Sloppy Zhang

If I recall correctly, he says best results are outside and yes, in the sun, because the practice is most effective when working with solar energy. But I'm feeling a need for some of that moon energy right now Yes, I did see this post! And I have seen several writings which describe something like this. But I think that if there's a qigong set that Dr. Baolin Wu teaches associated with it, it might have some movements or some other component besides just this (not to say that this alone is anything to scoff at!)

I dunno either Just a feeling I got! Dr. Baolin Wu mentions about how solar qigong works with energy from the sun. He says that the five centers works with the moon. I'm feeling the need for a more yin related practice, and though I'd ask about it!

Cool. But I'd rather not turn this thread into a discussion on transmissions. It's been done before. Same old stuff. Got Dr. Baolin Wu's book a little while ago. Good stuff. But the weather has gotten colder recently. I'm not one for cool weather. I'm looking for a practice that's a bit more "yin" in nature, 'cause I don't feel like trying to persist in a warm weather practice when the weather isn't warm Five centers facing heaven is something I've come across from time to time, thought I'd try and give it a look, and hopefully it'll be what I need

I don't believe in that If the energy exists and is compatible with a human through the correct practice, then by virtue of the fact that I am human and doing the correct practice, it should work without some intermediary teacher. If you want to play semantics, then the teacher is my experience, the universe, or some other clever assortment of words and connotations. All I need, then, is the practice.

What kind of info? Isn't everything?

Does anyone have any advice on how to overcome a phobia? Not much more I can say.... pretty straightforward question

So lately I've tried to cut down the amount of time I spend posting on forums, mostly because I have other things to do, and also because, well, most of the conversations don't go very far. Running on treadmills is good exercise, but when you want to get somewhere, it's best to get off. However, I find that many threads involving technical or how-to aspects of training get bogged down with philosophical discussion. Case in point, ralis' third eye thread. It's a question asked by a lot of people, and is representative of a lot of different aspects. You ask, "how do I open the third eye? What's a good method?" And instead of some good techniques, a lot of what you get is, "well why do you want to open the third eye?" "the fact that you ask this question means you aren't ready" "are you looking for psychic powers? Why do you want those?" "perhaps you should focus on living a good life, chop wood, carry water...." etc etc etc etc. On a personal note, responses like that kind of piss me off. Someone is asking a how-to. They aren't looking to open up some philosophical discussion. I've been around long enough to know that, yes, personal philosophy/motivations can play a big impact on performance and your own personal development but.... who cares? If I go to a muscle building website, who cares if I want to bulk up so I can attract the ladies or to help my parents with chores out on their farm? But since so many people seem intent on discussing the philosophy, and all the "why's" behind why someone should, or should not, pursue powers, abilities, high amounts of energy, feats of extraordinary mental/physical/spiritual cultivation, thereby drowning out some potentially helpful responses, I decided to make a kind of catch all thread where you can write and discuss your own and others' opinions on the pursuit of all the aforementioned and whatever you can come up with yourself. And please please please, stop flooding threads where someone asks a technical question with your own personal philosophy or questions about their motivations. So, have at it

