Seatle185

Hello, well the one thing i am always afraid of with vitamins/extracts is the actual quality of the products. Vitamins arent regulated so finding a good brand could take some experimenting. It could be that its no where near what it says on the bottle or not in an easily digested/assimilated form. Iv personally noticed it with my own supplements, sometimes id take something new and feel absolutely nothing, but id try a different brand and the effects were easily noticed pretty quickly. Its too bad we cant get samples from the different brands before we buy! Another thought is maybe you are already so healthy that the extracts arent necessary? Hope it helps

Hi just noticed this question and thought id chime in as i love collecting crystals and reading about their different uses in older cultures You can buy them on amazon and etsy, iv never tried them so i cant comment on quality You can find alot at healingcrystals.com for decent price, last i checked they had several different varieties of tourmaline A local shop near me has a website i sometimes go to ntrocks.com Hope it helps

Haha i like when people are passionate about their jobs but when we know almost nothing about the people they work with or the job i agree, its hard to stay interested for longer than 30 min.. its so much easier to have a connection when you have met or know one or two of the persons their stories involve. I am pretty attentive with the people i talk to, if i see them looking off in the distance and nodding and saying "ya" or looking confused or something i usually change the subject haha.

Hello welcome A few thoughts on your question How to think in a positive way to others - what goes around comes around - i have noticed some people who think like this actually are thinking selfish. Like a friend who does a favor for you seemingly out of pure kindness but then hits you up a few months later for a favor in return because you owe him.. alot of businesses use this tactic, they hand out free products or samples and alot of people feel more persuaded into buying- they feel like they owe them at least something seeing how generous and kind they are? so yes sometimes its selfish. On the other hand there are quite a few people iv had the pleasure of knowing who will do something out of pure compassion and never say they are owed something later.. this is doing something without expecting anything in return and is considered a high virtue. Where im from we are socialized since birth to "never do anything for free" so its definately a habit sometimes hard to overcome. Not only that if you really are doing something for nothing you become a target and people take advantage and use you so you have to be careful. Personally i do things out of the kindness of my heart because it makes me feel happy knowing iv made someone else happy and thats all the payment i need. but i have been taken advantage of numerous times. So its all in your intent i think

I eat two meals a day, sometimes only one and a vegetable juice later in the day. I do feel too much food makes me feel lazy too. Much depends on your constituition too though i think. Many people where i live eat between 3-6 times a day and i did do that when i was into weight lifting but i grew tired of it quickly. It just felt like an addictive behavior, right after i ate i would already be planning my next meal ... i love one or two meals a day, not nearly as stressful on the mind and stomach. I think it is best to find food as fresh as possible, growing it is the best you can eat it while its still living whereas veggies that have been sitting in a store for weeks have already begun to lose their qi and nutrients. farmers market is also good, you will notice the big difference in taste and energy and it is local, not shipped in from far away! I also recomend eating for nutrition and not for taste, too many people i know do the exact opposite of this and their health suffers. And this causes them to eat with addictive behavior too.. and know the difference between real and artificial hunger. Your body can sustain itself on one or two meals a day maybe much less as long as what you are eating is high in nutrition, if it is void of nutrients your body will never be satisfied and will constantly be hungry

Porn can be looked at in a non judgemental way. However most people who watch it constantly are pretty addicted to it. Not only that they fantasize that they are the ones in the video- taking themselves away from reality. when a kid starts watching porn by the time they do start having sex they have delusion. Just my thoughts personally

Hi gerard, The raw silk that is sold on this site and a few others actually feels very similar to cotton but my opinion is it is more breathable and smoother, silk is known to be adaptive in that it keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer, unfortunately it is getting difficult to find as most people who sell "silk" is in fact artificial materials treated to look like the well known satin silks, so i was happy to find this company. YMAA is the only other company i have seen who has the raw silk pants like this but they have only one option to choose from and they are often sold out. If you would like to know about raw silk and its benefits compared to other fabrics they actually have a very informative article here https://ymaa.com/publishing/uniform Hope it helps And i have gotten a chance to try some green taiwan and you are so right, when compared to what most people know as green tea it is a whole different experience! I enjoy nearly any tea iv tried from taiwan, my favorite that i drink the most are the alishan jinxuan oolong- golden lilly oolong, i will search around for the tea threads though and keep this thread on track but im glad you mentioned that!

