Sloppy Zhang

To know that what's happening isn't a figment of my own imagination. I think someone on this board posted a link to someone who wrote up a report about psilocybin usage as a means to explore/fix psychological problems. The patient (who was also a psychologist, if I recall correctly) wrote down his hallucinogenic response. It stuck with me, because I have had meditative experiences that are JUST like that. I've been at this for 4 years, and it's taken me that long, and all I have to show for it is something a 40 year old man can get on drugs. Huh. Yet there are people going around saying, "oh yeah, you can awaken clairvoyance, you can self heal, you can astral travel and explore other worlds, you can even become immortal!" And I'm thinking, "I've been at this for years, and never experienced anything like that, nor have I come across a person who has, so why does no one do this, showing once and for all that it could be done?" And then there's reason upon reason excuse upon excuse for why they can't prove it. "Doing it yourself is the only way to REALLY validate it." "It's not about powers, that's the ego talking." "What good is it if I do all the work?" Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah BLAH. While gurus/masters/teachers/whatever are running around talking about curing cancer, having paraplegics walk, and being able to clairvoyantly see things, we have real people suffering from cancer, the inability to walk, and missing persons who cannot after YEARS of investigation be found. WHAT GOOD ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING BY NOT BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR WORDS?

There is not a need to understand the internal workings in order to understand the physical effects. If a practice can make a paralyzed person walk, it doesn't matter if you're a doctor, a cultivator, or a 12 year old. You can see how a paralyzed person can walk from a certain practice. Now, perhaps a better understanding of the practice might be necessary to DO it. But the scientific observer does not necessarily need to comprehend the practice (through subsequent exploration and learning they may come to grasp what's going on and how the practice works). But on a demonstrable level (in order to find out if it is even possible) not very necessary. Just like it's not necessary for me to understand physics to know that if I drop a bowling ball on my foot, I'm probably going to feel pain.

I'd tell them if they want to suffer under their illness, that's on them. Then I would proceed to show them all the data on how the medicine works, teach them a bit about biology and medicine, and generally show them why it works. If they still refuse, they can choose that. I don't care. If they call me a fraud, they are just ignorant, because I've done everything in my power to teach them. (key phrase: everything in my power, I didn't just quit or not even try because I thought I wouldn't be able to convince them) But I wouldn't NOT tell them about the cure because I'm afraid that my feelings would get hurt by their wrathful ignorance. It's called having a backbone.

My point is that people DID think it was real. Uri Geller was running around telling everyone he really WAS psychic. People actually thought he was legit and real time and money went in to researching how he did it. .... Only to find it was elaborate trickery. Okay, the world is as we think it is. Now what happens if someone REAL gets studied? We might find life isn't what we think it is! We might find humans really do have amazing potential! Suddenly practices are taken more seriously, and people actually CARE about stuff! It would be so fuckin' awesome, that's what it'd be. Would society as we know it cease to exist? Hell yeah. Because people wouldn't feel the need to cough up thousands of dollars when they get sick- they can just heal themselves. People wouldn't spend their lives stuck in school- they could learn by traveling the world astrally. People wouldn't need to eat- they could purify themselves through life energy and ascend to the higher planes. It's called evolution of humanity. Isn't that what everyone is talking about here? Or do we only want society's consciousness to evolve when nobody has anything to lose? After the current society has fed, clothed, and sheltered the entirety of the world? Don't hold your breath for that. Well if he was immortal then I don't think our measly scientists could get to him very easily. Or does he only have superpowers in front of a crowd of students who would never do him harm? As soon as someone wants to take a scalpel to him, he can't clairvoyantly see them coming, can't turn invisible, can't fly away in his golden dragon body, and can't do whatever else (I'd say "shoot fireballs", but then someone would say nobody claimed that, though they were your words, not mine, but yeah, if he could shoot fireballs, he wouldn't have much to worry about). Basically, he's all super powered unless someone wants to hurt him. He's all "I don't care what anybody thinks!" until people talk smack about his life long achievement, then he has hurt feelings. Seriously, you realize you're going back and forth here, right?

