sirius

hi! i found a good method to get rid of negative thoughts in tenzin wangyal rinpoches book "healing with form, energy and light. the five elements in tibetan shamanism, tantra and dzogchen". in the book he describes how you can use the power of the elements. and he states that it is very important to work with the element "space". i experimented with the method that he describes to get in contact with the element "space". and i was really impressed by the immediate result: the negative thoughts which had tyrannized me disappeared. the practice is easy: you go out in the country, climb a hill or mountain, you watch the endless sky ("space") and you dissolve your whole body in the sky or "space". a very good method, very effective. but the results of this kind of practice depend very much on your energy level and on the energy work that you normally do. the higher the energy level, the better are the results of working with the element "space". and i have to add that the results will be even better if you work with all the elements - not only with the "space" element. good luck! sirius

hi dmattwads! if you don`t feel energized or even tired after your zhanh zhuang chi kung practice this may happen because you held a difficult posture too long. another reason might be that you don`t train regularly (every day). or - if you are a beginner in zz - the feeling of being tired is the result of the beginning process of detoxication of the body. and not to forget - the combination of the different postures/ exercises is important, too. i know from my own experience that there are some very powerful zz postures/ exercises. especially those which are based on standing on one leg only (or shifting the whole body weight on just one leg). and the combination of standing still exercises and moving exercises like walking chi kung for example is very energizing. another thing is to find out if you need more yin or more yang exercises. i need more yang energy - so i do more yang exercises (especially in winter). zz is a cool method of energy work which can produce amazing results (including more charisma)if you train daily for at least one hour and if you are in contact with a good zz chi kung teacher. just some thoughts from a zz learner. happy standing! sirius

"healing with form, energy and light - the five elements in tibetan shamanism, tantra and dzogchen" by tenzin wangyal rinpoche is a fantastic book!

i try to practice outside as often as possible. of course it depends very much on the weather. living in western europe the time for doing exercises outside is limited: from spring to autumn. i tried several times to do outdoor exercises in winter, but i didn`t really like it, because of the cold. - i know that there are some hardcore tai chi and qi gong people in northern germany (hamburg) who practice in a park all year long. my impression is that the results of practicing outside are more satisfying. i felt more energy, more chi in my body. i was more grounded, more connected with the earth. most of the time i practice zanh zhuang chi kung, but i meditate as well (taoist meditation according to bruce frantzis). of course you will always be confronted with people staring at you or making silly remarks - but the more often you practice at a special place the more the people will get used to it and will tolerate what you do. so, don`t give up meditating in the park!

i don`t know anything about the average age of the average tao bum. what i know is that i`m almost 54 years old. and during the last weeks of winter i thought a lot about getting older. i felt very much the need for more yang energy - so i did more yang exercises. how do you cope with getting older? how does it influence your daily practice? - my main practice is zanh zhuang chi kung and longevity breathing. i`m very curious about your experiences.

hi all you tao bums, hi marblehead and shaktimama! thank you all for your replies, your thoughts and your advice! a special thanks to you shakti mama! you wrote down very clear some things that i just try to find out for myself - but until now i could only see some details, not the whole picture. your words are very encouraging. thank you! - yes, i have something to share - which i do at my place of work, im my family (hopefully) and maybe in the near future as a chi kung trainer. thank you for mentioning this edition of the tibetan book of the dead! blessed be! sirius

while reading some posts in the "getting older" thread i thought of the importance of preparing oneself for the process of dying. the tibetan buddhists use the tibetan book of the dead for this purpose. which texts/which techniques do taoists use?

death is the final point of my existence. so i have to prepare myself for the process of dying. this will be a part of my practice in the near future. i will use the tibetan book of the dead for this purpose. i don`t know any taoist texts or practices concerning "the art of dying". are there any?

thank you all for your honest, thoughtful and ironic replies! i want to add some words about me and why i started this thread. yes, the funny thing is that some years ago, when i was about 48/49 years old, i felt much younger - because of my regular chi kung exercises. at that time i felt like - let`s say, like i was 40 years old. now i notice that i loose my chi quicker - if i don`t do my daily exercises. at least this is my impression. and i notice that i have more difficulties to do the more "special" or advanced exercises. i mean postures that require to stand on one leg for some time. maybe the feeling of getting older is the result of my special way of training? i really try to connect myself and my practice with the season. that means for example that in winter i turn myself to the northern direction while practicing. and i do more exercises to support the kidneys. maybe this led to an imbalance of yin and yang in my body. and maybe this led to a deeper connection with the winter season than i wanted - with all these thoughts of getting old. what do you think? do you take the cardinal points into consideration for your practice? and how does it influence your training?

you should ask serge kahili king, the "urban shaman" from hawai. he can help you, i`m quite sure.

