woogyboogy

Do teach your Qi Gong in the way to hold attention at the LDT at all times, or also to spread awareness in different parts of the body involved in the movement?

As far as I know, the Yi Jin Jing(Tendon changing Classic) originally was supposed to be a set of principles, passed down in scripture as well as orally and not necessarily a set of postures. Principles that could be incorporated into a lot of different Qi Gong sets. A certain way of internal alignement would be necessary with every "Yi Jin Jing" Set to activate the Yi Jin Jing process. Damo Mitchell writes about it in Daoist Nei Gong and also has a podcast on it. According to him it's the process of building the deep muscles in a tendon like way, through building of the Huang, through building of Qi (roughly said). It is the preparation of the body for more heavy/high level energy work. Ive briefly trained under a monk of Shaolin Temple Europe, and he's the real deal, and has lots of internal knowledge and instruction in his Qi Gong Sets. So I suppose if one would take fulltime training with them, that that would take you through that process, probably also with help of the "Yi Jing Jin" Set above. Interesting fact on the side... The Shaolin Temple Europe is not officially recognized by the original chinese Shaolin Association/Temple - theyre kind of in a clinge. This pared with the fact that it's run by quite young monks, who apparently do some quite in depth and proper Qi Gong practice (as I could witness in their presence) makes it an interesting place to keep an eye on.

Is there going to be am ebook as well, at some point?

I am not sure, if that relates at all to your situation, but I think I remember having read somewhere, maybe it was even Eckhart tolle, that increased awakeness and mindfulness messes up your short term memory, or the way u know it usually works. So in that modell as you transition in your new way of being there might be some confusion and fear around still being attached to the old ways. In the end, similar to what you mentioned a more spontaneous way of relating arises. I also have a friend/mentor who has pretty much given up any usual mind use habits, in order to be present 24/7. He can perform quite some incredible energy work, but he is also quite unable /unwilling to organize any kind of things, that require numbers or multilevel cognitive tasks. He also frequently states that he cant remember how he got from a to b, or what he had for breakfast. Hes an unusual bloke, but a joy to be around.

Thanks for the suggestion! I do want to go into deeper practice with zhan zhuang, how ever I am not sure if my posture is aligned properly, thats why Im kind of weary to increase the time. While I am aware of all the key points one needs to work on, Its been a while since I had my last in person posture correction with zhan zhuang.

aii your spot on taoist texts. I felt a slight incongruence while writing that passage. It is a believe that I picked up early on, that striving towards enlightenment in itself can be a hindrance on the path. This believe found its way in here, without too much reflection if it is entirely correct. At the moment I focus more on daily progress in stillness and energy cultivation, so I can enjoy that, until enlightenment might or might not unravel it self one day. Nevertheless Iam not opposed to a thunderstruck type of awakening either, I just dont want to (only) sit on my ass waiting.

Yeah thanks to all you responding I can relate to what you guys are saying. I am looking for a teacher, have been looking the web, including this site up and down. And yeah its a search in the jungle. I have a couple people on my list though, that I want to check out in the next year or two. Ive also been lucky to already have had a couple of valuable teachers in my life, they just dont suite exactly to what I am trying to accomplish at the moment, for my current steps in this process ( which is basically like Aeatherous said structure and guidance along the current steps). I am happy with my practice, but I am also utterly lost some days, as I keep switching between different modes and focus of and in meditation, and also doubts about proper practice coming up, which feels can be dispersing to progress and also stutter motivation...