This reminds me of when I was reading David Hume (I think it was) back in a philosophy class. One of the things we talked about was some power of "necessary connection." Like, I light something on fire, and smoke comes out. But there doesn't seem to be anything that "makes" the smoke come out. Like, sure, you can analyze it at the smallest level and go, "well, some comes out when this happens." But it's more correlation than causation. When atoms move around faster, things heat up. Is it hot because atoms move around? We like to think so, but there's nothing in our experience (one could argue) that makes it so, and in fact, we can conceive of a situation in which atoms moving around more would heat up.... How does this translate? It doesn't, really. So you could argue philosophically about whether doing a practice heals you, or whether you were healed, and might have healed even if you weren't doing the practice, but in terms of PRACTICAL USAGE, it doesn't matter, and CAN be scientifically verified. So, again, if all these people are going around making claims like, "oh this practice can do this thing (which by the way is easily scientifically verifiable if it were actually happening)", then, in order to verify the legitimacy of the claim, it should be tested. I thought Kunlun was a "quick-quick" practice, getting you results super fast. Or does asking questions slow the process? Is it because it introduces fear and doubt? Stage magicians publicly do stunts all the time. Uri Geller (stage magician) had university science departments devoted to figuring out how he bent spoons. It was a STAGE TRICK and he had UNIVERSITIES trying to figure out the mechanism. And he was FAKE. Imagine what would happen if a single REAL guru/master showed up. I dunno, something like REAL PROGRESS for humanity? I'd do what every other innovator and visionary has done in the past (from Jesus to the Wright brothers): SLAP THEM IN THE FACE WITH HARD, UNDENIABLE PROOF OF WHAT IT IS I'M SAYING I CAN DO!!! For a person who is supposed to be at peace with themselves, I find it hard to believe they'd have such low self esteem when it comes to sharing knowledge.

I experience weird shit too. But nothing that is significantly different than if I just did some recreational drugs. (so far, anyway, I hope to move on up with my practice!) Scotty, you are a cool guy, and I respect you as someone who is very knowledgeable, experienced, and has given great advice, but you have continuously dodged the MAIN points in my past posts. Let me quote them again: These things have been claimed to have happened. These things are easily reproducible and easily verifiable (well, maybe not the disappearing, but knowledge of events and self healing seem to to be pretty common threads for first signs of a practice working). So why is nobody doing them in a manner to verify that they are actually happen outside the person's own mind? Same can be said for any other medical treatment. Yet they work in just enough cases that they are viable options, and it doesn't stop anyone from using them, or experimenting with them. The same might be said for energy healing if people actually took the time to verify that stuff is happening outside of their own minds. And if all it takes is holding the ball for a few months, I bet the Kunlun people could easily find some paralyzed people and see what could happen with them. Even if it only actually worked in a few people, even just ONE well documented case study, it would be PHENOMENAL. Know how we'd know? Rational, scientific examination and inquiry. Know how we'd know? Rational, scientific examination and inquiry. Ah, convenient. It was an allegorical story about someone miraculously self healing from paralysis. Not actually supposed to be taken to be truth. That's good. Maybe more people should know this? Or would that mess up the marketing?

So then: Gotta admit, your argument is pretty shitty too. For all the talk about what Kunluners have, no one's DOING anything. Just coming up with more reasons for why they DON'T do anything. You don't even have to heal anybody. They can heal themselves! The story goes someone taught Kan the hold the ball posture. He held it while watching tv, and was no longer paralyzed. Maybe all Max or Kan have to do is walk into a hospital, teach them hold the ball, and have them do it for a few months. Heck, find some paralyzed combat veterans. I'm sure more than a few of them would do whatever it took for them to walk like new again, no matter how long it took- so long as it worked. Why is this not being done? If kunlun, or any other method for that matter (this is more or less a kunlun thread, but I think it applies) gets so much done, then why isn't anybody actually DOING something???? Seems contradictory to claim you want to spread some good teaching, but then not actually do everything you could possibly do to transmit it in the best manner.

I mean, weird shit happens to people who do drugs. But does that have any bearing on reality? Well, about as real as chemicals in your head getting messed up. I for one am looking for a spiritual practice that is significantly more realistically important than just getting high. Yeah, it'd be a lot easier to just be a pothead for the rest of my life. But that's not why I'm here. So, anything that can be verified scientifically? (bear in mind that a LOT can be verified scientifically) Clairvoyant visions which would be verified according to an event or object that you'd have know way of knowing given our current understanding of how humans receive information? Disappearing body that objects can pass right through? (like coffee cups?) Healing energy which would really help crippled people (including innocent victims who receive spinal injuries from things like drive by shootings). There are a shit ton of things that would 1) verifying the credibility of these methods and 2) help out a lot of people.

