Shadow_self

I have an overarching dislike for any person, group or organization who masquerades their attempt to mainstream a substance for profit making as an attempt to "help people". Moreover, I have a further dislike for those who place "psychologists" as "supportive staff" for those going through a psychedelic experience... Watch the space..and see how many pharma companies he will become involved with as a "scientific advisor"..no different than the ones who pushed the SSRI and benzodiazepine fad of the current times...fat pockets and plenty of harm to boot....Heres a rundown from his CV to date https://neuroscape.ucsf.edu/wp-content/uploads/rch_CV_full_22_03_21_full.pdf It is the height of ignorance and stupidity to assume that you understand the risks of altering the mind, when you haven't the first clue what it is or how it works Psychology and Psychiatry both fall flat as explanatory for the human mind...they cant even agree on the effects...I'm sure you are aware of the unification and replication crises...not to mention the constant, drastic methodological errors.

I am more than aware of RCH's unwavering confirmation bias to his cause...hes just one of a few. But feel free to pick any of those trials (literally any one) and we can discuss the issues with them...Make no mistake about it...trials, especially those in psychiatry are often set up to give a desired result... Please note I said in the Psychiatric community...meaning the Likes of RCH or his cohort have no business administering these substances in a lab and doing mental leaps as to what might be happening....reductive materialism and the study of the mind do not sync up....

Your experience is not problematic for me at all. If you think hallucinogenics are something you can handle safely...that's up to you. I am however involved in the neuroscience/psychology side of things and am more than aware of the narratives currently being spun by certain groups...The reality of the situation is far from that which they paint. Hallucinogenics really have no place in the psychiatric community whatsoever...and I say that because the individuals attempting to make claim to them and control/regulate them have zero clue about any of the inherent risks associated....nor could they ever Hence, my entire comment was really discussing the scientific component... and the pharma pursuit to commercialize these plant compounds. It is that which is problematic. Apologies if it rubbed you the wrong way. P.S : It might be helpful in this instance to look at the word rewarding in a thesaurus - you will find things like satisfying , pleasing, and so forth...you will find those very same terms under enjoyable Unless I'm misreading what you said?

Red Phoenix Meditation by any chance? This is such an excellent summary of it! Thank you for this @freeform Just on that...One key point id highlight here is that psychedelics do carry inherent risks at every level..be it the mind, or beyond like those with an abundance of qi, as freeform mentioned People should think for a moment that often folk who take this substances never recover mentally...It happens ALL the time, and has been for as long as they have been around. That's what happens when you've no knowledge of it The key here is that in the presence of folk privy to the actual mechanics of psychedelics (shamans) they can provide a depth of clarity, insight and wisdom no doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist or neuroscientist can or ever will be able to. Psychedelics work at the level of mind...and science knows nothing of it nor cannot deal with it...The mind is not the brain, much as reductive materialism might claim it to be. That is why shamans can recommend to you what to take and why...they have knowledge of these matters People become addicted via experience. Biological markers are merely an effect...and a rather poor one in terms of measurement (pretty much all neuroscience is correlative). Behavioral ones are even worse (vulnerable to innumerable problems). If you think psychedelics are being brought into the psychiatric community for the benefit of others....you need to take a good hard look at the way this industry operates. They are being brought in on the back of literally no understanding of the mechanics, no understanding of the casual link ( and no way to understand it) and an agenda to appropriate and profit by attempting to hijack the practices of ancient cultures. This is all happening with no real knowledge of their practices or principles...and no chance of getting it. Freeform explained more in a paragraph than you'll get in decades of research on these substances. But, even if we stick to the closed of keyhole of science, there is sparse evidence for their efficacy (scientifically speaking). I've looked into the trials and they are not robust at all....The studies are in their absolute infancy, and a quick dissection of the methodologies demonstrate a quite serious lack of rigour. You might have enjoyed your experience with them...but the statements you are making here are a bit problematic

There's a bit more to it than just shoes .. the point he makes about the bones stacking and compressing is very important for opening up. Though one must remember this is for Neigong/Qigong practice rather than Tai Chi or martial arts... This is to help with incorporating YJJ principles from the start In this case of opening Yongquan, this is a method that can work quicker than the others for those starting out...if you're building a house...you get the foundation right before you worry about building the rest Pretty sure that's the basis for this