Hello dear Bums… I dont really post here, but Ive been a frequent reader for quite a while… I come with a question concerning my meditation practice, as I feel at the moment I am kind of meditating into the unknown, and I could use some clues…. This post is a a bit lenghty, but I consider it as a necessity, as meditation is by its nature a topic of easy misunderstanding, and I want to avoid wrong judgements of my persona and practice. Ill start with a short history of my meditation practice, so people know where I am coming from. Ive started the journey 8 years ago, when I was 17 with reading books of the enlightenment crowd like Eckhart Tolle and Adyashanti. With these authors over the next years I had my first moments of stillness and deep felt tranquility, as well as glimpses about the nature of the mind. My meditation consisted mostly of sitting comfortably in a chair and just letting go or inquiring about mind. Some beautiful experiences where made at that time. Later on I started to study with a psychotherapist from the enlightenment crowd, where I did a lot of releasing stuck energy and mental blocks through embodiment practices. I also learned a style of Zhi Fa Gong, which resulted in Kunlun like movements. I consider these years of practice to be the most healing so far, and came out of it with a relaxed body, and a relatively still mind. I then went through a period of experimenting with different methods, not a lot of formal practice, and also experimenting with being grounded in the body during everyday life and observing my internal movement in social situations. I am now 25 and since about two years am researching and experimenting with Qi Gong, Nei Gong and Daoism, and try to establish a disciplined way to get deeper into my meditation. While the former years were a beautiful opening, and brought me tremendous healing, they didnt bring me a structured practice and straightforward path that I can continue day by day. Im not sure if that exists, but I am at least looking for some clues as to the next steps. I am currently doing 10 minutes of Standing Posture every morning, followed by 30 minutes of seated meditation. I started to adhere to the principles of proper posture while meditating, and am happily surprised, that all the years of relaxation have allowed my neck and back to be properly relaxed while aligned properly, and holding the posture for a prolonged amount of time. Only my knees are a bit of a weak spot. While sitting, I am switching between focus on the breath at the nostrils, to focus on the belly/where I believe my dantien to be, sometimes breathing into different parts of body and relaxing deeper, and sometimes just being still, letting go and observing the whole felt experience. Two things I am unsure about… First as you can see the whole thing is a bit messy, I follow flow during the practice, but am not sure if I should just stick to one or two things during a session. If so I dont know for sure which is most asked for, for progress? Second, I kind of consider the letting go part and just being with the whole felt experience the measurement of attainment. Back when I was doing a lot of Zhi Fa gong, when I sat still there would be waves of movement inside my body, that wanted to produce external body movements as well. The mind was pretty much still, as it was coupled to the movement. These days, since Ive started to commit to sitting still, and doing standing posture, my energy is more centered. When I sit and let go my mind is still and dwells in the experience of a pretty stable energy body naturally mostly inside the whole torso. The thing is the energy feels very dense, without any specific points. I am more used to movement, and parts of lightness and parts of heaviness. Now it just feels like one big field, but its hard for me to feel out the specific quality (like vibrant or not). Also the mind is pretty much absorbed in this sensation as default. There are doubts coming up, if I should switch my intent from time to time to the part of mind in the head region that produces thought, because when I experiment for short time, I notice there are residual thoughts in the background, mostly doubts. I am not sure if I should/have to deal with them to progress further, or if it is okey to just stay with the energetic body sensation. When I give that residual thoughts some attention, I notice it produces ungroundedness. So in general I am not really sure where I am at in this whole process, how to proceed correctly, potential blindspots and pitfalls. My goals for practice are deepening of spiritual insight, opening and refining of the energy body, and ultimately full relisation/enlightenment, although I am in no rush to get there. Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any insights, preferably from experienced meditators/cultivators.

Thanks Kar3n for the link. How ever that thread doesnt answer a single one of my questions. As I mentioned the nature of the degree is not important to me atm, Im not looking for advice on wether its a wise thing to study, and that thread focuses solely on the United states which is a country im not associated with in any way. Im just looking for a recommendation for a school or teacher that is accesible for my situation, and informative on a practical level.

Hello dear fellow Bums, I am coming with the hope of someone being able to recommend me a Acupuncture/TCM Course that has the following specifif properties: - it should give me a good base to start working on my own with acupuncture. It will obviously be at the same time a course in the general basics of TCM, but my main interest of the chosen application method for me is Acupuncture and Tui Na for the moment. The main requirements: - As im atm living a nomadic lifestyle around the paradisical places of this world Id be great if its a module based course that can either be done in a month or two straight, or through several short intervals spread out through a year. - its a plus if the course is based in a country that is tropical and cheap(Thailand, and similar,...) but it can also be anywhere else in the world as long as the timeplan is right. For example Im considering Damo Mitchell Xin Tang school in the Uk, which is module based but still a bit to far from the tropics to fly there for each of the 5 weekend moduls every year... -the nature of the acquired title isnt of such big importance to my situation, but I put a lot of weight on the quality of teachings and teacher. Kudos and thanks a lot for everybody putting time for helping me with my question. woogy

Bu how to hold the pointing finger in the ldt mudra? At the crown it is pyramid shaped, but at the ldt it sems kind of flat..

Hey, ive just started reading the kunlun book by max christensen. However I have trouble understanding the correct mudra posture for the golden flower mudra to open the lower dantien. I can not correctly depickt the posture from the image or Text. I get the one for the crown but not ldt or mdt. Could some one who practiced this elaborate?

Howdy, im woogy, the tao te ching has been one of my first contacts with spiritual literature when I was 16. From there on I got into New Advaita stuff, yoga, vipassana, and all kinds of things. So far however I was mostly concerned with the mind and egoless states. How ever I never explored Daoism and its more practival side deeply. Now I feel Ive been called to acquire some understanding of the way several old lineages describe and interpret our "energy bodies" and all the practice that revolve around that. Ive jsut foudn this place a few days ago but I already know I will spend many more hours here. Looking forward to be a part of the community, woogy