DaoChild

Hi everyone, I'm just curious which exercise/ set of exercises makes you feel Qi the strongest. For me ( a novice to Qigong ) I felt VERY strong warmth in my hands even on the first day trying "Lifting the Sky" and "Carrying the Moon". Additionally, doing the self-healing regime from Pranic Healing makes my hands pulse with heat, as if they would burn an object I touch. Just curious, as i'm trying to explore more Qigong options. Have a good weekend DaoChild

I'm curious about this whole non-action business. And I'm also confused about this whole non-action business. Could you please give examples of how you (personally - I don't want hypothetical examples) employ it in daily life? Is it: When someone verbally attacks you, letting it pass through you, and it is unable to cling to anything? Understanding the changes in the world, and not resisting them? Is it the same thing as non-resistance to what is happening?

Check this out: http://www.giveittomeraw.com/forum/topic/s...ATopic%3A113180 Has anyone else heard of this? It's incredible sounding, and makes sense based on human evolution (e.g. we were MADE to take physical damage, made to tolerate quick temperature shifts, made to be durable) I'm going to give it a shot and see if it improves my circulation and / or asthma.

So there seems to be some confusion in my mind as to what this properly means. A few different people as well as literary sources seem to have slightly different definitions. For example, there is the A) "As long as your head is help up and the spine is elongate, you are tucked properly" And there is the "You need to consciously pull the pelvis forward and a bit up" and C) "Just don't hang your ass out or belly out" I find it's a bit more touchy in Zhan Zhuang, since when you are standing still you are more keen on how this affects the body. So, if I stand in Wuji for example and first exaggerate the butt-out , and then go to the other side , to the forward slumped shoulders, and then find that place in the center with a straight spine and lofty head -- that should be the ideal state of the spine, tailbone, no? Any clarification would be most appreciated

Awww but manipulation is so fun!

The spine in its natural position has 3 curves, you should maintain those if you want to conserve the long-term health of your back. A "straight" back does not mean straight spine -- for example, while sitting, if your back hurts in the middle it is probably because you are slouching (read: you are tucking your butt and tailbone in, while in reality you should pull your butt out before you sit on a chair in order to align your spine right). If you are doing seated meditation, use a thick cushion, lean forward, pull your butt cheeks back far (as if sticking out your butt to do a squat), and then sit back into your cushion. This maintains the proper spinal curvature and you will not have to force muscles to keep upright posture.

I think there is quite a varied set of goals on this forum: I mostly see three types of people: A. People who want to improve their lives or cure some sort of problem B. People who want metaphysical explanations for thing C. People interested in metaphysics and interested in acquisition of "powers" found in folklore My question is this: For you, what's your personal reason for this interest? Having moved to China to study martial arts and taoism more in depth, It really made me realize what I really want and what i'm actually after. IMHO if you are after "powers" or 4 hr / day cultivation, having a family is probably not for you. Nor is having a vibrant social life in addition to being able to work a job. So at what point do we say "this is enough" ? I right now realize that at some point in my life I will have a family, I'll be someone's neighbor, I'll be barbecue-ing. What then is the point of this "other" stuff? Beyond the most basic/profound qualities of Taoism (inner tranquility despite what's going on outside), is anything else useful?

Science tells us that loneliness is a programed condition simply because it's evolutionarily advantageous to work together, find people to reproduce with, hunt together, etc. Yes, hermits absolutely feel loneliness. I remember reading a book or two a while back about some people who went in search of Chinese hermits (Buddhist + Taoist), and the hermits enjoyed having company and mentioned that sometimes it gets lonely. It takes a lot of work and constant interaction to prevent loneliness, and even if you meditate it takes long periods of uninterupted "flow" (read Csikszentmihalyi) to prevent the mind from getting distracted. The hermit only doesn't become lonely because he keeps his mind clear. The natural state of the mind is entropy (chaos), and unless you have fine control over your mind you will naturally fall back into that state.

Sorry -- I don't know how to put multiple quotes in one post, I kept messing it up. The answer to your question: I haven't. I've only just arrived a few weeks ago and I'm going to be spending the next year training and improving chinese. I'll take it from there.

