saltydeath

Has anyone been to any of the Healing Tao summer retreats? I was wondering if it would be worth my time. There are so many that it's hard to know the difference between all of them, but I'd like to do something that would let me leave with some kind of certification so I could begin teaching qigong to beginners, like folks at the YMCA or a senior course that are only looking for an introduction to the subject. Any thoughts?

So I want to be able to teach qigong a little bit as I side job. And while I've studied a lot on my own (mostly through books and videos), I still don't think I have the credentials for people to take me seriously, especially with all the other people teaching it these days. So I want to do some training where I can become as proficient as possible in the shortest amount of time. I've looked at a lot of the Healing Tao stuff, and I know a lot of the folks on this forum have trained there, but I just don't trust it. It just seems so slickly packaged and marketed that it kind of turns me off. So I was wondering if there are any other ways that folks feel would be a good way to become certified. Are there any training programs that are more accessible to folks that can't fly to North Carolina over and over? I'm aware that a certificate doesn't really prove anything, and that there are a lot of online qigong training scams and snake-oil salesmen. But I'd just like to be able to teach people that are looking for an introduction to the art, and I'm not trying to pass myself off as any kind of master.

Has anybody done any of the body strengthening exercises for Qigong? I just read "Qigong:The Secret of Youth" by Yang Jwing-Ming, which is the most concise guide I've seen so far, but it's still lacking some practical info. He talks about two different branches: 1. Yi Jing Jing: Mostly strenthening the body through striking yourself with wooden rods, massage, and herbs. The striking isn't so much to toughen you to pain but to raise your chi to the surface. 2. Xi Sui Jing: The mental, visualization side of the practice that involves "marrow washing." It also has a lot of exercises where you tie weights to your junk and swing them, gradually building up the weight. While it's a pretty thorough book, it doesn't say a lot about which herbs are used, or what precautions to take to not damage your junk. So I was wondering if any folks had any experience with this kind of training, combining the physical with the visualization exercises.

Does anyone have any experience making their own ORMUS and using it alongside cultivation techniques?

I'm interested in going to Taiwan or China to study Taoism, as soon as I finish studying Chinese here. Does anyone have any recommendations for teachers or learning centers that are open to people with limited Chinese? I have an English teaching certificate and would like to teach English part-time too, so I'm not looking to stay in a monastery or temple full-time. I'm also interested in qigong and bagua to go along with the internal cultivation.

Hi- I just joined and I'm interested in practical steps I can take to apply the principles of Taoism to my own life. I am also interested in Taoist Qigong practices, both the internal meditation and external body strengthening exercises. I would like to go to China or Taiwan and study Taoism while teaching English, and I'm looking for ideas on where to go.