Trunk

I do find that w/ hands' qi sphere, if practiced w/ the right tips, gets to palpable qi quickly. Qi Sphere: Beginning

I wrote a little free essay, Zhan Zhuang: Getting Started It's a primer, assumes no knowledge, gets you started, familiarizes w/ common terms and includes some key tips that I've picked up over ... several decades. cheers, Trunk

My attempt at a 'free: getting started' site, https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/ especially https://johndaoproductions.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/three-generic-fundamentals/ best of luck, Trunk The deepening of simple fundamentals, consistently over time, is what brings development. Fireworks are misdirection, imho.

yeah, I dug it too. .. made a few minor adjustments, because I'm just that anal.

I went to google, searched “zhan zhuang”, and the AI overview was astonishingly good (scary good, actually). I suggest you check that out, as well as the linked article https://balancehealth.com.hk/zhan-zhuang-tai-chi-exercise/

I've been thinking about you. Some ideas: 1. Look up "zhan zhuang" ("standing post", "still standing", "standing meditation" on youtube. 2. Similarly, "meditation following the breath" Watch a few free videos, then (if you like) perhaps start a thread here on TDBs asking others about it. Others who have some experience will likely dialog and share. That's free fundamental material, and good conversation. best of luck, Trunk

p.s. I'd say, additionally, that ... the long haul ... the people that enjoy and stick with this, and what provides and leads to development over time ... is that you simply enjoy the process of conscious integration.

A number of essential foundational practices you can find for free: 0. “Following the Breath” - unifying comfortably deep breathing and attention - this gets applied to *every*thing, *all* internal arts practices - foundational: sitting meditation, and still standing (see next) 1. zhan zhuang, aka “standing post”, aka “still standing” - look it up. it sound like nothing (just standing), but it is foundational in every Daoist system. Super simple. Essential. There are foundational essentials around that are absolutely free .. that any more sophisticated system would assume that you have experience with anyway. best of luck, Trunk

Soaring, Welcome! I wasn't familiar w/ those terms, looked 'em up. This short essay, internal arts: common fundamentals, gives a brief introduction to bedrock principles common to (nearly) any system. Then follow your own sensitivities, to whichever system/methods resonate for you. You're all set up here at TDBs. Again, welcome. - Trunk

Hey Dylan! Welcome! that’s relevant, lol Take a look around, lemme know if you need help finding anything. - Keith

WhyQQ, Welcome! - Trunk

Giacomond, Welcome! - Trunk p.s. - Gurdjieff, serious read. - compact overview.

jgd, Welcome! - Trunk

AverageUser1234, Welcome! - Trunk

HeronChip, Welcome! - Trunk

jeffrey1, Welcome! - Trunk

ParagonZen, Welcome! - Trunk

Tao Light, Welcome! - Trunk

Tao KC, Welcome! - Trunk

Smee, Welcome! - Trunk

Orion99, Welcome! - Trunk

DB907, Welcome! - Trunk

Doomchoom, Welcome! - Trunk

Klb, Welcome! Apologies for the late approval. - Keith

@Kati, Well framed question. Many good answers; I'll try not to repeat. I've not been around for a while, a pleasure to read. a few quick thoughts: - water is cleansing. taking a shower after being with others helps cleanse your aura of ... accumulated static. - standing and stepping practices (obviously), most Daoist systems have them. a bagua stepping video. - hands' qi sphere - developing your hands w/ qigong can help cleanse your space while at home. - don't expect this to ever be completely solved. it's common for advanced practitioners to become more solitary as the decades go by. I once heard an advanced teacher quip, "don't wear deodorant" in order to keep people at a distance, and “if someone is thinking about you, you might as well be in the same room”. - Marsha Sinetar's book, "Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics" is a well researched book on healthy lifestyles (not specific practices) of secular monks and mystics. - some version of wishing well prayer towards all beings, the Tibetan paraphrased is "may all beings be free of suffering and free of the causes of suffering. may all beings have happiness and have the causes of happiness". We tend to accumulate ... others thoughts and residue of interactions, that we sort of chew on and battle with later on our own. At least part of that is a kind of psychic battle. Some broad benevolent prayer kind of .. resets psychology (and psychic interactions) towards deeper unified ground. A difficult topic. Can't say that I've got it whupped. - Keith