StressedByAMountainOfBooks

Greetings fellow Daoists unsure how I ended up here, but it looks interesting. Well, I can paint the bigger picture, if not the direct path. I developed an interest over the past years for Qigong, which led me to Shaolin, from where I came to Taoism and remembered a book I read once, the Tao of Pooh, which is not nearly as readable as I remember, but I remember it did a thing for me for a while a while back before it faded somewhat. After not reading that book again, I got some versions of TaoTeChing, listened a bit to Alan Wats, who brings it nicely I think, and found another book by Eva Wong, Taoism, an Essential Guide, leading me to getting too many other books, and I suppose following the subsequent rabbit hole I must have ended up here. So there, I do roughly know the path that led me here! Some interests, I am looking for more information on qi circulation methods, different methods and applications, qi gong in general, I ended up at internal alchemy, but I am still figuring that out. But if anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. Always had the idea that someday I would like to retreat to the mountain for a while to cultivate myself full time, unimpeded by life as it tends to be, but I still have not gotten to it. If anyone has knowledge or experience, please do share. I am at the time in between jobs and projects so it could be a good time to get going. I play go, if anyone is interested, please add me on ogs: https://online-go.com/player/753080/ I live in Belgium, in case anyone wants a live game! I like reading, just learning things or fiction. Although it goes from a bit compulsive to a debilitating fiction addiction and then overflows into other media, it is partly under control for now. But it leads me to the next bit. Where I try to sell you this web novel, Cultivation Chat Group (hence username), it is hilarious and amazing, and for a moment when I found the forum I thought: "Well, you did it now, rabbithauled yourself into schizophrenia." If any of you have suggestions how to jumpstart my cultivation at the rather later than ideal age of 36, be it medicinal recipes, physical or internal techniques, please advise! There you go, a short introduction. I will be going through the forum to dig for more. In the meanwhile, thanks for having me!

Ok, cool, thanks and thanks for documenting! Are there any guidelines around where to respond with which types of responses or do you have any preferences? If that makes any sense

Hahaha, thanks for the laughs. It is simply an electronic device with no moving parts to store information on. You can connect it to a computer to see the information and lose track of it if you did not use it for a while.. Ok, a silly question perhaps. Are there several threads called the same? Hypothesis of internal alchemy, that diverge, and why?

This is very interesting, specially because the basics of what describe happen basically immediately. Needless to say I have not yet spread to the rest of my body, but I will try to implement it in my further practice. Reminds me of this method I found a while ago, in a book, surprise surprise, let us see if it can be found! If you were an external ssd, where would you hide? (It was very well behaved, in the back of the cable drawer!) The book is by Scott Baker, and is titled "Chi Kung in Wing Chun". It is about the internal components of Wing Chun, I know you could not tell by the title. Which I found valuable, because most Wing Chun courses around here understandably focus on the physical side and usability of it. It is a really short book, but I find it has some really valuable information as well as pointers to other information you may want to research before diving in to what is described in the book. Well, I will just copy paste with reference here, is that ok? If it is not, please don't ban me yet! It is part of a standing meditation, that is advised to do and master before moving on to Siu Lim Tao with a focus on the internal component. This part of the full meditation is called "Opening the Gates" or similar. ©Scott Baker 2000, Chikung in Wing Chun I realise it is not exactly as you describe, but it is very similar in focusing on (some of) the same spots, and actually the feeling I get is nearly the same (I think I would have to practice a few times to compare fully). I like to think that most descriptions of cultivation methods or esotheric theories in general are just approximations according to the describer and their experience, not necessarily wrong (or right for that matter), but a bit incomplete because of the limitations of words and language and subjectivity. So some conjecture and questions! - The description you give of growing the meridians and the dantians, could actually be the unblocking of these points and channels that are prone to stagnation? I do realise that the gates and the meridian system's points are not synonymous, but they do overlap. - Would you use a map of the meridians to guide your practice? And if you are fully building the pathways say, then could we diverge from what is the standard meridian system? Conjecture only ofcourse, I am not sure if experimentally building different than expected pathways is a good idea, I am also not sure that it is not, and I guess someone will have to try it out to know. - Many other theories state that the meridian system and the energies that course through it are necessary for health and life and a lot of whatnot. Might be wrong in several ways, e.g. it could describe the effects of a set of underlying systems, then your growing of the meridians might allow for the actual application of these energies. And if previous theories are correct, and your theory is as well, then I wonder. Since kids are born useless ,or helpless I guess, the growing of meridians and dantians could happen up to a basic level during the (inactive by the way) spread of consciousness/intent/sensations/experience throughout their bodies during the first months (years?) of their lives? e.g. Practically blind, but the sensation of light and the experience it causes draw consciousness to it, and a subconscious intent deepens the channels to allow for sight eventually. Conjecture though, I will think more about it!

Thanks for the warm welcome and the suggestions, I am going through them and filtering Easy to have the thread as an anchor point too. @Nungali Sounds like you have a business plan there! It would be a good side hustle, specially if you teach people some things that are good for them in the meanwhile. Post your prices when you are setup Well, I imagine the question comes up more often. tl;dr I want a Taoist style monastery-like place to stay with a community where I can be taught, practice and work as needed to provide part of tuition, that is not a scam and is as close to the ancients as possible. Retreating to a mountain, somehow I had not thought of it as a retreat, as in the yoga retreat type stuff people do, although I guess it could be similar, but fuck I hope it wont be as expensive. Actually I got the idea from the guys at Shaolin Temple Europe, they have some nice information online, although they also like selling it, and their retreats look interesting, but 1k for a long weekend is more than I can throw at it, although it might be worth it for some condensed information on a certain topic, it would not be what I look for when I say retreat. Living in the mountains is retreating to the mountain though, and what you describe is a lot closer to what I have in mind, maybe with some community so that these tasks can be shared while leaving more time for practice, and some teaching and discussion involved. At the Shaolin Temple Europe they do offer discipleship and you pay around 5-6k for a year of it. Which I suppose is close to what I want. Stay at a place, work when it is time for work, train when it is time for train, learn when it is time for learn, sleep for sleep and eat for eat. No need to worry about when to work to get what and do who you need. That is arranged for and you just play your part as instructed, kind of like society. But tbh, although I have appreciation for Buddhism and Chang, just like Shaolin it is easy to see their value, I think for me it is a bit restrictive and dogmatic at times, plus they want people in perfect health of body (top sport checkup required) and mind, and I do not think I fit that bill. In fact a big part of the reason for wanting (if not always doing) this, is to develop health. So could we have this in a Taoist jacket? Also less of the new school religious Taoist jacket, more of the older shamanic/philosophic/mystic Taoist jacket? I know there are some schools around Wudan, but +-2k per month is also more than I can immediately afford, or it would last for less than a year and I would be both broke and homeless when I am out of money and get sent home, wherever that is then Also having the pictures of the same people and nearly identical texts on the websites of different schools, kind of screams scam, but that may be me. If anyone has any experience, please do advise. So I guess what I want is a Wuxia novel style sect or academy that will let you do jobs like collecting medicinal herbs or hunting spirit beasts for compensation to pay for tuition if necessary and that will teach and guide on the cultivation road. A mortals journey to immortality, anyone? Exaggerated? Perhaps..