soaring crane

Hello taojourney, and welcome to 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. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

Hello woodcarver, and welcome to 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. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

Hello billyk, and welcome to 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 http://thetaobums.co...um-terms-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. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

Are any of the Chinese sifus vegan?

One sandal only. Somebody's walking a mile in the other one.

oh come on, Gerard. I could say the same about Soaring Crane, Fanhuangong or Guo Lin Xi Xi Hu Qigong Walking exercises (all of which are easier to learn than Bagua). But no system is effective if it isn't practiced, and the OP is having the kind of issues in his life right now that hinder exactly that. I see you're advice as akin to 'buck up', and 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps'.

afaik, it's based on real experimentation, but the good stuff is pure fiction.

just a short note to mention that the 'rising/sinking' motion in standing Qigong practice automatically induces the reverse breath, on a very subtle, effortless level. On rising, the belly will contract slightly all on it its own. This is commonly the motion to coordinate with the intake of fresh air/qi. On sinking, the belly will expand slightly, and then it's time to expel the old.

It's the guiding principle where I live.

Ghost stories.... but a GOOD ghost story!

Spotless - I'm curious, are you more sensitive to tthe cold since then?

forgot to mention -- I tried to get into Shuilong years ago, but never made much progress, because I couldn't find anyone to do it with me. But I had some very nice experiences in the small river behind my house (in between some more harrowing experiences). I was inspired by Serguey and Isabeau while we were at the taoist restoration society website together. I still think about them sometimes .... last rambling note: I panic when I'm in a deep lake, just can't do it.

Have any of you experienced water shiatsu? I was at a week-long Congress (a huge collection of every kind of energy therapist imaginable) and there was a water shiatsu therapist there. The place had a perfect indoor pool for it -- maybe 1.5M deep very warm water, quite large. It was a meditation and relaxation pool. In the session, you're given ankle and wrist floats, and a nose clip. You're on your back and the therapist guides you gently through the water, making swirling motions with your body. A little difficult to describe in text but wow, what an experience. There's a lot of wave/spinal movement involved in the therapy, and you're moving like a fish. It was years ago but I can still call up the feeling weightless floating... I was in a dream state, the most poignant moment was when I 'became' a sea turtle... Follow-up sessions cost like 150€ so I only ever did it the one time. But really, I think anyone with a decent feel for flow could do this with a friend and make it quite enjoyable.

yes, but we have to take those in stride.

no, not baby -- embryo/fetus. It's umbilical breathing and practicing it can reignite the original condition. We've all practiced it for roughly nine months, and we were generally in a pretty good state of mind at that time. It's necessary for certain esoteric Daoist practices. It's quite profound, and more natural than it at first sounds.

Hello auspicious, and welcome to 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. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, SC and the TTB team

well, he's got some heavy issues and the idea that he should just 'learn Bagua' and all will be solved ... no, I have to agree with his conclusion. 'Spend the next five years studiously practicing Bagua under the tutelage of a highly qualified expert and all your problems will resolve themselves' would be more accurate, imo. And then I'd agree. But he's not in that position, and most likely not in the condition to take something like that on. But, yes, I know that all fortuitous journeys begin with one step :-)

haha I know. I was making an existential joke. Or something.

Who's to say? :-)

No.

Daeluin - what you write is of course very good information. But there are myriad approaches to breath work, and some pretty far out methods. Those techniques afaik generally occur within longer systems and have specific functions within those systems. See my post above, also see the video in question :-)

I don't think it's a good idea to practice something like that based off a YouTube video. You'd really need a lot of instruction and practice to get any kind of positive results, conversely you probably just get cramped up doing it on your own. My suggestion: try the movements but breathe naturally and harmoniously while doing it. Stay soft and supple.

Maybe they just don't toot their own horns AS LOUDLY as some :-) Lam Kam Chuen -- I posted the link. He's as 'real' as you're going to find anywhere, lives in London, and takes private appointments. He's been concentrating on healing for a few years now. But honestly, I have a feeling that you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. I go to my naturopath whenever I need assistance. She can fix anything.

Three things I mention in my groups: daily practice (even if it sometimes means only 5 minutes, you still keep the rhythm going) groups are for learning but the real practice happens when you're alone live symbiotically with nature -- make it a win/win relationship

The silence roaring Give me a piece of that cave Water drop shouts 'plip'.