doc benway

So many, many things one can do to optimize the practice. Provided you have the fundamentals down reasonably well, if I had to make one suggestion regarding any qigong or neijia practice, it would be to do it with a feeling of utter stillness in the body, silence in the thoughts, and openness of the heart. In this way you will allow the form, which has been refined by many masters over many years, to teach you its secrets and in doing so you are learning from all of the masters and from the very source itself.

From the Western medical perspective, none. From the TCM perspective, everything. They are two distinct paradigms looking at the same reality from very different perspectives. The key IMO is to embrace both, put them in their proper place, and be open and educated enough to know what that is as best we can. Trying to convince a skeptic is like trying to clean a dirty window with grease. Good luck. People generally see the world through the filter that was created by their environment since birth and daily reified by their internal narration. They need to be open to be willing to accept something new into their world view. This is a very touchy and challenging area for Western doctors for a number of reasons. Rant on - The health care system continues to cut back on reimbursements while the cost of living and doing business continue to rise. Ridiculous demands by the government, society, and insurance industry regarding documentation, practice requirements, liability issues, 'digitization' and sterilization of what should be a very human, organic, and personal interaction, and much more... This all leads to frustration and desperation. Some respond to this by quitting, some become very opportunistic, some become very cold and calloused, others wake up and find a way to cut through all of this bullshit and try to connect on a human level despite the obstacles. in general, doctors have little training in psychology and psychiatry and no training in alternative health paradigms so they are frequently out of their element, ignorant, or simply unaware of what to do to understand and help when there is no clearcut anatomical or physiological explanation. The "pointless tests" referred to above are only pointless when found to be normal in retrospect. When something is found that is treatable (or not), they are not pointless. Add to this the enormous pressure to see a high volume of patients due to reasons mentioned in the first paragraph, and you have a recipe for failure --> not enough time, expertise, energy, or incentive to try and work with things outside of their limited sphere of understanding and interest. That said, it's important to acknowledge that for every person failed by the system there are those who benefit from the system - the same can be said for the TCM paradigm. Another contributing factor is the patient. People generally do not go to a Western MD to be told that their problem is psychosomatic, related to Qi imbalance, spirit possession, kundalini, emotional blockages, laziness, poor diet, lack of exercise, improper posture and breathing, pollution, societal conditioning, ignorance, attachment, and so forth. In fact, they get quite irate and indignant when they cannot be provided with a scientific, anatomical and physiological explanation and solution which guarantees resolution of the problem with no effort on their part, no risk, and little to no out of pocket cost. A relatively small percentage of people walking into an MD's office are interested in alternative paradigms and open to the uncomfortable truth. None of us can work effectively in a paradigm we do not understand. It is definitely valuable, however, if we can be aware of the various available paradigms and be open enough to embrace them in our various practices. One problem is that non-scientific paradigms generally do not satisfy the rigorous scientific requirements for justification of their inclusion in Western MD practices. In Western health care, outcomes are more and more emphasized (to the detriment of the freedom of the doctor-patient relationship, IMO). This requirement for justification based on peer-reviewed scientific publications puts alternative paradigms further and further away from the Western doctors' reach even when they are open enough to recommend them. Rant off - I disagree. There are plenty of folks incorporating radical ideas, new concepts, spiritual concepts, and so forth. There are plenty of spiritual people actively working in physics and the other sciences. The problem is that all of this must be subjected to the scrutiny and rigor of the scientific method since that is the foundation of physics. What holds up to such scrutiny is embraced and changes our views --> quantum theory is a good example. What does not hold up is abandoned. If one criticizes the scientific method for not being more open or inclusive of spirituality, one simply needs to imagine giving the reins of the scientific community to the "Intelligent Design" cadre - good luck with that! The system is certainly not perfect and some of the basic tenets upon which it is based can and should be regularly questioned. Also, there is no question that many scientists would benefit from a bit more open-mindedness and creativity, wouldn't we all? On the other hand, the consistency and reproducibility of the method is well established as the foundation for technological advancement (for better and worse).

Where does the 'should' come from? Should implies judgement - who is judging whom? Rather than judge, we have the opportunity to simply do it or not do it. An important point for me is to notice when I judge myself. Liberation, in part, is making choices, taking action, and not judging but rather accepting and moving along. One may be totally free while chasing transient things and one may be utterly trapped by the desire to be free. Can I hold enough space to allow things to simply be as they are? If so, things are free to come, free to stay for a while, and free to go, and all of it is simply ornamental. Complete freedom is a simple and subtle shift in perspective. Who/what is it that is not free? It is those very desires and thoughts - the one feeling trapped is not 'other' than that. If I can simply watch that, not struggle against it, just allow it to be as it is and rest in that sense of openness and acceptance, that is the first step towards freedom. Freedom is nothing more than space and awareness, though some might prefer to call it knowledge, or discernment.

