ghost dancer

I believe this is the practice in which monks are able to sit out in sub zero temperatures and cause towels soaked in ice water wrapped around them to steam. Anybody had personal[not anecdotal] experience of this?

I prefer to use the term 'energy cultivation', it implies a wide range of endeavors, including health , spiritual and martial. When I learnt 8 brocades in 1970 there was, to my knowledge no term qigong, it was part of 'ancient art exercises'. The term qigong has unfortunately become debased, anyone doing simple massage or an exercise set refers to it as qigong, in fact it encompasses a large range of energy disciplines.

I have found it useful in teaching LTT breathing to differentiate between 3 layers, one of my students mentally color codes them

Its also one the Taoist methods of healing-I met an old Taoist in a Qigong hospital near Chengdu who would put energy and intent into glasses of water which the patients drank every day, he was 87 at the time [ [looked about 60]and had a 35 year old 'companion', guess he must have been doing something right

Compression and retention are powerful methods for increasing QI but you must be very careful, if you have heart problems or have had a stroke it could kill you. Also if your focus is not on the lower tan tien Qi could 'leak' up to the head and cause headaches, paranoia and mental disorders

Have studied both, my comments are as follows: Soaring Crane: studied it more than 15 years ago and also did workshops with the creator of the system, I found it to be a good basic system with various exercise sets, the only thing I found that could be dangerous is the 'spontaneous', there did not seem to be any lead up or control, people ended up leaping around the room and sometimes hurt themselves, also if someone is a little mentally unbalanced it could tip them over the edge[people saw devils etc][apparently they had some problems in China over this-lets hope they solved them] Chi Lel: studied it over 10 years ago, excellent exercise set, I found it to be very good for 'pulling energy from the universe', did not find anything dangerous in it.Appears to have a legitimate lineage, its creator ran a military Qigong hospital. For a pure exercise set that has a good lineage I think that the 'Wild Goose' system is probably the best-many other systems borrowed from it. The two systems are unalike although there may be a few moves that look the same, As I Asaid I studied them some years ago, they may have been modified since then. I would like to add the rider that these systems are for self help, they do not prepare you to heal others-this is a different discipline.

YM-I believe I asked you this in the past but it could be of interest to healers on the forum. Have you ever dealt with a case in which the genetic disposition of a client was changed? I am working with someone who has Huntingtons disease, I have found that breathing techniques and projected Qi helps circulation and energy in one arm which previously had little feeling but the other remains without feeling.

If I remember correctly a Faraday cage is an enclosure of conducting materials which shields whatever is inside from EM fields. I recall working on a building project in which the walls and roof of a large building had a copper mesh and an iron mesh so that no one could eavesdrop on the computers and other electrical equipment inside. Applying this to a hermit in a cave, if the was conducting material in the rock, say iron oxide etc it is conceivable that it could have a shielding effect. It would mean that the occupant would receive no sky[yang] energy, but only earth[yin] energy, which is confined to Taoist practices, but over the long term would lead to lack of balance. I have found in some caves there is a sound resonance which is of great help in amplifying body vibratios produced by mantras

I have not been on this site very long but have posted on similar ones for many years. The pattern is familiar; someone deluges the site, overrides other peoples posts, promotes his own agenda [usually one that involves financial promotions]and generally pisses people off. Is he an uberzen master, seeking to push us to the limits of reason, I think not, rather a zealot, who will always find followers in this imperfect world, eventually alienating everyone who does not agree with him.

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas

Make your own decisions, dont follow the herd-it will lead you over the precipice

I recall practicing Tai Chi Ruler with magnets at the ends of the ruler which would make contact with Lao Gong on each hand-didnt seem to make any discernable difference

Hi Tracy, glad to hear you had a positive experience. The 'injection' of qi by the teacher is a necessary part of the process. I also learnt from another teacher of similar lineage who also projected energy to get you started. The Emei system is one of the few systems I have encountered that concentrates on specific methods of developing 'projection' abilities. I am also glad you brought up the point about the fact that qigong has to be respected, it is not for showing off or performing magic tricks at cocktail parties, it is for healing and alleviating pain, if this is your path and you have a genuine desire to follow it, it will pay you back in satisfaction and good health, if you abuse it the result will be disastrous. In Michael's book he emphasizes the necessity that you try to be a good person, this is not moralizing but a necessary ingredient

I think the confusion may be that there is no division of 'finding whats wrong' and 'treating it' The feedback loop both detects imbalances and adjusts the energy to treat the problem. I have used it on minor muscular problems with some success. Keep up the good work Mike

There is no correct answer to this. If you want to learn a few moves quickly use Krav Maga, for the external arts Hung Gar is effective, Shaolin also but it takes a long while to learn, Wing chun can be learnt quickly.Military arts Systema is excellent , other esoteric arts-Indonesian is very deadly. Jnternal: again they take longer to learn but you are able to use them later in life. I specialise in Hsing yi which I can still use as a senior. Then of course there are the weapon arts where I would recommend the Phillippine Kali