Jonah

That book does look really good, Michael Winn deeply praises it: "This book is fascinating, deep, essential reading for anyone interested in sex as the hidden force ruling bodily and spiritual health. Adepts of Daoist sexology, Oriental and Western doctors, sex therapists, psychologists, energy worker; scholars, archeologists, poets, and historians of Chinese culture or simply curious lay readers—all will feel they have been erotically and psycho‑sexually sated. Human culture here is a vast jigsaw puzzle, with sex as the key piece linking cosmology, empirical and magical medicine, the popular culture of love, its diseases and its euphoric desires, Confucian family dynamics, bi‑sexual emperors, eunuchs, longevity qigong, and Daoist philosophy. I have been reading works in this field for thirty years and was amazed at how much new Jessieca Leo had to teach me. Who would guess that Confucius was sired during an orgiastic Spring Fertility Rite? Her penetrating research deftly illuminates and vivifies the often inscrutable Yellow Emperor and Mawangdui manuscripts of 2200 years ago. This is a book you will literally take to bed. —Michael Winn, Healing Tao USA

Your partner should be an integral part of your sexual cultivation. If he/she is not on board or unaware of what you are doing, little advancement can occur. Dual cultivation is the highest form of the bedroom arts with both partners helping each other in their spiritual growth. One book that is highly recommended for use as a couple is Beyond Tantra: Healing Through Taoist Sex - http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Tantra-Healing-Through-Taoist/dp/1844090639

The fact that he is revisiting key practices of the Healing Tao says it all - there are some solid practices within the school that cannot be simply bundled together with the school's more problematic practices and then tossed aside. I have to say I get a kick out of people who angrily bash the school whenever they get a chance, as if it is an evil monolithic entity. It is not. The school is a diverse collection of practices, and a diverse collection of teachers. Different teachers emphasize what they have found to work for them, and each teacher imprints their own unique experience and expertise on to their teaching. I haven't been in touch with Sean for a while, but we both studied and taught Healing Tao practices at the same time back in 1999-2002. Like Sean I too moved on to additional teachers and practices as part of my search for the best and "most true" perfect practice (there isn't one), yet still held a place in my heart for some of the real treasures of the Healing Tao (under Michael Winn), namely the Inner Smile, Primordial Chi Kung, the Wudang MCO, and Kan & Li. When you are younger, in your twenties and early thirties, you are convinced there is a perfect practice or teacher out there but once you delve deeper into any practice or teacher after a few years you will always find flaws. Everyone has flaws, even the most accomplished practitioner you may be currently studying under. Overly idealizing a practice or teacher is simply setting you up for disappointment. Problems are simply part of living on earth, nothing is perfect, nothing is absolute. It's a tough realization, but if you can accept that the treasures you receive from your teachers also come with their fair share of non-treasure, the easier it is to absorb the teachings and be more in tune with the Tao - that which just is, both treasure and shit all rolled into one.

Just an FYI. Sean Denty has come full circle and is now connected again with the Healing Tao: Healing Tao USA General Forum

Eric, I would like to thank you for coming onto this site and providing us with your insights on Taoist practice. I feel your 100 Days book is one of the best chi kung titles out there and have regularly recommended it to friends and students. This forum wouldn't be possible without the internet, it's great to be able to share our thoughts and opinions from people all around the world with simply a computer and keyboard. But the same technology has its limits: namely, that because there is no face to face interaction, it is very easy to both misinterpret things as well as say things to each other that you would never say to them in person. There is an ever-present potential for postings to go way off topic very quickly simply because of a simple misunderstanding or difference in opinion. And they can go way off topic in a very ugly way. This will always be an issue, it's inherent in the system. Nonetheless, I do hope we as a forum can work together towards sticking to topic in this particular teaching thread, and treat this thread (and hopefully future ones) as an actual class. We are here to learn a particular topic. That is why we're here. In class it's perfectly normal to ask questions, even ones that can be challenging or pointed. But the point of the questions are generally to get clarification and understanding on the subject at hand. Imagine if you were back in school or college and during class every few minutes someone would yell at the teacher, "Who the hell do you think you are?!" or "You've got to be f**ing kidding me, that is not the way it is at all!" It would actually be funny the first couple of times, but in reality let's not kid ourselves, for everyone who wanted to learn something it would be a disaster, no one would benefit from such a situation. I'm certainly not a moderator here, and I post things once in a blue moon, but I extremely confident that I am not the only one who sees Eric here as an amazing opportunity to learn some very cool things. I would hate to see a handful of people ruin an opportunity for the rest of us to download some very cool techniques. "Like this cup," said the Zen Master, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup" That's the diplomatic side of me. Undiplomatically I would like to say loudly to some members of the group - SHUT THE HELL UP WHEN THE TEACHER IS SPEAKING, YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY LEARN SOMETHING. I'll leave it at that.

Master Zhu recommended that for optimum results the form should be practiced at least four times a day, with each set taking between eight to twelve minutes to perform. I can honestly say that I don't often get to four, most often it's just two or three sets. Speed wise it really depends on my mood. If I'm really focusing on the internal energies - feeling the colors and emotions of the directions, bringing in complimentary energies from male/female, sun/moon, and the stars - then I tend to slow down the form. If I'm looking for a more simple energy boost then I just let it flow without much thinking, and that speeds it up. Ultimately there's really no one right speed to do, the form is for you, not the other way around. If you are bored and need energy, speed it up. If you want to get more into the feeling and alchemical side, slow it down. Mix it up, do the speed that you feel fits best for you in that moment, and you'll be getting exactly what you need from the form.