Somethings I think it escapes people that "opening shit up" is very, very literal

Because of what @freeformmentioned....Neither Nathan nor his teacher tell you that you'd want years of foundations before the higher level stuff really clicks..and they don't teach it...Now I know Wang Liping pushes out a massive Qi field that does a bit of the work for you so that the other stuff "happens" on retreats...but without daily practice...these things will certainly fade And the thing is..the foundations aren't overly complicated...they are fairly straightforward to start once you've been given the right instruction...The bigger issue is the explanation imo...and I diverge from people on this...by way of explanation, some are connected to the practice in a way that the other students never can be...That doesn't mean you tell people what to feel...but rather how things work and what you are trying to do...essentially understanding cause and effect... Usually what might be withheld is the signposts so that expectation isn't a factor.. Also..foundation work is physically hard..painful even and mostly boring (depending on your mental makeup)

Absolutely....Im still learning just how intricate this one practice is. Fun times, especially when you get a new "layer" of complexity added to it! I literally feel Im being pulled in every direction... in places I didn't even know there was tissues The word "drumskin" has taken on an entirely different meaning What I gather is that there is an unmistakable feeling when all the alignments are beginning to sync up ( this isn't anywhere near perfect, not by a long shot)...and as far as I'm aware, even when the discomfort disappears, this other "thing" never does...kind of like an "on" switch if you would. I envision a few thousand hours more and I might have it halfway right . Having trained in Martial arts and strength training for a long time..I can say this, for me at least is far more "painful" and unconfortable....id take an intensive full body workout at 3RM anyday over a two hour Wuji in terms of comfort haha. Oddly enough...having trained in weights quite a bit , while it did create a lot of tension which is still being worked out...An unexpected benefit was the ability to be able to connect the mind to the different parts of the body and release/stretch/engage it easier....I noticed a lot of people who didnt have such experiences struggle to get the mind into certain locations...especially the more intricate ones

100% This is why I am weary of anyone selling or teaching " Yi Jin Jing" as a practice To liken it to something else...rather than teaching a person a "style of writing" like cursive, precursive etc... the Yi Jin Jing should be taught as " how to write correctly" , IE how to hold and grip a pencil correctly, how to maintain control and so forth....You learn the right way, so when it comes time to do qigong, dao yins and so forth...you already have the understanding of the pre-requisites necessary make the causality chains underlying the processes take off Makes me very happy to have a principle based teacher This is how I could see a certain individual who was trying to argue a lack of value in Wuji didn't know what they were talking about Wuji, done correctly, with all the alignments in place....is in my experience.. very uncomfortable. It feels like being a puppet with different strings pulling in different directions To put it another way...My own interpretation is that for a long time, You do not practice Wuji, you endure it

I'm not really making the argument that it is useless...It very may well confer benefit.. However..does it do as True YJJ is supposed to do? That was what I was aiming at. The YJJ is a set of principles..not a set of exercises or practices. Visualization is not a part of those principles. Why add an unnecessary mental activity that has the potential to take away from a practice rather than add to it?

The fact that Robert Peng pairs Qigong and Visualization would set off alarm signals for me. There is no requirement for this...moreover, I would imagine the visualization of anything would interfere with the ability to ting and song correctly...given the relationship between the channels, the mind and the body That's not to question his ability..rather to question what he teaches...He has often said he cannot teach people to emit qi...strange..because as far as I was aware, qi emission is basically a byproduct of correct YJJ practice

You can find teachings from the Longmen/Dragons Gate sect here https://damomitchell.com/ https://online.nathanbrine.com/ Personally, Id recommend the former...

A few points #1 It doesn't really come natural per se.....anyone selling you that story is most likely selling you a lie....try not to listen to such people... That separation is very deliberate, outside of the circumstances that I have mentioned regards illness/NDE....You will always need training, or to be in one of those situations to experience true astral projection. This was literally how the ancients caused it to happen...Ever wonder where the term " scared to death" came from? They would, in some cases put the initiate into a situation (somewhat controlled..accidents happen) where they would believe they were going to die....thereby forcing the separation Don't be so sure its something you'd care to experience...consider the phase the grass is greener....There's a reason its a late intermediate/advanced practice and closely guarded...Again....it isn't something one should overly concerned with...by the time it matters...the allure has probably disappeared #2 The Ling is an expression of the "higher" or "more evolved " part of the spirit...Ling Shen, which is Ling expressed through the mind can lead to Ling Qi production...and thats what can lead to Siddhi.... The Po is the Yin aspect of the soul...its responsible for connection to the earthly realm. Unlike the Hun ( the Yang aspect of the soul), which transmigrates, the energies of the Po break down and are returned to the Yin Energies of the Earth. There's a connection to ghosts (gui) here, but thats probably another thread #3 Id caution you to be weary of listening to anyone telling you they can do this . Most likely they are teaching forms of lucid dreaming and the likes...True astral projection carries inherent risks of possession and death...it is really not a public thing.

