growant

thanks James. Immediately after practicing that stance, are you supposed to spend an equal amount of time with the other hand/foot forward? (to balance things)

Thanks for that. Does anyone know of any photos, drawings, or detailed descriptions of the hunyuanzhuang stance (described in the book above as the ultimate zhan zhuang stance) or can anyone describe it in detail? thanks-

SheepishLord, Thanks for your informative response (It'd be great if you'd respond to the PM I sent you here a couple weeks ago too ). When you wrote, above, "MANY of the students of that famous guy in Hong Kong who pulls trucks with his tool have had surgery to fix themselves." are you referring to Tu Jin Sheng or to somebody else?

Wow, that is a shocking condemnation of the practice! Who was your teacher- I wonder if you received proper instruction? I have done a fair bit of research on this art and that is the only negative report I've found from a practitioner- most have been quite the opposite. In my school, I have never seen anyone swinging that heavy a weight 'really hard', as you wrote. Anyway, I don't want to promote an agenda here, but rather get at truth. I recall reading a post by a well know neijia master who called this practice the 'original and most powerful form of chi kung.' I will say that this practice, more than most, calls for, in my opinion, good instruction, real sobriety in the practice, and increasing weight very gradually and incrementally.

Just returned from the San Diego seminar. I joined TaoBums a couple months ago and became very intrigued by all the posts about Kun Lun and determined to try it. A bit about my background. I started 'on the path' back in '92 and have experienced many different kinds of energy work and other stuff since then- I am a level II in Reiki, have received many energy healings from former teachers of the Barbara Brennan school, seen shamanic counselors, learned many kinds of chi kung (including spontaneous), studied taiji, hsing i, and bagua, experimented with kundalini yoga, Advanced Yoga Practices, transcendental meditation, and many other things over the years... Before driving to San Diego this weekend, I brought my car in last Monday to get it fixed up and get an oil change and make sure it was good to go. I spent over 300$ on repairs ( its a bit old and used). I planned to leave Friday at noon to beat the traffic heading to San Diego. I was very tired and exhausted. I got on the freeway heading in the wrong direction and after I turned around I noticed that my oil light kept going on whenever I pressed on the gas pedal (I'd just gotten an oil change 3 days previously). I pulled over and checked the oil dipstick- it was dry, which confused me. I looked under the car and oil was dripping from the underside- this has never happened to me before. I called my mechanic, which is in the opposite direction from San Diego, and they told me to bring the car in and offered me a loaner for the weekend. I threw 4 quarts of oil into the car and hauled over to my mechanic's place, got in the loaner, and headed out to San Diego- I was determined to do this and it felt like the Universe was throwing obstacles in my path- I didn't know if it was because the Universe was trying to prevent me from a quantum positive transformation in my life from the seminar or because Kunlun was 'evil' or would be detrimental to me somehow. Due to the late start it ended up taking me 4 and half hours to get to San Diego instead of two and I was in a foul mood. Got to my motel with just a half hour to eat before heading out to the Friday night free lecture by Max. I parked at the restaurant next to the motel to get a burger to go and eat in my motel room. When I emerged from the restaurant and got into my loaner to drive it next door to the motel the car wouldn't start, despite repeated attempts. I called the mechanic and his suggestions failed to get the car to start- they said they never had any problems with it previously and it was reliable. I was having the day from hell, obstacle after obstacle. I had used pretty much all my money on the seminar and hotel and didn't have money to pay a local mechanic. I resigned myself to missing the free evening talk but thought, fuck it, I'll take a cab to the seminar tomorrow, deal with my finances when I get back, and i can always catch the free talk in the future. I was exhausted but determined. Determined to change my life. After finding out that my car insurance's roadside assistance didn't cover the loaner and eating my burger, I tried the car again and it started! I had 25 minutes to get to the lecture, which was almost enough time. I hauled out of there and stopped at a traffic light, turned to the car next to me to confirm my directions. The driver looked identical to Charles Manson, right down to the long hair. I was going to say something about it but after getting the directions the light turned green and we drove our seperate ways. I wasn't sure what the encounter meant, but again, strange things were happening. I arrived at the lecture just in time, there was a good-sized crowd, between 50 and 100 people, I'd guess (I'm not great at estimating that kind of thing.) I'm a fair judge of public speaking and Max was totally calm, composed, and centered- there was no tremor of nervousness in his voice. He demonstrated some of his abilities at affecting his students at a distance, which we've all heard about, after which I said loudly, "I want to try!" Max said he couldn't do it to me because I wasn't locked in to the energy and I left it at that. By the end of the lecture, I figured if half of the extraordinary claims Max made about this practice were true, this was going to be amazing, to say the least. Upon returning to my motel and channel-surfing, I came upon a news story about Charles Manson- I think he had just been denied parole again. ? The following morning I went to the workshop, there was a good size crowd there. I spoke briefly with Max privately and found him charismatic and likable. After some talk we began, I think, with Red Phoenix. Towards the end of it I began to experience an unpleasant and frightening sensation in my head- I didn't know if that was because I had been forcing the practice too much (its supposed to be done without effort) or if it was the natural result of the practice. I felt a bit like I might faint and somewhat frightened and ungrounded. I focused on my dan tien and massaged the yong chuan points on my feet in order to bring the energy down and felt OK after a while. Next, I think, we did Kun Lun. It was frightening and uncomfortable for me to be in that room with my eyes closed while people were laughing, screaming like they were being killed, and doing god knows what else. It really brought up my need for control and this environment couldn't have been much more out of my control. Max (or Chris) said that the practice brings up the 'stuff' in you that's not you and needs to go (or words to that effect) and I found this to be the case- I noticed all kinds of 'negative' patterns emerging in me, lots of grief, fear.... Not being totally unaccustomed to touching this stuff in me I was OK with it released what came up. Having done plenty of chi kung in the past, the feeling of the Kun Lun energy is different, unusual, and powerful. When I went back to the motel after the workshop I felt a bit as though I'd been lobotomized in the best sense of the word- my inner monologue had ground practically to a halt and I felt centered, calm, happy, and as though there were a "Kun Lun worm" inside me that was ferreting out all the 'stuff' in me that was not me and dislodging it. I went into the motel's jacuzzi, outside, when darkness fell and spent an hour going back and forth from the jacuzzi to the pool- it was orgasmic. Went back to the seminar the following day, we reviewed the material from the day before plus I learned some more cool stuff. Saw more people screaming, laughing, and spasming. I'd never seen anything like that before this weekend (caused by an energetic practice) and it was interesting, to say the least. Conclusion- back home now, I definitely feel excited about this practice, glad I went, and excited about what the future will bring. It was good to meet Max and all his assistants were very cool and helpful (plus I met a cool Australian TaoBum). At this point, I'd have to say, it's real.

