vidiami

Hi, I am vidiami - I used to post here a little when the forum was still young ... I just stopped by for some reason which I can't remember - and noticed there's some talk about David Shen going on ... which made me a little interested. I did a search on David Shen here on TaoBums and read some of the previous posts on him. For info on course costs in Denmark, please read Sean D's post on the matter. In summer 2004 I went to Denmark to take the first step of Sheng Zheng Gong, which (as far as I understand) is part of the Lei Shan Dao training. My impressions of David are that he's a brilliant teacher and that I'd really recommend studying with him. However there are some foundation you may want to cover before: Xing Shen Zhuang which can also be taken in Denmark (or Sweden and others). The course I took, Sheng Zheng Gong is about opening, or rather building, the Dan Tien (among other things) and this process is said to take about two years to complete (depending on how well you practice). If you're interested in practicing with David, this would be a reasonable place to start in my opinion. Why go to China or Thailand and spend all that money before you have met the guy and formed your own impression? And what would be the point of doing so without the foundation?

Pheeeeeww! This has been an interesting experience, an experience which I would NOT like to have again ... I would like to thank both Vortex and Pietro for removing my infamous description. I am most grateful! I've contacted David personally and made an apology for my inappropriate post, and the apology has been accepted. I hope the matter has been resolved once and for all now. Again, I'm sorry. It was simply poor judgement on my part to think it would be ok to write what I did. I crossed the line and I regret doing so. I started this thread to resolve the cost issues. Michael Winn wrote a post which says it would cost $7500 for a 2-3 course with David in Denmark. If these figures weren't accurate then someone should definetely make people aware of that fact as I'm sure Michael has his share of followers who will take his word for it as the truth of the matter. For info on course costs in Denmark, please read Sean D's post on the matter. Whenever people attack an idea they actually make it stronger and whatever you strengthen you will keep. This discussion has been blown out of proportions and could have been resolved much swifter and with far less attention without the public insults and such. Of that I'm sure. I also did not appreciate the fact that my private conversation was posted on this forum and used in the heated debate. What is private should be kept private. I would still encourage anyone who is interested in studying with David to go for it. I thoroughly loved the course I took and would recommend a thousand times over to study with David. So - be at peace now. I'll now return to writing my essay on the differencies between ASP.Net and Servlets/JSP. I would have been happier if I had done so in the first place. Never run from your assignments! (Also: Zhineng's Xing Shen Zhuang is not the same as given by David or Prof. Wang even though the movements are mostly similar.) Sincerely, Vidiami

I've removed this text as it helt inaccurate information. For info on course costs in Denmark, please read Sean D's post on the matter.

Well, I haven't been a good student, so I can't really say about rewards and such. Xing Shen Zhuang is a form of ten movements all designed to manipulate the spine in various ways basically to straighten the spine. After practicing twice in a six months period you're normally ready to go on to Sheng Zheng Gong. Sheng Zheng Gong builds on Xing Shen Zhuang (at least in David's system). However now there are no movements, but only sitting and doing inner work. You're basically learning how to meditate properly and to build the Dan Tien. Of course in David's view, the Dan Tien is not something you automatically just have - you need to build it, and that takes a fair amount of practice. In my practice I have decided to stay with Xing Sheng Zhuang until I can sit without distracting tension, so I haven't really practiced that much Sheng Zheng Gong. I will pick it up later though. It seems that many meet David (take a course etc.) and decide to drop their other practice routines. One may wonder why this often is the case? I know a few people (including myself) where this has been the case. Whatever your preconceptions of him might be, there must some reason why people tend to "abondon their old ways" and jump on the David-train. I think he really is a brilliant teacher and that he's teaching brilliant stuff (as far as I can tell). Why not go see him? So where's (url) this forum discussion?

I've removed this text as it held inaccurate information. For info on course costs in Denmark, please read Sean D's post on the matter.

I've got a green star. I don't know about nutritional value - but the juice seems to be of high quality. Recommended indeed!

