Sloppy Zhang

I dunno, with all the injuries, costs, and problems associated with motor vehicles, maybe we should just start teaching running qigong to everyone, and we'll all just run and jump around wherever we need to go.... I mean, if you start young do you think most people could learn it by the time they are ~16-18, that's when people get their driver's license.

Thanks for sharing this

YES! I used to hate doing pushups, they were hard. Sure, I was sort of out of shape, but doing push ups was really hard. Then I got some push up bars. Push ups were still really hard. It was annoying to do them. Then one day I tried some regular push ups.... my chest slammed against the ground and pushed up so hard my hands left the ground it felt like I was only doing half a push up. A normal push up seemed like nothing. I also noticed a significant increase in my strength, as well as visible muscle tone

How are you doing your push up? If you do a push up to focus on your tricep, your punching power will increase greatly. When I did karate, and also wing chun, our knuckle push ups were done to focus on triceps. Then I got a set of push up bars, they dramatically increased my range of motion and again I used them to focus on the tricep area. Sufficed to say, after just a few weeks my triceps got much bigger, and my punching power went way up. So.... I do push ups because they work. Now if you are in a manual labor job that involves moving in a variety of ways with various heavy things well.... you already got your workout. As long as you vary the types of push ups you do, and gets as many muscle groups as possible, they are good.

First time I heard his name was in a comment on this video.... mewtwo, I thought you were gonna move on with your life!

Hm, that's interesting you bring that up. I have tried various different methods, and have found that even though they talk about similar things, they have different feels to them. Maybe this is one of the reasons why. I looked up samatha on wikipedia, and found a lot of interesting stuff on it, namely this bit: On the subject of "Jedi tricks", I have seen it written by a number of people that concentration is the way to get stuff like that, however as it says above, you can reach a highly concentrated state by several ways... anyway, I too would like to hear of your Jedi experiences, if you are willing to share, and if not, that's okay too

Yes, I've tried blocking thoughts. It's interesting. For stuff like western magick and various other things, it is a useful method because it allows you to get something done with complete focus. However, I would say that the "watching thoughts", and "letting them go as they arise" are more useful for a way to live life- you aren't trying to keep stuff out and you aren't taking a risk of repressing stuff or proverbially pushing everything into the closet and forcing the door shut. Hm, great, will have to try that

Yikes, that's pretty intense

How did you get here? Were you born? If so, you got here through sex. Sex is how we, as humans, got here. Sex is how we, as humans, will remain here. Sexuality is part of being human. Humans (I believe, at least) are spiritual. Therefore sexuality is part of being spiritual. It is one of the many facets of being human. You have intellect, emotions, feelings, attachments, hopes, dreams, and sexual feelings. To deny these is to deny being human, and I think that pretty much any spiritual path I have read about (if not directly studied) has, as one of its central goals, realization, and part of that realization is realizing what you are: human. That entails so many good things, and so many bad things. However, just like anything, it can be bad when taken to extremes. Too much sex? Bad news. Not enough sex? Could be signs of a problem. Now this doesn't mean if you don't have sex there's something wrong with you- rather, it's the repression of sex, or the revulsion by sex, and stuff like that, which is the problem. You can be like, "yeah sex is cool it's just not my thing." That's not bad, I don't think. There are many health benefits to sex, many health benefits to masturbation. Chemicals are produced, things are moved around, yadda yadda. Too much can cause a problem. So how do you know when something is going to be healthy? Stillness, introspection, reflection. Are you having sexual desires because your body is saying, "hey I need to produce some chemicals", or are you getting sexual desires because you've got a bunch of porn on your computer? Are you having sexual desires because every night before you go to bed it helps to get a little release to help you fall asleep? Is it REALLY something for your body, or is it a neural pathway that's been made, an emotional crutch that's been developed? For this, only you can answer. It's part of realizing your true nature. B.K. Frantzis writes in one of his books that his teacher, Liu Hung Chieh, said sex really doesn't impact spirituality- some people have more than others. But that again comes from reflection- are you having these feelings because YOU want them, or because they have been forced on you? Anyway, just think about it. Especially for Taoism, which draws so many things from nature and the natural world. A while ago someone posted the blood sutra (I think it was), and one of the things it mentioned was part of enlightenment is realizing that you are human. That includes having sex. Now, whether you can have sex without attachment is another matter, but just because you abstain from sex doesn't mean you are free from attachment, and just because you have sex doesn't mean you are bound by it. You've obviously already figured out that if we all stopped having sex, none of us would be here keep going.