"Astral projection" , kundalini, the chakras and jhanas are all seriously filled with all sorts of liars and frauds. This is why I tend to shy away from interest in the topic of AP...by the time it matters...enough weird stuff has already occurred that the mystique of the notion has most likely worn off....if it hasnt....you've probably got more work to do

An OBE or NDE doesn't necessarily mean "white light"....that light....well that's what you see when "the light turns around" or put another way...when consciousness turns in on itself.....The white light is an entirely different topic to be honest...I think there's quite a bit written about it on the site already...so I wont repeat what others have stated Theres a lot of nuances here...states can be tricky...if we are talking about death.... Damo Mitchell has a simple, accessible explanation of this in his "Daoist Reflections From Scholar Sage text" Heres a an interesting quote..from page 112. The Daoist theory of consciousness states that spirit is rooted in physicality. If you wish to picture it as something more tangible you could think of your spirit as being like a balloon filled with helium tied to a weight that stops it floating back to the heavens. That weight is the physical form of your body. When you die this string is cut, and thus the root of your spirit is severed. The string loosening up and the balloon having much more freedom (No longer being as rigidly restrained) is not the same as the string of the balloon snapping and no longer being held in place by the weight at all. My experience and knowledge (which is limited) is as I have stated...its not something I'd be interested in unless I was learning it from a teacher and was at the intermediate to advanced stages. What I will say regards your comments about where too....where to depends on the level of detachment....when you fall asleep you detach from the senses....the Hun likes to go and do a bit of wandering at this stage...here's a bit more relevant information from the LNG website. Link to the full article is here https://lotusneigong.com/yang-sheng-fa/ Sleep practice – later on in the Nei Gong training you can learn sleep practice. It is used particularly to harmonize the relationship of the Hun and the Po, the spirits that make up our soul. The Hun is considered Yang, it is the ethereal and eternal soul. The Po is our mortal soul; it is Yin and the aspect or our mind that connects us to physicality. The Po roots the Hun in physicality, without this foundation the person would be delusional. In Chinese thought it is said that our Hun (Soul) goes wandering during the night into spirit realms. When the Hun and the Po are in balance you stop dreaming. You will only “dream” when the Hun needs to tell/warn you about something in your future. It can warn you about future negative events that are going to take place in your future and Ming/destiny if you carry on living in the way you are, or it can, for example, show you when there is going to be a major change in your life. The Hun and the Po’s relationship give an interesting explanation to why one can feel confused when waking up in the morning. During the night the Hun has been able to move freely in the spirit world, and when awakening one becomes restrained by the Po because it connects us to physicality. Soul Travel – Another thing you can do whilst sleeping is to practice soul travel. You can leave your body and travel in different realms if you manage to free your Ling from the physical body. In order to be able to do this you usually need to have practiced many years of Nei Gong or other internal practices.

No....it is not that simple... John Chang was not talking about astral projection when he was speaking about mastering Yin Qi A lot of people who " astral project " don't actually do so at all...its usually lucid dreaming, or the some other phenomena A true astral separation....to my knowledge at least is difficult to achieve...usually happens when one is #1 Extremely unwell, and energetically speaking straddling that line between life and death ( the "binding" that ties the "layers" of the body together starts to loosen ( one can accidentally slip into it here) #2 Has an actual near death experience ( which forces the separation) or else #3 Being trained to do so towards the intermediate to advanced stages of Daoist practice ( where one learns to loosen the bindings of the bodies purposefully) Its not a beginners practice It is not an experience you should be concerned about to be totally honest It is definitely not something you want to pursue unless you are in that 3rd category...despite the fact that people tend to glorify it

