Earl Grey

Haven't heard of it, but the next time I'm in the US, I will pick up a copy.

Because you edited this into your original post, I will now respond to the amended comment. I have teachers and friends who can stay still on surfaces much more difficult than what you present here, whether on a boat or bricks, or even on sticks in the middle of a lake. They can remain perfectly still and even have a glass of water on both shoulders and the crown of their heads. Being a Tai Chi practitioner has nothing to do with your lack of skill--the people who do what I just described also do Tai Chi and have good lineage and teachers.

Demonstrating some of my teachers with harmony, rooting, and grounding: The way Glenn moves shows he has harmony, rooting, and grounding even when he is not actively doing Tai Chi. David Chan here and his fa jin are one thing, but the power, rooting, harmony, and grounding are likewise at the same level as Glenn. JR explains rooting and grounding for you in above videos, and Eric demonstrates balance is separate from grounding and rooting. I am no longer associated with or endorsing Eric Randolph People who scrutinize them and say they have no power are welcome to say all they want, but these teachers have won tournaments undefeated for many years and have shown many feats of power and skill that are not something the armchair master can claim.

The level of maturity in people, their personal practice, willingness to be open to feedback, and all that help allow conflicts to be healthy. Like people witnessed, yes, I blew up and insulted gendao and he provoked me, but we resolved things privately and then amicably openly here. Unhealthy conflicts are when abuse come up--need I remind people of the Trump thread? All the gaslighting and favoritism were a serious issue. One thing I would like us to consider is how to deal with unhealthy conflict here when some bums need to address it, such as with the personal threats that have gone on here and the stalking.

You're misdirecting here. Rooting and Grounding are specific skills. You're trying to demonstrate balance. You're able to balance on that, but the positioning of your body and the lack of harmony doesn't indicate the skill of Rooting or Grounding. Grounding is analogous to being able to sink your body like a boulder, and rooting is like being a tree that no matter what part of the body you touch that you can't uproot it as balanced equally like Redwoods in Northern California. Your balance is something a child in a gymnastics class can do, which comes more from conditioning rather than the internal skill you seek to demonstrate.

Sadly, I don't see any rooting or grounding here, and you already look unstable without the platform you are standing on based on the way that your body moves. My teachers' records range from 3.5 to 5 hours without moving, and my own record is a little over 2 hours in Chen Bao. Your mental state as well doesn't show any harmony in your physical state as there is no skill from hindrance present, and your grounding, which should be at least seen in your stance, is almost zero. My own first-year students sadly have better skills than what is displayed in this video in Zhan Zhuang for Chen Bao (embracing) and San Ti (Trinity).

TO MAKE IT OBVIOUS IN CASE IT WASN'T ALREADY: THIS IS NOT ZHAN ZHUANG YOU ARE DOING! No rooting. No harmony. No grounding. Also, you're doing movements, so I'm not sure how you as a self-taught practitioner came up with the idea to constantly do movements for Zhan Zhuang. In our practice and most that I've seen, Zhan Zhuang is holding a static posture, and our minimum for being able to stay in the school is one hour in each of the eight main postures from Yi Quan and a half hour each side for San Ti. You appear to try to show off balance, but I've seen more balance in one of my teachers on two bricks where he can be kicked and won't lost balance or form.

My god, that was gaslighting and victim-blaming 101 on ilumairen. Sorry you had to go through that, it seems the Lying Unbelievably acolytes are beginning the mass cover-up. First off, the gaslighting is highlighted by the straw man and putting words in the mouths of the accusers. Then, the victim-blaming is the easiest way to avoid responsibility for the damage done through acting as if the victims "should have known" or that they "just aren't open-minded enough" to understand or appreciate the practice of Lying Unashamed. It is achieved further through minimization, trivializing and acting like it's all not a big deal at all, in spite of the damage done consistently. This comes from the failure of grooming to take root and make someone completely indoctrinated leads to ostracism, which is all because those personal boundaries and informed consent were disregarded until enough was enough. You Lousy Ungoliants are pretty much hitting almost all the textbook criteria for abuse and can't go beyond using the "should have known" or "open-minded" arguments because it's easier to call someone stupid or unawakened than it is to realize your lies and your prophet are addicted to suckling his Lactating Ungulate big blonde astral boobs. Try to come up with an original lie that hasn't been said time and again by other cult members or abusers. That script has been hacked to shreds by survivors, comedians, writers, activists, and therapists. @Pilgrim This is 100% true as I have checked and had several contacts with great skills verify this--hence why we identify it as a spiritual ponzi scam. One teacher of mine said that this entity working through Jeff has been around before, and Jeff is merely a pawn in its game. There will be other suckers who believe they have power and a connection to the divine while claiming to see and feel Jesus, and even some members in Libido Unrestrained will claim to have an active LDT. For those of us who actually know what we are talking about, this is why these New Age practices and platitudes don't appeal--because it's nothing new, nothing special, and relies on feeling good rather than growing up into a spiritual adult--and by the way: activating the LDT doesn't require any spiritual power whatsoever, it is a technical achievement if your neigong is correct. So no, none of them have any power whatsoever, but the delusion of it, nor do they have any force guiding them towards evolution. A simple test for all: by the fruits, ye shall be known.