Can't you say that "natural progression" is getting better at doing things we can already do? We can already walk, get from one place to another, so why not run, then run really, really fast, then fly? We already had the printing press, we could already print things, why did we need to create the typewriter? And then the computer (which requires a separate printing apparatus in order to get stuff from a screen onto the paper)? You mentioned there's no need to see through walls when you can just walk around and see what's on the other side, well what if you think someone has broken into your house? Why put yourself in danger when you can just see whether the person on the other side is a potentially violent intruder, or just your brother trying to sneak in late after everyone has already gone to sleep? Why be content with the rather limited array of things humans can do right now? Why not improve? Sure, opening a door with your mind might be clunky and inefficient at first, but so is typing. I mean, think about when you first learned to type, you didn't know where the keys were, you were using your fingers in ways that you probably had never used them before, and, after time you got faster and faster (well some people are slow typists, even after a long time). But the point is, it's awkward at first, and you get better. Just like any other skill. So I guess you never use a car, or take a plane, or train, or boat when going long distances? It's just incredibly more efficient to be able to clairvoyantly be able to find a missing person, than it is to go organize a giant search party, which takes time, doesn't always work, and in worse case scenarios, can give a victim time to be tortured and/or killed. I know you don't necessary support every aspect of the idea you're putting forward personally, but I urge everyone who DOES think in the way you are putting forward, to think a little bit harder: Just because we can do something now, does that mean we shouldn't seek ways to improve? In cases like this, I think of people like Natalee Holloway. No one knows exactly what happened to her. The only person that may know is not helpful, and changes the story to boost his own notoriety. Then there are all these people talking about developing psychic powers, and how they shouldn't be used for selfish purposes, and how they will only demonstrate them to students who "are worthy". And honestly, it makes me sick. If you got the goods, use them to find people like Holloway. Help put criminals behind bars. Help the parents of people like this have some closure, rather than leaving them with a gaping emotional wound that does nothing but festers over the years. And then situations like just make me sick. People who have legitimate skills need to put these people in their place, and give the real stuff to the people. I think it's very important to see both sides of the issue. As much as I love imagination, and having an imagination, and being creative, and understanding that there are aspects of humanity which aren't strictly physical or rational, I also think it's important to be practical. And practically speaking, psychic "powers" would be INCREDIBLY useful and helpful. And anyone who can't see that, I think, needs to think a little bit harder, and a bit further outside the box in which they are currently thinking.

Thanks for posting that! Sometimes the devil tempts with lies, and sometimes the devil tempts with truths. Palpatine was a very manipulative bastard. I think there were a lot of truths in what he told Anakin. Why need to lie? Anakin had all the requirements necessary to be a very powerful jedi or a sith. The deal closer, I think, was when he told (lied to) Anakin, that he had accidentally killed Padme (when she was really alive). Anakin didn't have anything to live for, fell into despair, and had no real target to direct his power towards. He had killed or helped to kill most of the Jedi, had already confronted his master, Obi-Wan, so he had nothing/no one to live for than Palpatine. All this changed of course when he met his son, and witnessed his near murder, when (in my humble opinion) he returned to his roots- he's not a bad guy, he just wanted to help the people he cared about, but he had killed all those he cared about, oh wait, here's a son he didn't know was alive who's getting shocked to death by the emperor. Okay, time to kill the emperor! Why learn to shoot a basketball from the three point line, when you can shoot it from the free throw line? From the baseline? Why even learn to shoot a basketball? What's the point? Why keep doing sprinting competitions when we have cars that can go faster? Who cares about the human limits Usain Bolt has pushed when we have jets that that can go thousands of times faster? Why invent the light bulb when we already had candles? Why invent the computer when we already had the typewriter? This isn't a knock at you, it's just that I've heard the idea you are saying supported before by other people, and I am talking about the idea here: Frankly, I think that idea is rather short sighted, and unnecessarily limiting. I like that post of yours It was straight forward and direct, and says it like it is. I think that's what needs to be done more. Just tell it like it is. Sure, some people GENUINELY don't care about power. Some people REALLY only want to help other people and do the most good. But a lot of people (in my opinion) just hold on to and profess some moral code, and try to push it on anyone who isn't acting in accordance with that code, in order to hide (from) their own selfish desires.

Sorry if you've already answered, but what do you consider a good way to open the third eye?

I feel that this is true in many cases as well.

I'm interested in whether anyone with experience would care to elaborate a bit more on Sagan's book/method of opening the third eye. I've had it for a little while now, but mostly focused on other practices in the mean time. But it seems to have gotten some good support here, so I was wondering if a little more light could be shed on it.

