gendao

I dunno, I think my qi is just now starting to break through past my neck blockages after 1.5 years of daily meditation.. So, I'm thinking more in terms of months, not minutes... I'm not saying there was zero qi flow before, but I believe it was crimped. And I believe it is opening up & increasing now..

No, Eric Zammitt is not denigrating qigong or TCM - Mr. Zhou is. I basically had the same experience and came to the same conclusion. I don't know if he has any ability at all - but it's obvious that this particular technique of his is a con job. Funny thing though is, I also heard of some patients who claimed they felt he really helped them. Maybe they fooled themselves or experienced a placebo effect or some marginal ability. Who knows? But, I wouldn't exactly trust someone in general who pulls off frauds like this...

Here's some testimonials about how EFT helped to improve eyesight... I think there are a variety of methods you could use to diagnose the underlying emotional causes of your poor vision...but getting down to and resolving those somehow is probably the key to real healing.

I believe happiness is the emotional fulfillment of the most personally-meaningful, defining struggle/motivation in your life. Which would vary for each person. Although, ultimately: So ultimately, "happiness" is still just another construct like the "individual" that would be feeling it.. And could not be clung to, either. I don't guess that Enlightenment makes "you" "happy" - just sober, relieved and awake?

The "ego," or the illusion of "you" as a separate individual, is the ultimate root of all suffering. Enlightenment is seeing through that illusion - in effect, the "death" of the "ego." Which is essentially the goal of Buddhism. Once enlightened, there may still be "suffering"...but there is no longer "anyone" who is suffering. Everything becomes impersonal. Hence, it no longer matters what is happening anymore...as it is not happening to "anyone." So, how can you have suffering...if there are no sufferers? Steven Norquist has some great material on all this...

Easier to just drop your awareness down into your lower dantians than to try to clear your mind... Because as long as you're in there trying to clear it, you're still occupying it. Mentally focusing on emptiness is still a mental activity using your conscious mind. There's a difference between Elvis clearing out a building...and Elvis leaving a building. Uh-huh-huh..

Interesting summation - thanks Just curious, what level are you at right now?

I think acupressure works mainly in 2 ways - on acupoints/meridians and reflexology zones. Reflexology can be done on the feet, hands or ears - but feet are perhaps the most effective for acupressure since they have a shorter path to your organs and the ears are perhaps better suited for needles due to their small size. They actually have rock paths in parks in Taiwan specifically designed for people to walk on for self-reflexology. But, you can also buy these plastic reflexology mats for home use. I dunno, they look more ergonomic than this design: However, the more blocked you are, the more it will hurt walking on them. Only when your health improves will it become more comfortable and soothing...

This dude is 110 - and I'd say looks pretty damn good for that age! He's still got all his hair and his skin is relatively smooth - perhaps even remarkably smooth for someone 110!!! No details on his lifestyle though..

Lol, nobody is going to be working hard to produce goods in overabundance if they get nothing in return for it. See Communism - where everyone fairly sinks to the lowest common denominator of productivity. This Marxist "utopia" is nothing new, folks.. Lol, WRONG! When there are no lower minimal limits on productivity, people will cease being productive. People only work as much as they "need" to. This naive "logic" is like saying if our work weeks weren't "limited" to 40 hours - then people would be working as long as they could!! And I know some teachers. Its one of the most employable fields because there is more of a scarcity of teachers than students. They have absolutely no problem finding work today. Anyhow, I disagree with his reasoning...but draw some similar conclusions about how technology will both lower the cost of and increase access to information. So, there will be a lot more "open-sourcing" due to the minimal effort and cost of doing so.

Lol, this neo-Marxist attitude is nothing new and totally failed. He actually has it backwards - the profit motive is what motivated people to build universities and pay teachers to teach there...to begin with! And the more paying students they get, the more teachers they can then hire. The number of teachers is limited by the school's facility size & revenue - not artificially constrained to "increase scarcity." I mean, if teachers wanted to teach for free without any profit involved now - they are totally free to! No one is stopping them from setting up their own free non-profit universities! The reason they haven't - is because they don't want to spend their whole lives doing something for free. However, I do agree that the traditional rite-of-passage of spending upteen thousands of $$$ to go live on campus for 4 years to get a collegiate degree - is becoming financially prohibitive for too many and this will eventually be replaced with more virtual online self-education. Which is much cheaper and accessible to all. Some work would still have to be done in person, but that would only be a much smaller portion of the curriculum. I think that one day, "Wiki U" will become more popular than brick unis...

The neidan adept observes how the raging, chaotic "10,000" things all emanate from the same pure, serene source - yang qi from Heaven and beyond... It is essentially a landscape depiction of this flow chart: So, he seeks to return to this prenatal fountainhead and contemplates on how to ascend there.

The traits of the Brother that bother the Sage are merely traits of her own that bother herself. For he is merely reflecting and resonating those unresolved issues within herself. And don't be mistaken. Doing nothing here...will simply do nothing. Just like moving away did... Conflict avoidance solves nothing and only allows the problems to fester. Whereas if the Sage were to resolve these issues within herself, then this would also help to resolve her conflict with her brother (merely a projection of the former) and thus all the family strife that has resulted from that. And in this way, something VERY HEALTHY for all involved could flow from such family strife! All strife is an opportunity for growth if you can resolve and learn from it.

^ Yup, it's kinda similar to trying to get a degree in college, no? Lots of practicalities & logistics to consider, in addition to just the work itself. Hard to tell...but if not, that could be why his left hip is tilted down in order to force that knee to the ground. I'm guessing that's not a good thing though - to curve your spine like that. So again, in a tight lotus - seems like something has to give. And one of your knees off the ground may be the least of evils there...

