Aetherous

Me too. So simple, and it's rare to find a practice that has such a profound effect.

Friends are not just people that we get along with, who we decide to be close with; who we decide are in the "friends" category because you have been historically. Friendship also requires being there for the friend...not being absent for extended periods. Friendship is one of the best things in life, because it eases all of the burdens that we have. In having social isolation for your path, you put your path above that best friend. Nothing wrong with that, as it was your choice, and spiritual types tend to place their practice above all else. But the friendship was neglected. A friend is someone who is there for you...you weren't there. A friend is someone who eases your burdens...you increased this person's burdens by suddenly becoming more absent after having been close. Not to say it was bad of you to do what you did. It's just important to understand what friendship is and why this person is reacting this way. Friends are there for each other. When one is no longer there, then they are no longer friends...even the best of friends who understand the drifting apart, they might still call each other friends, but they aren't acting as friends when they're distant. It requires presence. I think it's very negative to call it her "attachment" issues, that she reacted to what you did. Of course, that is the truth, it is attachment...in the sense that any emotion indicates attachment (even your own surprise and confusion at her response). But such a perspective is one of cold judgment, rather than understanding and caring for that person who was your friend. Friends don't say the other has attachment issues. The thread title makes it appear like this friend turned on you...while there is some truth to that from your perspective, because a previously supportive person didn't adapt to who you were becoming, it could help to see it from her perspective. You turned on her by becoming absent from her life for months. Friends ease burdens, and are present...by being absent, you no longer eased life's burdens...increasing her suffering. What kind of friend treats the other like that? True friends show up, help you have fun and smooth things out. Like I said...nothing wrong with what you did. It's just good to understand why people react and see things from a perspective other than your own...and to understand more about how friendship works.

Sun Si Miao's "Tian Zhu An Mo" form...found in http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Handbook-Chinese-Qigong-Ancient/dp/1848191979/ . It's for self healing...I end up feeling really balanced and well afterward. No other qigong has such a good effect in terms of that. Also, being out in nature away from civilization and being natural (not having discipline but just following what you want to do out there). Forgetting about deadlines, things I need to do, or who I am supposed to be, by being in nature.

"Other people are sharp, I alone am dull" - Lao Zi

I LOVED to moderately weight lift, until I hurt my knee doing it...I think my hip muscles weren't lengthened enough to support heavy weights with squatting. It seems great for wellbeing, to just get to the point where you're reaching a really challenging plateau to surpass, and then take some time off to do other forms of activity.

They say that pride comes just before a fall.

It could be. But it currently is not exactly as your wishes dictate (at least your conscious wishes). Hopefully soon it will be.

Dreaming, without doing anything about it, is not how manifestation works. But this is just my opinion...you can try it your way and see what happens.

If you had no limitations, what would you want to do with that freedom? I think that's the real question. You want no limitations for a reason, not in and of itself, despite how nice that sounds. Having no limitations is simply a means to an end. What is the "end" that underlies it? Also, money helps remove tons of limitations. But "doing what it takes" removes all limitations.

See a Chinese Medicine practitioner for your physical issues. Also, you could try something...create a safe space where you're fully relaxed, then try to think back to the moment of trauma and just let the mind recall it naturally (may take some time, and the being in a relaxed safe and comfortable space is very important for the mind to release it to the surface)...then watch that moment and feel those things when it arises, but feel that you're the witness of them and that they aren't you. They're like clouds passing in the sky, and vanishing. Take full breaths, and with the breaths those traumas will be processed and let go of. Even the mind recalling them is a way of letting them go...the breaths are intention to release them aren't even really necessary. Then, go on with your life and pay attention to new things...it's not necessary to keep thinking of your trauma, because once it's processed it's no longer your trauma. If you find yourself being drawn back into the traumatic moment, just breathe and let it go, or focus on something else and move on. The root of all your problems seems to be that really intense emotional moment - everything started after that. So clearing that trauma will be the key to resolving everything else (I think). If there are various therapists that work with emotions, perhaps they have different modalities that could help you clear the traumatic moment by indirect means. Some Chinese Medicine practitioners have such tools, but definitely not all of them. A couple of things to consider in your situation...dealing with parents can be an incredibly deep and powerful thing. No other people on the earth are as closely connected to you as they are...you were created from parts of them, and lived inside of your mom for months. Also, being on mind altering drugs is similarly incredibly deep and powerful. It totally makes sense that you'd have such a jarring experience. Maybe talking to your parents more about this with a counselor would help. I suspect Tibetan Buddhist practice would also help, since that causes the mind to be released, and when the mind is released it's able to process things...similar to the John Hopkins University psilocybin studies, where they use a small dose that causes various parts of the brain to reconnect, which results in insights and improvements in the participant's lives. Tibetan Buddhist practice causes the rigid mind to be released, and then the brain has a chance to reconnect. It also creates that safe relaxed space I was talking about, where the mind can then send up to the surface things that it's dealt with. When the conscious mind just witnesses it as unique, rather than feeling like the self is attacked and therefore repressing it, those things are resolved.