I'm a communication studies major, and that's one of the things we talk about, and it's a subject that I've pursued with a couple of my professors. It's really scary stuff. And every time I turn on the tv, I see it happen. The sad thing is, though, I feel like Cassandra- I can see it happening, but I'm unable to convince anyone. It really bothers me If you know a way to help them get over a hangover, then why not help them? Sure, they're probably going to get wasted again, wake up with another hangover again.... but is that a reason to not help them this time? My best friend always winds up with a terrible girlfriend, and he always needs help with bad relationship situations, I help him out, and he just does it again.... does that mean that the next time he has relationship troubles, I shouldn't help him because he just keeps on getting into the mess? Even if I explain the reason is because he keeps looking for external validation by dating a girl even though their relationship winds up crashing and burning and is based on lies, he still does it... does that mean I shouldn't help him? I guess it boils down to: Should you help, even though it's futile? Should we ignore someone in need just because we feel like our input won't change anything? (it certainly feels that way on internet forums sometimes *thinks back to the days when I come to TTB and see three identical topics made by three different people all on the first page....* )

YMAA has a good 24 Yang Style Form + 36 Form DVD (I mainly stuck to the 24 form, but the 36 form is kinda neat too). Yang long form is good. Don't know any good DVD's on it, but the books by Yang Chengfu and Fu Zhongwen on Yang style are both very good, and describe the long form very well. Someone with martial art experience probably won't have many problems learning the long form from the first go, but if you want to get a taste, the 24 short form is nice and compact, and gives you a good feel, and if you're a beginner, 24 form is a good introduction. And if you want to go on to the long form, you basically already know most of the techniques you need to know from the short form. Don't know much about the Cheng Man Ching form.

I'm glad so many people are responding positively to that very nerdy post Earlier today, my mom lost her reading glasses. She had them in the morning, but in the afternoon she couldn't find them. She was looking all over the place all afternoon, and didn't find them until later in the evening. She got me and my sister to help her look, but we couldn't find them either. I just kept thinking, "if only I could psychically find these....." (my mom later found her glasses). I've thought about things like dowsing before. Finding missing persons. Finding terrorists and other criminals. Lots of good use. It really bothers me when those in the spiritual community say things like, "oh, you shouldn't focus so much on parlor tricks, you should instead pursue real spiritual development." Or things like, "oh those tricks are just distractions from the real path." But then turn around and say things like, "oh yeah, my teacher is able to psychically tell where people are, but he won't teach you because it's a distraction, and he doesn't want to prove it because he has better things to do, and he doesn't want all the publicity." Seriously, many "powers" have overwhelmingly positive purposes, which would really help fix a lot of problems. I see nothing wrong with pursing these "powers" because of all the help. Obviously I don't think spiritual/moral/whatever development should be ignored. But neither should "powers/abilities". Studying them simultaneously with other aspects of spiritual development help put them in the proper context, for those who are concerned about abuse of powers. And, people tend to assume that if you give people powers that they will abuse it and the world would just crumble. Sure, there's probably always going to be abuse of power. But it's not like the "bad guys" will be the only ones who could abuse power, and it's not like the "good guys" won't have the power to check them. And in the meantime, people like my mom won't have problems finding her reading glasses. *waits patiently for someone to say "it was your mom's karma to lose her glasses" and "it's karma that we can't find missing persons" or "it would not be karmically possible to have the world's spiritual advancement move to the point where these abilities are so widespread*

