Jetsun

He wasn't teaching Taoist Yoga, he didn't teach a fixed system which is why people have such problems following and understanding him. There are similarities to many different systems but nearly everyone has tried to claim he taught their system, Sufi's say he taught Sufism, people have said he taught a form of Tibetan Buddhism as well as others like Zoroastrianism, he talks about alchemy and immortality so some say it was Taoism, but Gurdjieff himself said that he taught a form of esoteric or original Christianity.

I too have been guilty of spiritual bypassing and I think this is a very important topic. My feelings are that many of the Eastern spiritual teachings are not very appropriate for a lot of Westerners because we have imbalances and wounds from our society which need healing and many of the Eastern teachings do not take these problems into account. Osho said that the main blockages Westerners have are due to our Christian heritage so many of us are blocked and filled with guilt and shame around sexuality and our anger/power, so teachings like some of those in Buddhism which go on about how anger will give you a lifetime of negative karma and people like Nargajuna talk about how you should meditate on the impurity of women and the disgust of the human body are not helpful at all for most of us, they may infact just be reinforcing our sickness and repressing our problems further. I also don't think many of us need mind meditation and mind training at the moment, as a society we are already top heavy and mind obsessed, head intelligence is regarded as much more important than emotional intelligence and nearly all of our education as children is in how to train the mind and as a result we get cut off and dissociated from our bodies, so I generally think that many of us need to get down into the body and feel the wounds and emotions that are there and not sit for hours stuck in the mind avoiding them.

That's not including flights, I got picked up from the airport though for free but had to pay for taxi back, I don't think Wang Liping's price includes flights either. Although it wasn't exactly a five star hotel I stayed in it was comfortable. It was more of a healing retreat rather than one to learn practises though and I definitely feel it was worth it and has made a difference on my life. If I really saved I could get enough money and I expect Wang Liping is the real deal, but there are other great masters around, he isn't the only one.

Compared to other retreats I have seen it is clearly very expensive, I don't know how you can argue otherwise. The two week retreat I went on last year cost me about $900 which included board, three meals a day, personal attention and personal healings three times a week. Whether it is worth it is another matter because if Wang Liping really is the person in Opening the Dragon Gate then it probably is, but I couldn't afford to go if I wanted to and I work full time and don't have a mortgage and kids etc Is it even a very good hotel they put you up in? group bookings of Hotel rooms usually gives you massive discounts as well as big discounts in feeding large groups etc

Depends on the person and where they are at, I didn't find focusing on the mind or fasting useful at all. Generally in Buddhism fasting is not encouraged because it is seen as an extreme rather than the middle way, and most of us are up in the mind so much already that we need to come down to the body, that's my 2c anyway. Perhaps one of the benefits of Fullotus is that the pain forces you into the sensation of the body rather than you daydreaming with your mind, pain is quite good at bringing us to the present moment too.

I enjoyed reading posts, sorry to see you go if you decide to. I think they had some problem with a scammer on this site, some Australian guy who was causing problems and harassing people which is probably why they were worried about IP's

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1819037 The antitumor effects of qigong-emitted external Qi and its influence on the immunologic functions of tumor-bearing mice "The results demonstrate that Qigong-emitted external Qi (QEQ) has inhibitory effects on tumor growth of tumor-bearing mice (TBM) and enhancing effects on antitumor immunologic functions of the tumor host simultaneously. Moreover, when used in combination with CY, QEQ can not only significantly increase the antitumor efficacy, but also markedly improve the compromised antitumor immunologic functions of the tumor host"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22160803 External Qi of Yan Xin Qigong induces cell death and gene expression alterations promoting apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation, migration and glucose metabolism in small-cell lung cancer cells. "These findings suggest that YXQ-EQ may exert anticancer effect through modulating gene expression in a way that facilitates cancer cell apoptosis while represses proliferation, metastasis, and glucose metabolism." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20110687 External Qi of Yan Xin Qigong Induces apoptosis and inhibits migration and invasion of estrogen-independent breast cancer cells through suppression of Akt/NF-kB signaling. "We show that YXQ-EQ treatment caused a time-dependent reduction in viability, blocked clonogenic growth and induced apoptosis in estrogen-independent breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, YXQ-EQ treatment blocked migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12470443 A preliminary study of the effect of external qigong on lymphoma growth in mice "These preliminary results, while still inconclusive, suggest that qigong treatment from one particular qigong practitioner might influence the growth of lymphoma cells negatively. Further studies with different practitioners, more repeated trials, and/or different tumor models are needed to further investigate the effects of external qigong on tumor growth in mice."

I will be able to search properly later when i can get onto my computer but I did see one test involving Qi on breast cancer cells, I will have to get back to you but if you search Pubmed for "qigong cancer" you get about 100 replies, there is certainly evidence it aids quality of life for cancer patients.

