Aetherous

I'm not experienced in enduring forcefully beyond the shaking phase, but one thing I can say...relaxation is the key to being still. When I practicing zhan zhuang regularly, I had a couple of craniosacral sessions and then practiced afterward. I could stand effortlessly for an hour straight simply due to the relaxation effect that occurred. So the advice to relax seems great. More so than enduring tension. Personally when I practice these days, I go for the most effortless posture possible and then go slightly further toward a position that would elicit shaking...but if it causes tension, I back off. Effortless = qi flows. Always follow your teacher's advice...different styles train for different effects.

The bass sounds amazing...can't wait to hear the rest of the album.

With true knowledge of the herbs, they could be used individually in ways that the materia medica doesn't reveal. My post was pointing toward true knowledge, not disparaging anyone here. Cool story about the first use of he shou wu, thanks!

I'm going to not take his word for it, despite apparently being called a highly accomplished master. First step for anyone attempting this is the prerequisite of actually getting into the embryonic state. If you can't, then your breathing depends on inhalation and exhalation, which depends on the nose or mouth...subtly breathing is not it. Second step is being able to enter the state at will, rather than spontaneously (not sure how possible that is), and be able to submerge your face under water during it. To me, that seems to be a lot of mental and physical activity, and would take a person out of the state. Even the water touching the face would be a shock to the system and cause breathing to take place in response. It's possible that it could be tested scientifically somehow.

About breathing without breathing, AKA embryonic breathing - there are two schools of thought... The first states that you literally are not breathing...you don't have to, because your body has perfect respiration without the mechanism of inhale and exhale. The second states that you're breathing, but the mechanics are so refined or the mind is elsewhere, so that it seems like you're not. The first group would say that the second group has simply never actually achieved embryonic breathing.

Another important note about understanding Chinese single herbs, in my opinion... When you see the actions and indications listed, such as: "he shou wu, tonifies the Liver and Kidneys, nourishes the blood, and augments the essence: for patterns of yin or blood deficiency with such signs as dizziness, blurred vision, premature greying of hair, etc"... Those are (almost? nearly?) always taken out of context from formulas that the herb was first used in. For instance, the above is taken from the formula qi bao mei ran dan, or when he shou wu is seen combined with gou qi zi, bu gu hi, and tu si zi. The question is...does the single herb do these things on its own, out of the formula's context, or without those combined herbs? Maybe sometimes, but maybe not. In modern practice, this fact (that the actions and indications aren't truly representative of what the single herb does on its own) is overlooked, and it's believed that if you simply pair two herbs with the same actions and indications together, that they will have that effect. This combination theory is called dui yao. Maybe it will work. But it's practicing without understanding the true aspects of the herbs. It's like Chinese herbalists played the 'telephone' game as the centuries passed, and the message became third hand, fourth hand info, as it was changed over time. The modern materia medica is not how the herbs were used in the Han dynasty, by any means...it's a viewpoint late in the game, from a certain perspective (where they looked at how the herbs were used in various classical formulas, and try to extract what that herb is contributing to the formula). For instance, the Shang Han Lun has an entirely different way of understanding how to create a formula, based on the herbs having five element correlations, as well as the major things the herbs treated on their own, and many of the formulas used to derive single herb actions and indications are based off of Shang Han Lun formulas. Yet, those five element correlations aren't how people create formulas today...probably 99.9% of herbalists are unaware of how to construct a formula in that way. Basically...the modern materia medica is good for getting a general overview of what the herbs have done in various formulas (without listing the formulas half the time), so we can get a second hand perspective of what they might do on their own. It can be useful if you're able to separate the wheat from the chaff, and keep this understanding in mind. It's still confusing if you believe that the materia medica actually represents what the single herbs would do if you just took them on their own (unless it says it's used as a single herb) or in random combination. Western herbalism and common sense says, "herb A does this to treat that". Modern Chinese herbalism says, "herb A might have done this in formulas B and C, so because it likely does this, we can say that it might treat that". Two with the same action and indication might not actually mutually accentuate each other.

Great minds discuss ideas, not people. Great minds certainly don't try to manipulate or control people's thoughts. It's said that hate-filled messages are bad...but isn't it hateful to call people bigots, say that they are discriminators, etc? You may counter by saying that's just calling it like it is, and is an attempt to preserve the peace...but the way I see it, it's just thought policing, when nothing bad has actually been said in this thread. It's said that accepting people is good, and that not accepting people is very hurtful to the unaccepted...yet, we can't accept people with differing viewpoints than our own? And have to call them names, and defame them in an attempt to silence their opinions? Imagine what the world would look like if we got our misguided way, and all people with views other than our own were silenced or gone. There would be nothing more to discuss, nothing else to fight against...what would we do? Would it actually be peaceful? When fighting monsters, do not become one. If hate is bad and acceptance is good, perhaps we should accept the fact that not everyone is of like mind. There are different opinions out there, and people are entitled to have them. That trying to change those people, especially by being manipulative and insinuating that they're akin to hate groups and bigots, is what's truly hateful.

