soaring crane

It's an American problem. It's a problem if you have to compare your country with the most violent countries on Earth to find comfort. Also, this belongs on OT. I'll move it later.

That's an interesting observation. I'm thinking part of the dificulty is found in the "you" sentences.

Isn't the A&E story about the danger of non-dualistic thinking?

Stretching the physical area is only one aspect of the whole and over emphasising that can cause imbalance and become a blind alley.

That's a good way of putting it, yes. I'd wager you can get more solid information here than from Chia's books, but I guess it can become quite paradoxical here, too.

I'm thinking your problems are more generally health related - diet, sleep patterns, social circles, work, family, all that normal stuff. Plus your basic constitution. Your questions on the MCO thread indicate that you're dabbling and experimenting with the Qi work, and maybe missing some fundamentals. Try making the changes to your ZZ practice that I suggested above and see if that helps a little, give it about a week. For closing, Lam Kam Chuen circles the palms around the LDT for quite a while, then rubs the back of the neck alternately with the left and right hands, then uses the palms to push the qi down the breastbone to the LDT. Then lays the hands atop one another on the LDT. That would be the absolute minimum. In my groups, the absolute minimum is to first rub the palms together, then use them to rub the lower back (left and right of the lumbar spine), then along the beltline, pausing to rub the hips, then to the front to rub the groin kua. Then warm the hands again and rub the neck and back of head. Then use fingertips to drum all over the head and face. Then "wash the face" gently with the hands. Then on an exhale, rub downward along the breastbone and stomach area to the LDT, then gather around the LDT and close/gather for a minute. That would be my minimum routine when time had already run out... When we have time, we might do some bouncing, slapping, knee work, more gathering, and a whole host of nifty little tricks, every one of which is valuable in its own right :-)

Those tiny dots are a distraction. Entire cities are represented by tiny dots on maps. But the dot isn't the city and reality is far far more complex than the graphic representation. It takes a lot of time to familiarize yourself with a city, and the energy centers of the body are no different.

Manaus - that's not enough

haha, much better, thanks. For the tailbone (Weilü), do you have access to a Cranio Sacral practitioner? If not, how about an Osteopath? And if neither, perhaps Feldenkrais? You can relieve a lot of the problems associated with it yourself through a kind of figure eight meditation, which is quite simple, but not so easy to learn in written form (and not so easy to describe that way, either). It could be a cause of your fatigue, but maybe not. I would suggest writing a specific thread about it in the healing forum. With your ZZ, well, ZZ isn't always ZZ. There are sooo many approaches to standing that it's sometimes just a matter of experimenting until you find the one that's right for you. For example, I started standing meditation in conjunction with Qigong classes long before I'd ever heard of the term Zhan Zhuang (or the name Lam Kam Chuen). And I still stick to the original principles and techniques I learned all those years ago, even though I've been to numerous ZZ workshops and retreats (including with Lam Kam Chuen) in the meantime. And the first standing exercise I learned wasn't "stand like a tree", or "standing post", or "stand like some inanimate thing going to an alpha state", it was "stand like a warrior". The vision and the mental attitude behind the exercise plays the largest role after the posture and physical motionlessness. The eye are open, bright and shining, alert and aware, gazing at a fixed point far on the horizon (like a warrior sentry watching for signs of an enemy approaching in the distance). The ears are awake and the skin alert to every change in temperature or the slightest change in the wind. Another difference is the way I get into a stance. I start dynamically, generally with an arm swinging motion for a minute or two that I then stop suddenly and hold for the duration of my session. Here is a short mobile phone video I made for someone who asked me to describe the method (it's easier than writing this stuff) This is just one variation. Entering the static position this way brings the dynamic of the movement into the standing session and it builds up more energy, strength. The effect is subtle, but apparent. A good solid closing routine is also important and could help with your fatigue, too. You might be "leaking qi" out of that tailbone, and even if that's not the case, you want to do a closing routine that figuratively stops energy from leaking out of your body. What do you do to close your sessions now?

Hello Johann, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us, thank you for that insightful introduction :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

I'm having trouble following your timeline. The tailbone was years ago and doesn't seem to have been a problem until you broke your foot. Now you have fatigue after standing and think it's the tailbone?

Hello jalus, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

Yes. And you can slap more specifically the LDT. And do it hard. Or have someone else do it for you. And yeah, shaking kicks ass!

hard slapping

Hello infolad1, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us, seems to be have been your destiny given the list of acquaintances you named :-) Before heading into the forums, please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

I like it!

Hello Books & Sage, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

So the undervalued Euro is the only advantage that Germany has? How about an education system geared toward career-building and industry? Or a health care system that tends to workers needs? Or unions that cooperate with companies to find the best compromises for workers and management? Or steady investment in modernisation of its factories? Or a work ethic that views quality products as self-evident? Also, if it's so simple as taking advantage of an undervalued currency, why aren't other countries taking advantage of the undervalued Euro and becoming global export giants? And while I'm at it, what's stopping the UK?

Hello Jade, and welcome to the forums! Glad you found your way to us :-) Perhaps you'd be so kind as to explain to us what MC, MW, DS and DV stand for? Thanks! In the meantime: Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TDB team

I would say not only is it possible to "close" the flow after having succeeded in "opening" it, it's in fact a rare practitioner who maintains the open state for the rest of his/her life, or even for an impressively extended period of time. Óne of the little trapdoors most of us fall through is the "nothing special" phase (I think Ken Cohen refers to it as the Big Potato?). You arrive at the point where you just feel normal, all the wondrous sensations stop, and life is just ... there. The tricky thing is, that's the state we search for the whole time, but when it arrives, we don't acknolwledge it, or it's underwhelming. And then ... we stop our practice because we're not geting the same feedback we were getting previously. And then ... the old habits begin to appear again, slowly but surely.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

huh, my thoughts on the subject seem to gravitate toward undoing destructive habits, and they all seem tied together relearn to breathe relearn to listen and observe relearn to be honest relearn body awareness

That looks very accurate.

What typo? :-) Visualizing isn't important and are you referring to your ability to concentrate on things outside of your mediations, or during the practice? I read it as though you expect to become more attentive in your daily life but that isn't working out so far. Is that right? One thing that those three techniques you mention shouldn't be, is hectic. But it's a lot of material, too much, in fact, and you touch on the flaw in the presentation. So, for example, for the next two to four weeks, do only one of the sounds, but do it for the full length of the standard meditation. And concentrate on only the lower dantian, not on the entire MCO. This is only an example suggestion for you. There are ample approaches possible without having to bring in even more techniques from outside.