I agree with you completely, yet see nothing wrong with people questioning these photos. I don't think it goes against Kunlun or Max. Knowing him the little bit that I do, even if these photos were genuine, I think he'd completely understand the disbelief. I believe it's the Kunlun way to seek the truth, even (especially?) if that means parting ways with the status quo of the community. "Speak your truth" Lucky said "the practice works". Please allow me to ask a very specific question: is there anything scientifically objective that the practice does? I certainly understand the need for a practice that heals you mentally/emotionally. I fully support that (especially in light of my own current situation). HOWEVER, more than just mental/emotional health is being claimed. Physical effects (disappearing, immortality, golden dragon body, heavenly eye, etc) are being claimed. These things happening, and their physical effect, can easily be verified by our current scientific method and technological abilities. Photos aren't really substantial enough to count as "proof" in and of themselves, but they can certainly start the ball rolling in a very positive direction towards a more careful analysis and verification. So.... When people say "the kunlun practice works", are they including these physical effects? (anyone familiar with the practice feel free to answer) Does Kunlun actually produce these in practitioners? Has it been verified, if not, why not? Do they realize the amount of harm being done by not just verifying their method, and instead being all wishy washy about what they want, one moment saying discover it yourself, the next minute producing relatively feeble examples, then turning around and saying "just do it yourself"?

Yes. I have. And it's very (in)convenient, depending on what you want to do. But I haven't experienced anything like that myself. Maybe I will one day. Maybe I won't ever. If stories are going around that you are performing things for your students, who already love and adore you and hang on every word, and then the call gets made for you to do it in front of everyone else, and you fail, and can't do what the reports say, and you can't do what your students have seen you do, what sounds better? A) I cannot actually do it, and was preying on people who already wanted to believe. B ) The moral intelligence of my energy allowed me to perform in front of my students, because it was a learning exercise, and I can't do it in front of the scientists, to prove that there is more to humans than it would initially appear, because it would feed the ego too much. ....... Well..... okay. I (personally) am not saying that B can't happen. That might very well be the case. Maybe the only reason anyone of us can do anything is because we are allowed to do so because of the energy at any given moment. It's just.... well, looking at who stands to gain from what explanation, I think it's pretty self explanatory. Oh, that's right, I suddenly thought of all the gurus who have become corrupted by power, used it for personal gain, became evil sorcerers and demons, terrorized the land, and had to be put down. I guess their energy's moral intelligence allowed them to use their powers for personal use, but not, apparently, to do so in front of an audience!

I usually get really easily fatigued when I'm thinking over stuff too hard and worrying too much. If you've got a boat load of practices, experimenting with moving energy around, and trying to tinker with your energy balance, on top of dealing with a bad marriage..... well damn, I'm getting fatigued just stringing that altogether in one sentence! Take a few days and don't do any of that stuff. Let it all go, get back to your roots. Just be you. Don't worry about energy this, balance that, blah blah blah. Just enjoy whatever it is you happen to be doing. And if you aren't doing something enjoyable, go do something you enjoy. Or just sleep. If that doesn't work after a week, you might have some sort of problem. Fatigue can be a symptom of a lot of different things, stuff not working right and things like that. You might need to see a medical professional. Or it might be a practice thing, maybe a bad blend or something of that sort.

Yes!

