Ish

Sounds like you had a nasty experience. Can't hate the whole system because of it though? Unless this was a repeated matter. The place you worked with should be reported, that's basically unacceptable.

My first instict was to just post "what an asshole", but really this is very sad. It shows the importance of using your common sense, I don't particularly like the stories of the best disciples always doing whatever the master said no matter how dangerous. Ya better hope that angels were singing from the sky that your guru is "the one" before you take him up on the offer to walk off a cliff!

I notice a lot of masters repeat certain points quite a few times. This is because they are worth remembering.

Any other instructions for the shaking practice? I tried this just now - relax, let everything go and just... shake. Good fun, I feel quite energised, more relaxed and the energy flow is definitely widened. Doing this for 3 hours haha, thats quite a powerful session.

Don't struggle, but do it. Be effortless, but still do it.

I don't think emptiness really refers to that, just that all things don't have an independant permanent self. You can only say that something exists because it is perceived by something, Schroedinger's cat and all that :-) .

I recommend checking out Daniel Ingrams - Mastering the Core Teaching of the Buddha. It's free online and contains a lot of great information. You may find a lot that you can relate to and pointers to where you want to go. Daniel Ingram is an arahat, his mastery of the states and stages is really incredible. The book itself really reveals that it's all possible, just practice practice practice (correctly )

http://www.wwoof.org/ For those who haven't heard of it. Couple of minutes on it will explain better than I can

Definitely don't use sensations to judge the quality of your practice. My experience is similar to Encephalon, day or two of break, the sensations may be stronger but it doesn't mean the practice is. Practicing every single day is the best.

Wow, I know quite a lot of a women who can do full lotus without any training but have not heard of any men. Is it the male nature to be inflexible? :) That's a very true and beautiful motto to live by.

Thanks flowing hands.

This may sound counter-inuitive but is it possible for fasting to help you GAIN weight? This is of course for someone who is underweight. I.e. the cleasing effect on your energy and physical systems clear away whatever was stopping you from putting on weight. So after the fast your body functions naturally again and you can gain weight.

I remember having very similar problems to you - Here's what helped me. I felt "clumsy", not in a forgetful or unaware sense, but that my movement and body control wasn't graceful and balanced. My issues also came with a mental fog of sorts, just feeling very dull and generally out of balance. I could feel palpable tension or energy blockages mostly around the head and neck area. I personally sorted the problem through practicing chi gung, the spontaneous chi flow taught in Shaolin Wahnam. But you have to practice correctly, I've also caused problems for myself as I made mistakes a lot. But if you persist and really get down to following the instructions, you can solve your problem easily. That's where studying with a master helps a lot. So some stuff you can try right now - First things first, relax a lot more. Don't TRY and relax, just do it. Tension is activity, it's easier to do nothing so just relax. Pay extra attention to relaxing problematic areas especially if the tension is habitual. You may have some blockages around your upper body and head, grounding and really relaxing down past your soles is a great excercise. If you can do so without tensing, some deep squats and stretching excercises are very beneficial for the whole of your body. You'll get even more benefit if you can just "get into" the excercises and forget about everything else. Relaxing and having less mental chatter are things you should try to improve on all the time.

I don't want to ruin your "high" (lol) but check out the Jhana states. Some descriptions may sound clinical and boring but in practice like what you experienced its very enjoyable.

In the future you may find that in fact your problem is a blessing in disguise. If you never had any problems, you may not have discovered the power and beauty of meditation and qi gong. Well, I do hope you discover meditation and qi gong . As said above if you feel some affinity with the KAP practices then go ahead and find a teacher of the system.

Certainly would like to hear more. I think we have some examples of this in all traditions, The Immortals of Taoism, the Buddhas and high level Bodhisattvas who have multiple forms, the Yogis with power of bi location and manifestion after death, rainbow body of Tibetan Buddhism etc etc I wonder if there's a difference between Parinirvana and using this immortal body to aid sentient beings.

I figure it might be too late, but it's worth a shot. 1. In terms of energetics and nei kung, what effects do the typical Buddhist practices of Vipassana (Insight) and Shamatha (Concentration) have? 2. Were there any practices more focused on the "mind" level rather than the energetic level in the Mo Pai system? What were their aims?

Oops should have said "are" in my message not "aren't" - edited it. To me that doesn't prove fearlessness, while there is a level of danger, they ARE all stunts. Being fearless goes far beyond shows like this. I still stand by my comment that this has nothing to do with Sikhism.

I dont think they are qigong practictioners at all. Most of these are quite well known stunts, but they still require a lot of practice, and guts. As you can see at the end, they are injured. IMO its a waste of time as they are injuring their bodies just to entertain people. Don't see what this has to do with the Sikh message either.

indeed, very interesting. thanks for posting

I disagree cause I ain't a dirty commie :lol:

I seem to have a similar problem, wasn't like this a few years ago, but if I don't have the desire/motivation to do something it's like getting blood from a stone to get it done. People usually call this laziness . But it feels different.

Wooow very impressive to get the number bang on, doubt that's luck! Congrats to the winners! I wonder what Friend's extra gift is :lol:

Maybe you mean desire, happiness is NOT the cause of suffering.

Depends on what you're practicing. I would say for Zen practice, anywhere should be fine. For Jhana/ Concentration practice, a quiet place is needed. Personally, I need an undisturbed place for energy practices. I've seen a video clip which explained the unique energy of the Himalayas due to the amount of Yogi's who have practiced there, so if Yogi's can leave positive energy imprints im sure negative people can do the same. Im sure natural places, fresh air, quiet environment have better energy than the opposite.