I offer Akashic readings and give full guidelines in my PPJ. Some members have made use of it and I've made the criteria clear. Only one member argued he knew better and refused to follow the rules, and his grasp of English wasn't the reason, so we never went through with it. The people like Jeff who prey on people and offer themselves remind me of the "beware the too quick friend" advice my high school teacher told me about before going to college. How my readings differ is that everything is there on the PPJ and there was a public thread in general discussion to let people come if they wanted or not rather than preying on the vulnerable. The vulnerable are generally people who don't like Akashic readings because they get hit with what the need to hear rather than what they want to hear, and so it isn't really for everyone, it's a niche.

Mentioning Walker does not denote bias. Res ipsa loquitor--"the thing speaks for itself" based on the contradictions in the posts he highlighted. Post the Zhan Zhuang video if you like publicly, but again, I come from Xin Yi, which is 心意 not 形意, and it is derived from Yi Quan, which is heavily driven by ZZ as a foundation, but not an endgame, so whatever skill you have is both derived from your ZZ and can be seen in your ZZ.

Well, that depends on the kind of meditation given that there are plenty of variations. But what the OP is looking for just comes from a fundamental confusion of the basics, and that's what we're here for to point out she is actually talking about mindfulness rather than altered states. As for meditating at a techno or a rave, believe it or not, part of my intermediate training was to sit in public or to stand in public, so make what you will of that... Yes, I did Zhan Zhuang at the beach and a bunch of teens and college kids tried to screw with me, but couldn't stand for very long before realizing it's not an easy practice. When I did it at the park an old man came and said he was getting tired just looking at me. When I sat in my university in the middle of the walkway, the ability to tune out people who tried to make sense of why I was there was a big ego deflater. "Why are you meditating in public?" "Why not? " "It's kinda weird, bro!" "So is your friend who is shouting at a little phone screen at someone who isn't there, so is wearing sagging baggy pants so people can see your boxers, and so is walking while eating Panda Express!" "But those are normal!" "Says who?" "Umm..." "I am keeping to myself and not blocking anyone's way. Your friend is making people uncomfortable shouting and arguing in public and talking about her sex life. Your baggy pants are a fashion that originated from people wearing hand-me-downs because they had low income, not from being a rapper. Walking briskly while eating junk food is unhealthy and bad for your digestion." "...weirdo." "Have the best day ever!"

As an Oriental myself (I can say it because I am one), I don't know how the Occidentals see you, I only am looking through the framework we use for determining skill and power. Bear in mind that the scrutiny that I give is because of very high standards from my teachers and lineage, not because of any racism or bias that you seem to be implying. If you're open to feedback, then good on you, but if you're upset or defensive, I'm not out to insult you, but to advise new members and outsiders who don't have access to quality teaching for their safety.

Yes, this is very good. The altered states takes away from mindfulness, and so this is a great bit to add on, good sir.

Now on another note, please be aware that ChiDragon is a controversial member here with the skill he has espoused based on what Walker posted here: Having seen his video that he posted above, I can't recommend anything he has said either as it has not led to rooting or harmony of the body, looking very mechanical as though he memorized the movements and he isn't feeling them at all. There is no physical awareness, and the mental awareness is questionable too. Granted, our school tends to look at three areas for power or skill to trust someone's abilities and advice: 1) what we read initially, which is in their body language and general demeanor, as a human being is the summary of all their experience and training, meaning when I walk around, people can see in my posture and habits that I have a martial background; 2) their understanding, based on what they say and their depth of knowledge in communicating it, which shows if they really know something or they are just parrots; 3) physical contact, often through exchange in sensing hands (tuishou). Based on what was written here and in the post Walker made, and the video, I can't say ChiDragon has any skill or knowledge to speak of, but as I haven't crossed paths with him to test his ability physically or feel his own qi, I can't make a full assessment yet. However, based on two out of three criteria, I can't recommend his skill or advice at all.