heya! a fantastic book on the runes - full of information, history and practical exercises - is "helrunar" by the german free-style shaman jan fries. the author is working with the runes for about thirty years. "helrunar" is a manual of rune magic. it deals with: the history of the runes, the different rune systems, runes & nature, runes & the kabbala, rune exercises, standing exercises with runes, the use of runes as mantras, runes & health, divination with runes, the magical use of sygills, seidr-trance, magical use of energy and so on. this book was my companion for some years while i was experimenting with the runes. it was a fantastic read, full of information, good recommendations of practical exercises and not to forget - with a lot of humor! and, by the way, i don`t get any money for promoting this book. i do it, because this book deserves it. i learned a lot from it! "helrunar" is available in an english translation. if you want to find out more about the author look for his website on the internet. by experimenting with the runes i learned that you can use them for many purposes: for divination, for energy work (standing exercises combined with rune chanting) and for meditation, too. later, when i started practising zanh zhuang chi kung i was able to realize the similarties and connections between the different systems of energy work. blessed be! sirius

when i wrote chi kung i meant zanh zhuang chi kung.

don`t close the eyes while practising chi kung. it`s not meditation. happy standing! sirius

the book about taoist maditation is "the water method of taoist meditation" by bruce frantzis. by the way, normally i try to learn things from a teacher, like chi kung for example. the "do it yourself path" is difficult and sometimes dangerous.

hey surfing buddha, some other tao bums have already answered your questions - maybe better than i could have done it. the most important thing for me is not to force the breathing. and to breathe into your back - like bruce frantzis describes it in the book "opening the energy gates". good luck!

hey surfing buddha! i`m experimenting with bkf`s taoist breathing for about two years. i tried to "learn" it from one of his books. i never went to a workshop or got any instruction from a teacher. i tried to find out everything about it all by myself - although i know that this is not the best way to learn. in the beginning i was really surprised about the strong effects of this method (combined with a regular practice of zanh zhuang chi kung). when i added bkf`s taoist meditation to my daily exercises i had so much energy in me that i almost exploded. it blew up my ego very much - so i stopped with the taoist meditation. at the moment i practice the taoist breathing every morning for about twenty minutes. then i gather the energy in my dantien. after that i do about one hour of zanh zhuang chi kung (standing like a tree). this gives me enough energy to cope with all the challenges of daily life (work, family, children and so on). as far as i`m concerned i can say that the combination of this breathing method with standing chi kung is great! greetings from germany sirius

maybe the book "helrunar" by jan fries (english translation) can help you to find out more about the runes. you can use them not only for divination, but for energy work as well. blessed be! sirius

i highly recommend the book "secrets of the soil" by peter thompkins. it might help you to do some successful gardening in your rather small "garden". thompkins describes a variety of really interesting uncommon methods of gardening/farming (bio-dynamical gardening, the combination of using music and a special fertilizer, collecting and using cosmic energy in the garden and so on...). this book is really cool! it blew my mind when i read it some years ago! good luck!

hi! maybe some taobums can help me: which (european) trees are connected with the chinese metal element, with the air element and with the earth element? if you think that i should find it out by myself - like a chinese teacher probably would do - then please describe me a "do it yourself" method. thank you! blessed be! sirius

hardyg, you wrote down some interesting thoughts. - but i would be a fool to have a philosophical debate with someone who uses pallas athenas owl as his symbol here in the forum! lol! - maybe the trees would laugh as well - if they could - about the limited human attempts to find out something about nature...they have so much more time than we have...much more patience...much more energy... so what can i do except of sitting under a tree for the rest of my life and listen to the murmur of the leaves...

hi! here`s my list of (european) trees and the related elements: metal element: beech tree water element: willow tree wood element: pine tree fire element: oak tree earth element: yew tree what do you think about it? blessed be! sirius

hi hardyg! to find out about the relations will be difficult as long as i just use the usual ways of logical thinking. i have to leave this path if i want to find true answers. i think i`ll try other methods - like sloppy zhang suggested. blessed be! sirius

hi! i asked an european chi kung teacher about the metal element and the related european tree. he said it`s the beech tree. maybe this can be interesting for other tao bums. blessed be sirius

hi! thank you durkhrod chogori for your quick reply! thank you sloppy zhang for your advice! yes, i will ask my chinese teacher, too. thank you kronos for the information and the many details! blessed be! sirius

hello! i`m from germany. apart from my language i speak english, french, italian and spanish (a little bit). i don`t think that subforums in different other languages are necessary. i have the impression that the members of the tao bums forum get along well with the english language. i don`t feel the need for a subforum in german or french or other languages - except for the kisuaheli language! lol! more subforums make things more complicated. in europe almost all young people learn english at school. so i think the access to this english speaking forum should be no problem. i often made mistakes when i wrote posts here in the forum, because my english is not that good - but i was never criticised for it. i think that this international exchange of thoughts, opinions and information here in the forum works very well on the basis of the english language. greetings from germany sirius