Whew, what a large question! In general I would say- stick to what appeals to you, what are you more attracted to, what fits into your worldview? Specifically, both of them, while commonly thought to be systems of divination, are both systems of organizing and explaining different events in the world. Pietro in the I Ching translations thread outlined one such way of viewing the I Ching. With Tarot, the major arcana specifically, it represents a progression of sorts, with different cards representing different tiers, levels of complexity, and steps in the path, and once you get to the end it cycles back to the beginning. To that extent, their "differences" are mostly culturally defined, and pretty skin deep. For the Tarot, I suggest you start off with "classical" tarot, for example, pick up aMarseilles Tarot Deck. These are closer to some of the decks that were commonly played with back in the day, and are closer to some of the symbols that many people started to incorporate. Later (more modern) decks are influenced a lot by what A.E. Waite did, as well as Aleister Crowley. And it's not that what they did was bad, but they did their own research and redid the tarot according to what was meaningful for them, using symbolism and words that were important in their paradigms. If you want a more "untouched" set to work with, go with the older tarot. Heck, if you want a system of divination, I've had excellent results using a regular deck of playing cards Now as to whether or not divination works is another matter entirely..... Anyway, go with what appeals to you I've studied and consulted both with great success in the past, and I consider both of them worthy of study.

I don't think the posture is supposed to be painful- it's painful to many modern people because we don't have our legs properly stretched out because of how we live our lives and the postures we most frequently find ourselves sitting. I've actually read a few articles by a lot of people on how we are CONDITIONED to sit in bad postures. I remember when I was a kid in school we had to sit "criss cross applesauce". Kids who sat on their knees (seiza, for any Japanese martial artists, a position in which many people cannot sit for long periods of time), or sometimes even in a half-lotus type position were chastised and thought of as "problem children". Then all that time spent sitting in chairs..... we just aren't flexible enough to hold the position. Anyway, once you're all stretched out, I don't think it's considered "painful". But still, an interesting article, and a subject worth looking into.

Amazing perspective, truly. I had not thought of it that way before. Definitely a post everyone should read and think about. Creation: those were some good insights, it's too bad your post was ignored before. Then again, I have noticed that many of the best posts, posts that I have wound up saving on my own computer, are posts that fly under the radar. Maybe it's because when reading them, people don't feel they have anything to comment on, it is a complete thought, and they find themselves poking and prodding on something they feel needs more exploration. Anyways, here's hoping that all good posts get recognition in the future

Heaven is a place with the eternal presence of God. Hell is a place with the eternal absence of God. Some people see God in everything, and leave incredibly Godly lives, doing great works. Other people do not believe in God, commit crimes, and wallow in their own misery of life. Where you live now can be Heaven. Where you live now can be Hell. So were we really ever cast out? Maybe some of us feel guilty for falling into temptation of one sort or another, so we beat ourselves up over it and we think that we deserve to suffer, or at least, need to work really hard to get somewhere. And maybe others feel like it was a lesson learned and move on with their lives, enjoying life. Or maybe I'm wrong and going to hell

I dunno, there are guys who pay a dominatrix hundreds of dollars to have their junk locked up and be teased and all that- sometimes not getting a "release" for a year... Maybe we should hired a dominatrix for the taobums.... you know, strictly for spirituality, of course....

Yang Chengfu got to be pretty heavy when old, and the Yang style that he started to teach was really low impact and really protective of the knee joints when stepping/turning. Maybe if he can get in contact with a yang style teacher, learn a short form or something, and do that as long as he feel comfortable, gradually doing more repetitions until finally up to the yang long form, it would probably do a lot as far as understanding his center of gravity, weight distribution, and moving in an efficient manner, as well as getting him some mild form of exercise.

Well the way I do things isn't always the same as the way it is taught in the book- as I have said before, that's why feeling energy is more important, in my opinion, than knowing, say, the locations, colors, mantras, etc of a certain chakra. When you can feel energy you will know without a doubt, and the person next to you might find a different way of doing the same thing. Same with martial arts. You learn the technique, but have your own ways of doing it. Each person is doing the same thing, but each in their own way. That's why students who learn from the same teachers can wind up having totally different styles, even if they are in the same lineage. It's not "learning with a book" or "learning with a teacher", it's "learning through yourself", and while some people might jump off a diving board and others might jump off the side, we're all jumping into the same pool