You raise an excellent point. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly well versed in the technical terminology and intent of the original. I think it is easy to mix up what is being pointed to with respect to the I. In part, I think that may be the point - the method is an investigation into that I, at every level of human experience, even the most profound and subtle.

In some Daoist circles maybe, not Hindu, Buddhist, or Bon so much. Interestingly, I once attended a seminar with Livia Kohn and she advocated much more emphasis on the middle dan tian for female cultivators, esp during the moon time. I see it a bit differently, not saying anyone is wrong or that I am correct, just offering an alternative and very personal perspective, FWIW. What we feel in the body is the connection between awareness and manifestation. It is mediated primarily by the nervous system but also by integration with all other systems - endocrine, vascular, respiratory, fascial, muscular, skeletal, and some that perhaps we cannot directly observe or measure (intuition and other subtle forces). What we feel moving is that awareness. Certainly you can increase circulation to an area with focused attention, you can feel the beating heart, and maybe blood in major vessels, and air moving through the lungs, bronchial tree, gut, etc... there is the proprioceptive awareness and others. There is always movement in all of the tissue, even the bones; but based on my experience with cultivation and human anatomy and physiology, what we are moving is primarily our attention and our intention - awareness. As we peel back layers of the onion in meditation, we find more and more that everything is related to that awareness. One might even find that everything IS that awareness - nothing more. It was a significant change for me when I let go of my ideas and concepts of Qi and simply open to what I was feeling - my awareness interacting with my tissues and environment. We can certainly propose a concept with a label, like Qi, but it is not needed and can be a distraction for the mind to get tangled with. I agree with this 100% (and would add bone, muscle, fascia, tendon, nerve, etc...) and would also add that it is best to let go of all pre-conceived notions of what is, whether they be Daoist, anatomical, physiological, Buddhist, whatever... let go of what you expect and open to what is. Figure it out for yourself - your experience and answers may differ from others - even from your teachers (mine did). Find confidence in your answers through direct experience and grow from that.

Is IQ important? As in most things, the answer is less important than the question... By important does one mean beneficial? In an absolute sense I would say no - we will all live our lives and die regardless of our IQ. From the perspective of Dao and God, all being are treated the same. From the perspective of the nature of mind, high and low IQ is equally embraced and represented. In a relative sense, I would say it depends. To the extent a higher IQ is associated with one's experience of leading a more fulfilling life and contributing in a positive way to those around her - yes, IQ is valuable. To the extent it is associated with unhappiness (neurosis, anxiety, psychosis, social awkwardness), exploited, and used to the detriment of our neighbors and our planet, then I would say it is an obstacle, both individually and collectively. A high IQ is very important for one to be successful as a mathematician, a hacker, a doctor, and a serial killer. Not so important necessarily for one committed to cultivate Dao, a martial artist, a petty thief, or an empath. Not to say it won't help any avocation or potentially get in the way, depending on one's associated conditioning and emotional and psychological make up.

Further evidence that "sex sells" even when it has to do with abstinence and retention.

Yes, it is, at least in my view. A few examples with which I have direct experience - tsa lung from the Bön tradition, Tibetan kum nye and trul khor, advanced techniques in Daoist meditation which I will be intentionally vague about, Daoist methods of opening the bai hui in combination with qigong and neigong, lifting the bai hui during taijiquan practice. I suspect it is present in tummo but I've not had any direct instruction so I won't say so definitively. It's all the same general principle - using awareness to connect the inner and outer in order to clear the obstacles and integrate the two - it's very fundamental. All one need do is change the labels. The Christians, Bön, and Buddhists emphasize the aspects of love, compassion, grace, and the divine in these practices explicitly. The Daoists do not, at least in my experience, however my experience has been that in the Daoist methods, the same qualities naturally and spontaneously arise as a consequence of certain experiences and landmarks along the way. I think it's a mistake to imagine that when one opens the gate at the top of the head, one is creating a one way valve. At least for my own purposes, it's much more productive to simply open and connect, it is a 2 way street. I have no control, really, of that exchange once there is opening, once simply need to look for who it is that claims to have control. The very separation of inner and outer is already an illusion. The idea that our bag of skin contains and restricts the flow of energy is as well - our physical barrier to the outside is already energy, there is no real containment. That is an artifact of our awareness combines with our sensory apparatus. The separation of divine and being is a delusion. All of these methods are simply about freeing ourselves from these obscurations and integrating our total being, rather than suffering in our self-imposed exile. Just my view and experience - quite possibly all wrong but it's working reasonably well for me, ....sometimes

This is also clearly present in Daoist, Buddhist, and Bön methods. Probably others but I can't speak to them. Edt - PS interesting post, thanks for that. No surprise to me as I'm a strong enthusiast for the teachings of a Jesuit named Anthony Demello. His work was so liberating it was banned as heresy by Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, while he held the office of Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition.