My understanding is....these pockets....tap into the wrong ones......especially these big ones those in the sacrum...and the results can be quite fatal unless there are decades of prerequisites in place On another note...I have noticed that much like Kundalini...I now see the term Jhana being thrown around by people ever so trivially.....Sigh...I know comparatively little about the jhanas...but I would assume that entering into them is not some easy achievement

Believe it or not, the soapyness in certain people isn't so much a subjective thing...rather it is related to a rather peculiar variation in a specific group of olfactory-receptor genes https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2044-7248-1-22

I lectured on the topic of Empiricism in Psychology before Christmas...I was quite scathing in my account of it...primarily due to the limitations it places on itself One of the biggest issues is the assumption that one is limited to observation by the sense faculties...don't get me wrong this is important...but the idea that....this is it...that's a stretch far above and beyond the reality of the situation Two of the most important fields of psychology, Paranormal psychology and Anomalistic Psychology are readily ignored...and what separates the two is the idiotic starting position of this is true and im going to prove it vs this is false and im going to prove it Had we got a real field...it would be, we don't know whats going on here...but we're going to look into it....the field simply needs investigative and observational work rather than premature hypotheses forming and narrative building on what is essentially conjecture. Seriously missed opportunity imo....

Evidence is a funny thing Many people think Dark matter and Dark energy are a thing....and they would tell you there is plenty of evidence for those https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/dark-matter#:~:text=It doesn't interact with,on galaxies and galaxy clusters. However...is there?? Seems to me they are assuming this is the case based on observation of effect and gap filling rather than having concrete evidence of both.. But .....evidence seems to mean different things to different people

Well...we can perceive those aspects of reality... It is not that the sense faculties cannot perceive these things...its that the potential to do so lays dormant until one can awaken it... the pervading thought amongst esoteric traditions is that we simply lost this ability over time due to immersion in the sense faculties..... So...there is a reason meditation draws one away from the senses Also, I would not quiver at the notion of a spirit world however.....suggest you look into the hun and po & shen/gui relationship

You're right...and if people dont understand that science is a profit driven exercise firstly and a knowledge generation machine second....then they have missed the point But what you are describing is essentialy the difference between a good and bad scientist....one whos in it to really find out about the world...vs one who just wants to make money and will distort, twist and manipulate both the data and narrative to suit the means It should be without them, because their very presence sinks the world into a deeper state of delusion...but the reality is it will never be without them...in fact they are just becoming more and more representative of the status quo...a sad truth..but one that unfortunately needs to be accepted

Because he is neither reasonable nor rational, and does not appear to show competence in research methods The title of PhD is utterly meaningless in this instance....there are more useless PhDs than competent ones... Not exactly, the only real assistance one would need to publish a paper, if they were aiming for a high ranking journal would be aid in editing a manuscript...because in all honesty that is the most tedious part...you could design, test and write up a protocol suitable for a high ranking journal without any assistance provided you are a good student....it really is not that hard Im quite aware of the issues with journals...fortunately with scientometrics and a bit of discernment one can easily recognize this If I was you id be less worried about the journals...most competent people understand this... the real issues are the deliberate incompetence of people contributing to the replication crisis. So...yes...those " qualified " people...many of them are actively manipulating information irrespective of the medium it is either documented or presented via video, writing etc...it makes no difference So the key measure here is not even being .rational, reasonable or competent..truth be told it is actually having academic integrity. No video or testimony will change that....hence why we have things like pre-registration, transparency and access to data. These are the things that help us to really narrow down fraud

There is no qualification to make your qualified to do research....You need to be (1) reasonable (2) rational and (3) have training in research methods...it changes by that thing called context...the thing that constantly eludes you A PhD is not a prerequisite....Not in journals, not in academia and not in industry. People who do PhDs regularly take classes in research...but they are just very slight extensions of whats covered at undergraduate and postgraduate...nothing thats really required per se...the only exception to this are skill specific classes, but they are never really offered as part of a PhD ( for example, I recently took advanced EEG training...but that was not part of a PhD...or any module offered on the program..I went to a workshop run by a university...where there were people of all walks....not just PhDs) It is absolutely right to ask a rational and reasonable and competent person to do the work.....three letters after your name has nothing to do with it...there are probably more incompetent PhDs and professors than competent ones....and the replication crisis, amongst other situations in science prove this

This has no bearing on anything Undergraduates can and do publish their thesis in high ranking journals with decent impact factors ALL the time