No, I do not. And I know a lot about how science can be just as flawed, and can be used for political/economic purposes, just as spirituality can be used. I don't know what's happening And I'm not complaining. I'm just responding to something in a critical fashion. I put emphasis on results PERIOD. You can use it for commercialization if you choose to, or you can choose not to. My point is: where are the results? If all these practices work and produce real effects, where are they? Some people are offering money just for demonstrating something in their presence. All you gotta do is show up, get some cameras rolling, and knock someone over with qi. Or clairvoyantly see what's on the other side of the room. Places like the Monroe Institute offer sessions where you can come and be put into a state that is good to have an OBE. For all the people who have OBE's, can not ONE of them correctly see what's in a place they have no way of physically knowing? People in spiritual communities are quick to jump to "higher level things." Saying things like, "I don't want to mess around with lower level phenomena, like clairvoyance. I'd rather focus on cultivating myself and helping others to do the same." OH REALLY now? You know what would go a long way towards doing that? PROVING that there are non-physical aspects to the human being, and that those non-physical aspects are capable of receiving information that corresponds to a physical reality. THAT would get your message out, and would prompt people to start cultivating. First things first people! Yeah, karma is just so convenient isn't it. Not saying that it can't be real. It's just convenient how it always steps in to prevent someone from doing something. If millions of people queue up on the internet to watch some kitty trying to fight with a printer....... the point is, the media is a powerful tool. Once you put something out there, it's very, VERY hard to cover it up. The MOST people can do is try to spin it in another direction. Accuse it of this or that. Basically PR tricks. Which can easily be countered by other PR tricks. So..... yeah. Cover ups, and being killed by conservative religious groups, and blah blah blah all seem pretty small time to mucho spiritual powerz that some people profess to have. Just like karma: not saying it ain't true, it's just really convenient! What does it do? Make you feel good? That's nice. Eating cookies makes me feel good. Does it activate some heaven eye? Does it make you immortal? Claims like this can easily be verified. If there is a legitimate claim being made, then it needs to be legitimately verified. Not feebly supported by half assed photos that could be replicated by any schmuck with a camera. You're just jealous because you haven't thought of it before Now look, I'm all for practices that make you feel good. I'm all for people thinking like they've become a better person. I'm all for love and unity and working together for a better tomorrow. Emotional and mental health is very important. The issues that I'm going through (which you can see in my thread) are not "objective" in nature. I can't go into a lab and demonstrate that I'm being bothered. But I'm being bothered, and it's real as hell! But again, that's subjective. Maybe if someone who can perceive energy takes a look at me, they can tell me exactly what the deal is. But it's not like they'd be able to scientifically prove it either. So there are limits to what we can prove scientifically even for things we know to be true through direct experience. And I get that. But if you are going to make a claim that something can happen which contradicts all of our testable knowledge about the universe so far, then you need to put it to the test in order to have some kind of credibility to your claim. Otherwise it's about as credible as the pink unicorn that is telling me the addresses of where all of you live and I dare you to prove me wrong.

So fly away? Use your powers/money/legions of cult followers to protect you.

Randi is not the be all end all of science (Randi has been discussed at length here and on other places, in fact, there are a couple loopholes that Randi has in order to escape from someone who stands at risk to win. First and foremost, the part in the rules that states BOTH parties must agree. The scientists in Randi's employ are not the arbiters of what constitutes a proper scientific experiment, Randi is, and if Randi stands to lose, he can back out. Of course, that's not what HE says, but it's in the rules). Regardless: perhaps you (and others) should take a look at this list which names several organizations and groups that have offered money prizes for proof of paranormal. Notice how many have been collected on? Uh huh, that's right, none. For all the gurus running around claiming your system can give you powers, for all the 16 year olds that have been trying every day to go super saiyan, for all the psychics claiming they have powers, NO ONE has succeeded. Not. A. One. And why should they? They get a constant stream of money and popularity just TALKING ABOUT what they can do. They never actually have to DEMONSTRATE it. People believe them ALREADY. And WHY, you ask? Because if you ask for a demonstration, it shows 1) you have no faith 2) you're obviously unwilling to do the work yourself. Nevermind that someone who could actually do it would get 1) tons of money 2) world wide recognition 3) who knows mow many BILLIONS in endorsements. Think about this: you, succeed in levitating in a scientific experiment. You get instant money from the organization(s) you just bested. Upon hearing the announcement, the world over knows you as the levitating guru. Then you shoot a commercial in which you sit there, drink a red bull, levitate, and chant "red bull gives you wings", and each year, red bull deposits 15 million dollars in your account for exclusive advertising rights. You are now set for life. You no longer have to worry about money. You can focus on spiritual pursuits. Or enjoy your cash. If you care about spreading teachings, you have a very good way to do so. If you don't care about that stuff, you can just spend your money. And there you have it. Set for life.

Pretty much. To me, if you want to stay private, that's your prerogative. You got people like John Chang saying, "I won't teach, bye." And that's okay (well it's not like he didn't cause some ripples of his own, but let's move on). Who knows how many masters there are out there that can do amazing things, but none of us will EVER know because they want to stay private. As much as I personally want masters to step forward, if they want to stay silent, that's their prerogative, and I respect that. HOWEVER, once you step out into the public sphere, well, it's like stepping off the edge of a cliff. You can't go around saying, "hey guys, I can turn invisible and fly around!" and then turn around and be like, "nah, I won't show you, I want to keep my stuff private.... but here are a few photos I took in my spare time. Oh, you believe me? Great, here's the info for my seminar. Oh, you don't believe me? Well, I guess you just aren't ready for spiritual advancement." Well, you could, but you'd have absolutely no air of legitimacy (translation: don't whine when people call you a fraud, because you are exhibiting textbook fraudulent behavior) It's sketchy at best, and at worst, it's a really big dick move, because you are purporting to have some mega awesome healing/empowering/enlightening system, but you aren't doing something that would be really easy to do if you could actually do it, which would spread your method to the world a LOT faster than one seminar at a time. Of course, you'd be getting a lot more opportunities to get money if you did it one seminar at a time (rather than one time on the world's stage). But we've discussed how (un)profitable seminars really are in past threads, so I don't mean to resurrect an already beaten and very very very dead horse.