This is awesome -- the same as my personal reason for trying to teach myself to meditate starting when I was 13. "I see very few of these around if any..." Couldn't agree more, and the amount of power you carry when the inside stays undisturbed regardless of the outside is incredible.

Wudang is just as big of a tourist trap as Shaolin. It's run by the government for tourism.

What exactly do you need help with specifically?

A common recommendation I've heard is to practice an exercise (usually in reference to a new Qigong) 30 minutes daily for 100 days to gauge its effects. Judge it from there.

It only corrects your alignment if you do it properly. Does sitting in a chair or stand or sleeping automatically fix your alignment? No, not unless you sit properly, walk and stand properly, sleep properly. It produces pain if done wrong. I don't know what "correcting your fascia" means.

In the next two months I'll be moving off to China to continue learning martial arts & Chinese, drink tea / learn culture, and (of course) head off into the mountains to see the Taoist Temples and see what the scene is like. I've been in contact with several authorities on Taoism in China and have given the response you'd expect : the real stuff is mostly dead, and is all dead in the temples. The temples are, by and large, tourist destinations and (just like the Kung fu schools) are run and maintained by the ministry of tourism. Anyway, I'm sure some of you have been to China.. So what should I check out?? The only things currently on my list are the major sacred mountains. (I'll be moving to Beijing for the first year or so, and then anywhere from there). I'll be there semi-long term.. so I'll have plenty of time to visit all over.

Thanks for sharing. I'm going to be in Beijing a couple weeks earlier than expected, so I'm going to stop by Wudangshan and Huashan and hike around to check it out. My Chinese is upper beginner right now, 800 characters, so I'll go back to really investigate after a year or so of really intensively studying the language and see what I can find. Keep you posted!

Sure is full, I haven't choked the bald man in about 2 weeks .

Walker, thank you for the notes regarding asthma. I'm in quite good physical shape, but that could obviously determine how my trip in China (and where I live) take shape. I haven't had asthma problems very often as of late, but I am a runner as well, so it's really going to be a tossup regarding how my lungs function when I get there. Fingers crossed, I guess. Hopefully everything works out as it should though..

That about sums up my opinion too. "The great Way is easy, but people prefer the side paths..."

I've taken Mandarin for a year, so I definitely want to keep studying it.. But that's totally what some other people are telling me. I've got quite a laundry list of teachers to check out when I get there, recommended to me from people who are living in China long-term. It should be really fun getting up early to explore the parks in the morning hours.

Ummm.. that's what happens when you put your hand in fire. The picture comes out looking like that.

Erm.. I don't believe those were visible magnetic fields. Pretty sure it's just a documentary with special effects overlapping a real time video -- especially since they were talking a lot about "What magnetic fields would look like" .

Some personal experience here -- most "weeds" are actually quite edible and medicinal plants. Top 5 weeds in my yard? Dandelions (Edible, and medicinal), Chickweed (Delicious edible), Violets (delicious edible/medicinal), clover (makes great tea), garlic mustard plants (great snack, and I toss leaves in pesto), wood sorrel (another delicious edible). That may help how some view "weeds" and in becoming "one with the tao" regarding their garden.. I always enjoyed figuring out wild edibles.

I find gardening to be one of the most enjoyable spring and summer activities. There is literally no other thing I want to do in the early AM hours than go out and check up on my plants, weed out the strawberries, and get some morning sun. In the spring and summer, I pass up on evening opportunities to go out, so I can get up at a reasonable hour the next morning. My parents have a 10' x 25' garden in which they grow vegetables -- tomatoes, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers, etc. I have a small 8' x 8' which I grow herbs in; some I experiment with medicinally ( seeing if they actually work in tinctures, salves,), and some I just grow for tea (lemon verbena, lemon balm, spearmint. Other than those, I have calendula and comfrey (great for bruising and sprains), mullein and coltsfoot (asthma / coughing), and miscellaneous other herbs.

We need to get him studied under western standards, assuming he first impresses the Indian scientists. Other parts of the world have notoriously low criteria for scientific studies.