soaring crane

hah! You're right, that's what it is, now that I listened to it again. What does he actually say of value to anyone but himself?

+1 it works and it's healthy as heck. I do a lot of running and incorporated ice baths into my recovery routine years ago. The effect is absolutely amazing. Toughen up a bit with a good cold rinse at the end of your showers. BUT when first starting this, start low, as far from the heart as possible, meaning the right foot. Then the left foot. Right lower leg, left lower leg. Right thigh, left thigh, etc. Doing only the legs is really enough but once you get used to it, you can just rinse off cold, no problems. Don't turn on the warm water afterwards - leave the shower after the cold rinse. Your body will react by generating its own heat, once you get used to it. Water therapy is very common in Germany, thanks to this man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipp

I don't know specifically what goes on in Dao Zou but I doubt seriously that it's much different from other Qigong Walking methods. As already mentioned above, these forms are tremendously popular in China now, and Walking is very common in the clinics these days, afaik. (This is the kind of thing people do for their health now, instead of Peking Form, Wild Goose, Soaring Crane and the other long forms) Try this: Walk backwards, very slowly and consciously, utilizing the entire sole of the foot, ball to heel. Take the first step with with right foot and count two "beats" as you very intently place it on the ground - meaning the ball is "1" and the heel is "2" and when you step with the left foot, it'll be "3" and "4", ball/heel respectively. Inhale through the nose, short quick intakes of air, short and quiet, on the 1 and 2, right foot. Exhale out the nose on 3 and 4, left foot. Distinct little outward "puffs", but very soft. In, In, Out, Out - Right, Right, Left, Left That's how you walk. Keep the shoulders relaxed but the palms turned to the ground, allow the arms to move naturally, freely. There are a lot of variations on arm movements and also quite a few things to do with the trunk, especially around the mingmen/kidney area but those are things that you most likely can't learn without someone watching what you're doing. It's better to just relax and be a bit playful at it. As I mentioned above, remain very conscious of what's going on in your field of vision. I think this is one of the key elements to backward walking. Relax the face, smile, relax, smile, enjoy, be playful like a child (that's probably the biggest secret of the whole thing and the area where anal-retentive westerners, who want to be told specifically which way to turn at every move while they demand to be instructed by expensive gurus have the hardest time connecting). Create your own program. If you want to count 1,000 steps, go ahead. It's your game. I could write another ten pages on Qigong Walking... for free

One of the "goals" (can't think of a better word atm) of the small circulation is to reconnect the Renmai and Dumai at the two separations that occur at birth. It can take a lifetime of dedicated practice to accomplish that. And that may not be enough time. That's one of the reasons Daoist practices focussed so much on extending the physical lifespan - to get more time to practice. The value of the tongue on the roof of the mouth is highly overstated. It helps, but if it were that easy to revert to the pre-birth condition, well, everybody could it, lol. That said, instead of straining and pressing the tongue upward, try just relaxing the jaw and tongue. The tongue swells up a bit and it slides forward, touching the upper palate all on its own. The main side-effect of pressing the tip of your tongue upward all through the day would probably be a cramped jaw which can resonate negatively through the entire body. One aspect of this practice that doesn't get a lot of attention is the build-up of Qigong saliva. Think of it as your own, custom-made super healing elixir and swallow it consciously deep down.

A lot of Taobums could give you info on the techniques, and many others, but there's a reason why certain things aren't discussed in great detail here, and you just discovered it Heed your own advice, Neb btw, I'll be at a seminar YJ Ming in October. Yippeee

I honestly can't explain it. I if could really identify the why, then I think it would move further away from me.

I don't know what NeiChuan is referring to but I've done backward walking on my own and in groups, without any formal instruction. Maybe there are some good techniques that can be learned, but it's pretty simple on its own. I integrated it experimentally into a Qigong Walking group a couple years ago. We continued to harmonize the breath with the pace, but "every man for himself", meaning not all at the same rate or cadence. I held my mouth shut. We made it a very visual exercise, or better said, the visual aspect come to the forefront (a good way to cool down the liver fire). The most powerful aspect was the sense of moving backward in space/time, of living in a mirror-image of normality, if I'm explaining that correctly. We developed the sense that, instead of everything coming at us and being constantly made aware of what's coming next, and likewise being distracted by those images, we had no rigid outline of where we were going. I can't really express it well at the moment but during the exercise, the whole world moves away from you instead of at you. And that has an incredibly profound affect on many levels, dependent upon your mindset at the time. There's an obvious element of trusting nature, and giving up our unhealthy controlling tendencies. Obviously, you want to do it in natural surroundings. The most effective environment, in my experience, was on a large, relatively level meadow. But we first did it on a sandy gravel path to get used to it. The difference between the two is very large. Walking backward on the meadow is a much more powerful meditation than on a path where you still have fixed boundaries you can rely on to carry you in the right direction. It's very interesting that this thread appeared now because I recently met one of the women who did this with me and she asked if we're going to do it again this year. I think we will Edit: jeepers, I googled Dao Zou and found the website. The man writes: "To my astonishment he stopped training - looked at me with a soul-stirring smile and began to explain the details of what he was doing. My brother-in-law was there to help with the translation, whenever needed, and I made sure to remember every detail being shared. " Meaning, he learned this for free from a generous soul. And at the bottom of his page, he has convenient links to credit cards for you can click to pay him a lot of money for the info. I can't remember a time when I felt more disenchanted with the internet. I feel filthy for having just looked at the man's testimony. Very bad, very very.

