DeefMan

I've found a simpler definition of trauma to be useful for me... Trauma is an experience that overwhelms and confuses the nervous system. Confusion is the unique aspect to trauma.. that causes the energy to get stuck and cause problems.. More severe traumas include multiple events, physical injuries, life or death situations, etc. and often overwhelm not only the nervous system but all of a person's defense mechanisms and coping methods.. One issue is that people only pay attention to severe traumas and overlook many minor traumas that happen all the time. So they search out magic methods to fix the big trauma, but never learn how to deal all the smaller traumas that are still unresolved in the system.

Spiritual bypass is quite common among meditators... It is very easy to use meditation as an escape from life and negative emotions.... it's especially enticing for people who can really travel and go to fun and exciting places during meditations. However.... this is a disembodied form of meditation... and the main problem with that is that you still have a physical body and all the emotional baggage with it... so you can either live emotionally numbed out, or in a constant state of subtle alertness, trying to avoid feeling any so called 'negative emotions'.... Also..... many people get confused by how to apply non-attachment and translate it to detachment... non-attachment is just not attaching to your emotions, beliefs, and other people. But it does not mean that you detach/seperate from your emotions/beliefs/people.. Without attachments, you actually feel and experience emotions much more fully and totally. Positive emotions become fuller, but also negative emotions become more intense too. So it's common for people to numb out or detach from their emotions to avoid the stronger feelings of so called 'negative emotions'... .... And there is also the possibility of it just being a natural progression of meditation. As you become more conscious, things can change with how you process and perceive the world.. which can change your personality and way of being... .... And.... as for boredom and dullness... there is probably some level of resistance underneath both of those feelings if you self inquire and dig a bit...

I've practiced the Kuan Yin standing form for several months... I found it simple to learn yet constantly challenging to master. I also recently learned the Awaken the Soul form, but only practice it occasionally. My recent focus has been more with sitting meditation & kunlun.. I suppose part of the reason Sheng Zhen qigong isn't as well known is partially due to the high requirements for teacher certification.. Also the form is really best learned in person from a teacher, the DVDs are pretty good for reference but lack detail and instructions for a beginner to learn the form. The books do offer a bit more details on specifics, if you can learn from books. This is an interesting short documentary of Sheng Zhen with interviews & video of Li Jing (daughter of Master Li Jun Feng):

This thread talks about Sheng Zhen Qigong http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/495-cosmic-heart-spiral-of-love-and-shengzhen/page__hl__ShengZhen

There might be about a dozen different forms within Sheng Zhen Qigong... about half are standing and other half are sitting. Some are named after spiritual leaders: Kuan Yin, Jesus, Mohammed, and Lao Tzu. And there's healing form along with a form called awakening the soul. He describes Sheng Zhen as the Qi Gong of unconditional love, so it does seem to have more of a spiritual flavor to the focus. He does also teaches a sitting and lying down meditation with a type of micro/macro cosmic orbit... I've only learned & practice the Kuan Yin standing moving form.. I found the 10 different postures pretty easy to learn, however difficult to master. So it's nice that it's easy yet still challenging. Here's his youtube channel where there are videos of him performing some of the various forms: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShengZhenSociety This is a video documentary of his daughter Li Jing where she covers deeper aspects: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=ShengZhenSociety&aq=f&gl=DE&hl=de

Its interesting when I look back at my logs and discovered that it took me about 7.5 months from starting a seated meditation practice to reach my first 60 minute session of full lotus.. then it took another 7.5 months to make my personal best time of 121 minutes of full lotus... and since then I've been able to regularly do 60 minutes full lotus meditation for the last 2 months... But now, I'm not really sure what to focus on... I don't feel motivated to try to go for longer records of full lotus non stop.. I could try to balance both sides out, and make sure I can do 60 minutes or longer on both sides... or I could try for deeper full lotus posture with legs further up, but I'll probably sacrifice length of time.. or I could try a goal for bound full lotus but I'm not sure my arms can stretch that far backwards... Haven't really experienced any major energetic effects from full lotus.. most of the pain is around the ankles which don't bend that well, and the lower leg's knee can hurt a bit after a long session... The uncomfortableness from full lotus can be useful for meditation.. one to help stay awake and focused.. and also as a form of asceticism.. lol

Hello everyone, I've been exploring energy work/arts for about 2 years now, mostly for personal growth/wellness. Have done wide variety of things, including reiki practitioner, pilates, yoga, feldenkrais, fasting, qigong, chen style tai-chi, xing-yi, zhan zhuang, sitting half/full lotus meditation, non-dualism, jogging, jump rope, breath work, taichi daoyin, yin yoga, etc. peace, Deef