Athanor

So, I was thinking, if you could make a copy of this The Tao Bums > Tao Lounge > Taoist Discussion menu which appears on the top of each topic, and you could put the copy to the bottom of each topic, then I wouldn't have to scroll back to the top of the sites all time to click back to the previous level. I know, I know, the HOME button simply jumps to the top of the page and there I am. It's just that I like to navigate with my mouse, it has 5 buttons and it's very sweet. Well, it was just an idea anyway, doesn't really matter. Edited: Never mind, I just didn't see what I was looking for, although it was already there...

Maybe I'm just impatient, or too tense for qigong... I like to do things. I don't like to imitate being a tree for half an hour... It seems like a total waste of time to me. If I would at least photosynthesize...

I thought this too, that's why I asked which qigong systems are worth to practice - I mean the ancient ones, not the new age ones. However, I think sooner or later taijiquan will also result in a higher ability to perceive qi-flow, yet, without the extraordinary healing benefit.

So you spent 30 years with it. OK, I'm not even alive for 30 years yet but almost... It's just that I don't really find qigong exciting. I think it's boring. I started to practice one style (I don't know how to write its name in English) but I didn't enjoy it. I enjoy taijiquan, but not qigong. But taiji is different, and it has a different effect, and I'd really like to receive the effects of qigong. But it's so boring that it makes me nervous instead of tranquil I don't have the least doubt that I do something wrong, this is the reason why I'd like to know these things - to figure out how to do it right.

To me this sounds like if I would need to become enlightened to practice qigong properly...

Can you tell me some qigong systems that were developed by earlier masters? Btw, is the date of creation a guarantee to quality? Can't a newly formed qigong system be better, simply because of the experiences the world has on qigong today?

Sorry that you needed to repeat yourself, however, I think I understand you more clearly after this. I still don't know the answer to my question, but "intuitively" I think I understand it better. The problem in my case might indeed be that it's new to me, and that I don't have practice experience. I mean I practiced for a while, but I wouldn't call that real experience - it would need more time I guess. So thank you

My point was that if it means anything, it is impossible to tell it with words.

So then, what makes it possible to determine whether a movement is to our own good or against it? If there is no one correct protocol, then what is the guideline or directive or particular feeling or whatever that can tell how to move, which move is natural and which is not? I mean "making ourselves available to the life energy of the moment" is very nice, but find me just 5 people on Earth who understand this the same way. Moving without expectation would mean not to expect the movement to increase my health, wouldn't it? Then how to practice qigong? It's like if the whole thing would be simply the joy of moving. As if it wouldn't matter at all how to move, which way, and how far, or how fast, but the only thing that matters would be to enjoy it. So you'd move in a way as you enjoy it. But then, isn't it kind of unethical to teach qigong for a high fee instead of saying "move as you like"? This sounds very nice, but I have absolutely no idea what it means. Avoiding such sentences in general when talking about qigong and related issues, or strictly defining the terms used in it, like 'post heaven intelligence', so that they would mean roughly the same to everyone, would make it much easier to understand these practices.

My suggestion: learn taiji (tai chi) and practice it a lot. First just a little, then a few minutes more every day. Find a master to learn from. Do this for daily routine, it's fun. You can do chigong too, but I prefer taiji because it has more movements and it puts all your parts in motion for a longer time; it enhances energy, but it also gently moves muscles and joints directly. Good taiji masters use qigong exercises as a work off, you'll probably learn such too. It's definitely good to gain contact with someone who is actually teaching such. Don't rely on students' opinion, ask the master. And for urgent change: I'd suggest you to try craniosacral therapy, but only after you read about it (search google), and only if you think it can help you. Don't do it just because some guy on the forum told you... This therapy is very gentle, and (according to articles) it cures mental, physical and psychical illnesses too; it works like an ignition to your immune system and the body's self-healing mechanism. I'm going to try it too.