I practice solely from the book, and honestly I haven't even started working on the swings- I am still working on the energy gates (for those that don't have the book, the book progresses like so: intro, longevity breathing, sink/scan/dissolve qi, opening the energy gates, swings, spinal stretch, and other stuff. I'm working through it, and only on the gates). I have never taken a class from Bruce or any of his students, though I hope to travel to a school sometime this summer. I'm a college student now and the workshops and stuff are too pricey for me, so I just do what I can. My usual meditation position is lying down, though I will also work in half lotus as well as standing (I'm a college student living in a dorm, no privacy, and if I'm lying down no one will bother me or ask me questions.... not that I don't want to talk about it, but I gotta practice!). I start with around ten minutes of dantien breathing. After that, I do the sink/scan/dissolve qi process. Then I work on the gates, keeping in mind to dissolve everything else I run into even if it isn't a gate. On gates I've already worked with, I focus on them until I can feel them, then I do about ten breaths (in/out one, in/out two) before moving onto the "new ones", and for ones I haven't worked on I focus and breathe on them for as long as I need to until I start to feel something. On some days it's within minutes, and sometimes it takes days. So far I've at least felt (though not necessarily opened) the gates down to my solar plexus and elbow. As far as results go: In general, greater awareness of energy, both my own and of other people, as well as places (so if I walk into a room, I will more easily pick up a certain vibe). Some senses have also gotten better, or perhaps, I am paying more attention to my senses, namely hearing and smell. I've started to pick up on different peoples' "scents" once in a while, which is a rather interesting experience. I've become more aware of my body position- my posture has gotten stronger, my exercises have been more efficient, and I have even become a better runner (I've always sucked at running) simply because I understand relaxation and movement much better, and am aware of what my body is actually doing rather than just working on theory. I have also discovered quite a few things that I have seen corroborated in other texts. For example, one day I felt a particular blockage in my arm, and just dissolving didn't work, so I decided to move my arm around gently in a way that I felt started to free up the energy. I later was looking through some qigong exercises on the net, and found that there was actually an exercise which was exactly what I was doing I have also found myself having the sudden urge to sit in certain ways, which I later find are yoga positions (though I don't really do yoga). Also, when walking around I will occasionally feel all of the gates I have worked with so far pulsing and filling with stuff- when that happens I start to relax/dissolve them as much as I can, and let whatever I am feeling flow downward- unless it has its own direction it wants to go, in which case I let what happens, happens. In "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" he says that you can reach a point where you can open and close the energy gates like you open and close your eyes or your hand. I am nowhere near that stage, and even with the gates I've worked with, it takes a few minutes to even feel it, let alone open it. And even though I was never really into specific chakra meditations, I have definitely noticed within myself various energy centers that seem to correspond to certain thoughts, emotions, colors, etc, and they seem to line up pretty perfectly with what I have read of chakras, so that too. I should also note I do the standing practices from "Relaxing Into Your Being" as well as the Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong that I learned from the book on his website. I plan on incorporating some of the movement practices/palm change that's in "relaxing into your being", though honestly I have not reached the point where he says you should be by the end of "Relaxing Into Your Being" (namely, a good awareness of the mind-stream, if not the ability to enter and remain in it for a while). The thing about the stuff Bruce has put out in books is that it is rather low energy. Bruce himself states in almost all his books that he doesn't want to put high energy stuff out there, mostly because he doesn't want people to screw up. But he also says in one of his books that Taoist techniques progress in a spiral fashion. You cover the same material, but deeper. So, for me at least, advancing in a practice is not necessarily learning new techniques, but getting better with the techniques you already have. Like I said, I don't quite have the money to make it out to a seminar, and there's no school that I have access to in the moment. Hopefully this summer I'll have a chance to get in contact with some folks. Honestly though, I don't even want to go to a seminar until I have exhausted the material he has already put out- simply because I don't have the means to. If there is something I can learn from a book, I want to thoroughly master that, so when I do get the chance to meet someone at a high level I have the chance to learn something really good- rather than learning something I could have already done on my own. But for now, I just read everything that Bruce has out. I read his books over and over again, he has a lot of great articles on his websites, and I try to keep integrity in my practices. In my opinion, Bruce has actually put a LOT of material out there, but a lot of the "higher level" material is in hints. On top of that, there is no "secret technique"- the "higher level" stuff is stuff you already have, you just haven't gone deep enough yet. So with practice, reflection, and intuition, I really think you can reach a significant level just from the stuff that has been put out. And as long as you really focus on feeling, no offense to anyone, you don't need a teacher. You either feel the energy, you either open the gate, or you don't. Plain and simple. You don't need to ask, "did I do it right?" Well, did you feel something? No? Well then no. Yes? Okay, maybe you did it right, maybe you didn't. Keep practicing, see what comes up. Ah, wow, that was long. Anyway, my main point is that, if you want to learn about chakras, you have to feel energy, period. If you want to do anything, you have to be able to feel what you are working with. Otherwise you will constantly be bound by forms, formulas, instructions, and tradition. Not that tradition is bad, but in my opinion it's better to do the work yourself. Sometimes you will come up with your own stuff, but many times you will find it is something that already exists- and sometimes you will find something that you didn't even know exists. Those are fun, because it's like you at least have some sort of external validation. Bruce's works, in my opinion, are the best way to do that. There may be other things out there, I know a lot of people do a lot of different things, and a lot of people have put out much cheaper books with relatively more material (Bruce's books are expensive, and in his methods the MCO isn't to be learned without a teacher because it's considered a higher energy exercise.... well there are tons of MCO materials out there, even for free) However, you HAVE to keep the integrity in your practice. The hardest part of the practice is not fooling yourself, not getting ahead of yourself, not thinking you've done a practice when you haven't. It's easy to be like, "yeah I focused on a gate for 20 minutes, it's open, super saiyan go!" but in reality you have done nothing. I dunno. Simple but deceptive I guess.