Thanks for the kind words, all. Today- my sense perceptions seem stronger. Still feel more unified, less mental chatter. Still feel the Kun Lun 'worm' needing, wanting to bore through all that is not me, though less intensely than Saturday. Haven't practiced since getting home yet, gonna head over to Ikea tomorrow and get a wood stool and animal rug.

Has anyone found anything that really works for regrowing hair? I saw a bit about it on Dr. Lin's website.

Mal, What are Wong Kiew Kit's Nourishing the Kidneys and Looking at the Moon (I found lifting up the sky on youtube). thanks-

Lino, thanks. Shontonga, try some he shou wu. Cheap and common in various forms. Mal- can you expand on the butter thing listed in the second book of 5 tibetans- haven't tried it yet. Does Wong Kiew Kit claim those exercises will regrow hair? taoian- what are tao salt and cirrian? thanks all-

A few things helpful to the heart- eating fish oil taking hawthorne extract- get the liquid at health food stores acupoints on inner wrist- try to find the heart points on the wrist online dan shen pian- cheap chinese herbal pills, try chinatown or online moderate aerobic exercise

Witch- I applaud your diet and your sensibility.

I have a six pound jar of unheated avocado honey on my counter right now Honey is said to be the only food that never goes bad (if raw). If you spread some raw honey on bread after about 20 minutes the bread will be predigested. I think it was Weston a Price or one of his followers that said that one study of a specific long lived people found a direct correlation between how much honey a person ate daily and how long they lived. I don't know about that, though, honey is high in sugar.

Markern- I disagree with you that people running towards enlightenment is selfish. In my experience, people in pursuit of enlightenment are intensely suffering, more than the average person. The average person will sit on a couch and watch TV, not on a pillow watching their breath. They're not interested. We did not ask to be born (that we remember) and we have a right to be free of pain, if not happy, and this is not selfishness. In regards to helping other people, yes it is good, but more often than not it seems that, fundamentally, people can only help themselves and they are often unwilling to (for various reasons).

ARe you sure congenital jing and ojas are not the same thing? I think the ayurvedic doctor told me they were. Are there any other means you've heard of to replace congenital jing?

I love advanced yoga practices! I just started my first mantra enhancement and that thing is so powerful its amazing- one or two minutes of it and it feels like I've had a lobotomy (and I mean that in the best possible way- the mind/internal dialogue crashes to a halt) for the rest of the evening. I have experimented with many things over the years and I think that Advanced yoga practices are one of the best things out there, and how amazing is it that its essentially free? God bless Yogani.

Smile, You wrote there is no way to replace congenital jing with cultivation practices or abstinence- what about by other means? Are there any you are aware of? I understand that there are certain practices associated with some of the internal martial arts, specifically bagua, that are said to replenish congenital/preheaven jing. I also had a conversation with an ayurvedic doctor once who told me that taking ghee replenishes ojas, which I believe is equivalent to congenital jing.

In regards to the oral tradition- I had a conversation with a hasidic (chabad) rabbi about the kabalah- He said that 50% of the kaballah is the written version and the other 50% of it is the oral, which is handed down from generation to generation. According to him, the oral tradition is the key to unlocking and understanding the written. This is why, he said, Madonna and all those following the current 'hip' Kaballah trend are being misled- they are only getting the written and not the oral because their teachers never received the oral tradition.

I used to work with a psychic/sorcerer who was into the Castaneda thing. I always had an intuition, at that time, that there was something heartless about that path that separated it from any path I'd experimented with in the past. What stuck with me the most from Sorcerer's Apprentice was all the needless suffering Casteneda brought to the world- its bad enough that he told all his followers to cut off their families, but what possible purpose could there be to having them also say "I send you to hell" but gratuitous cruelty? The world doesn't need any more of that.

I don't see how anyone who reads Sorcerer's Apprentice could still give any credence to ANYTHING Castaneda writes, or want to have anything to do with his path/teachings.

Mantra, I have tried phoning and emailing several times with no response to ask some additional questions regarding the upcoming seminar. Please contact me. thanks-

sorry- accidental multiple posting - having computer/internet issues

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