All you need to do is keep questioning what's right for you. Explore and try things out. If something isn't right, ditch it...if something resonates, go deeper into that path. Don't stop wishing for guidance, wondering, seeking, and trying...those things will take you onto the correct path. Having the question leads to the answer you need...whereas being told what's what kills the question, and therefore prevents you finding the true answer. "Seek, and you will find." In the process, you will learn a lot about yourself and about the various methods and ideas out there. Mistakes will be made and obstacles will be encountered...overcoming those are your stepping stones to success.

Westerners seem stronger because they have excessive diets of meat, dairy, and wheat. Those things are very strengthening...but too much causes weird chronic health issues of all sorts. So it's good to eat a variety including those things, but not good to stuff our faces till we're full. Westerners do straightforward exercise for the most part...break a sweat, get the heart rate up, work the muscles, etc. These things "invigorate blood" as Chinese Medicine calls it, which is considered a major key for youthfulness. These types of exercises tax the qi somewhat, but compared to something like the typical qigong we see, the blood invigorating aspect is much greater, and therefore youth and health are more apparent in people who do them. Just compare pictures of a dedicated weightlifter or runner, compared to a dedicated qigong practitioner, and you'll see. The indiscriminate taking of herbs as Chinese culture tends to do, isn't healthy...herbs are strong and can hurt as well as heal. Western fad diets, such as for weight loss, aren't healthy. Extremely intense exercise isn't healthy, especially something like Crossfit, where people are injuring themselves due to moving really fast with poor form...I suspect HIIT is also really bad for well being. Only doing qigong and meditation alone isn't healthy (if that's an Eastern thing; I suppose sometimes it is), we need more movement...a moderate amount of typical Western exercise is good...there are the sedentary studies from Western Medicine, and the recommendation these days is to move every half hour and not sit or lie too long. We all need more vegetables in our diets, and Westerners need to have much smaller amounts of meat, dairy, and wheat, without eliminating them. It would be good if we spent more time with our meals, rather than being so busy in life. Western medicine has good information on healthy preventative living, in their peer reviewed studies. For instance, we know that exercise is important for us to be healthy. We can get a general idea of what's required for instance from the American Heart Association. Chinese Medicine works really well when done right. Seeing a good practitioner of that like once a month or more, and following the known prevention activities of Western Medicine, that is the best bang for the buck. Seeing a bad practitioner of CM...well, you'd almost be better off simply trying to improve your lifestyle. 2/3 cups organic basmati white rice, 1/3 cup sweet (mochi) rice, to 7 cups of water...cook on low in the crockpot over night. Cook a little bit of chicken meat in ghee, adding some spinach leaves at the end until they brighten. Combine that with some of the rice porridge in a bowl, pour a little bit of nama shoyu on it, and enjoy. I don't know if that's the recipe, but it's something I've found really helpful in self healing. Simple clean living is very important. A secret ingredient is also very important, sometimes. Chinese Medicine has a ton to do with treating only the symptoms of extreme conditions. For instance, using the seahorse as an herb. Chinese Medicine has "root" and "branch" treatments...a good practitioner treats the branch (symptoms) while considering the root, but it's not always about prevention or root treatments. I think both CM and WM treat diseases that are present, and also consider lifestyle modifications, as well as the patient's constitution and the prevention of illness. I think they should be practiced as distinct things (something that is not always the case in China), but in conjunction with one another...see your MD as well as your OMD, and they work together and collaborate. Chinese Medicine has never been one thing...there are different schools of thought, and as a whole it has evolved (or sometimes devolved) as time has passed...it's still evolving, and with evidence based knowledge from Western Medicine, it can evolve further.