Ok, we've probably been over this subject a few times, but ... If a guy wants to go celibate more or less permanently - how should he go about in terms of: transforming sexual energy? dealing with sexual thoughts? other considerations? Have any of you actually done this? What are the aids and the pitfalls? Essential techniques to learn/master? Also, do you think it's true that it can be harmful to go celebate without actively working on transforming sexual energy? I.e, you might get prostate cancer without the proper transformation. Anyting else?

Well ... First and formally - I'm taking a course in june which requires celibacy for 4 months. So I thought I'd go ahead and try and see what happens. I've never really made a serious attempt before. Secondly - I'm feeling drawn towards the concept. On one level I'm not that interested in sex and would rather go without it, but on another level ... well, nature's calling. So it's a bit of a split for me. The way that I see it is that there are two choices regarding sex - you either have to learn some sexual techniques or you can go for celibacy (hope this is not a too simplistic way to look at it). As for sexual techniques - not too interested. But the thought of celibacy feels restful/peaceful in my heart. So I thought I'd go there ... But again, it seems to involve some level of struggle to reprogram.

First coffee in the morning is holy ... I've quit coffee so many times I can't remember. After a certain time of not drinking coffee, I seem to forget the reason why I quit and so I take it up again. I've noticed that it's actually helpful to drink coffee when it comes to training. Without it - it can sometimes be really hard to motivate myself. So I've come to the conclusion that it's better to drink coffee and train properly. The last time I quit I did noticed how much cleaner internally I felt. So maybe in a near future I'll go there again. It's funny - I'm not a heavy coffee drinker, usually no more than once a day. But usually when I quit I've get real nasty headaches for a couple of days. I've been to see Mantak only once but that time he had an interesting story relating to coffee (and other drugs). He was showing everyone pictures of webs spiders had done under the influence of certain drugs like marijuana, cocaine, ... , and coffee. I've guessed they spryed the spiders or something. Anyways, one of the worst webs - it just didn't look like the spider had been his usual selft - was done when the spider had been given coffee. Mantak's comment was simply - no one thought coffee was this bad ...

It has always struck me as kind of odd that if you have a small hole in a tooth the accepted way is to make it much bigger a then to refill it with toxic materials. I've read that the process of finding holes in your teeth is highly subjective. A story might illustrate this (as accurate as I can recall of course): A man had a treatment with one dentist and thought he wanted to see if dentists really could be trusted. He therefore went to see another dentist to have his teeth checked. This new dentist then found another 3 holes which he considered needed to be fixed. The man, upset from this seemingly sloppy treatment by the first dentist and possible overtreatment by the second, reported both the dentists to the central authority (in Sweden) handling all such complaints. This authority then had 2 of their own "super specialists" check the man's teeth and went ahead and found 4 holes. Strange thing is that the last 3 dentists who had found "new" holes found them in different places and none of them was the same.

I've heard on one of David talks that he says he doesn't speak of conspiracies but rather an agenda. Perhaps that's a better word to use... There's an agenda unfolding right in our faces all the while we're being shown a movie to take for reality. About reptilian humanoids and evolution. David says somewhere that it would be stranger if there hadn't evolved reptilian humoids than if it had. We're told about our own evolution from apes to humans and most of us generally don't find that too strange. But the thought that reptilians could have done the same most of us find ridiculous. But why, really? The reptilian species have been around a lot longer. So logically they've had a much longer time to accomplish what humans have accomplished. Already back then the difference in intelligence between different reptilian species varied a lot. Perhaps as much as between a dog and a cow or between a dog or a chicken.

