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Firstly, thankyou all for your comments, you have some very helpful and insightful ideas. I only use "I" because i'm talking about my experiences, i can't use "you" because i don't know anyone elses experiences. I don't feel i am on a pedestal, i only feel i have improved myself on a personal level in meditation since when i began. Everyone develops their own life in the way they like (ie family, spirituality, business, career, money) and for the last 2 years i have concentrated, due to environmental factors, family and spirtuality. I only talk about levels.. perhaps i should use "personal breakthroughs" instead (I have seen other people on here write things this way). I think it's definately not good to look down on others because everyone is equal, but everybody should also regard themselves highly and have the confidence to do what they want to do, not follow along with what the others want. Besides this i think the time i have meditated barely puts me on a pedestal i feel i have only just begun to understand the practice. I think everyone forsakes now for later. Thats why we have money so you can work now and be free to enjoy the fruits of your labour later. I think there are many great and wise saying about how we should live for the better, and all are very true, but theres a world of difference between KNOWING whats best and DOING whats best. The world is miraculous and amazing, but it also sucks bad sometimes too. It's extreemly difficult to always be happy about everything all the time, like Jesus, nailed to the cross by some people and then he tells god to 'forgive them because they know not what they do' haha i know this is very great but i could never be like that! I know i can be pessamistic and this is something i try to work on in my meditation but i also think these are very valid points and since through meditation we are trying to see the truth of what is really there we shouldn't be trying to blind ourselves by only being optimistic and seeing only half the picture.

It's good if you're getting some good health benefits from these foods but i'm living in China and the corn and black rice are common here. I just asked my chinese wife and she said she's never heard of it being emprerors food or anything special, just normal black rice She says it has good nutrional content though but she says that about lots of things. I was very into all the eastern medicine and nutition stuff and thats one of the main reasons i came to china but since i've been here i've realised that in the west theres alot of mysticism and magical wonder put into alot eastern things and really it's not mystical at all. The ability of western doctors to take the heart out of 1 person and put it into another person and make them live again... to me i now look at that as though it is some true magic and very great.

I think getting your scolarship is a fairly short term goal and apart from some miracle happening now, if your work you submitted in applying for the scolarship isn't up to scratch u won't get it. It's already set as to if u'll get it or not because you've already completed the work, u just don't know yet. But if you have some longer term goals, perhaps what you want to do after you have completed your scolarship and make choices that will help you acheive those goals i'm sure u'll get closer and closer until you acheive your long term goals. I think the tao can help you acheive your long term goals that you set, but you just let the tao take it's course on how you acheive those goals, often in very unexpected ways

Yes very good point. I know this and sometimes i really do feel partly englightened like everything in life is great, the bad thoughts just fade away, and sometimes i feel like... - everything is for me, and i feel so confident. An example is... I feel everything i do is because i want to do it... and if at any time my desires change i will change what i do. I feel totally in control of my own life at every minute. But this feeling is short lived. And if i reduce my practice, maybe still daily but a shorter period of time, its like i have too much energy and nowhere for it to go and I lose my clarityand get moody. It's a little disapointing. I feel that it's not just a matter of practicing for half or one hour a day to maintain my level, i can't seem to maintain it with that. It's like exercising every day then exercising only 3 days a week and expecting to keep the same level of fitness. Having said that though, i'm also starting to realise that if I am feeling very balanced and in control of all my emotions I can't have the spontanious overwealming emotional surprises that life brings. Also it's actually useful to be angry, sad or scared some times. They're normal natural feelings and converting them into so called "healthy" energy is a bit like me programming my body like a computer. If your sacraficing your time to meditation and not being able to have all the emotional expressions in life and you are using that energy to cure illness that sounds great, but if you're not curing illness are you really acheiving? It's like as you advance in your practice and reach different levels, you recieve some rewards but you also sacrafice some things too. Does anyone else have these thoughts?

Reading books, learning about meditation or reading this website when you are trying to get meditation results are counter productive. Rest, don't read and save your energy. When you read it stimulates your thoughts. If you want to progress, first find out what to do, then practice it for at least 3-4 weeks without reading any more about it. If you try to read you will always be comparing your experiences with what you have read about and it won't work. It's your experiences your after and that matter, you will learn all the feelings and experiences for yourself. You can't have your own experiences if you are waiting for the ones you've read about to appear. Gentle exercise like walking and stretching is good but if you go to the gym it will tense you up and send u backwards too. Every time u get the urge to do something just take a big breath and chill. Sometimes u need to take this breath every 5 seconds, shout out and scream to make yourself feel better and release the fustration, then microcosmic your energy to get it flowing again so you relax and are ok with it. I think the fustration comes from a buildup of energy but no free path for it to flow around, so if your microcosmic is free and wide enough for the energy you have in your body you can stay relaxed =]

I feel a teacher is unimportant. You can just test and try different ideas and things yourself. If you get good results you can continue, if it's detrimental then you stop and go on with something else. This way by making some mistakes you learn more about your body and have a wider range of knowledge to help you on the path. Although your goals may take longer to reach, your experience is wider and perhaps it's even useful to be able to offer others advice. Besides theres not only 1 way - the teachers way, theres an unlimited number of methods.

I've been practicing Taiji only for about 4 months in a big city in China from a teacher who's teacher was very famous and has died now (i've only just been accepted that he will actually teach me last week). My teacher has created his own Taiji style and he's very good. But i still don't feel he would have a chance in a UFC tournament or something like that. Mind you he's 60 years old and i know he'd easily kick my arse. I've had a bit of experience with BJJ and some forms of Karate and my brother has been doing ninjisu for 8 years or so and i've spared with him a fair bit. I think you learn alot more about life and using the others strength in taiji, not just for beating the biggest meathead around. Also it takes so long to become good at tai chi, it's not something you can learn for 3 months then have some ability to protect yourself with, like i think you could do with karate or something. After you've practiced for a few years i think you will be able to defend yourself against the general person who will try to attack you and be quiet a tough cookie to beat but i think ur still going to get ripped apart by vandelai silver or some crazy UFC psycho. But then when do you really come up against someone like that in the real world. I think tai chi is great for relaxing and health and execercising without risk of injuries, but if you want to be the number 1 fighter in the world in a hurry you need something else.

Hi, Just introducing myself so i can post. I'm 26, done qigong for 3 years and tai ji for 4 months.