-_sometimes

I want to feel the body, as opposed to forming a mental image of what it looks like? I find I often tend to create a mental image of what it's like have awareness of some part of body, how can I avoid that, or should I? What does that feel like? This is mainly what I was attempting, I wonder if you could outline the sort of progression one might see as a result of this activity? As one develops the ability to soak the awareness into the the tissue, what develops or ensues? I ask because having faith in what can come as a result of this, should ensure I don't drift from one thing to another, which I feel like is what I'm missing. I don't quite know what benefits or results can be achieved, so it feels like a shot in the dark

Several months ago I posted on here regarding some issues I was having, and I was recommended to stop all internal work for some time to get things in order. Much has been resolved, and aside from some physical misalignments (which I hope to resolve through ZZ) all has improved greatly, and I would like to start working with the energy arts to improve my physical health, vitality and hopefully, longevity. I am not interested in spiritual accomplishments, I simply wish to take care of my body. I have what seems to be structural misalignments of my neck, shoulder and facial muscles, and having been to various doctors, seen a neurologist and taken care of my mental health, the issues still remain. I hear Zhan zhuang is very useful when practiced with care and attention over the long term at rectifying physical imbalances within the body, and as such would like to take it up. Is this a good idea, can it be done effectively without a teacher, and are there any warning signs I should take note of, to prevent such things as qi deviation? I would appreciate any advice, thanks

Thank you, I wish for you the same!

To let others in this thread know, I now intend to wait some time before I practice zhan zhuang. I will take the advice of those recommending against it, for I have foregone the advice of others too many times and paid for it sorely. I will look into the more physical practices recommended by @freeform and @Cleansox, thank you both! I understand the sort of trauma that may arise during such practices as zhan zhuang, and whilst this is something that I am working with on a daily basis, in fact it could be said the processing of trauma is pretty much all I do these days haha - I do feel like I would need more time before I stand completely still and enter the deeper parts of my psyche. Lot of shit to process yet ;D I think if I were to go back into the internal arts, and I hope to, eventually - when that happens I'm going to go about it the right way; learn from a verified well known teacher, make sure I'm also perfectly mentally balanced beforehand, hopefully with physical ailments out of the way. I'm tired of messing things up due to impatiently rushing into them like a maniac, wanting results as fast as possible. This one, I hope, I shall do right! Thank you all for the help and guidance, it is very much appreciated

Based in the UK.. I do recall my doctor offered physical therapy several months ago, but I put it on hold, not being entirely certain how useful it would actually be. It might be a wise idea to follow up on that, perhaps. It's just a little difficult because the issue is very personal, and really.. a lil weird lol

I have searched through older threads, but responses are varied, some say yes, others no, then are horror stories of people who fucked themselves over rather insanely, but I was hoping specifying static exercises that don't require any active moving of qi wouldn't be as problematic. Then again, if there are varied responses, it really might be best just to stay away

For those curious as to what exactly these physical imbalances are, I often have a build up of tension around furthest sides of the face, close to the ears. I can consciously relax it, but when I do, it often results in contraction of various muscles in the face, causing involuntary twitches of the head this way and that. Likewise, if I completely relax as much as I can the muscles in my face and arms, my upper body tries to move on its own; fingers and arms raise up, head moves back or to the side and shoulders will lock into or out of positions. If I allow the movements to occur, I might end up in weird positions. I've done this aplenty and as long as I avoid making fast movements and try to 'move' things along, it seems perfectly natural, but honestly I'm a little tired of it. It's like my body is trying to correct some sort of structural imbalance possibly brought about through years of poor posture, and I was hoping Zhan Zhang might help identify what exactly is misaligned, allowing faster resolution of these issues. Thanks for reading!

Feels like a dead weight on my eye sockets. Makes me feel like I'm sinking from/into the eyes. Whenever I try to read with effort, concentrate, memorise, use my brain, the weight becomes overwhelming - there is no pain, just like a heavy sinking feeling from above the eyes. Like I've taken a relaxant drug, and don't care about anything, just want to relax the eyes and attention. I'm almost 100% certain I have some sort of misalignment of my shoulder and neck muscles, which is causing tension in the face, potentially restricting blood flow, reducing my functioning. I've been to several doctors, a neurologist, and they have reported nothing. I am unable to convince anyone to get me an MRI scan to see if this really is the problem. I just get prescribed heavier dosages of meds lol. I'm not sure what to do at this point, and I would appreciate any input. I don't practice any internal arts, I don't meditate, aside from a sort of round the clock zen-like mindfulness, which isn't forced and happens by itself almost. I feel so brain dead all the time, so tired, so little motivation or energy, little desire to talk. I'm 20 I should be filled with energy and vitality, fulfilling my ambitions, but instead I feel like I'm wasting away..