All righty, so we've all heard the whole "no separation" bit and everything, which sounds nice in theory. All one and the same, blah blah blah. Right, well, as a result of practices, I've started to feel that a bit more.... constantly? And it's kind of bothersome sometimes. Emptiness and stillness are all good, but then if a roommate is having a bad day, I suddenly start to feel his irritation. If I'm doing work, I start to feel how people are looking in my direction. Maybe it's all in my head and going crazy, but it feels like lots of peoples' "presences" are with me, and sometimes I just want it to be just me, rather than worrying about all the crazy people around me. Makes me appreciate a solitary life in the mountains a bit more but that just aint feasible for me right now. So, how to deal? Any good ways to isolate myself when I need to?

Thank you very much. Excellent analogies. I will certainly try this

There is no short way that I can respond to that. So here I go.... It's not about shifting the responsibility from the individual. It's about having a shared system of accountability. For example, let's say I want to buy a car. I go down to the car dealership, and a salesman says, "oh yeah, this car is really great. Lots of people have bought this car, and they all really like it. A few people have had problems, but for the most part, those are people who used the car in the wrong way." And you ask: "what's the gas mileage?" And their response is: "well gas mileage changes depending on how you use the car. High performance cars sometimes need to drive at higher speeds to get better gas mileage, so if you are mostly driving around in the city, it might not be as good." And you go: "uh.... okay, what's the average gas mileage?" And their response is: "well that depends on the factors I already stated." So you go: "okay... nevermind.... is this car safe?" And they respond: "well that depends on what type of accident you get into. If you get hit by a semi truck, it'll be a lot worse than if you got hit by a motor scooter." And you say: "okay... well, what's its overall safety rating?" And they say: "well that depends on you as an individual! Are you a good driver? You should examine your own driving habits to determine if you are at risk of a fatal car accident. You shouldn't pick a car that will be a death trap for you." Would you buy a car from this salesman? I'm going to say that most of us will not. Yes, there is the responsibility of the buyer to do research. If you haven't gone off road before, buying an off road vehicle and taking it off road on your own probably isn't the best idea. You might have a bad experience of it because you have no idea what you are doing. On the other hand, if there is a set of standards to determine what general performance is, that greatly helps. And if you are a seasoned off road driver, reading a report of someone who's never done it before saying, "I took this car out on my first time off road, and it was horrible!" you are going to know that that individual report probably doesn't apply to you, nor will it greatly affect your own enjoyment of the vehicle. On top of that, there are things like gas mileage, safety ratings, and things like that. Obviously things change in a case by case basis. But it's good to have a baseline of what something can and cannot do. Now while most people would never buy from a salesman like that, people in spiritual traditions REGULARLY act in the manner of these salesmen, and all kinds of people spend their time and money on a system that may or may not turn out to be trash, or may or may not turn out to be a jewel. How many people have had their money wasted, or their bodies seriously injured, by fraudulent teachers handing out poor systems? Call it karma, call it whatever, but in my opinion there is no rational justification for this. Having a set of standards to hold everyone accountable to is the first step in ensuring that effective methods (for whatever) get to the people who need them. It is ridiculous that for every 1 legitimate method out there, there are 100 false, potentially harmful ones out there, and someone can go their entire life and NEVER encounter a legitimate method, simply because there is so much shit floating around out there, and no way to tell the garbage from the jewels. Spiritual traditions have created an atmosphere where asking questions is wrong. The mark of a good student is that he or she tries a method out themselves, and "proves it to himself/herself". Ignoring the fact that many of these techniques reportedly require years to manifest results, this is just plain NOT COMMON SENSE. You're telling me that the only way to figure out if something is real or not is to do it myself? You realize how ridiculous that is? It would take YEARS just work through all the traditions I've come across in my own short span of life. How about this: if you say you can do something, or that a system can get you to a point where you can do something, you DO IT and SHOW that it can be done. Hm? I've tried to draw, for example, and can't do it at all. Yet I know it's possible because there are artists doing stuff every day. They put out art all the time. I can go up and ask, "how did you draw this?" And they will show it to me. And I will try the method. And I will fail. But someone else will try the same method, and will succeed! So I'll try the method again, and get an ok looking picture. And another person will try it and fail, or make a great picture. I've never been able to clairvoyantly see something (you don't know how convenient that would have made test taking in school!), yet for all of the people running around saying they can see things at a distance, NO ONE has reliably demonstrated it. If you ask them to, you get responses like, "do it yourself!" or "be responsible for your own life!" We have people like running around, and why? Because we LET her by not holding people accountable to some standard, and just buying into whenever someone says they have "something". If we as a society held spiritual traditions, psychics, qigong masters, and everyone else to the same standard of accountability that we hold everything else to, frauds would have no room to exist, and real teachings could spread to the people who need them! People have associated a virtuous student with one who shuts up and sits still, and a non-virtuous student with one who asks questions and wants it proven to him or her, and as such, they can hide behind that to avoid taking responsibility for their own claims. If you ask a question you don't like, you obviously "aren't ready" for the teachings.

