Hello everyone! I've been reading these forums for a couple years already, but have only now become a member. Thanks to recommendations I found here in regards to teachers/systems/practices, I have made good progress in my self cultivation. Perhaps now that I have a bit more experience & knowledge, I can participate fully in discussions.
As you can probably tell from my username, I got into all this from Shaolin kung fu. The "thunder" part symbolizes power and transformation through energy.
My main reason for practicing martial arts was for a greater connection with the mind, body, and spirit - which I found lacking in everyday modern society. The most popular mind-body-spirit training would be yoga, but I prefer something more interactive.. Combative even. Not to mention, it's rather awkward taking yoga/meditation classes as the only guy in the whole studio.
Therefore, I tried karate and taekwondo. However, I still felt I was missing something. And that something was the qigong I later discovered through Shaolin kung fu. Since then, I've looked into other Chinese martial arts which include internal training - particularly xingyi quan, baguazhang, and taiji quan. And these three, as well as the Shaolin tradition despite being Buddhist, all seem to be greatly influenced by Daoism.
Now, I know this isn't a martial arts forum, but I found Daoist cultivation to be quite complementary to it. And so, here I am - studying these practices to improve in all aspects.