So I too has started the WSM practice and so far it's just brilliant. The skeleton visualization is good and letting it turn to dust and forgetting all about the body is even better. Actually I think the visualization part - visualizating the skeleton glowing with brilliant white light is more or less a form of inner smile. M. Winn has a guided inner smile tape where you end with letting the body - layer by layer - turning into light until it gets so bright that it turns invisible. You start with the skin and end with the skeleton. After it all has turned into light and disappeared you're left with your energy body and "you're sitting in a wonderful open space". The feeling is the same with this as with WSM, but of course with this meditation you reconstruct the body again, layer by layer before you end. And then about the white brilliant light in WSM: basically, I experience chi as two colors: white and gold. The white light is always cooling to different degrees - usually nicely cooling, sometimes cold and at a few times it has been really cold and I could even smell snow with it. This light seems to come quite naturally and on it's own. It's usually enough to still the mind. My impression is that this light/energy is always seeking me out and whenever I still the mind it finds me and starts to pour into my system. The golden light only comes with practice - like the inner smile. I have to actively visualize it first. This light is warmer in temperature, but not really warm - just warmer in comparison to the white light. Come to think about it - I've never really experience chi as warm. It has always been cooling to varying degrees. This is usually quite refreshing and clearing to the mind. Before I started any kind of chi kung practice I had this feeling of a cooling breeze in my face and white light while meditating, and only later I realized that it probably was chi moving through the MO, pouring down through my face. Anyone has any comments on this? // Peace.

Well, sungazing - the practice sounds interesting, but sun at this time in Sweden is quite rare or at least not a everyday story. Dusk sets in just after three in the afternoon and most days are cloudy anyway. In summer though...that'll be great. // Peace.

I've got the deep healing. I've done it a few times but not so much that I can really have an opinion, but... I can tell you some things about the form: -The practice is quite long - about 50 minutes. Of course you can make it shorter, but for me it took this time. -It has some simillarities with primordial chi kung in that you do the form in every one of the four cardinal directions. So you'll need a compass... It's been a while since I did, but I think you do at least two things in every direction: 1 - you work with the shen/element associated with that particular direction working with some affirmations, colors, healing sounds. 2 - you completely empty the bodymind and refilling it first with chi from the sun and then chi from the earth. As Michael says in the video - it's not about fixing anything that's broken, but rather to completely empty what you've got and load in the new. As I said, I haven't been practicing it a lot so I can't really offer an opinion about how effective it is. But given the combinations of the directions, directions with its shen/element, affirmations with each shen, visualizations, filling yourself with chi from the sun, it should be quite powerful. There was a post on healingtaousa from C Larsen, I think, saying that deep healing is Michael's most powerful video. Hope this has been at least a little helpful

Fair enough - feeding the hungry ghosts seems relevant. But what about side-effects? Safety pointers? This seem like a practice that could go wrong with some very unpleasant results. // Peace.

What is you opinion on the primordial chi kung form? I bought the tape a few years back and have practiced the form in periods. I've been doing it a lot lately and I find it quite wonderful. What are your experiences and opinions? Michael makes some quite far-reaching claims for this form and I was wondering if any of you have had any unusual experiences with it. I'm not sure what to think, but who knows? I've had the feeling that someone was standing behind me practicing with me on a few occations though... vidiami

Would you please offer a definition of an empty mind meditation? I do a meditation where I just sit and "listen to the silence". Silence is not that silent but does seem to have a sound. I listen to it and let all thoughts drop from my mind and then the middle of my head/brain seem to relax. When this relaxation and stillness occurs my mind seem to be picked up and carried somewhere else or there is some kind of expansion. And recently there seem to be a lot of chi rushing in mainly through my hands. So it's a almost techniqueless teqnique - don't think, just listen. I guess this is a kind of empty mind meditation - not forgetting, rather letting go. I started this out not listening, but "looking" with closed eyes. I realized I could look with closed eyes and see some kind of "pattern" moving. When focusing on this moving pattern I would get lifted up and carried away. After doing this a while I noticed some kind of soundless sound and started to focus on that instead. I stayed with the sound as it seems more effective now. Hope this doesn't seem too strange. Peace.

Pietro: ....well, if I ever find it, I'll let you know where it's at...it should be somewhere.. I actually didn't remember much from that book, but now I gather it must have been that the closer to the equator you are, the closer to the navel the tan tien would be. And living in Sweden it should be lower down. Like you said, that part was from the editors' own conclusions. // Peace.

Just wanted to mention that in the book opening the dragon gate - the making of a modern Taoist wizard the idea seems to be that the exact location of the tan tien varies with the distance to the equator the person is living at. If this is so then the exact location for someone Chinese would be different compared to someone western and this might explain some of the variations given. // Peace