I'm a bit of a star wars fan, so I'm going to run with this for a bit........ The thing about Anakin Skywalker specifically, was that he didn't want cool powers with no real work. He wanted powers to HELP people. This is looked at a bit more in the expanded universe than in the movies (which portrayed this horribly). Basically, he didn't want people to die. His mother died, and he felt powerless to help. He never wanted that to happen again. His master, Obi-Wan, was skilled, but Anakin, being the "chosen one", thought he was better, so he was always willing to get his master out of any rough situations. During the Clone Wars, Anakin would rarely, if ever, let the clone troopers under his command do anything. Anakin would usually rush in on his own, and try to clean up the place for himself, because he didn't want to see anyone die when he could have done something himself. Later on, with his wife, he saw visions of her dying, the same thing that happened with his mother just before her death (and he blamed himself for not being strong enough to stop it). He did not want his wife to die. So he turned to his masters and asked for advice, how to gain powers, how to prevent people from dying. And what answers did he receive? "Well people live and people die. It's the natural way of things." To which he responded, "well what if you really, really care about someone, and you don't want them to die?" "Well it's good to have compassion for things, but you should learn to let things go...." To which he responded, "well what if you really, really, REALLY cared about someone, and you wanted to get stronger to prevent them from getting hurt?" "You should not hold a selfish love for any one particular thing, nor should you seek to amass power to hold on to that thing, or prevent it from going its natural course. Such attachment is not the jedi way." (does any of this sound familiar? ) Of course, something the Jedi did not understand were Anakin's true motivations. In episode I, Qui-Gon Jinn explains how in more advanced planets, Jedi are found at birth and taken from their parents. No Jedi in Anakin's time had ever experienced the personal connection between a child and mother, nor between a specific individual. No Jedi properly understood how Anakin felt. Instead, they responded with the textbook answer: "It's not right to seek power." He tried to tell people how he just HAD to be made a Jedi master. But he DIDN'T tell them that the reason he had to be a master was so that he could access restricted information involving force powers which might possibly be used to save his wife- and having a wife, or any sort of attachment like that, was forbidden to the jedi. So what did Anakin do? He looked for someone who understood him (and if you think about it, Palpatine really did understand Anakin better than the Jedi, which is why he could manipulate Anakin so easily). He looked for someone who would offer him something that he could not find from the Jedi. If you look in the expanded universe, that's how a LOT of sith are created- their teachers just sling textbook responses their way, they do not seek to understand the frustration their students are feeling, they do not attempt to teach to the student, and in "doing what's best" for the student, they drive the student in the opposite direction. The same thing is happening in real life. In many cases, right here on this forum. Rather than seeking to understand people, they just sling the textbook answer. I have experimented with a few things in the past. I personally have a very good understanding about the use and misuse of power. When I see people misusing power, it affects me very strongly. But that's just from my personal experience. I don't have the authority or power to make people see things my way, to make them act in the way I'd act, or to stop them from doing anything wrong. I don't know if I'd even want to do that if I had the power to do so. I personally don't know what I'd do in a given situation involving "powers". However, I have a good idea of what I WOULDN'T do.

You could have just said that. Or you could have just stayed out of the thread. Neat link. But really. I hate to sound like I'm picking on you, because you're not the only person doing this but.... it doesn't get anyone anywhere. "hi, I don't believe you should be going about things in the way you're going about them, I have no intention to help, but let me take up space in the thread, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah." Anyway, now I'M becoming part of the problem so, so let me just stop with this: I've received excellent advice from people (some on this board) that helped me through some very important times. So I don't think it's pointless to ask for outside assistance. I agree that we know a lot and can discover a lot just by relying on ourselves. But sometimes asking for help allows us to interpret things we might know, but don't understand. Or it lets other people tell us things which we have a hard time admitting to ourselves (like flaws we know we have, we just never face). On the other hand, I've gotten advice that wasn't really applicable. In those cases, I listened to the advice, tried to understand where that person was coming from, and tried to see the value in it, even if it didn't work for me. I don't think asking for advice is pointless. I don't know if "doing what others say exactly as they say it" is a positive way of looking at the situation, because of course, you should adapt things for your own self and situation. However, if YOU think that asking for outside help holds no merit, and you do not intend to provide assistance to anyone else, that's fine, it's your prerogative..... but beating around the bush, playing "guess how I'd answer this question", and other games (which may or may not be played by you, specifically, but are certainly played by others) are not necessary.

His question was: how to open the third eye. Your answer was: if one is closed, the others cannot be opened (which means that, if one is closed, the others are also closed). Which then begs the question: how do you open them? If you had answered the question, we wouldn't be left with the question we started with..... It's fine if you want to explain the reason for why chakra(s) might be closed. But if you fail to explain how you can use that knowledge to then open a chakra/s, then you didn't answer the question....... So: care to elaborate on how to open the chakras? If opening the third eye requires opening the other chakras, then how does one go about doing that?

