddhism and to my knowledge Buddhism is about enlightenment and does not recognize immortality.

I used to be into bodybuilding and powerlifting. Even though my physical strength went through the roof I feel that all the years of weighlifting made me slow, sluggish, stiff and poorly coordinated. I'm also trying to get back into martial arts. Does anyone know of any simple and effective ways to counteract all the bad side effects of weight lifting? I heard hatha yoga may be good but I'm not really into yoga. Any other suggestions?

I looked into yin yoga with Paulie Zink and realized it's not for me. I don't doubt that tao yin works. I don't know.... maybe I'll give Paulie's material another chance. Has anyone ever tried sotai ho or yi jin jing?

What style of tai chi? I'm also open to chi kung.

I been looking closely at Spring Forest Qigong due to it's simplicity and the overwhelming number of good reviews it has been getting. I been seeing a lot from master Chunyi Lin on YouTube and he seems like an awesome teacher. Perhaps the absolute best I've seen in my long search for one. Now I see that he introduces Spring Forest Qigong as a medical system and I'm left wondering if this is all it will ever be limited to? Looking at the healing dao systems, promoted by Michael Winn & Mantak Chia, they tend to be super complicated (at least in my opinion) but they expand far beyond medical qigong. You have fusion of five elements, sexual alchemy, higher alchemy formulas & dream practices. Does the healing dao system have a monopoly on all these practices just mentioned? Even if I get into spring forest qigong I do not find it wise to mix different systems together.

I've heard karate men from the kyokushin and shotokan backgrounds speak of using chi/ki to make their martial arts effective during the later stages of life after they reach a certain age and their athleticism is gone. I don't understand how this is possible but many karate men have also stated that karate in its most advanced stages looks indistinguishable from tai chi. I've seen Jigoro Kano (and there's footage out there) avoid virtually any and all attempts to be thrown in judo. I believe this was done through a very deep understanding of body mechanics and using his own chi. My questions are how is chi directly applied to martial arts? Also, can it also be applied to boxing? You can't talk about this in a boxing environment or you'll be ridiculed and they'll start making references to Dragon Ball Z. Boxing is an excellent martial art but it's also spiritually retarded and not always the most intelligent way to approach fighting or self defense.

Where can I learn how to put animals to sleep through qigong?

I've been looking into somatic systems from Feldenkrais to the Alexander technique, Tao Yin, Sotai etc. I heard that zhan zhuang is another really good one and what caught my attention is that the standing postures are similar to the ones being used in the Alexander technique. I also heard that effects and benefits are more readily available and accessible in zhan zhuang than they are in Feldenkrais and the Alexander technique. My questions are What exactly is zhan zhuang? Is it a martial art, a qi gong form a somatic system? Does zhan zhuang accomplish the goal of allowing the body to feel light and weightless? Secondly, who is the teacher that specializes in zhan zhuang and has simplified the practice to make it more accessible to regular people? Thanks

What could Bernard have done in this instance? He was catching the young man with some nice shots but the young man just kept absorbing it and pressing forward and knocked Bernard right out of the ring. I sensed his defeat approaching by way of KO/TKO but not by getting knocked out of the ring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwRWYqddcA Are the old masters that defeat younger fighters just a myth? My take is that boxing is a young mans sport. It's highly dependent on athletic ability and a 51 year old with years upon years of wear and tear on his body (and declining athletic ability) in that particular sport just isn't going to cut it. Are things different in other martial arts?

Other than reiki and spring forest qigong what other legitimate hands on healing systems are out there? Are there any simple, powerful systems that also include distant healing and the healing of plants and animals? I'm getting back into healing tao and Lee Holden is the guy I've been looking for all this time. He has tons of qigong for health but I don't think he's got anything that teaches hands-on healing for yourself and others.

There's so many qigong forms out there that I don't know what to choose. What are your favorite forms and what goals are they supposed to achieve?

I'm guessing somatic training can help with body mechanics. Probably the Feldenkrais method since it originated through judo and jujutsu and shares much common ground. A lot of Feldenkrais works refer to many concepts and ideas that were spoken about through judo and jujutsu teachers of old such as effortless movement, ease of motion, weightlessness of the body, comfortable yet powerful body posture etc. I also found seitai and sotai (the former originating through jujutsu and ninjutsu and the latter being body work similar to functional integration in Feldenkrais) share a ton of similarities with Feldenkrais as well. A huge difference being that Feldenkrais completed rejected the existence of chi/ki. Here are some links and hopefully someone experienced can compare and contrast between them. http://doinseitai.com http://www.sotaicanada.com/index.php?Practitioner Feldenkrais practitioners also speak about feeling your bones and breathing into them. Isn't that a form of bone breathing? I also heard that tao yin is very good with helping with joints, flexibility and range of motion. I'll be more than happy to look into those as well but it's kind of overwhelming looking into so many different systems. Strategy and tactics is as important as anything else in boxing. Most people don't realize this and is one reason they cannot appreciate boxing and why someone like Floyd Mayweather was so hated. As far as all the footwork goes... your feet need to be on the ground in order to generate some real power. Every boxer is different and has a different style of boxing. I think Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard can better demonstrate this with the back and forth war they had a long time ago. It was like one guy had to adopt the others style. I've heard of training to read, feel and relax into incoming force through a book on shotokan karate. It was written by Sensei Shojiro Sugiyama. As far as hard qi gong goes I heard Masutatsu Oyama added iron shirt and qi gong into the kyokushin curriculum. Those kyokushin guys built a good reputation for being able to take some severe beatings and being more than happy to dish them back out. One of Masutatsu Oyama's kyokushin philosophies stated something along the lines of training your hands so that if you were to throw a punch and it was blocked or deflected by your opponent then his (your opponents) hand or arm would get broken in the exchange. I've never seen this done before but I'm thinking this is iron hands. Am I correct?

Thanks for being so open about it. I'll look into Fah Jin. Theoretically speaking can someone trained in western boxing also develop to the point in which he can use about 70% Fah Jin and 30% physical effort?

There are videos of Morihei Ueshiba doing all kinds of weird stuff. If I remember correctly there are videos where he supposedly barely touches someone and launches them across the room. Is that what Ling Kong Jing is? I'm personally very skeptical. I know Michael Winn teaches it (for non martial purposes) but I wanna see this for myself. I've heard older boxers (Bernard Hopkins being one) speaking of how a less athletic boxer can defeat a vigorous, younger, faster boxer with mastery of distance, timing and punching accuracy. He also spoke about being economical in footwork and offensive output to not tire yourself out. When Bernard hit about 49 or 50 his body wouldn't let him keep up and he lost to a boxer which I'm certain he would've otherwise defeated in his younger years. I'm sure Bernard could KO the average young 20 or 30 something (non boxer) in their athletic prime even at his advanced age but I also wouldn't be surprised to see a young boxer with a little less than half his skill set defeat him. The science of boxing for the most part is very dependent on one's ability to take punishment (which also declines with age) and athleticism. It would be pretty awesome to know if there's a way to counter this issue. The older kyokushin guys raised this question and some responded by saying that all karate is about ki and ki is the solution to this issue. I think it's pretty amazing to see some of the older guys still practicing their shotokan at 70 and 80 years of age.