I used to enjoy going to wine tastings, not so much lately - it would always burn me when folks would attend wearing a thick stink of cologne or perfume... to a place where folks are trying to indulge in the subtleties of complex aromas. Unbelievable.

FWIW, my teacher is from Taiwan and a practicing Daoist. As far as I can glean from over a decade with him, the most important things to him are: - observance of rituals related to his teachers and a variety of deities associated with different aspects of daily life and business, , I was fortunate enough to have participated in a few of these rituals - meditation - practicing and teaching Chinese martial arts - a variety of other practices related to astrology and other Daoist "sciences", although I had very little exposure to this side of things - to him, philosophy and theory are next to worthless, he believes they are by-products of skillful practice and he always advised us that any time spent studying was wasted time that could be spent practicing (meditation, qigong, martial arts). I'm not saying all Daoist feel this way but he made it clear that he did. It might be related to his martial focus. - he referred to himself as a "disciple of Dao" and seemed to equate that most directly to the meditation practices and to how one leads one's daily life

In any practice, I believe there is something subtle yet profound that develops simply with time, repetition, and experience. This something is a confidence, a certainty, a knowledge (beyond and including the intellect), that allows us to relax and embrace what we are doing to a point where it becomes less effortful, more soulful, and more complete. The effort we exert as beginners and intermediates gets in the way. That lack of confidence and certainty, even at a very subtle level, gets in the way. The struggle we have with ourselves (even wanting to be better) gets in the way. I think that your friend simply needs to be patient, persistent, and completely open in her practice. She must allow the spirit and nature of the drumming to flow through her unimpeded. She must let go of her desire to improve and embrace the joy and beauty of the rhythm and sound. It takes a long time for that to happen - there are no short cuts. I believe that a meditation practice that "focuses" primarily on opening oneself to one's inner self, one's true nature, the connection we have to everything else, would be very valuable. Some feel this can be obtained through moving and breathing practices, others through standing practices, others through sitting. For me, the most powerful by far has been sitting practices. Here again, skillful guidance by a teacher is invaluable, and the same issue will arise of what is it my (meditation or qigong) teacher has that I don't yet have that allows them to do this more effectively and more effortlessly? I also think that anything that connects her more deeply with the soul of the music would be helpful. A deeper knowledge and appreciation of the culture, the purpose, the message and intent, the language and spirit of the drumming. The drumming is not about technique, accuracy, timbre, or volume as much as it's about communication. When you begin to feel that you know what needs to be communicated and are making that connection, that really supports further development of the technique. I'm going through something similar right now - I've recently taken up playing flamenco style guitar after decades of playing other musical styles. Flamenco has a soul and a spirit all its own and while it is important to master technique, it is even more important to feel and communicate the "swing" of the music as my teacher calls it. Good luck to your friend!

My answer to the title of this thread is - YES And it's not always so slow.

The Tibetan styles are fairly noticeable - not nearly as subtle and ethereal as the Japanese. That said, there are subtleties and complexities so that over time you pick up different aspects. I'm like you, my sense of smell is diminished by chronic sinus issues and asthma. The Lotus Ground is a bit more subtle than Holy Land and a bit less smoky - both have a lot of similarity. Even more pronounced and in the same general vein are Samye Monastery Samanthabadra and Highland - I don't like them quite as much but you might. Another strong scent, and a lot cheaper, is Tengboche Ceremony incense. Bhutanese styles can be even more powerful like Nado Poizokhang.

I recently had three lucid dreams in one night. In each one, I was faced with a situation and began to react in a very familiar, habitual, and conditioned pattern (one involved sex and two involved violence). And in each one, as I began to fall into the habitual pattern I became fully lucid of the dream state and my reaction. I immediately told myself that this was not how I wanted to lead my life and that I did not want to waste such a precious opportunity (lucidity). In each circumstance I completely change my reaction to the situation. Good stuff!

I see where you mean, there's a bit of the sticking and connecting but not more than a second or two. I definitely agree with your points comparing good Taiji skill to good boxing. One difference being the nature of the short force vs the long force. In boxing and kickboxing you're mostly forced to use the long force and mostly prohibited from effective use of zhan nian lian sui bu diu ding. I think this is one of the reasons it's tough to demonstrate Taiji skill in these circumstances. I'm not seeing what you seem to be seeing in abundance. That said, I'm not sure it's something that's easy to see, at least not for me. Much easier to feel. Congrats on your fighter!