In that case, you should develop the habit of always concluding your sessions with a little ceremony to signify that it's over. Check out the thread on Dantian breathing. hey, thanks for the links! I didn't know there was a term for it. I've had that my entire life, it totally blows my mind to think that other people can see without that "noise" in the picture. It's nothing like the severe animation on the wiki site, and I really don't even notice it unless I'm looking at a wall or have my eyes closed, but it's always there. I don't think it's what Nebula is experiencing, though. It has nothing to do with the flashing lights you see when you stand up too quickly. It's not affected by anything at all, in fact. It's just how you (I) see.

Oooh oooh oooh! (remember Arnold Horshack?) Me, too, Mr Kotter, sir, please Ii mean, I'd like a page too, please...

Vodka maybe, but ohhh, that Unicom... http://www.zwack.hu/ Now that's something you can really meditate on

Hey there There are a lot of ways to go about this, and I'll just add one small technique that's easy to repeat. You do it standing, feet shoulder width, toes forward, knees loose and relaxed, sacrum and lumbar spine sunken and relaxed. Lay the hands on top of one another deep down low on the abdomen, lower than the "official" location of the Dantian, your arms will be long, shoulders relaxed. Relax. Relax everything that has to do with normal breathing. Relax the face - eyes, ears, nose, mouth, temples. Relax the the tongue and allow it to swell up a little so that it touches the roof of the mouth naturally (you don't have to force this and the jaw can remain soft and relaxed). Relax the shoulders, allow them to sink forward a little. Relax the chest and the diaphragm. Relax the belly, let it sink, all tension should melt out of the belly, it'll feel heavy. Feel the breath down there where your hands are. Just breath naturally without intentionally influencing the process. Feel, feel, feel. Relax and feel. Now, when you're ready (you decide when that is), start to coordinate a small expansion of the lower abdomen when you feel that the next inhalation is coming. Use the gentle abdominal expansion to do the work of the breath. All the air passages remain open, unhindered, and the lower abdomen does the breathing. Just like a bellows in the belly. Let the air flow into and out of the nose, unless the nose is stopped up. If the nose is an obstacle, then open the mouth a little and just forget about it. "Work" in the lower abdomen. Enjoy the work. When you're ready to exhale, draw the abdomen in and slightly up, "push" the old air gently upward through the air passageways. Keep the transitions soft and natural, don't rush, don't anticipate. Keep the thoughts in the lower abdomen. If they wander, don't react badly, don't get aggravated, just feel your hands on the belly again and remain in the present, the here and now. And remember - when you breathe, literally every single cell in your body breathes with you. Thousands of billions of cells are there, everywhere from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes, actively doing on a micro scale exactly what you're doing - taking in new fresh Qi, and expelling the old. If it's easier to think of oxygen, then do that, it'll work better for you if it's less abstract. So, the statement that "breathing stops at the bottom of the lungs" is just not true. The truth is much bigger than that Do this meditation for as long as you like, but when you're done, be sure to really stop the practice, move the hands up a little, to the real lower Dantian and hold them there without actually influence anything. A good final movement is to then bring one foot to the other, closing the stance and taking one big, really big breath and on the exhale separate the hands and take a step forward. Little rituals signifying the beginning and conclusion of your meditation are a good habit to get into. Have fun

in or out? Either way, I'm with ya...

+1 !

w i s h

Wonderful Post, thank you! Yes, please add to the list when you can...

That's good for sure, but can you breathe your organs, or andersrum, get them to breathe, to condense and expand in harmony with the breath? Or another way of looking at might be to that the impulse to inhale and exhale can be shifted from one organ to the next in the Wuji* sequence. Does that make sense to you? Spür mal rein in dir, was (emp)findest du da wenn du versuchst, zB mit der Leber zu Atmen? I'm asking for a specific reason, lol. And my Qigong Lexikon is actually German *er, WUXING doi....

Ciao Buscon! Frage: Do you do any internal organ meditation?

Interesting train of thought, lol. You mull this stuff over in full lotus? I really just mean out of respect for the humble man's wishes, I don't publish videos at YouTube. I wasn't talking about legal permission and in fact it would never occur to me the even think along those lines. Master/Slave? Yin/Yang. Besides, it's just some home videos of him practicing Fanhuangong and Qigong Walking. I admit that, yeah, I'd like to show him off a little but, it's really a non-issue for me. Btw, I'm American, fwiw, which isn't much. And, hey, ZAMM really takes off at the halfway point. The personality shift is done very subtly and the final pages are poetry. Es lebe der Phaedrus!

not yet, lol, but thanks for the tip! What I'd really like is a collection or list of books about esoteric/spiritual/energetic practices in pre-Buddhist China. Got any hot leads?

you clicked it?

Yes, Leon, this and the other thing you posted, too, lol. There are other explanations for the reincarnation experience. Start with DNA....

lol, no, nothing like that. No esoteric secrets, no hidden wisdoms or claims to ownership of the one true path, just a really wonderful man. I wish I could post some of the videos I have but I just don't have permission.

Stig is right, lol. There is no tradition of reincarnation in pre-Buddhist China, to the best of my knowledge.

It just happened to be the issue of the book Amazon sent me when I ordered it. And, lol, yes, I think I've seen everything youtube has to offer in way of Chunyi Lin. A wonderful person, full of Dao. That's about the best thing I can say about anyone. I'd post some links to Prof. Cong Yongchun, the grandfather and guiding light of my own school, but there's nothing on the internet about him. I have some videos, but can't post them.