If you are sitting flat on the floor, pulling your lotus tighter seems to inevitably lift one knee off the ground. And I'm not sure that this can be avoided - as it may be a biogeometric constraint? As the hypothetical extreme case of this would somewhat resemble Gomukhasana "Cow Face Pose" - where one knee is actually on top of the other. People in full-lotus who have both knees on (or almost to) the ground are usually either not pulling it very tight with their knees fairly wide apart... Or pulling it tighter but (I'm guessing) sitting on a zafu cushion, which then angles their knees down to the ground. Point being, it is difficult to pull your pose tight AND get both knees flat on the ground. Usually one or the other gives...although who knows - maybe you can do both??? Anyhow, this is just one area of preparation for serious neidan training. You also need to work on clearing out health issues/detoxing, emotional & personal issues, finding a sufficient income that allows you self-sufficiency and training expenses, freeing up sufficient practice time in your daily schedule, etc etc. If your life is in shambles and your heart is vexed - you really think you'll be able to sit and meditate with an empty mind & restful heart? If you're burdened by tons of past baggage, how can you move forward? So basically, you have to stabilize your life enough, tie up loose ends and carve out enough space to allow for a significant lifestyle change. This can easily take over a year or more... People often overlook all these pragmatic aspects - but every bit adds up to the whole in your life.

Yes, and you can also register here for some more interaction: Longmen Pai Forums Right now, there are periodic retreats in the US held by one of Master Wang's approved teachers, Kathy Li. They are VERY affordable. There are also now online Q&A sessions directly with Master Wang too (see above link)... Finally, there are also actual retreats with Master Wang in China...details are on the main website and are also posted here regularly. And yes, this tradition trains the entire bodymind. It's not purely mental like many New Age methods. So as drewhempel says, "you can't fake the full-lotus!"

^ Awesome Kathy, I updated my post! Yes, I was wondering if they meant XIN & not XING.. I find the personal SELF-REALIZATION aspects of particular importance in any genuine spiritual path. It is easy to get mesmerized by generic esoteric special effects - but if you don't also figure your own personal self out...then your heart will remain restless & your mind muddied with confusion. And you'll still remain a miserable slave to all the same emotional trigger points as before... And could eventually even fall prey to the dark or unfulfilled side - as only your personal power increases, but your self-understanding does not. The real spiritual path gets real personal. Why are YOU here this lifetime? What is YOUR personal motivation as an "actor" in this role that you have been playing out? What drives you? What drives you crazy? What is the root cause of YOUR emotional desires & pain? Although everyone may still fit into the overall generic framework of a system - these particular issues will be different for everyone...and so cannot be handled formulaically. So since I've just recently realized how important such self-discovery is (within this past week) - these 2 responses really resonate with me now!! YOIKES!!!

Yes, could somebody please re-UL this e-book again? Link's dead..

Interesting excerpts: So, I wonder if the length of continuous meditation here is key - so that you keep building the energy up constantly to a "critical mass" spike? Michael Winn also had his first kundalini experience after lengthy meditation sessions:

A recent Q&A with Master Wang: Q: What are the first signs of success for an average normal practitioner on this path? A: The first thing following this practice is health improvement. Your energy level increases steadily. This sign is important but is not the most important. The most important thing is when you transform your XIN LING (心灵), when you change your soul, so that you have more wisdom and more faith. XIN LING is very important, the most important because he controls, monitors and adjusts our system in its entirety. A well-functioning XIN LING will bring more handsomeness to the men and more beauty to the women, a very good health on top of which your wisdom will awaken. This is like a complex system that every each and one of us have it. The people get into all kinds of problems because their system is not ruled accordingly. XIN LING controls this system. In a next phase the practice will change your body internals, your organs and internal functions so that your immunity will increase. You'll never get the flu again. As a purpose of the practice, we as humans, have to find out where we are from as well as where are we going to after we die. These are 2 of the most important questions for us.

Interesting, back in May, I saw a lavender circle appear inside the gold donut - which later expanded beyond it.. I have not seen any "star" yet, though.

This may be your "jing-meter" (but as you said, gold-colored instead).

Ah, no need to apologize or punish yourself, man! You are simply projecting your own inner conflict outward (notice how you vacillate between there being and not being a purpose). Because your real question here is not what the purpose of life is - but may be on how to bridge or transcend the opposing duality within yourself. It's obvious that this is a painfully sore issue for you. Pain means that something is blocked or unresolved. So, if you were to view this as "emotional acupressure," this is an emotional pressure point that hurts and needs to be cleared. Because when a point is cleared - it actually feels SOOTHING, not PAINFUL - under pressure! And once all your points and channels are cleared, then you will become emotionally freed, my man! The good news is that you've identified a very pivotal issue in your life. Which means that you are getting close to your lynchpin. So, keep digging & clearing deeper! Keep on going until you find that root dilemna that DEFINES YOUR LIFE, resolve it & watch all your pains & desires collapse back into that singularity! This is the slight smile of an emotionally-free man! Nothing emotionally perturbs or excites him anymore. He may approve or disapprove of various things mentally and intellectually - but they don't get him emotionally riled up either way. Everything is mildly soothing to him, because his body contains no emotional pain to personally resonate with anything outside it anymore. When this happens, you are no longer continually accumulating "negative emotional energy" like blocks raining down in Tetris. You will no longer emotionally entrain with outer negative emotions. It then becomes much easier to stay clear and ahead of the curve, without such constant emotional toxification.