Taoism is not about knowing. It's about being. Not about being a taoist; just about being. In a way as it corresponds to nature. Read about wu wei to understand this concept. Meditation basics is to focus on the present, and let your memories about the past and expectations about the future flow away. Keep your mind empty, filled with the present. And don't try to grasp this logically It's a wonderful thing once you let go of the desire for knowledge. Hard too. The main problem during taoist practice is that it contradicts with the way of civilized life. The reason for this is that civilized life contradicts to nature's flow. You have to find the balance in your own life, how far do you want to dig into taoism, and how much do you want to cling on your civilized life. This is of utter importance, for if you have doubt about your spiritual path fitting into your life then you won't make progress. The best is when you don't distinguish a spiritual path and a life anymore. I think it's best to grasp the whole concept in general before getting involved into details. You can easily lose contact with the purpose of this whole thing if you dig into Mantak Chia's dozens of books and videos about taoist health and such... IMO it's completely unnecessary at the beginning. Good luck.

Good luck finding someone who can tell you what it truly means to be taoist

If your post contains only one single video, and you change the video from time to time, it makes no sense man. Why do you do this? The video on which I responded at first was totally different, it wasn't the video with the cat.

You are either joking, or you mistake the effects of chi for a theatrical show...

It is very interesting that in most forums about the side-effects or negative consequences of meditation nobody tells a word about the brain. So here I come to tell you some things. Brain consists of billions of tiny never cells called neurons which create a neural net. Meditation's effect on the neural network is very intense, in fact, it is just as intense as thoughts' effect. A thought, if regularly repeated (especially if emotionally supported) creates a synaptic path. A thought is actually stored between two nerve cells, which connect to each other with a synaptic gap (actually, many of these gaps hold a thought). These gaps are flexible: if a thought is repeated, the synapse gets stronger; if a thought is not repeated then the gap gets larger and eventually the synapse breaks. Now, the thinking process relies on these gaps. It says: those thoughts which are stored in a stronger synapse will rise faster and will connect to more things (this is association), while those thoughts which are stored in a loosened synapse, or which doesn't have its own synapse (but it's stored through many synapses' complex system) will rise harder. This is how your memory can quickly give you something what you recently think about, but not so easy something what you don't think about for months. While you study, you know what you've learned. After a few years you forget many things... Meditation is the mental state of non-thinking, which means that the time of meditation, if you are really not thinking, makes virtually every synapse loosen. So the main side effect of meditation is actually the main purpose of it. While you let the synaptic connections which hold your bad habits and evil thoughts to loosen up and break, you also let everything else go the same. Imagine that if you'd reach total non-thinking, through all the levels of the mind right down 'till the source of awareness, and you'd keep this up for at least 3 weeks, then you'd have a great chance that when you get out of it, you'll be a zombie, for what you'd actually do is that you'd erase your thinking patterns (your synaptic connections) out of your brain. Sounds weird, huh? Well, you don't have to worry that your heart and digestion is driven by your brain and what if you erase that connection... Vegetative functions stimulate the synapses while they are in process, so your heart cannot forget to beat It is said that great masters can meditate for weeks and they don't become zombies. So what do they do different? Well, it took some time for me to figure out and I still might be wrong with this, but I think that the difference is deep down in the mind, just before you reach samadhi. As far as I could observe through my own meditations, there are some levels of thinking which you can practically turn off systematically, one after the other, by mere practicing. The top is the everyday thinking, the level of inner conversation, where you form the words and sentences you speak. Below this is another level of thoughts which consists of more images and less verbal content. This is where you become aware of your mental images. Below this level are very subtle memories. They feel more like static ideas, not so much dynamic, but you can still feel that your awareness rises from somewhere below, and it comes through these memories before it actually grasps something. So you can actually observe the process as your awareness uses association, and creates a connection between your past memories and your everyday life. This mental connection between your past and present is the basis of thinking. You can't think in any other way than this. Even babies are born with lots of synapses (actually, new-born babies have more synapses than adults) to have something to compare their present experiences with. So I think when you get beyond this level then you can either let your awareness vanish, or you can guide it somewhere, preferably to samadhi. Losing your awareness will not lead you to samadhi, it will lead you to becoming a zombie. Now, I couldn't get to this so far but this seems to be logical to me. Just before you freak out and panic because you don't want to become a zombie you should know one more thing. Just as your brain can be wired to learn new things and forget learned things, it can also be re-wired to remember forgotten things. So it doesn't really matter what you forget, or how much you feel that meditation makes you more stupid every day (although you feel great), because if things get too bad, you can undo this whole mess and you can get your old bad habits and evil thoughts back

