-_sometimes

It's in Mawlamyine, Mon State, and I've been wanting to go for a while, for at least 30 days as a lay practitioner, but I've heard the situation is just getting worse. Is it too risky to go at the moment?

Edit: actually i don't feel like discussing this

I had a session with my therapist today that was quite enlightening. We started doing IFS and seeing the components at play was fascinating, and the disconnect I feel seems to make a little more sense. I am, quite literally, disconnected from the deeper parts of myself, through an elaborate process, that means i feel a great deal of discomfort but am unable to go any deeper to get to the root of them. This was very interesting, and for once, i feel like I might actually have a feasible way out of this, which is quite delightful

10 years? Goddamn.. why so long?

I will try this, but I can't feel my breath there, only the movement of the abdomen as I breathe, and I can't exactly see how focusing on a body part will lead to concentration as can be found through breath and other object meditation. I've read a lot about how it can cause stagnation as the mind should naturally rest in the abdomen through sinking, not actively 'placed' there. That said, if my mind does calm down enough that way, I suppose I could shift my attention back to the breath. What I struggle to understand is how, if placing my attention on this area brings my qi up, why is this not something all meditators struggle with? The focus I place on the breath is very, very light, I'm not forcing anything at all! I place my tongue on the roof of the mouth

The breath moving across the upper lip just below the nose.

As soon as I direct my awareness internally. It doesn't have to be the breath, it could be just attention on the body. I think the lower down I place my attention, the less I get the movements

Thank you for the kind words. I've heard that meditation is not recommended for some as well, as it can increase internal focus, which for some just makes things worse. Freeform on this forum also mentioned that qigong might not be recommended for those with depression and anxiety too, so that's a bummer. It's quite troublesome, because I thought these things were supposed to help When I went on the retreat, the teacher specifically did not recommend meta, because she thought it would further build an outer shell of positivity that wasn't reflective of what was happening internally. With regards to the TCM practitioner, she was incredibly rude even when booking an appointment, so that was probably a red flag

.

This feels like it was written for me I mean probably not but the timing of me seeing this post was exceptional I love this! If you are willing, could you give an example or expand on how insight and grace in pain might be practiced?

Daoist robbery

I don't believe we have.. I tend to lurk more than post to be fair, as I'm still quite new to this whole thing. The pleasure's all mine, you have some good posts! Throw an apple and run. Leave the mess to everyone else

What's so wrong about a drink with friends?

Afaik no, it will instead build stagnation, as you will likely be directing the mind in a contrived way. If you want to learn how to build and store qi in the lower dantian, have a look at damo mitchell's neigong course: https://damomitchell.com/nei-gong-course/

Are you okay? I don't recall your posts being like this, you don't sound alright. Kind of looks like you're using a text generator of sorts