No offense... but who cares? As I have seen happen on many a spiritual forum, someone asks a technical question about a technical aspect of practice or a specific method, and it is met with philosophical discussion and questions. If you know a method, but don't want to share, then don't say anything. If you don't know a method, and don't think it should be pursued, then don't say anything. If you want to start a discussion about the pursuit of enlightenment/powers/sex/money/compassion/popularity/whatever, then start a different thread. I don't mean to respond to/pick on you specifically, but the type of sentiment you raised has happened thousands of times in the past, and probably much more before that, and it honestly contributes absolutely nothing to the discussion. It's like a teen asking how to have safe sex, and then a bunch of people start throwing out their personal opinions towards sex, and pretty much talking about every single point EXCEPT the important one. IMHO, a technical thread should stick to technical aspects of the techniques being taught. Any other debate should, I think, be done in a different thread. And on that note, I sent this link to Ralis via PM, partly because I've tried to cut down how much time I spent on forums, and partly because I wanted to steer clear of threads which I know aren't going to produce much but..... this is something I came across a while ago, dunno if it was on this forum, whether I got it from someone, or what: http://www.clairvision.org/books/ate/free-download-awakening-the-third-eye.html (it's available for download by the creators of the book, at least that's my understanding, so no need to fear copyright infringement!) The method seems to start out focusing on breathing, and trying to get a very tactile awareness of that breath, being able to feel it physically in the body, then being able to have that same feeling with energy/awareness, then centering that feeling/energy/awareness in the area of the third eye.

So if anyone has read the book "Qi Dao- Tibetan Shamanic Qigong: the Art of Being in the Flow", the author, Lama Somananda Tantrapa says that his grandfather aided in teaching martial arts to the Soviet military, and some of the principles he taught can be seen in arts such as systema. I've seen a few demos and explanations like which, while I don't understand what's being said, seems to talk about relaxed power in punching. B.K. Frantzis in an article here says that he is convinced that much of Morihei Ueshiba's skill came from some sort of internal martial arts training, most likely bagua, which he might have learned from time spent in China, but due to the political atmosphere during the time he taught he was unable to give proper credit for the source of his techniques. Watching a video like , I can almost directly see someone walking the circle, or doing a palm change. Does anyone have any experience with either of these two arts? Or has anyone trained in or seen another art that also has very apparent internal principles, but is not generally talked about in terms of "internal martial arts"? As always, any thoughts would be appreciated

