Trunk

"Silk Reeling Energetics" video (promo vid clips below). This is entirely a seated lecture about what is going on on the *inside* of silk reeling, bagua in general, and related misc. There is no standing and demonstrating/teaching movements/form in this vid, yet it applies generally to the bagua movements taught in the many other videos. For me, I definitely got clarification on some of the inner workings which immediately increased power, effectiveness, in movements I'd already been doing for a long time.

Acupuncture and herbs.

As a policy and genuine preference, I (mostly) avoid the horror genre. "Penny Dreadful" has become an exception.

I've watched this like 4 times now and it busts me up every time. The girls did a *great* job... how many different they said, "daddy" to express so much. Louis CK is brilliant. Craftsmanship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VnAKGFo-rM

Congrats!

Continuing to enjoy exploring this practice... a few more thoughts, notes, etc's, and blah-blah-yadda-yadda's. 1. Occasionally it's helpful to shift the meditation so it is hui yin <-> navel level but not-quite-up-the-center: either further towards the front or back. The idea being to activate the whole line between the navel and mingmen. Might look familiar, and I do feel that it triggers this level of energetics: Whether prenatal jing can really actually be restored (via *any* method at all), or to what degree, I don't know... but if it can even somewhat, I'd bet that this line (navel <-> mingmen) is involved. This meditation triggers this relationship strongly, deeply, quick & easily.

Correct. In the clinical sense, narcissists are so over-whelmed and enmeshed in the turbidity of the 'false self', that they'd be unable to acknowledge their narcissism. A really excellent book on narcissism is The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists. I find the term "narcissist" to be problematic. It's casual meaning differs significantly from its clinical meaning; it's complicated. And also from the painting of Narcissus staring into his reflection in the pool. A clinical narcissist is not calmly doing that, they are caught in a muddy whirl pool of their false self and are thrashing around for their lives. Also, I find it socially problematic to toss around clinical terms - too misunderstood, too incendiary. Much more useful, ime: the phrases "self-centered" and "other-centered".

ZerosTao referred me to Chris Matsuo's (Lao Xie's) material, dig it. Dragon Gate Sanctuary Sifu Christopher Lee Matsuo YouTube Channel a couple o' gems ~ later edit ~ Dragon Gate Sanctuary's ebay page Facebook photoset collection of DGS dvds (lots of 'em) You may order any of the dvds in the fb collection directly from DGS via paypal to the e-mail address [email protected]. Single dvds are $108. Just include in the paypal message area which item you are ordering and make sure that your mailing address is correct. (Thank you! to Sifu Matsuo.)

I find that if I do the hand mudras that I feel better and it helps my energetic processing. For me, that's the bottom line. Various theories as to why, history, etc, on this particular practice I haven't found to make a difference on results. On that basis, I find that the pictures in wikipedia are sufficient. (Though Sifu Matsuo recommends a variation of one of the mudras that I do find makes a difference in results.) (Also, I haven't worked with other aspects of the practice, only the hand mudras.) That's just me, and I understand that your orientation may be quite different.

I've been to SotGs website and he has some interesting stuff. Serious practitioner. I've been tinkering with a concise motif for painting practices, simple variations on a circle, "Enzo": Here is Enzo demonstrating the version of the meditation that I've been talking about in this thread: (I also updated the post#9 that describes the meditation by adding the image, so it's all in one place.)

Most of us here are in that same boat. I want to chime in on zerostao's post. In more than three decades of internal arts searching and practicing, Sifu Matsuo's dvds are where I'd refer people to learn qigong. Very very impressed by his quality, wisdom, effectiveness of methods. Some additional links: http://alchemicaltaoism.com/DGSReviews.htm http://thedaobums.com/topic/17790-sifu-chris-matsuo/ http://thedaobums.com/topic/23485-dgss-dizzying-dvd-collection/ http://thedaobums.com/topic/21297-kuan-yin-magnetic-qigong/ (Though right now he is busy teaching in Japan for about a month, won't be back until late May.)

Where did you read it?, - so the rest of us can reference it as well.

A variation that I've found effective: 1. inhale from the crown (center of top of head, Du-20 Bai Hui) down through the central channel to Ren-1 Hui Yin. (Bai Hui has a special relationship with Hui Yin.) 2. exhale earth up through Kid-1 and up to center at belly button level. So you get some kinda heaven & earth mixed into it, earth connecting to the upper spot (navel level) and heaven at the lower (hui yin). ... then return to the regular Hui Yin <~> Belly button. Also, the so ham mantra goes well with the above, as I find it does with pretty much all breathing practices. "So" on the inhale, "ham" on the exhale.