Just the other day I stumbled upon some black birch trees...didn't realize what they were but was instinctively led to break off a twig and smell it. It would make for the perfect homemade birch beer!

Agreed...although I'm interested to know what these biological indicators are. Simply saying that they exist doesn't make it true. By clearing stating what they are, it can help educate our community (and people like me) about this subject. Are you addressing me?

About transgenderism being considered a potential mental illness... Of course it's something happening in the mental realm. It's not physical, except in very rare cases. The person thinks, feels, believes, that they are the opposite gender of what they physically are...for various reasons, or spontaneously. Yet despite it being a mental phenomenon, is it an illness? I think, only if it present an unwanted problem for the individual experiencing it, or society as a whole (to be differentiated clearly from the smaller parts of society who simply have a problem with it). In our culture, we're not fully accepting of transgender people, for better or worse (don't ask me which). Now...this is problematic for those individuals, to be unaccepted. Yet, is it the culture that's the problem, or is it the transgenderism which is the problem? If they were accepted, then whatever they think they are would not pose a problem...so the unwanted problem in regard to transgenderism is society dictating that it's a flaw. Since transgenderism itself isn't the unwanted problem, I don't think anyone can say that it's a mental illness. It's just a mental phenomenon, which is partially at odds with some of our societal beliefs. Anyway...what I do like a lot about the article is that it criticizes some really corrupt thought processes that are being taken as mainstream beliefs by most millenials and leftists - that gender is what you feel that you are, rather than what you physically are. One thing we can say with certainty, is that such beliefs are unscientific.

Just yesterday I stumbled across a book which gives a specific method for developing the ability to see energy. The author is involved with "munay-ki" rites, which are derived from the South American spiritualism in which he was trained. The method is pretty unique, and reminds me of EFT. It is basically the fourth "munay-ki" rite. So... That's a really basic overview, in my own words. The chapter in the book was pretty interesting in describing everything...however, I'm not necessarily recommending the book here. Apparently in the munay-ki rite they also include that other pathway, between the side and top of the head. So there you go...if others have methods which develop the ability to see energy, please feel free to share!

Your heart didn't want to watch the movie again.

What do you guys think of him? I've been impressed with checking out Transcendental Magic and The History of Magic.

In this series of youtube videos, he gets into the sky eye. On his website it's said that Plumblossom gong is what opens the sky eye gradually in their school of training.

It's the style's fault.

Being "in your element" makes you one with the Dao. Doing things that you like means you're in your element in that moment. But what about in the moment when you're doing something you don't like? Why can't you be in your element then, too?

Really great stuff to ponder... I would think that getting out of denial and into acceptance causes the disease to become part of who he is. Whereas denial is still a stage of the self being considered healthy, and the disease being an abnormality to oppose...perhaps that is healthier...fighting/worrying about the illness/etc is a huge drain on energy, though, which ultimately is what keeps the disease there. What eradicates disease is the sense of health to permeate at all times, in addition to lifestyle choices that promote healing. Perhaps a person could accept being diseased if they don't have the energy to fight it anymore, and then later they could cultivate the sense of health. It's probably very challenging to change someone's sense of who they are, though, from being a person with disease to having perfect health.

I have to roll my eyes at such opinions. It is good! But I said not very palpable.

I have his taiji DVD, and it's pretty well made. I had a really hard time trying to learn it due to the detail and the number of moves...also kind of felt like, "Why am I doing this?" because it wasn't quite active enough to be considered exercise, it isn't really effective as a martial art, and as qigong it's not so palpable. That's just my personal experience with it. But like I said, it's quite well made...maybe you will enjoy it!

I would say that it's not darkness in terms of evil forces and beings, as we commonly think of in our culture. When it becomes night and you feel the darkness outside envelop you and bring you rest, it's not like the time of day is evil...it's just a natural cycle, and has some good effects. If there was no night, we would be harmed. So not all darkness is bad. Life moves in cycles. It's like there are two different definitions of the idea of darkness/blackness...one referring to evil, and the other, not. In this case, the "darkness" is perhaps more metaphorical...describing the mystery of the Dao. It's like thelerner said...emptiness. The voidness of space, inside and out. Now...is this a purely positive force to be taking into the body? Some would say that sunlight and fresh air are positive forces to take in, and that black space is more negative. I say...what are the results of doing it? If it provides some positive results and no negative ones, then perhaps it's good!

I think "inner nature" is just a term describing the Buddha nature.

Donald...now that you mention Papus, I recently learned of his Tarot of the Bohemians. I want to make clear what I meant by "the thread must flow" - it's great to branch off from Eliphas Levi, because it still pertains to grasping the history and changes of the Western magical traditions. This in my opinion is one of the most useful threads in this subsection, thanks to your contributions.

The thread must flow!

The Eastern Internal Arts dvd is great. There is also Max's book for the Kunlun perspective of it...that tells how to practice it. I personally prefer to do the practice as described by Max, while sitting cross legged. Doing it the regular way is recommended at first (and I probably should still be doing it that way).

Not peer reviewed research, but this Russian acupuncturist in Australia found that doing gua sha with a silver tool on patients with lead poisoning will make the channels visibly appear.