No problem! I personally love them, their pure cotton is reasonably priced but the raw 'cotton looking' silk is a little expensive, but i think worth it as rare to find, also i love the customization, you can request any style, i prefer drawstrings as opposed to the elastic waistband you usually get with kung fu pants, and you can change the ankles to hem, drawstring, or frog button bassically anything you could think of haha The only thing is i would recomend looking at their shipping prices if anyone is from the u.s. like me. the fast delivery options are high priced and the lower priced delivery takes a long time, but over all very good company i think. Also its good to see another poster here who loves high mountain oolong!

I agree with spotless in that "raw silk" sometimes also "noil silk" looks more like cotton than the shiny preformance silks that are worn for aesthetic appeal. And in my opinion the raw silk is much stronger. While i dont know where in china to shop, there is an online retailer called taichi tranquility based in vietnam you could try. You can give them specefic directions and measurements as well as plenty of fabric options. I dont like the taichi full suits but i have a few pants that look like what is in the video and they have all sorts of options most other vendors dont. Just a thought, hope it helps!

Ah yes thats great, i am very interested in the more spiritual practices too and i am hoping jingyu can take me where i want to go but im not sure yet. See after a few years of the taiji i wanted to delve into his nei dan class and work directly with jing, chi, shen and the only teacher i could find that actually advertised that he taught nei dan in the area was jingyu so thats why i was initially drawn there over other places. Unfortunately another student recently told me he isnt teaching that side of the art anymore, but i took it to mean he doesnt think anyone has refined themselves enough to engage in it so we'll see, i know i have a long way to go until then haha. Well if i do come across anything that works more on the deeper neigong/neidan practices i will keep you in mind, im still kind of looking to see what others have to offer that might benefit my practice too. Good luck!

I also completelt agree that energy work should be taught first but it seems rare unfortunately. The energy work like you said can clear up alergies or maybe posture issues that stem from energy blockage. Yes at first i only wantes to learn the qigong too haha, i had searched for a long time to find someone who only taught qigong but eventually i became more and more interested in the complete taiji system, because it can encompass so much. I think it would be very hard to learn fajin through sheng zen since as far as i know you only develop jins through the internal arts but prehaps it is possible, i wish i knew more to help but im pretty knew to the concept of it as well. As for further recomendations in the area, maybe you could try to look for just a zhan zhuang teacher but i havent had much luck there yet. i know the internal arts develop alot of internal power through it. There is also books, if you have a decent foundation and posture they might help. Also i agree too, that the external kung fu systems of china probobly did focus on internal development too just maybe not as much, i think it is somewhat of an organic process if you continually train and refine your body and mind to eventually see and work with the internal

This is an interesting question, one that i have wondered about for a while too. Alot of different opinions on it. Regarding clothing, I was reading a YMAA article saying that unnatural fabrics can negatively effect your qi, cotton is much better, also it said that the best fabric to wear is silk for its conductive properties. In the vedic tradition certain gemstones are enhanced if set in the proper metals and some metals naturally resonate with people more than others depending on your charts. I also have "stone medicine-a chinese medical guide to healing with gems and minerals", it says that aluminum clears Heat especially in the liver, copper moves qi and blood nourishing the liver and kidneys, gold is tonifying and silver is dispersing.

Well you can always search around your area for free classes, i was actually really suprised to find in my area that there are alot of free taichi in the park classes or yoga get togethers. While this isnt formal instruction from the teacher, you can try to pick up a little, and going around the class and talking to long time practitioners for tips could benefit you some. And i agree with roger as well, building virtue is very important and when the time is right everything will fall into place.

Hi aden, i am also learning in the austin area, though i am just starting. I agree with steve in that, if you are looking for internal power specefically to enhance your martial art i think taijiquan would be a great addition to your practice. There is quite a few options to choose from here so its kind of overwhelming. I am personally taking classes with jingyu gu right now and since iv only been learning for a few months i havent scratched the surface of the possibilities of the art, but i do know jingyu is very versed in the philosophy and concepts of taiji as well as chinese medicine and nei dan. I have also heard external and internal arts dont mix but im not sure, there are quite a few practitioners that practice both and i think it could really benefit you personally. If your not sure if it would mix with your current style you should always ask your teacher though to be sure.

I just joined today finally, though i have been reading this forum for years in the shadows! I frequent this board more than anywhere else as there is alot of great information on internal practices i am interested in. I have practiced flying phoenix for about a year and read through the entire thread three times! Also last month i began classes with jingyu gu from austin tx learning wu style taijiquan. I finally decided to join because i wanted to connect more with many of the members here that are very versed in the vast art of taiji and i also hoped to see if there are any practitioners in my area. Glad to be here thank you all