And a good dancer.

Again I suggest you look through the thread I linked earlier in my post there's some good info. In general, I would say chakras and dantiens are different, even though their placement in the body seems to be about the same, even though a few of them have similar functions. Also, I wouldn't get too worked up on specific placement of the chakras. It's more important that you feel around in that area, and find where energy seems to be located or centralized in your body. Once you really get to feeling energy, you won't have such a reliance on what other people say or the contradictions you find in books- you will have self validated results from your own personal practice. And to that extent, when it comes to feeling energy I would say get "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" by B.K. Frantzis. Many of the energy gates are found where the dantiens/chakras are located, and when you get used to feeling energy move through your body, you will be able to notice patterns. I spent a lot of time trying to rationalize and figure out what everything was across many different systems. Which is not necessarily a bad thing- it's good to get the "rational mind" engaged, research, learn about different traditions and different paradigms. But it is much more useful if you have a rather large dose of experience and experimentation under your belt as you do this.

Or you could, you know, give some serious advice. You usually give a lot of good advice, but I'm kind of sad when reading this post There are always a few people who rely on getting good info from posts because they don't have access to a teacher, but want to study spirituality, so if you have something to say, be it advice or a cautionary tale, please say it. If you are just going to dangle a carrot in front of someone's face and then take it away at the last minute because it's an internet forum and you think they are being stupid by asking a question, please just don't even bother posting. The dantiens and the chakras are a big different. This thread here has some good information: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/1566-subtle-body-anatomy-of-tan-tiens-and-chakras/ Specifically the post about the kanda. But different systems and paradigms focus on different things, as well as occasionally attributing different names/qualities to them. Haven't worked a lot with the mingmen, I'm just working with the lower dantien right now in my practices, but from where B.K. Frantzis described it, it's between the lower dantien and the spine.

So for some reason over the course of the past couple of months, I've started to get pretty OCD. Not seriously OCD but.... occasionally I'll feel a compulsive need to repeat some action over and over again, repeat a serious of thoughts over and over again (even if I come to the same conclusion or decision), or do some other ritual. Sometimes I feel that once I get everything done perfectly a certain way, I can stop it for good. And once in a blue moon I will, and feel perfectly "free" and not feel the need to do anything..... then a week or two passes by, and something will happen and I'll lapse into it again... It's started to bother me, and I'm worried it might start to interfere with my life (it hasn't yet). I was wondering what could be some of the causes behind this, as well as how I can get help getting over it.

Thanks for the info, great post Cyril

So by retention you all mean having sex/masturbating but not ejaculating, right? 53 days isn't bad I guess, if you are constantly on edge.... unless you are doing something different.

No worries, once you find a good method it's hard not to keep repeating it over and over Where are some resources to go to learn Vipassana meditation? RyanO- thanks for the link, I'll look into that I've always heard about the inner smile, but never got around to actually learning it.

I don't normally think of myself as an "all or nothing" person, but I have noticed an onset of more "all or nothing" thoughts. Thanks for the recommendations and response