I am very-very much envious and angry. The story in short is that there was a girl who first did talk with me and (I thought) we did get along quite good, and then she didn't talk with me for no known reason. She disappeared from my life, and now I found her on Fb, and I see she's in Dubai, she's seemingly having a great life and looks better than ever. It's just one thing that I don't believe I can ever get to Dubai and I'm envious because she's there. I can't imagine how could she do it. Maybe she met a prince and he paid for everything, maybe she worked hard and got this opportunity... It doesn't really matter how she did it, but I'm envious because she did it. It's just another thing that I hate her because she's not with me, and I'm angry. She looks amazing, she keeps her body in a perfect shape, simply desirable. But she's not with me. Maybe she's with no one, or maybe she's with a guy who she really deserves - the point is that she's not with me. My problem here is actually that I don't seem to find a way to let these feelings go. I know, of course, that they'll eventually calm and I'll be able to focus again. But I must continue my practice each and every day, I can't wait for my emotions to settle naturally, I need to solve this issue by will. This is what it's all about - gaining control over emotions. But this is just too much. I can't be happy for her - I can't overcome these feelings. Besides that it's not really noble to have such feelings towards anyone, it's also a huge obstacle in my daily practice. So what do you do when there is too much emotion in you? How do you deal with it? Besides having a few beers and cigarettes... I need a more constructive solution.

Thanks for your words. I know how common this is, that's why I posted it so easily... You're right, it's more about my feelings about myself and less about the actual circumstances. Thanks for presuming that I'm wonderful I think I've got issues with pride. I'm not sure about it, it's hard to determine whether I earn it or not... So I rather have issues with determining what I earned and what not...

Well, I'm far from being a spiritual warrior - or a warrior of any kind, actually. But I'll try your method, hopefully it'll help. Thank you.

Thanks for the tip, I'll probably check out the book later.

I don't really see the point, probably I don't understand what this husband-cake thing was about... I don't really see the relation between this story and my emotions.

I don't really understand what pay off means here.

The question "why to open the third eye" is like asking a blind man why he wants to see. Having more senses makes you perceive reality on a higher level, it gives you more possibilities in your life. I don't think that dealing with the information through the third eye is harder than to deal with information through the regular eyes. If you think about it, your brain needs to develop to achieve the level of perception on which you can actually see something. The development of the brain means that it becomes able to organize the stimuli received from the environment, and is able to put the inputs in their right place among the information perceived through the other senses. So if your third eye is open then you are capable of dealing with it. However, just as well as there are people who see illusions, hallucinations, hear voices, and so on, so it is also possible to have difficulties with the third eye. But these kinds of perceptional dysfunctions are very rare, I don't think you should actually worry about them. Although it might be safe not to try to open your third eye if you already have such a dysfunction...

Oh yes, this is the kind of thing I've been expecting, thank you very much. I'll definitely browse the site. I've got one text called The Power of Mindfulness, but it's still under translation. Such texts are rare to find in my language, and I don't like studying them in English because I sometimes misuse words and it only makes me confused. It's sometimes even hard enough to understand such concepts in Hungarian too... But I'll go through this one, and I hope I'll be able to figure out something.

The question is not so much about this particular situation with the girl but rather about situations involving overwhelming emotions in general. There are many such cases, some of them cannot be solved by discussion (like losing a close person who you had a fight with, etc.). So I'm looking for solution to deal with emotions, not to deal with this situation. The eventual necessity of letting go is a good point, it just seems rather painful than reasonable when you're controlled by unwanted emotions