unreasonablyreasonable

Perhaps stay away from Burma at the moment given there is a war going on but apart from that as Gerard said there is an abundance of monasteries in Thailand. Not sure about Tibetan lineages though.

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A lot of people who practice Zhan Zhuang if they focus on relaxing their perineum, pelvic floor or tailbone will feel the area "unclutch" & a very gentle opening/expansive extension or floating of the spine from around the S curve area. It gives the "head suspended from above feeling" or "being floated from below." Gentle pelvic floor contraction, then relaxing it & "allow"/intending a 2nd release/relaxation helps to "unclutch" as there is a lot of unconscious tension in the area related to the root chakra & primal fight/flight response. The excessive chronic contractive tension weakens the area (limits elastic connective tissue development), psoas connection through the legs, kua and spine. "Unclutching" the area actually makes the support stronger since the connection can drop through the legs to the feet & gently open/extend upwards to the crown so the whole body feels like it is a stable core (but fluidly grounded).

I like Huang's loosening exercises or BK's 3 swings: BK: More details by BK on the swings:

Before I started Deity Yoga I was pretty dogmatically into Jhana & Vipassana (I practice both even more these days but I'm just a hell of a lot more broad minded) but after 2 weeks of Deity Yoga with Guanyin I was "pleasantly shocked" by how powerful the practice can be. My teacher taught me to move past the astral/personality "holographic" of the Guanyin & use Akasha which may be the same or similar to what you defined as the mind-stream. This practice is what made me realize the deity or "higher being" that all human beings have the potential to develop into. Best learned from a very experienced teacher though as from what I've heard some people "go off the rails."

I don't practice Huang style Taiji anymore but I still do the 5 loosening exercises as I found that over the years deeper and deeper layers of connective tissue/fascia/sinews etc would feel more elastic & "have consciousness/awareness" in them. The 3 swings from BK Frantzis have also served me well particularly the kua loosening ones. Short: Longer: I like standing practices and still do them but I have found that even with very good teachers students can get back (spine) compression problems if they don't learn to release (feels like the tailbone/perineum is floating through the kua into the feet) the tailbone/perineum so that the vertebrae above isn't crunched down against it but instead can "move through" into the feet. In my experience standing was the first foundation for me (even before I had my basics wired-in) that allowed me to to feel connected, grounded & helped immensely with my IMA, qigong/neigong practices. I haven't trained with Mark Cohen but though its been a few years I gained a few significant insights from his book: https://insidezhanzhuang.wordpress.com/about/ As Daojones mentioned & from my experience I agree that developing elasticity in tandem with density of connective tissue/fascia will increase the capacity of your body's conductivity. So as a "base" standing practice, loosenings and some Yin yoga asana (I go much lighter but hold the asana for 10 minutes though I focus on only 4-5 asana/session each month) are all *almost* "fool proof" (a BIG *almost* as I've always found errors in my practices) ways to "build" a solid foundation that can then be used for conducting "higher" energies more safely through them from whatever qigong/neigong practice you do.

One of my teachers (he was a teenager & very willful even for a teen)who was practicing Bardon/Hermetics used to "push" himself to forcefully on the concentration practices to the point that he'd get nose bleeds. After his teacher guided him in how to relax/dissolve/release into concentration his concentration not only increased but his nose bleeds also stopped. Acharn Brahm's book on Jhanas or Daniel Ingrams ebook (which I think is still free) both helped me a lot with getting the "balance" of relaxing/dissolving/releasing into concentration/jhanas.

Mark Rasmus has also recently started an online Taiji vimeo course (and has plenty of instructional videos on youtube too):

Standing meditation was the first key that allowed me to experience and communicate into my physical body a type of knowing how to continually refine "sung." Taiji form very slowly was also emphasized by my teacher though without the standing which we always began class with and were expected to practice at home I wouldn't have developed "sung" to the degree I did and is continuing to develop. Huang's loosenings are also very useful especially if practiced both with the larger movements and then micromovements. Moving between the two or anywhere in between when I feel the "level" of movement that produces deeper "sung." BK Frantis' loosenings can if practiced correctly to his instruction in "opening the energy gates of the body" are also essentially loosenings. With push-hand I have found that the development of "sung" is best when we have the lightest touch and the feeling is of working with my partner's etheric body, from touch but allowing their etheric body or qi body to guide my body as to where to apply the appropriate energies. Though I also practice more rougher push hands mainly for fun I don't receive the same "sung" development as I do with the lightest touch. Must have a partner who understands and shares the same purposes and goals in practice though. Then it is win-win. There is no "invest in loss" because neither of us is involved in that "fictional battle." Every moment of "push hands' is "win" always making fine the qualities/attributes. Of course I would be remiss to state how much emptiness/bare awareness meditation has contributed to my development and continued development of "sung." If I did not have a relatively substantial experience in what this practice was doing and able to do then the above 3 practices would not have nearly developed anywhere near as much "sung." Emptiness/bare awareness meditation developed my "sung" while doing those ZZ, loosenings, Taiji and other IMA eventually allowing me to realize that just awareness/"bare attention" on the finest streams/flows of "sung" was the most effective "level" of "intent" for my development. Even an atom more and I would perceive tension increase and "sung" decrease. Awareness/"bare attention" on the finest streams/flows of "sung" simply allowed those streams/flows to continue and continue to become finer and finer "levels" of "sung."

I think I was referred to this forum in the early days from either the emptyflower forum days or Michael Winn's forum. I completely forget my username from them and as work required a lot of travel as well as different computers, devices etc I'd lose my automatic login though still learn a lot. When I became committed to a practice and teacher (mainly emptiness meditation, standing and emptiness meditation while witnessing energy circulations/movements) I had less time and so the limited time I had I chose to put into my practices. I have found myself passing through this forum again and again though throughout the years and its always been a unique place because there is such a melting pot of so many practitioners from different systems/lineages etc. Some gel with what I do, some don't but I always learn from both.