We have a limited perspective, as human beings. What we desire for ourselves doesn't take all things into account...perhaps what we want now is actually harmful to us in the long run. Perhaps getting what we want degrades our character, which means that others are treated poorly by us later. Also, it might be very painful to get what we want, magically...because the checks and balances have to be taken into account, and so everything has its cost. "Be careful what you wish for" is a pertinent saying...you ask for a million dollars, but then maybe your loved one dies for you to inherit their money. What magical beings' ears perk up when you request to manifest something? Some are good and want to help you, some are bad and want to harm you. Or maybe benefiting oneself magically is harmless, and no fear is necessary. Only personal experience over a long time can tell us what's true.

Love to walk...it's an excuse to get out in nature and be in the midst of the fresh air. I consider walking a very great form of qigong in itself...in fact, it's something that is used when there are qigong deviations, to correct them.

The day that I have more free time, I will dig deep into something like this. Actually studying it and working on problems can become very complex (far beyond 10 rules), but very rewarding in terms of gaining clarity about things. I'd say it's the one subject which is a prerequisite for anything that has to do with the truth...but very few people truly study it.

Seems just a personal preference to consider it as such. Also, a personal preference to think of it as being less random than the counsel of various books or people. Throwing coins or yarrow stalks is very close to the definition of random, whereas the opinions of people are at least founded upon reasoning and their experience, and choosing which ones to listen to based on your own capacities is even less random.

Only with smoking salvia divinorum.

Could also be a deficiency of the Wood element, because maybe it's like with the corresponding 5 element flavors - we crave what we're deficient in.

In terms of plant spirit medicine (psychedelic as well as simply meditation with the regular plants), the plants may be the healers and teachers in its practice, but it's our insight through which they communicate to us. In visions from daydreams, dreams at night, sudden knowing of what to do, songs that you're humming out of the blue, etc. So we could go beyond plants, by learning with all things, through our insight-knowing. We might get premonitions in dreams about the day to come, or something important to do. So perhaps the best thing is paying attention to the symbols of dreams, such as by keeping a dream journal, and living life less busily so that we can have time to "hear" this stuff and process it.

Different people have different needs in cultivation...qigong is not only a one size fits all. Sometimes a method that's thought to be great for all people affects some people in a negative way. Yet, most modern methods focus on complete forms that are intended for every practitioner to do in the same way, and there isn't really common info on individualized qigong. I've been interested in exploring daoyin and qigong as they were throughout history, which is more catered to the individual's needs...thought I'd share with the forum, as well as see what others have to say about the subject. These two books give a good idea... This book gives an outline of some of the historical qigong practices...it's simple, as well as filled with illustrations. I love it. (Also, Sun Si Miao's Tianzhu Anmo form makes me feel really good afterward.) This book is more modernized, but in the back of the book it has sections on different common health conditions in Western terminology, possible TCM patterns for those, and at the end of each health condition it gives portions of what ancient texts had to say about treating various syndromes that were likely similar. So this is good in addition to the first book, to get an idea of historical individualized qigong therapy. The section on the six healing sounds is pretty bad, though. (It helps to have a little bit of knowledge about Chinese medical terminology that was used historically. For instance, one qigong practice is for "depression in the chest". Most people would think that means emotional sadness, but actually it means a sense of stagnancy in some way, such as fullness, bloating, distention, tightness, blockage, etc...depression is just qi stagnation.) Got any further info on personalized cultivation?

This thread has proven more than fruitful...thank you Donald!

So I'm the only one here that really likes him and his writing? I'm not into the Golden Dawn stream of information, although he was apparently highly influential on that, which was highly influential on basically the entire occult rack which we see today at the local bookstore. It's cool to read the writings of someone who greatly influenced what we have today...his actual work to me seems almost entirely separated from it. And as Taoist Texts said, he had a way with words.

Perhaps our reality is not as material as we think, and it becomes manifested from the Dao, rather than evolves physically over millions of years. The closer we inspect this reality, the more evidence is manifested for it having a material origin...just another illusion. New species appear all the time out of nowhere. What is the origin of mankind? Perhaps, the immaterial.

Any example passages and commentary? I couldn't find that on the publisher site.

Yes I think it would be best energetically to not have people above you when you meditate. It could also be that this person has some negativity which you're picking up on...but who doesn't. You found the solution, move to another place to meditate. Sometimes repressed anger can be a worse emotion than just plain old anger...it could be more draining, in comparison to just letting it go and expressing it, then being free of it.