So a big deal that a lot of people make a lot of the time when it comes to learning, is learning from a teacher. And a big part of why this is important isn't just for the technical details that the teacher can provide, and physical corrections, but on the "powerful energy workings" that the teacher can perform directly on the student, and how the student, merely by being in his (or her) presence, can feel this energy and be oh so amazed. It's why you just can't learn "the real stuff" from a book or a DVD. Now I've always been just a bit too out of range, and always a bit too underfunded, to ever get a chance to get any of the "real stuff". I've been learning from books/DVDs since I started. Now I consider myself a pretty motivated person. I don't just read the stuff. I study it. I really make it my own. And there's one thing that I've always thought: if this stuff is "real", if this universal energy actually exists, if these physical alignments really work, well, they should work regardless if a teacher gives me some energy juice to "start me up". Why? Well, by virtue of the fact that I'm a living, breathing human being. I got all the right parts. So it should work for me, right? And in general, this has worked out pretty good for me. Actually, just to prevent any subsequent confusion: this has always worked out for me. I started with the martial arts. All I had were crap McDojos. So I got a DVD. I was met with all this "oh well you can't ever learn REAL stuff from a DVD." And, I'm not a pro MMA fighter. I'm not a super ninja master. But I'm a pretty decent fighter, I can hold my own against people who put in a lot more training that I do, and I've successfully defended myself in a few encounters. All from my DVD home study material. Just looking at it, copying what I see, figuring out how my own body responded, figuring out how it would apply anatomically, testing it out, then going back to the basics. This carried on over in qigong. I wasn't sure if qi was real, or if it was just a metaphor. But I figured, if it is real, I should have the capacity to feel it whether or not I have someone initiate me, right? It actually seems kinda fishy if you can only feel it if someone else gives it to you.... at least, that's how I saw it. Same with body alignments (which was another argument that the MAists made for why you can't learn from a DVD, because you don't have someone to correct you). I started out trying to figure out just how to get my spine straight. How do I bend from the kwa? How do I sink the shoulders and round the back, but without slouching? I think I figured these all out reasonably well, because when it felt wrong, I didn't do it, and went back to the books/DVD's. Tinkered around a bit, until I found an alignment that felt good and looked like what I was seeing. And then I started to feel something. Qi? I dunno, maybe. Then I started to feel stuff from other people. Occasionally an animal, or a place. I'm not some ascended immortal. But I've had, and continue to have, some experiences. Some are good. Some are bad. I try not to judge. But stuff is happening. The point is, I just don't know if I buy the whole you must learn from a teacher in person. There are a lot of quality guys putting some quality material out there in book/DVD/audio/whatever format. Experience, I think, should be the initiator. When you get punched in the face when you mess up a block, your body learns very quickly how to angle that block- no need to travel 2 and a half hours to get some great master to tell you to change the angle. When you slip into the proper alignment, and your body feels unified and energized, and you can feel everything around you, that's how you know you've got the juice. I don't know if I need to travel 18 hours just so I can get someone to tell me to close my eyes so they can wave their hands around my mind, all the while telling me what they're doing and asking if I feel anything (which is kinda similar to stage magic suggestion anyway....) I don't know what this is. A rant? A question? I just feel like, as human beings, we all have the capability. If you got something you want to teach, or if there's something you want to learn.... why does everyone insist on this "in person" business? If you got the internet, youtube lets you upload videos for free. There are any number of free blogging services out there which will let you write anything you want on there. It just seems to me that if you want to teach people, drop this whole "in person" business. Say what you want to say. Show what you want to show. A genuine person who genuinely wants to learn will accumulate their own genuine experiences without you having to wave your hands over them.

If we were born in the ocean, do we really need someone to show it to us?

In his book, "Astral Dynamics", Robert Bruce says that the vibrations are a sign of the projected double being created (the projected double is basically an energy body that your body generates which is the thing that projects when you astral project). He says that this happens to everyone every night, except that usually when it happens the mind is usually already asleep, and as the body falls asleep all this crazy stuff happens. But when you do practices that keep your awareness as you fall asleep, you will encounter this stuff. It can be scary, and in some cases quite violent and extreme sensations, loud noises, scary feelings, etc etc, but it's energetic- someone watching your body as you sleep would not see your body move. Feelings of sliding around or moving can also be signs that you are projecting, because your awareness is starting to project outside of your body, so it might feel that you're moving around a lot, but if you "wake up" you'll notice you haven't moved at all. Relax, don't be afraid, go with it, and maybe something interesting will happen

Yeah, after I posted it I noticed it was kinda long. I type pretty fast though, so it didn't seem that long as I was writing it. Oh well.

*sigh* How did I know you were going to respond so literally to the "ten minute" comment? It seems like whenever someone wants to dodge a point, they do so by examining it in an excessively literal fashion. When I wish a performer good luck by saying "break a leg", I am not wishing that they physically break their leg...... The point is that ten minutes is a minimum. A rather pathetic one, especially given the context of qigong/neigong. Obviously the hope is that you exceed that in the teaching. But you could at least try. If you really cared about getting the good stuff out to people, there are tons of easy ways to do it. You could put hundreds of hours of videos up on youtube. Plenty of people put a shit ton of videos up that have literally ZERO VALUE. There are thousands of hours of video game footage. It's videos of other people playing a video game.... and people watch it. Ten minutes is nothing. Again. It's 2010. There are no good excuses.