I like incense very much - I've tried a wide variety of Indian, Japanese, Taiwanese,Tibetan, Nepalese, and Bhutanese. I've found that I prefer Tibetan style incense. A few of my favorites: Inexpensive - Thrangu Tara Abbey - http://thrangutaraabbey.org/?rt=pagelink/index&id=hand-made-incense-of-tara-abbe Moderate - Bosen Pythoncidere Incense - http://www.amazon.com/Pythoncidere-Incense-Stick-Natural-D007T/dp/B00170SDPQ/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A1IDTXKZGC2QFA Nub Gon Monastery - Lama Chodpa Incense - especially the "purification" and "meditation" varieties - http://lamachodpa.com/ Expensive - Dzogchen Monastery - Lotus Ground Incense - http://www.essenceoftheages.com/dzogchen/dzogchen1.html Tibetan Medical College - Holy Land Incense - http://www.essenceoftheages.com/tibmed/tib1.html All of these can be ordered from Essence of the Ages which is a very good source for all kinds of incense. Check out the Olfactory Rescue Service - https://olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com/ Enjoy!

Hi Stig, I greatly appreciate your compliment and will try to keep it from going directly to my head! I've never tried to put together any videos on the subject but I'll look around. I must admit that I didn't watch your analysis video completely, just a snip, but I'll take a look when a have a bit of free time. Cheers!

The obstruction to feeling qi is often a combination of expectation and effort. What is this qi stuff you are expecting to feel? How hard are you trying? One very helpful approach is to begin with simply opening your awareness and attention to how it feels to be in your skin. What does your body feel like inside? Standing meditation with open, relaxed attention to the body and breath may help. Don't have any preconceptions as to what you should feel or how it should happen - just feel what is there inside and rest in that feeling. Standing is better at first because you're less prone to get drowsy. good luck

A few permutations on this theme - We are all interconnected-being. A direct experience of this being is a direct experience of profound love and absolute compassion of the earth shattering variety. These are not emotions but the very ground of being. There are a variety of relative emotions that we refer to as love and compassion and so on, which are different from what I am referring to, but familiarity with these relative emotions may be useful in opening us to and reminding us of the absolute. Just a few words thrown together for fun. FWIW

Great teacher and great book! All I need to say about him is contained in my sig... The most concise, literary description of reality I have encountered. _/\_

Absolutely, particularly if they are lucid dreams. Bridging the gap between the sleeping dream and the waking dream is very helpful, IMO.

This is an interesting topic - what is taijiquan in combat? I don't have a definitive answer but can share a few thoughts. I think we would all agree we were watching combat taijiquan if we saw effective use of the principles of zhan nian lian sui bu diu and bu ding. I'm not seeing that in this fight to a meaningful degree. I think we would agree if we saw techniques like lü, ji, an, cai, zhou, and kao - not seeing that so much either. We would agree if we were seeing effective yielding and neutralization and also if we were able to see evidence of the subtle "ba da jin" like coiling, wave, revolving, and folding strengths, to mention a few. To me, those methods would be the definitive example of combat taijiquan application. I can't say that I'm clearly seeing any of that here. On the other hand, taijiquan training gives us a lot of physical, mental, and energetic advantage - fajin skill, balance, agility, speed, sensitivity. These are also developed by the other internal arts, and the external arts for that matter. My shifu taught both internal and external arts and the more advanced and accomplished practitioners converged in terms of their skill and effectiveness, rather than diverged. One of my training partners had studied the external arts for several years then moved to taijiquan. He then continued to train with his external buddies and within 6 months of taijiquan training they were shocked by how much more effective his rooting, balance, power, agility, and flexibility and become. My teacher used to always say that taijiquan training is the best for developing true power. So my opinion, FWIW, is that the fighter may have benefited enormously from taijiquan training and the benefits of that training are undoubtedly contributing to his success in this sparring match. On the other hand, if one were in combat, rather than sparring, and had a lot of skilled training in combat taijiquan, I believe it would look much different. Combat taijiquan is close quarters fighting characterized by zhan nian lian sui bu diu and bu ding as well as joint manipulation, take downs, grappling, elbows, and body strikes. At least that is what the classics would have us believe and that is how I was taught. Never used it in a real fight yet, however, and in a controlled sparring environment, like the videos above, there's not much opportunity to engage those sorts of techniques, IME.

We are all beings of compassion, we just get distracted soon after birth.

Very nice photo and posture!