lifeforce

Yes !

Hi ChiForce. Thanks for your input.The state was initially brought on over 4 years ago via shaktipat. No drugs. As far as the flow of qi stopping. One would be dead if this happened. Qi is the life force of the cosmos, and every living thing requires it.

You're quite right Hundun and I value your opinion. You've been very helpful to me in the past. On forums such as these when you ask for advice, sometimes the answers you get are mixed. I've just been having a conversation with a very good friend of mine who's a martial artist, qi cultivator and spiritual seeker. He's also had strange mind states that he can't explain. We came to the conclusion that people like us are prone to such events because of the practice's we do. That we should embrace this change and go along with it, learning every single moment of our lives. That we have to stop looking for explanations and labels. That we aren't mad, crazy, strange and aloof. So, now, I feel much better about my situation and consider myself lucky to be able to have these feelings and thoughts. Not everyone is fortunate enough to view life, the world and the whole of divine creation as seekers like us, do.

No. Just a seductive female deity.

Maybe I should spend some time away from spiritual forums and literature. It might be unconsciously adding to the situation.

No. Its not a social anxiety issue. I'm never anxious, quite laid back and comfortable in my surroundings.

Thanks Songtsan. I'll have a read through that. Yes I've had that feeling many times. Different parts of my body feel disproportionate at times. It's a really strange sensation.

Interesting. Maybe I need to speak to a mental health expert.

One thing I definitely do, is to over analyse every single little experience. This is a trait I need to let go of.

Has the kundalini shakti not initiated all of this though ?

Thanks songtsan. I'll look into that. Again yesterday, and for the last few days it has been exactly the same. This feeling of being there but not being there. It is very, very strange and peculiar.

Hi Hundun. It's nice to hear from you again. Thanks for your words of advice. I've always wondered after all these years : after kundalini, then what ? I did sit to meditate a few times but thought, what is the point ? Meditation can't take me any further now. What i really need to do is to assimilate the teachings that I've learned into my very being. You're right though. I do seem to understand everything that is being said in the ancient, and sometimes modern, texts. It's a coincidence that you mention Nisargadatta, because I was only just reading some small gems of his. I particularly like this one. It seems to sum up my thought at the moment : "My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am', it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears".

Instead, get the seminal classic on standing, Lam Kam Chuen's The Way of Energy. He also has YouTube videos.

Hello student. Do you have any experience in the movement arts such as any type of martial art, dance etc ? If you do, it maybe possible to learn a qigong form from a video or book. Not taiji though. That would require teacher/student tuition. Something like 8 brocades or xingyineigong, which can be learned from a book, would give you much the same, or maybe even more of the benefits of taiji. There is also Kunlun, Flying Phoenix, Spring Forest, Zhan Zhuang etc etc which are discussed at length in these forums. Do some digging and research. There's a bottomless pit of information here. Good luck.

For a while now I've been having dreams/visions of a female being/deity/goddess. At first I thought it was guanyin or Tara from Tibetan Buddhism. She is strong, powerful, dark, mysterious, forceful, and beautifully sexual. More and more I've been drawn towards her. I now know this to be Kali, whom I'd never heard of before. The little I've read and investigated, the more I am certain of her involvement in my life. My life has changed so many times over the last 4 years. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically I am unrecognisable from the Me of four years ago. I thought this was down to my daily neigong practice, coupled with some sort of a midlife crisis. I'm thinking now that it could be the involvement of Kali.

Hi CT. That sounds interesting. I did have a shaktipat/kundalini experience over 4 years ago. The bliss lasted for many weeks before fading. However, I've never been the same since and have had some weird and vivid dreams as well as many more strange episodes.

Hi. No stress at all at work, it's a very calm environment.

Thank you for this wonderful information.

Just found this thread. I find Jeff Foster very zen-like, without the religious trappings. ENLIGHTENMENT IS NOT A DESTINATION (AND IT'S NOT PERSONAL) There is no fixed path to enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a goal. It is not the resting place at the end of a long journey. That is the minds version of enlightenment. Enlightenment is simply the en-lightening, the lighting-up, of where you are right now. This is very good news. It means that nobody is the authority on your path no teacher, no guru, no religious leader. It means that nobody can tell you the right way for you. It means that you cannot go wrong, even if you think youve gone wrong. It means that nothing that happens can ever lead you off the path, for the path IS whatever happens, without exception. Nothing can take you away from the miracle of life, or bring you closer to it for that matter, since the miracle is all around, already shining brightly, as every thought, sensation, image, feeling, smell, sound, and as the deeper miracle of the one who is aware of all of this, the one who shines. Be the awareness, shining on the moment, whatever its contents. Doubt, fear, sadness, anger, intense confusion maybe, just maybe, these are neither enemies nor "blocks to enlightenment", but expressions of a deeper intelligence, the same incomprehensibly vast and awake intelligence that gives birth to stars and moves the ocean tides and sends each and every living thing off on its paradoxical journey towards its own Being. Come out of the story of time and space and progress towards a future goal, and trust a sacred moment. Take any moment. Any moment at all. This moment. For any moment is the access point. There are never any blocks only access points. You are not some separate entity on a long journey towards a future completion. You are pure poetry. - Jeff Foster

The Yijing is a mirror to your mind. It can be used for help on personal matters by means of asking questions using coins, yarrow etc, or read in small chunks, as a guide to living. It never ceases to amaze me.

Depends on what results you're looking for. Taiji is taijiquan by the way. It is a martial art. It will take years of daily practice just to scratch the surface. Decades to become proficient, and a lifetime to master. Don't ever try learning it from a book or DVD. Some forms of qigong can be learned this way, but it's better to either have a teacher, or have someone check your posture now and again.

Taiji, qigong, or yoga would also be a good place to start. Do you have any background in any movement arts such as martial arts, dancing, sports ? If so, it might be a little easier for you to learn a simple, but very effective, form of moving qigong from a video/online.

This is not good advice for those of us living in the world. For hermits and recluses, maybe. I like to fully engage all of my senses, as much as possible, at the joy of being alive. However, I do respect your opinion and point of view. If I may offer an alternative to the OP: Get out in nature as much as possible preferably on long walks. Breathe in deep, clean fresh air. Take in all the sights around you. Listen to the bird song, the sounds of animals and other creatures. Smell the earth, flowers, plants. Touch the trees, the grass, the water from the stream. Smile at the wonder of life and give gratitude to the whole of Creation.

Really ?

LOL.