I'm curious as to why you specify this. Perhaps you have already explained why idk but well.. this would be a huge undertaking for me, as I'm rather lacking in the 'socialising' department. I just feel sort of empty of content / blank around people. Do you mean build connections, or just general interaction? Why? how would it help? I hope you don't mind the questions, I just personally need a reason to do something as opposed to just 'you should because it's good for you'

What standing exercises do you recommend?

Thanks for your help everyone. It seems there is much I can still do to help things along. Back to the drawing board it is!

Play it long enough, and you can win, slowly but surely, no?

Tobacco Why? What's wrong with sleeping late if it's easier to sleep?

If I do something physically tiring I feel even more wiped out. After I can just sit on a couch and space out to the point where my vision starts to get 'staticky' and is overlayed with purple swirling lol. The pressure above the eyes also feels significantly more intense to the point where it causes some sort of muscle contractions followed by involuntary head movement, as I relax my face in attempt to relieve the pressure. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes that was me. I started exercising more but curious why you mention voluntary work? what if the issue is mainly physical, such as some sort of structural misalignment, which I am almost certain of; I can still relax and allow my upper body move of its own accord (which I avoid atm), in what I perceive is an attempt to correct this imbalance; one arm feels heavier than the other, involuntary twitching of the head when sitting in silence, jaw rotating when eating. All this seems to point to some physical as opposed to energetic ailment. How can physical activity resolve this? Sleep isn't great because of insomnia, so I usually sleep late (~2am) as can fall asleep much easier. I eat very well ~70% of the time, have difficulty working because of aforementioned issues - aside from extremely mundane work which I find soul destroying. I don't drink much, smoke a little, nothing else. And socially speaking.. well.. I'm pretty poor at socialising, but I have a couple connections. Thank you for your assistance, it is much appreciated!

I can't read Chinese ;p

I'm not sure what you're suggesting. You are saying you did a remote body scan, and apparently I'm draining something? I don't understand what you mean by this? I don't get this either. Which individuals? Almost 3 years now. Since my first trips on psychs. It was a lot worse a few months ago but seems to be improving over time, but well.. not fast enough as I have no clue as to the cause or what really is happening. I appreciate your input x)

By not taking an approach, I mean I don't practice. I am what I am at any particular moment, and I try not to add to that with attempting to create a story about why I feel a certain way. By avoiding views, I mean existence and self related views. I had an extremely bad psychedelic trip almost 2 years ago and it introduced a lot of terrifying views about myself and my place in the world. I would constantly believe whatever story my mind created. I found the best way to deal with it, was to allow these views to exist and face the fear, which eventually led to them not effecting me anymore. By zen, I mean not actively trying to do anything, because recognising that I don't know anything, any approach to my thoughts and experience, classifying and presuming, can not be undertaken with intellectual honesty. So essentially, when I find myself partaking in self oriented views about self, other, existence, life and death and so on, I stop. Hopefully without being averse to such thoughts, but instead through seeing that there is no basis for them to exist. Of course I have opinions and views, I have preferences, I have things which I enjoy, things which frustrate me etc..

I have done this. As I mentioned, nothing was found, even after speaking with a neurologist

How do you know if it is what I claim? Regardless It's not something that I do, it's sort of like not engaging with views. I don't take an 'approach', I simply stop mentally doing something when I recognise it is futile or foolish.

I find recently that I have the need to release tension on either side of the jaw, close to the ears, directly below the cheekbones. I was wondering what this area relates to? I find if I drink the tension in this area increases greatly, so much so that I have stopped drinking as just one glass of an alcohol beverage and I have a strong desire to stop and just focus on releasing tension in the area. I would appreciate some insight on this matter. Thank you

I'm pretty sure that's the general human condition lol

I have constantly dry and cracked lips no matter how much I drink, could that be related?

Is it possible to go all the way to the 'ultimate' solely through brutally honest introspection? My practice is composed of abandoning knowledge and looking as honestly as possible into what I really 'know'. I don't really see what else I can do, since it seems to me the only thing I can 'do' is nothing at all, including not 'doing' non-doing. In my experience, all 'doing' in attempt to resolve the question of existence/experience/suffering is intellectual, based on the attempt to resolve mental confusion, which in itself is a non-problem. Why should I want to practice internal alchemy, except for a potentially longer life?

Super interesting post I really enjoyed reading it!