I'll respond to your post directly for your concern. Before we go on, FYI the "chop wood and carry water" is not exclusively from Japan, as it's also been repeated in Chan Buddhism. If you're talking about trying to reach a meditative state during mundane activities, here's what I've found in my own training. After years of sitting and standing in my Taiji and Xin Yi lineages respectively, it's also a technical thing that comes spontaneously and is how I experience the wu wei state. As the way I learned golden flower is not just a mental thing, but an energetic practice because it rewires the body and mind, and reinforces a connection where neither body nor mind are separate and all is mind. It may sound like a platitude, but these are my own words and how I experience it. So how that makes mundane things like work a meditative process is that I can be in that state after I've left my meditation, a state of awareness. Mind you, it doesn't make me a sage or saint, as I'm only aware--of course I'll get mad or horny, but I won't get bored. But I'm aware of everything from every cell of my skin feeling the fabric of my clothing to my heartbeat and breathing as I'm scooping out the cats' litter boxes and then walking the dogs. Likewise, when I do Zhan Zhuang, the body is grounded and is hyper-aware, to the point I have my body respond far ahead of my mind and thoughts. So if I'm doing anything like playing video games or cleaning up the house, the body just "knows without knowing" and does it on autopilot, and I'm just a witness to it in the passengers seat. From what it sounds like with you as a beginner, the closest thing you can achieve is exercising mindfulness at your level of practice. You could also do Vipasana, which is how a lot of people achieve this mindful state.

I was thinking more along the lines that we would scrye for what to do without moderators to handle scammers. Remember elijah wilson? Someone lost thousands to him.

Sure. Also, I responded to your post on another thread and hadn’t heard back from you there since. Feel free to respond there rather than here.

Can you elaborate please?

Well, if psychic skills are one suggestion, @gendao, list down some questions and a couple volunteers ask on behalf of us all. I will volunteer my Akashic skills and someone can volunteer tarot or i-ching, and someone else can just sit and meditate. Lets us put forth some questions here and the volunteers can bring what their sources said in response to our scrying. @Nungali can also use the New Age Bullshit Generator if he wants because we know he’d love that.

I think suspensions and bans now are more likely to reinforce aggression and agitation, so unless someone is absolutely dangerous and making threats (individual will not be publicly outed here), I now advocate voluntary breathing room. Now if someone is left with a shitty situation at home and harm can come, we aren’t professionals either, we’re just an online community. I was able to get some catharsis from my resources in the form of my training, my pets, friends, and a little volunteering, and okay, video games too. But if one has a decent offline life, probably better to be there than to stick to aggravation online, as mental space is a lot more damaging than physical space. Voluntarily stepping out creates a different mental space than being suspended or banned, so I advocate that especially when others give that advice framed as looking out for us rather than punishing us. I will also take this opportunity to make a public apology in addition to my private one to you earlier.

Voluntary is key here, as I have no idea what to do about unwillingness. SirPalomides with his scrutiny approach works for sorting out skill and blowing hot air, but for non-skill related discussion, this is another question altogether.

While we can't ban people or force them to accept anything that is decided from self-governance, and obviously not all of us will agree, a few things I can think of: 1) volunteers who will approach people individually and in private, akin to someone asking, "Hey, can I borrow you for a moment?" pull the individual aside, talk to them as a friend and try to understand them, then ask them to dial things back a bit. One member does this and has done so for me to good success. They won't need to announce who they are publicly either. 2) volunteers who can highlight like @Walker did here when I was pretty much completely pissed off and losing control and face in a manner that communicates care and mutual interest for the community and for the individual member. 3) members who vow to voluntarily take a break for a few days or weeks and focus on themselves rather than coming up with a response or an insult to someone as fast as possible. I learned the wonders of taking a week off and two weeks off to let conversations carry on by themselves rather than to force the issue, and it actually allowed the issue to evolve in a way that didn't involve me getting frustrated that few were understanding as well as I wanted. 4) ad hoc groups who volunteer to intervene not to ostracize or to mob and lynch an offending member, but to pull them aside and ask them to reconsider their actions as well as hearing them out, away from public viewing. Obviously, the above will take a lot of work and rely on the good will of both those volunteering and those in the hot seat, but I'm really throwing out whatever I can now since this place really could use some balance.

Too easy to blame women, too easy to oversimplify something that is a symptom of many forces in play from sociological, historical, anthropological, cultural, and individual psychological variables. Hard pass.

I have that book too. Quite scary with the part on tulpa.

Reminds me of a friend whose father worked in the government during the riots in Paris in the 1960s and 1970s: everything in his home or illumairen and her PPF are orderly but the unrest outside and dangers can go on because they’re safe inside. Remember we also have lurkers and members who browse while not signed in at work who can’t access PPJs. Some order is still necessary. Feel free to pitch your own ideas in the town hall meeting as well, but if you are completely laissez-faire, it’s an opinion, just not one that helps move the discussion forward because it effectively ends any effort to be inspired and come with with some creative ideas for moving forward as a community.