Pax

I would dearly love to have a place like the local Buddhist meditation center to meet, meditate, and study with other Daoists. A place where a novice like myself could receive basic authentic instruction...it's difficult to sift through the plethora of new age/pop culture material out there when you're so new.

I love Buckwheat Zydeco !! Thanks! I'm sitting here at my desk tapping me feet and smiling (and apparently confusing my office mate )

Ditto that. I'm still such a noobie here, but I'll try very hard not to fall into that cycle.

Now I'm listening to Karen Carpenter We've Only Just Begun...I like to mix things up a bit.

Thanks! Good to know it will help with energy levels, I'm a rank beginner and am already starting to feel the energy after I finish Taiji class or do a particularly nice meditation.

Good grief I hope not! I already sleep so little I'd hate to think qigong will reduce it even more!

Right now I've got Nazareth Hair of the Dog playing.

No place to meet up with other Daoists to study/talk/meditate... I've never even met a person who is a Taoist (that I'm aware of) and I live in a very diverse college town.

Wow, impressive! I usually feel my energy tank by the start of day two...but I'm old and out of shape so I expect that. I'll be doing a new four day fast after I get back from vacation in a couple of weeks, this time I'll be doing MUCH more meditation...I hope that helps a bit with the energy levels!

Although I'm new to TTB, I'm active on several other boards going back about 7-8 years. I've been on boards where the 100% agreement on an odd number of mods form of moderating was used and it seemed to be the most successful. Much less emotional interference in the natural progression of threads that way.

I voted "Of Little Importance". Then again I'm very new to this so I have a fairly simplistic view...if a couple of millennia's worth of people managed to practice well without this knowledge I'm not sure why it's so relevant now? (just as an aside, I'm fairly proficient in three of the mentioned disciplines and have general college course level knowledge of the remaining two)

I've done a couple of one-two day fasts (nothing consumed but water) and found them refreshing, the sensation of hunger is intriguing.

Thank you Iyoiyo, that makes sense to me. The more I studied Buddhism, the more I realized it wasn't my path, when I started reading about Daoism I had a huge "AH HA" moment...however I still find myself using terms/ideas from Buddhism like "karma", it seems as good a word as any.

Thanks Marblehead, interesting distinction. I've got a lot to learn.

Nice story! It brings up a quick question if you don't mind? I'm very new to the study of Daoism, having spent much time recently in the study of Buddhism...do daoists believe in karma or is it being used figure of speech?

Interesting! Although the square one felt like some weird lab experiment.

Mal - TOO funny!!! (You're cuter, BTW )

Good point...trying not to be "that guy" is a worthy endeavor.

Funny! I think there's one of him in every type of class I've ever taken - karate, Taiji, scuba, etc...

River Gazer, your thoughts about work sound much like the one my young coworker has. He is recently 24 and has begun planning a way to retire in ten years. We both work for a university and are decently compensated for our work, but he is an artist an finds the full time grind to be detrimental to his art. He has given up what others of his cohort consider essential; cable, internet, his car, all in order to make his vision for his future a reality. Much respect, Pax

Hello Tao Bums! I've recently started Taiji classes and much of the literature references Tao/Dao, I'd like to learn a bit more about it.

Thank you for the gracious welcome Marblehead.