Fixed thx

from http://alchemicaltaoism.com/HLDangerDenty.html Sean Denty had significant back ground and criticisms.

I would advise caution (avoidance) with any variation/teacher of the Healing Tao system. The links below have some info. If you want to dig a bit more, somewhere in those links are links back to posts by Sean Denty here at TDBs, years ago. 1. Healing Tao cautions. (TTBs thread accessible to members only) 2. Essential reading external link: (available to anyone on the www) Essays/posts by 5 different Healing Tao instructors cautioning about the "Healing Love" and "Iron Shirt 1: Packing Breathing" practices within that system.

Continuing to really dig this method. I find that I do it for only very short periods of time and the process / work continues for a half day or more on it's own after. I feel that it taps into something natural to the body and "puts things together" so very efficiently. *bump*

I've been really appreciating that TDBs community has come a long way over the years (despite whatever difficulties along the way). The quality, depth, and variety of internal arts knowledge, practice, experience represented here in a wide variety of members... all of that has really improved over a decade plus. Recently, in public and private conversations ... interacting with members that have been and are continuing serious deep authentic into ... I hate to even list for want of not leaving something out, but half dozen or more really distinct paths... often connected to seriously groovy teachers (some well known, others hardly known). Wow, what a resource. cheers, Trunk

The unmanifest. The animated prostrations gif that I posted earlier contains physical metaphor in action of both manifest and unmanifest. The practice (of prostrating, not necesarily in just the way I posted, lol) is a traditional internal arts gesture, has an impact on a lot of layers.

My experience is that as the two central points increase in power, magnetism, that they then spontaneously draw the distal (front/back) points into the mix. Some version of the "little orbit" gets created spontaneously as a natural progression; you don't have to deliberately do anything extra. ... but hey, if you are drawn to it, experiment away. People vary. What's right for me... etc.

First of all, what I've been doing is inspired by his (John Chang's) breif description. A number of simple ways to go about it: - simply focus your attention (yi) on hui yin, slowly move yi up to level of navel, slowly back down. Repeat. - could make the focus of yi a 'pearl' (empty and luminous) and repeat the same exercise with the pearl. could also spin the pearl. - could combine either of the above with breathing. I find it natural to do the up movement on the exhale, down on inhale. These are just simple variations, based on common tools (breath, yi, pearl) that show up over and over in the internal arts. (edit 4/24 to add image) That's not how I see / interpret it. The way he gestured while saying "meditation every day" seemed to me that he was working on that basic process regularly. Generally, what gets expressed in outward demonstrations is a product, and a small fraction, of internal cultivation. The aspects of esoteric anatomy engaged: - potent points along the central channel - adjacent front/back points of genitals/sacrum, navel/mingmen .. which ime begin to get very engaged after a while as hui yin & navel level gradually integrate more powerfully... Those aspects of anatomy are very very commonly cultivated in the Taoist internal arts. (Navel ~ mingmen integration is part of embryonic breathing, for instance.) This seemed to me (and it's holding up as a matter of experimentation and experience) a very succinct way to bring those parts together. Both correct. Often step by step then things integrate to a more fluent whole. If you're lucky enough to just be put together well in the first place then you're ahead of the game. I find that engaging opposites (the + & -) back and forth (often in relation to a neutral center) tends to be a concise way of integrating a polarity, two points, activating and strengthening both in a simple gesture.

Ren-1 hui yin is the spot half way between anus and genitals. The opposite is Du-20 bai hui, which is at the top middle of the head. Run a line straight between them and that's the central channel (sushumna), at least the section between those points (also goes above the head and below the torso). Ren-8 shenque is the umbilicus, but we are talking about the point in the center, halfway between the umbilicus and Du-4 ming men. So, the exercise (as I've understood it and have been working with it, happily) is to work with a section of the central channel, from hui yin to the level of the umbilicus, back and forth. As those polarities engage and integrate, triggers further integration. p.s. Note that the most major physical landmarks of lower torso are on either side of those two center points: - genitals and sacrum - umbilicus and ming men (twixt the kidneys)