I've been practicing the form for over 12 years now after learning the form directly from Michael Winn in the late 90s. He learned it directly from Master Zhu Hui as did Donald Rubbo and Cheng Bingsong whose materials I also own and study. Out of the three I would say Cheng Bingsong's structural elements are the best. He moves with a grace that neither of them can compare with. Bingsong's pace is also dramatically quicker than Winn's and Rubbo's and I would encourage practitioners to vary their speed according to taste and mood. Solala Towler of The Empty Vessel told me that Bingsong practices the form the way it's done in China, much faster than the near slow-motion pace we are taught in the States. Unfortunately Bingsong offers his viewers nearly zip on anything internally. Yeah, there's the standard focus on your dan tien that you find everywhere, but the internal alchemy of the form that is accessed by intention simply isn't provided. So you need to look at Rubbo's and Winn's forms for the internals. I believe you can find interesting and powerful internals for the form from both Rubbo and Winn. Winn's form feels much more accessible to beginners than Rubbo's and after reading Rubbo's book several times I have to say that it would be quite difficult for anyone to learn it from a book. He has some videos up on youtube but they are only snippets of the form. Winn's video materials can be barebones production-wise but generally you can learn from them. Rubbo is working on a video as we speak and I believe that will make it much easier to learn his form. Likewise Winn is working on a book now so we can hear from him more on his internal practice in the form. Bottom line, you are always better off learning directly in a class setting rather than books and videos, but I understand that this not always possible. I currently practice the form using Bingsong's externals (Rubbo's form has added foot movements that I believe detract from the flow) and a combination of Rubbo's and Winn's internals. Each teacher, no matter what the subject, makes subtle variations on their subject matter. When it comes to Primordial Qigong you can learn valuable insights from all three teachers.

Wow. After reading these posts I never realized that Lao Tzu and Bodhidharma were such low-level practitioners.

Klaus Wiese. Will put you into a deeply meditative, expansive yet grounding state. Anouar Brahem. Beautiful and elegant. Stephen Katz. Going where no cello has gone before.

It's funny how these things work. I can go for months without looking at Tao Bums and when I jump back in to see what people are doing, it is generally exactly something that I have been recently exploring on my own. It's like the teaching is out there in the collective consciousness and everyone is picking it up in their own way. Trunk, in the same vein as Mark Griffin, Michael Winn has a whole series of his lectures, Chi Kung Fundamentals 3 devoted entirely to this type of breath. He calls it internal chi breathing, counterforce breathing, and "neutral breath." I practiced it for about 16 hours last weekend in the woods while hunting and it created an amazing sense of internal space. Felt like there was a massive amount of empty space inside that expanded outwards when exhaling. Very grounding, very satisfying. It's funny how the fundamentals that we all are exposed to long ago keep on coming back after our monkey mind's searches for various other practices that look new and better are tamed. The simple basics always feed the many tributaries we explore.

Satyalok and Xienhula1, you guys are saints!!! Thank you so much, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. This is definitely something that I would like to look into further. Thanks again for letting us know! Best, Jonah

Chris, Good to hear from you. I'm still a bit confused, it would be extremely helpful if you could shed some more light on the issue. I'm glad to hear that Kunlun is indeed a lineage practice. With a lineage, there is the ability to create a family tree of teacher's names going back to the source. In all of my practices I know who taught my teacher, and who taught that teacher and so on. In regards to the 7402 masters who came before us, what master in this lifetime was the individual who taught Max this practice? In an earlier post you mentioned it was Jenny Lamb. Is this correct? If it was Jenny Lamb who taught Max this practice, what is her background, and who was her teacher? Andrew Lum sounds like a very impressive teacher in his own right, but was he in any way involved in teaching Max Kunlun? If he is, please let us know, that would be interesting. But if not, it would be best to keep him out of the equation for now, we are looking to focus specifically on the lineage holders of the Kunlun practice. If you could answer these questions I would really appreciate it, and it would help me feel more connected to the practice. Thanks Chris! Jonah

Hello All, As with many on this forum I have been enjoying the Kunlun Bliss practice for the past few months. It's a very cool practice. I haven't been to any of Max's seminars but am learning from the book. The main question I had was: does anyone know what lineage this Kunlun practice is from? On the board Chris mentioned that Max learned this practice from Jenny Lamb. She looks to be an impressive teacher. Does anyone know who she learned it from and what were their traditions or background? Is there a specific school in China/Tibet that this form is from? Any input on this form's origins would be most appreciated. Thanks, Jonah

Hello again Santiago, The current discussion on children is important and obviously should be continued, but I'm still curious about the above issue. I'm a very open-minded individual, but to just nonchalantly say that one can make one's head disappear as if one was simply washing the dishes or taking out the trash is something that has to be called out on. I totally appreciate your input and information on this board, but to not bat an eye over such a claim is a bit too much to take. Again, no disrespect to your practices or teachers is intended whatsoever. I'm just calling it as I see it. Until I witnessed this first hand or shown some video or photo evidence of this, I find such discussion to be suspect at the very least. Best, Jonah

Santiago, Making your head disappear sounds like an extraordinary feat beyond the realms of physics. If you can do this you would make headlines around the world instantly. Are you actually saying that to the naked eye your head simply becomes invisible? Don't get me wrong, I've felt my body disappear and dissolve in Kan and Li and other meditations, but for it to physically just disappear and becomes invisible is outside the realm of possibility. Do you actually mean this or are you talking in metaphors? If you actually mean your head disappears please make a short video with a digital camera of you doing it in front of a mirror and then post it to this site. Would love to see it. Thanks, JH