The burden of proof lies with the people making the claims. It's not someone's responsibility to prove that so-and-so isn't what they say they are. It's so-and-so's responsibility to prove they are what they say they are.

I know nothing about DNA and how changes in it correspond to physical characteristics. From what I remember from intro biology, DNA is replicated, and there are various stops at certain parts of DNA strands which prevent some stuff from being copied too often (for example, limbs grow once, then are blocked to prevent arms from continuous growth). Which to me sounds like all sorts of DNA could sit there, and if it has a block on it, and never gets replicated, won't ever do anything except sit there. That also sounds to me that if we found a way to remove blocks, "one time" growths like organs and limbs could be replaced as needed just from our own bodies growing them as if it were doing so for the first time. But I've heard for years that "junk DNA" is where "powers" are. That we don't use 98% of our brains and that is where "powers" are. That ages and ages ago humans had all sorts of abilities but "forgot them"..... and using so-and-so's insert-here system will uncover your own hidden potential! Click here and read all the awesome testimonies, then subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Find out how to empower your life, increase your life force, unlock your own latent powers, and be rich, successful, and popular, while discovering the meaning of life and attaining immortality and unity with the divine healing light. Seriously, it really works, lots of people have said so! And if I lied about it, wouldn't that only hurt my reputation? So since I obviously have no reason to lie, there's no reason why you shouldn't believe me just because I say so! Yeah. A quick trip to a group of researchers would clear this up right away, and would go a long way to advancing humanity.

Any info on the group that conducted the testing?

If teachers in general would be more willing to meet the standards of scientific investigation common sense, then those of us seeking a legitimate path wouldn't have to navigate such a treacherous field of frauds, blinds, money traps, etc in the first place. Not to say that real teachers aren't out there. Not to say anything about Kunlun in particular. It's just that it's that much harder to find a real method that will get you real results if it's one among thousands of fraudulent methods. So, yeah, it'd be great if Max, or Kan, or anyone with "something" would put their methods to the test, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think some types of meditations are best done with sitting. To do them when standing.... I don't know what will happen. That said, there are a lot of different types of standing. There's standing for meditation, standing for martial arts, etc etc. Each of these has a different goal. B.K. Frantzis, in "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" teaches a standing practice used for dissolving. The point of this practice is to get to a spot where you stand and keep yourself there by relying on natural body alignment. In this way you can stand, but be as relaxed as possible. Now if you look at some standing methods of, say, Yin style bagua, you'd get a slightly different flavor. While I think that style does have some standing meditation poses, it also uses standing as a method of conditioning. So you take a certain pose, and hold it. It's supposed to be difficult. It's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable at the beginning. Being able to stick with it is what builds the type of whole body strength that yin style bagua uses. IMHO, unless you have gotten a lot of experience in a lot of different types of standing, don't be trying to mix and match stuff. Don't try to do a dissolving stance while trying to incorporate endurance building aspects of a yin style bagua approach, and don't throw in some sitting meditation aspects because you want to get it all in one go. It might not turn out so great. Then again, it might turn out great. I wouldn't do it unless I had a lot of experience, and was fairly comfortable that the two mixed well.