-_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

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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

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What are they like? How does it feel to be around them? Are they noticeably different to other people, eg would you know they express original nature if you saw them just like that, or perhaps through speaking with them? Or is it more subtle? Hope you don't mind the questions!

Have you ever met anyone like or close to this?

This is interesting. So eventually you want to move towards cultivating spirit? And by doing so you can move towards expressing original nature as opposed to your base nature. That makes sense. The difficultly perhaps is getting sidetracked once you have developed and refined the energy body into using that excess qi to fuel one's base nature. Finding a teacher who is accomplished spiritually as well as energetically then, might be a wise approach, as they can guide you in the right direction once you are accomplished enough.

This seems to be common descriptor of generating lots of qi - it acts as an amplifier of sorts for whatever your nature is. For people who don't have a wholesome outcome when there's more of 'them', what can be done? If qi does not transform, what does? Is it cultivating virtue, mental training / discipline? You've mentioned many accounts of skilled qigong practitioners who go haywire basically leaking qi through base desires. How is this sort of development prevented?

I've been suffering from increasingly dry eyes lately, which is becoming a cause of significant discomfort. Perhaps some of you familiar with TCM might be able to point me in the right direction I've always had issues with dry eyes, as diagnosed by my optician, but it's gotten a great deal worse lately. Tear drops to no avail, my eyes no longer feel lubricated when closing them for a period. I can feel the uncomfortable dryness when I meditate and even when going to sleep, which has never happened until yesterday. If I try to study for extended periods, my eyes become so dry I can't think straight and feel very tired. It is much worse in the evening. From what I've read, the TCM perspective on dry eyes is due to an imbalance of the kidneys and/or the liver. I have a very good diet, consisting of vegetables, beans, nuts, some meat and fish, dairy and fruit, which I follow with 95% diligence. Thus I don't think my diet is the issue. I sleep fairly regular hours, varying from 22:30-23:30, waking up around 7-9. It is worth noting that the symptoms have gotten increasingly worse since moving into a new apartment, where the air quality was so poor I would wake up congested, sneezing and feeling an allergen-like reaction to something. This was resolved (partially, as I've had issues with nasal congestion or constant runny nose for most of my life, which might be described as a constant underlying allergic reaction to an unidentified source) once I installed an air purifier, but these devices can apparently dry out the air, which might not be helping my situation. This could be a coincidence though, as I suffer the same level of dry eye even with the air purifier off for a few days. Thank you all!

I've displayed symptoms of allergic/intolerant response as far back as I can remember. Think constant nasal congestion, dry eyes, facial tension, mental fogginess. Blowing my nose 20 times a day is not unusual for me. I finally took an allergy test which recorded IgE reactions to 42 different food and environmental allergens. Reactions to every single item were recorded, ranging from low to high reaction. Somehow I have a severe response to meat (pork, beef, chicken and lamb), which is really odd? From the perspective of western medicine, there is no solution, aside from eliminating the food items and minimizing the impact of environmental allergens, or anti allergy medications. From my brief analysis of TCM, it seems allergies can occur because of deficient wei qi - studies have shown herbal remedies can decrease overall allergy response, as well as acupuncture potentially being an option. I'm interested to hear your perspectives on this!

I've seen countless warnings not to take herbs like that across this site, enough that I certainly don't plan to I think it might be worth trying some lifestyle changes as mentioned by @Gerard though. I don't know of any 'good' TCM practitioner, nevermind very knowledgeable herbalist. Does anyone know of any in the UK perchance?

@Gerard Yes thank you it is indeed very helpful! I will try eating warming foods for breakfast and refrain from meals after 3pm - would snacking have an impact at all, or best to refrain entirely? I've read that those with weak Earth should limit dairy, would you recommend this? With regards to asian squat, may I ask the reason why you recommend this? I can do the squat just fine with no effort, so it will be easy to implement. Would wuji as used in taiji work for 2)? The mechanics are raising the crown, releasing to stretch the yao, sinking into the feet. Lots of questions, so thanks in advance

i'll send u a dm!