There is quite a lot of published evidence for medical Qigong, search Pubmed website and there is a fair bit of evidence and that doesn't even include much of the evidence published in China.

Many people on this board practice Stillness Movement medical qigong, if you do a search for it there are many posts on it talking about successful healings done with it using Qi projection. Other people will be able to provide more info but this method is used in Chinese hospitals I think. The other form I found is a form called CFQ Qigong, I met the master of that system and had a healing from him and I rate it as quite an effective method, it's not a Qi projection method though.

For a human to get into Wu Wei we need to unite the three forces of our thought, emotions and body into one harmonious unity, so in effect is is creation of the Trinty a uniting of three into one, which is why some people say being in Wu Wei is the same thing as receiving Gods grace. When you unite the trinity another force comes into you and moves you, but you are not doing it so it is a non doing. Why we have to work at harmonising ourselves while animals are naturally in tune i'm not sure, but I suspect there might be a difference between a human and an animal in our experience of Wu Wei because we have a different level of mind or consciousness which we need to harmonise so maybe our level of Wu Wei is at a higher vibration as we have a higher vibration of mind, which could be why it is harder for us to attain and remain in Wu Wei.

It's about being childlike not childish because it is it not ideal for an adult to be childish because children are narcissists. Some people confuse these ideas as an excuse to cling onto immaturity but humanity is meant to grow away from the womb and you can never go back to being a child because as an adult you have a torrent of sexual energy and power you didn't have when you were a child which you have a responsibility to deal with and embrace. Essentially I think becoming childlike is about undoing your conditioning so you see the world with fresh open eyes once again rather than filtering everything through your past experiences, but you do it with awareness and knowledge. Also I expect you will see everything as a bit ridiculous and a joke like children do.

Yeah he had me going for a while, I guess my troll sense is lacking at the moment

I do wonder what went wrong with China because throughout a long part of their history they had Taoist and Buddhist influences at the highest parts of government so I would have thought it would make the country strong following such principles, but in reality it seemed to make them weak and vulnerable to outside inteference.

The problem is that some people take this too literally as a means to justify laziness which it has nothing to do with.

I guess it depends on a lot of things and the intent behind what you do, but all I know is that most of the ideas which prop up the "self help" industry which go on about changing you and tackling your demons often only make you worse because subconsciously you are just feeding your problem attention and energy, about the only book I rate in that area is the book "Working on yourself doesn't work" which explains this quite well. edit: got the name of the book wrong

My understanding is that much of the Hatha type Yoga we get in the West today originates from one teacher Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya who had a number of prominent students, one of which promoted the vigorous Ashtanga Yoga, B.K. Iyengar was another who promoted his form and another was his son who taught a more adaptable form of Viniyoga. It seems to me like the West have taken up the most aggressive vigorous forms like Ashtanga and Iyengar and forgotten the more soft and adaptive form of Viniyoga which was meant to be adapted to fit the individuality and particular situation of each practitioner, which is probably the form of Yoga we most need and I expect is the most beneficial.

Quite often trying to get rid of your demons or change your faults just strengthens them and makes them worse because subconsciously all you are doing is focusing on them which feeds them energy. But ice cream can help

If you haven't tried it how can you know? Plants may have more to teach you than you can possibly imagine, but if you are already closed off and your cup is full then you won't learn a single thing

I think Ya Mu teaches a form of Tree Qigong in his Stillness Movement classes, it might have been talked about before but I would be interested in anyones experiences. I often wonder if trees don't get the credit they deserve, for example Buddha gained enlightenment under a tree, Newton came up with his main ideas under a tree, there are probably other examples, I know some Shaman say the trees are the master plant teachers, maybe the trees had a bigger influence than people think in all this

Thanks K, through spiritual practice I have been able to separate things out a bit so I can sometimes see that it is not "me" who thinks with self hatred rather there is a part of me or a part of my mind which does, but because I can observe it then it can't be me, and when there is no identity involved it looses it's power a bit so it is just like observing a bad habit rather than something which defines who I am as a person. These bad habits are very deeply entrenched though and are incredibly hard to break permanently as they always resurface and try to claim your life and identity for their own.

Thank you Marblehead, it would be nice to meet you too. I tend to find forums a lot easier to communicate as I have time to reflect and respond whereas in the real world interaction happens so fast that I often walk away thinking I didnt represent or communicate myself very well wishing I had said or done this or that. Then I wonder which is the more 'real' the person who has to react to the situation instantly or the person online who can reflect and sensor my thoughts as I wish. I guess both are just images not worth taking too seriously

I hate many things about myself, my laziness, my lack of direction, my egotism, my cowardice, my inability to stick up for myself when required but then get over defensive when it's not required, but most of all I hate hating myself and self loathing and wish I could have more self compassion, but that just puts me into a never-ending insanity loop.